Internship Updates - Class of 2009
Each 3rd year school psychology student is placed in a full-time internship site where they continue to develop their professional skills in order to function as an independent school psychologist upon graduation from the program. Below are testimonials from RIT's current 3rd year school psychology students, who have been working in their internship placements beginning in September.
Jessica Beck:
I am currently doing my internship at the East Irondequoit Central School District. I divide my time between the high school four days a week and the middle school one day a week. The main activities that I am involved with include assessment, consultation, meetings, and counseling. I have a few individual counseling cases, and I am going to be starting several groups both in the high school and the middle school. I am also working on a social skills group in the primary school with a fellow RIT intern.
Ashleigh Crumb:
I am doing my internship with the Liverpool Central School District in Syracuse. My time is divided between two elementary schools although I spent the first two weeks in the high school and will have the opportunity as the year goes on to do some work at the preschool, middle, and high schools as well. So far I have been involved in a lot of individual counseling and testing, as well as consultations and attending all kinds of meetings (mainly CST and RTI). So far I am really enjoying my time here at Liverpool and look forward to my experiences the rest of the year!
Kira Formicola:
My internship placement is in the Palmyra Macedon School District where I am primarily placed at the Middle School. My responsibilities include academic and behavioral evaluations, individual and group counseling, pushing into classrooms to do presentations and skill building, attending and participating in PPS, CSE, and RTI meetings, consultations, as well as benchmarking and progress monitoring in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade AIS classrooms. I also have the opportunity to be involved with the elementary schools and high school. I will be doing some benchmarking and progress monitoring at the elementary school level, and some counseling and career assessments in the high school. I may also have the opportunity to pilot the effectiveness of vocabulary matching in the content areas at a secondary level such as Science and Social Studies. I am a member of the Bully Prevention Team and co-facilitate a Girls Against Bullying Advisory. So far I have been having a great experience and my placement and look forward what the following months will bring.
Becky Haderer:
My internship is with the Starpoint Central School District in Lockport, NY. I am working with grades K-12. There are four schools all located on the same campus. Thus far, I have been a part of the DIBELS assessment team and the Primary Intervention Team. I have my share of individual counseling cases, counseling groups, and evaluations to work on. I also am a member of the Olweus Bully Prevention Committee. We recently completed a Suicide Awareness Campaign and I will be helping to promote Disability Awareness through a week of presentations, a creative contest, and a carnival for the students. I am fortunate to have two supervisors. One is a school psychologist who oversees my assessments and the other is the school social worker who oversees my counseling case loads. Overall, it has been an amazing experience. I could not have asked for a better placement!
Marla Mis:
I'm currently doing my internship at Geneseo Central. It's a K-12 placement all in one building. So far I am having a great experience! I have been conducting individual and group counseling, working on both initial and re-evaluations, and conducting Functional Behavior Assessments and developing Behavior Intervention Plan's. I have been busy consulting with many teachers regarding both academic and behavioral concerns with students. I am also a member of the RTI committee! I have started progress monitoring with students using DIBELS and I attend a lot of meetings including CSE, PST, PPT and 504 meetings. I am enjoying everything I have been doing so far and am excited to see what else the year has to offer!
Stephanie Reusch:
My internship is in the Palmyra Macedon Central School District. I am primarily based in the high school, but will soon be adding responsibilities in the middle and elementary schools. So far my time has been dedicated to assessment and counseling (both individual and group). I also participate on both school and district level teams. In addition to my daily activities, I am also helping my supervisor collect data on Pal Mac's need for parent resource centers. Using this information, my supervisor and I plan to write a grant to obtain funding for the centers. Along with my supervisor, I am also helping to provide information at an upcoming parent partnership presentation titled: "Understanding Your Child's Psychological Evaluations." Overall, I am enjoying my time in this district and look forward to everything the future has to offer!
Alison Senter:
I am doing my internship with Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES at Finger Lakes Secondary School. I spend a lot of time doing individual and group counseling. I also do a lot of crisis counseling with the students on my case load. I attend various meetings throughout each week between PST, CSE, faculty, and grade-level meetings. Working as a team is highly promoted here at FLSS, so I also do a lot of consulting with teachers and other school professionals regarding my cases. I have been busy conducting behavioral evaluations and updating IEPs. So far, it has been a really great experience!
Kelly Smith:
I am doing my internship with the LeRoy School District, which has pre-K through 12th grade. My office is in the elementary school but I go to the high school three days a week for testing, counseling, and SST/PPS meetings. I do a fairly equal amount of testing and counseling, and have started doing Functional Behavior Assessment’s and consulting with teachers. I'm working on starting a "big brother" type group, pairing high school boys with elementary school boys. Many of the students I see are involved with outside agencies, so I've been getting to know community mental health resources fairly well. Overall, it has been a great, diverse experience and hopefully it will continue as such.
Melissa VanTyle:
I am currently interning in the East Irondequoit Central School District. I am primarily placed with elementary school students (K-5), though I will be given an opportunity to do some activities at the high school level. So far I have had a great experience in East Irondequoit! I have mostly been evaluating students, though I am getting experience counseling and consulting about behavioral issues. I will also be a participating member of IST. I am looking forward to helping East Irondequoit students and staff for the remainder of the year!
