Meet the interns: Reaffirming a career goal
Interview with Krystle Cassino
The Consortium Gerontology Studies Program is a cooperative academic program where students from five Worcester Consortium colleges, including Clark, engage in an interdisciplinary study of aging. Students who complete the program earn a Certificate in Gerontology along with their bachelor's degree. Psychology major Krystle Cassino '05 is one of six Clark students enrolled during Fall 2004. In a recent conversation, summarized below, she discussed how the program is helping her achieve her career goal of working with the elderly.
Did you know when you came to Clark that you wanted to study psychology?
Yes, and I knew I wanted to study extreme age-either the very young or the very old.
How did you find out about the gerontology studies program?
I was at the psychology table at the Majors Fair that Clark held during the first semester of my junior year. The program director was sitting with us and talking about the program. I decided I wanted to participate.
What are the program requirements?
I have to take four courses offered variously at the participating colleges: Socio-Cultural Aspects of Aging; Psychological Aspects of Aging; Biological, Physiological, and Health aspects of Aging; and Policy Aspects of Aging. I also had to take an elective that partially involved the study of age-related issues. In that course I wrote a paper on Parkinson's Disease. I also have to complete two internships.
Are you participating in an internship this semester?
I'm actually doing both internships this semester. One is research-based under the direction of Professor Bibace of the psychology department. I'm researching memory, how it changes with age, and what strategies can be used to compensate for its decline. I'm going to be conducting lengthy interviews with about five men and women over the age of 65. I'll be asking them if they've seen changes in their memory, and, if they haven't, what they're doing to keep their memories sharp. Professor Bibace teaches a class at the Worcester Institute for Senior Education and I'll be recruiting volunteers there. I'll be finishing this up next semester and presenting a poster about my research at Academic Spree Day.
What does your second internship consist of?
I'm working ten hours per week at Briarwood, a continuing care retirement community here in Worcester. It has independent living cottages and apartments, assisted living apartments, and a nursing home and rehabilitation center. A resident can start in one of the independent living situations, and then move to the assisted living or nursing home areas as additional care is needed. The resident would be dealing with the same people throughout the transition.
On Wednesday and Thursday mornings I work with the activities director in the assisted living residence. Actually, there was a month between two different directors where I got to take on a lot of responsibility. That was a really good experience.
We do current events and crafts with the residents. We also hold a beauty hour, which is nice because the residents gather and talk. I hear them telling stories, and about how they perceive people my age.
In the afternoons I visit people either in the assisted living residences or fully independent apartments and talk to them. They're collecting biographies of all the residents to make into a book. I'm helping with that. It's a lot of fun.
Are you enjoying working with seniors?
Yes, the ones I've met are great.
What do you want to do when you graduate?
I'm planning to work. My internship advisor-the resident services coordinator at Briarwood-is helping me thoroughly with that, thank goodness! She's suggesting people to talk to and where to apply. She can also give me her personal recommendation.
Before you started working with Professor Bibace, had you participated in any other research projects at Clark?
I've been doing research since I got here! I had taken Psych 101 at Penn State the summer before my senior year in high school. In the process of transferring those credits and placing out of Psych 101 here at Clark, I met with psychology Professor Jaan Valsiner on the second day of freshman orientation. He asked what kind of research I was doing! I laughed. But he was serious and wanted to me to design a research project. For that I studied the transition to college and how it affects students.
I also worked for two years with Professor Esteban Cardemil, studying depression in 5th and 6th graders and their attributional styles-that is, the way they explain things that happen to them.
It sounds like you've participated in a broad range of projects. Do you like doing research?
Yes. I do. It's nice. You choose your interests, so you know that everything you cover is material you want to know about and you can direct it the way you want. I like that control.
Can you talk about how doing an internship compares with more traditional classroom-based learning?
Until I did my internship at Briarwood, I was uncertain whether I could work with elderly people. It takes a certain ability. Some people work better with kids, some with younger adults, and some with older people. The internship has really reaffirmed my career goal and made me feel more confident about what I'm doing. This way I'm not going to go out there, work for a year, and then find myself bussing tables because I didn't know what I'd signed on for.
|
 |
|
Additional Resources
|
|
|
Krystle Cassino
|
|
Gaining confidence