 |
| Erin Paquette, pictured here holding a red-tailed hawk, is set to graduate from Wright State this year. |
Erin Paquette graduated from the Dayton Regional STEM School (DRSS) in 2013 as part of the school’s first graduating class. After graduating she went to Wright State University, where she’s completed three internships and is set to graduate from the College of Science and Mathematics with a degree in Biological Sciences. Erin will graduate debt-free from WSU thanks to a scholarship she received from the Wright State Research Institute (WSRI).
Erin’s scholarship required her to complete three internships during her time at Wright State, a fact that she considers to be an amazing opportunity as opposed to a requirement. Currently she is seeking out a fourth internship and has applied to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and Brukner Nature Center, the latter of which is currently considering her application.
“My first internship was in 2014 working at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, where I helped with the Summer Adventure program by working at their day camp as a naturalist,” she recalls. While there, Erin had the opportunity to handle many different types of animals, some of which were less popular than others. She was the only one willing to handle the big snakes, like the Copperheads, for example.
Erin believes her time at DRSS helped her secure this first college internship. "I actually job shadowed at Aullwood during my high school experience (with Sarah Alverson), and so they already knew me going into the interview process at Aullwood. So aside from my experience working with kids in the past, they knew I could handle snakes and things and not run away from kids and scream."
After her first experience she completed another internship with Dr. John Stireman in the Entomology lab at WSU. There, she identified, sorted, and learned about bugs. She also helped with research, such as “trying to see if Tachnidae [a large family of what are known as ‘true flies’] lay their eggs on stink bugs, which typically result in the death of the stink bug."
Her third internship took her to Norfolk, VA, where she worked as a Program Animal Building Manager at the Norfolk Zoo, going out to schools and interacting with the public. During this time she also helped with their “Zoo Live” shows by bringing out different animals and teaching the visiting children about their unique peculiarities. “The Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches hissed more than I liked,” she admits, “but I enjoyed getting to handle so many different animals, including a Giant African Millipede, California King Snakes, chickens, and Tenrecs [a small mammal found in Madagascar].”
Erin believes these internships have helped round out her college experience and will be helpful as she seeks to find a job. The experiences have also helped her identify possible next steps after college, which are plentiful. “I’m going to try and go to grad school in the U.K.. I’m currently looking at the University of Sterling, Bristol and Anglo-Ruskin. After that I’d love to work in animal care. I’m also considering teaching English in China for a year,” she explains.
Looking back to her time at DRSS, Erin believes that her Advanced Biology class prepared her the most for her coursework, because “it was half high school and half college, and it was largely self-directed. We had to set up our own schedule, learn how to take notes, and practice different study skills for college.”
"The culture of DRSS has also prepared me for my future career," she adds, explaining that, "It’s just so culturally DRSS to learn how to communicate and present well. I didn’t like doing presentations when I started high school, but it’s very important when you’re doing outdoor presentations to the public, because you don’t have slides. You just have your brain. And interesting facts about animals and insects.”
Wherever Erin ends up after graduation, it’s clear that her future is bright, (and full of animals)!
