My name is Olivia Lee and I’m a rising junior from Oakland, CA. I’m majoring in Sociology, minoring in Chemistry and getting a certificate in Science and Society with the long-term goal to go to medical school. I am so happy to be here in New Orleans. I’ve been working at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at the New Orleans Children’s Advocacy Center, which interviews and gives physicals to children who have possibly been abused. I am never, ever bored. The work environment can be hectic and crazy. It may even appear stressful and chaotic. But there is always work being done. There are parents and kids coming in for appointments all day, there are detectives coming in to watch interviews and the phones ring constantly. If you leave your seat for more than a minute, someone is going to sit down there. So far, I’ve worked on a silent auction, a national conference for child maltreatment professionals, a training program for hospital employees, and my big project for the summer is to evaluate the effectiveness of the materials we give out to discourage the use of corporal punishment. I’ve even led a parade! I never expected to have such an exciting job. My projects make meaningful contributions to the organization, and even when I get interrupted to take care of something smaller, I learn something new, even if it’s just how to use a fax machine. This internship is even perfect for learning about medicine. I spent three days reading through medical charts, just learning how patients get examined and diagnosed. I’ve sat in on meetings between the doctors and social workers, and I’ll even get a chance to shadow during exams before the summer’s over. Not only is my job super interesting, but our enrichment activities are too! See above for a picture with me holding a baby alligator on a swamp tour! That’s just one example of how much fun we’ve had the other weekends. Our weekly dinners are fascinating and so educational. A few weeks in, I have so happy to have chosen New Orleans and I am so looking forward to the rest of the summer.