| Our World M O L LY RU D O L PH ’ 19 | MA R IN E SC IENC E Interning with the South Carolina Aquarium
like this from happening to these incredible creatures. I was invited to assist in a sea turtle release at Folly Beach,
Sea Turtle Care Center
where I helped set free six turtles that I had seen through the full
was unlike any experience
recovery process. Seeing the full circle of recovery and carrying
I have ever had, and I never
the sea turtles out to the ocean was unbelievable. Watching them
could have expected the
jet through the water was absolutely worth all of the hardship and
ways in which it would
effort that it took to get them there.
affect my life. I worked
This internship drastically changed what I want to do with
with biologists,
my life. After witnessing the amazing things being done at the
veterinarians, and
Aquarium, I have shifted my goals to ocean conservation. The
volunteers to care for sick
variety of jobs at the Aquarium showed me the endless possibilities
and injured sea turtles
that I can have in the field. My Senior Thesis is on ocean
and learned how to clean
acidification and the effects that it will have on marine ecosystems
their tanks, feed them, and
as well as on humans. This experience drove me to recognize my
nurse them back to health. In addition to educating the public
love of the ocean for what it is—a passion that can be cultivated
about how to prevent sea turtle injuries, I assisted the veterinarian
into a lifelong career. I am so excited to see what this field has in
with several surgeries, which was an opportunity that I will never
store for me.
forget. As I was resuscitating a sea turtle injured by a boat strike, I realized that there was so much that I could do to prevent things
V I R G IN IA JO N ES ’ 19 | M EDICINE For my Junior Internship, I shadowed the pediatric surgery
tissue laparoscopically and
team and nurses at the Medical University of South Carolina’s
took samples to be sent to
Children’s Hospital. Last spring, my lung spontaneously collapsed,
pathology. He then removed
and during several weeks at MUSC, I fell in love with the nursing
the unhealthy portion of
profession and was fascinated by everything happening inside the
the colon, which in total
hospital. Dr. Robert Cina, a pediatric surgeon and father of two
was almost the length of the
Ashley Hall girls, was kind enough to accept my request for an
baby’s body.
internship, as were two of my nurses from the seven east unit, Abby
As a profession, nursing
Cross and Grayson Lambert. MUSC allowed me to come back to
appeals to me because
the hospital where I had been just two months prior, but this time
of the patient and family
I was in scrubs instead of a hospital gown. I was able to follow the
interactions. During my
pediatric surgery team on their rounds, witness pediatric surgeries
experience as a patient and
in the operating room, and learn about patient care with the nurses.
on the other side as an intern,
Dr. Cina was insistent that I should pursue surgery but kindly
I saw the importance of not
indulged my interest in nursing and took me to visit each nursing
only providing excellent care but also of supporting patients and
unit in the hospital. On this tour I was able to hear about the
their families. I plan to study nursing in college, and my week at
different aspects and learn what qualities drew the nurses to
MUSC solidified this decision.
their units. My favorite memory was witnessing a Swenson procedure to correct Hirschsprung’s disease in an infant. In this operation, Dr. Hollinger detached the colon from surrounding
Photos by Kelly Grace Photography
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