Work Experience 1. Brazos Valley Intern, Houston and Southeast Texas Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association (March 2016--Present) I presently work part-time (15-20 hours/week) for the Houston and Southeast Texas Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association as the Brazos Valley Intern. I am passionate about both research and outreach regarding Alzheimer's disease, and this position allows me to further develop my knowledge about Alzheimer's disease while building skills in the areas of volunteer management, community outreach, fundraising, and event planning. Thus far in my role I have served as a generalist, assisting the Alzheimer's Association in the following ways:
- Co-leading volunteer meetings for our annual signature event, the Walk to End Alzheimer's - Serving as the primary staff contact for the Brazos Valley Walk to End Alzheimer's - Corresponding with corporate and individual donors - Recruiting volunteers and Walk to End Alzheimer's teams - Guest-speaking at Alzheimer's and dementia support groups - Representing the Alzheimer's Association at a volunteer fair that had 2,500+ attendees - Assisting in the execution of the Houston-area Alzheimer's professionals conference - Leading the planning and development of the Brazos Valley caregivers and professionals conference
2. Undergraduate Volunteer Intern, Fundación TASE Alzheimer's Day Center, Quito, Ecuador (June--July 2015) During the second half of my 10 week study abroad program in Ecuador, I worked as a volunteer intern at the Fundación TASE Alzheimer's Day Center in Quito for approximately 35 hours per week for 5 weeks. At the center I assisted staff in the daily therapy regiments for the patients, including exercise, cognitive activities, and various "creative therapies" (e.g. dancing, art, gardening, cooking). I also was able to observe the center's clinical psychologist administer dementia assessments to several patients. In addition to these duties and observations, I also taught an English class that met twice a week for about 1.5 hours for the center's patients that already had some basic English fluency. Research has shown that bilingualism is a protective factor that slows the rate of cognitive decline due to dementia, so I hoped to use this English class as a therapy through which these patients would use their brains in different and complex ways since they were not speaking in their mother tongue.
3. Undergraduate Student Worker, Honors and Undergraduate Research at Texas A&M (November 2014--Present) During my time at Texas A&M University, I have worked part-time (between 6-8 hours per week) in the Office of Honors and Undergraduate Research as a student worker. My role is primarily to do clerical and reception duties, such as scheduling and modifying appointments; interacting with students, prospective students, parents, and faculty members and assisting them in whatever manner possible; answering and transferring telephone calls; and various time-sensitive tasks as assigned by office members.
4. Undergraduate Intern, Harris County District Attorney's Office (Summer, 2014) During the summer of 2014, I participated in the full-time, ten-week undergraduate internship program at the Harris County District Attorney's (HCDA) Office in downtown Houston, Texas. As an aspiring criminal prosecutor, this internship was extremely beneficial by giving me practical experience working with an Assistant District Attorney at the office. My responsibilities, in addition to those described by the HCDA website, were as follows:
- Research for Director of Public Relationship and the District Attorney about "Community Prosecution:" - Writing legal-based journalism for press releases and internal office newsletter - Legal writing and research for case evaluations (summaries) for prosecutors in CCCL #2 - Completing Restitution, Injury, and Punishment (RIP) calls to victims of misdemeanor assault and DWIs