Adam Petro ‘10

I'm spending my summer in Indianapolis working the evening shift at Methodist Hospital. I am an "Instrument Technician" in the sterile processing department in Surgery. What does this mean? It basically means that I help to decontaminate/wash surgical instruments after being used in surgery. In addition, I inspect and assemble a variety of instrument sets and wrap them to be sterilized in either: Steam, Ethylene Oxide, or Sterrad Plasma Vapor. After they are sterilized, I help to pick instruments that are needed for surgical procedures and deliver them to the OR suite.

In order to do all of this, I was required to learn the names of instruments from General and GYN surgery, along with learning Plastics, Orthopedic, and ENT surgical instruments too. I use the computer to access inventory count sheets and to scan instruments for tracking, and I answer phone calls from the OR nurses who are requesting instruments for elective or emergent cases.

When I deliver the instruments to the OR suite, I am able to observe a variety of surgical procedures, which is really cool. The pictures here show what I look like with my 7 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) on for the decontam area. It protects me from being exposed to potentially infectious microorganisms. The second picture shows me holding some 'steinman pins' that are inserted into bone during orthopedic procedures.

I really enjoy this job not only because it pays well, but also because it exposes me to the healthcare environment in which I am interested in pursuing after graduation. Who knows...I might be operating on you someday. Ha!

For the most part, it is a serious job that requires attention to detail and accuracy. My job impacts the quality of patient care, as I need to be sure that the instruments are cleaned and sterilized to prevent nosocomial infections. In addition, I need to be sure that the instruments are not missing in the sets and/or not broken which could cause harm to the patient or delay.

When I'm not working, I have been swimming with the Southside Swim Club and hanging out with my girlfriend, Stephanie. It's been a great summer so far, but I must admit…I am looking forward to coming back to Wabash in August!

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Rob Fenoglio ‘09

Ever since I was a child, I have loved to write. When I was younger, I would write fake news stories and drag my parents into the living room to listen to me report the news, write my own mini-movies, and rewrite endings to books I didn’t think end well. This summer, I was given the chance to do what I love to do.

Through the Indiana Internship Initiative, I was given the opportunity to write for the Journal Review, right here in Crawfordsville. Everyday is a new venture and allows me to do something I have never done before.

On my second day of work, I was awakened by the ringing of my cell phone – it was my editor, Maria Flora. A fire had ripped through the Silver Dollar and adjacent buildings killing one person and injuring dozens. Ironically, the previous day Maria told me that nothing exciting would probably happen during the summer.

I learned more in my first week than I could have ever hoped to learn for the duration of my entire internship. I interviewed victims of the fire, learned the art of photography, and spoke with a local taxi driver who became a hero and saved numerous lives by risking his own during the blaze.

I have also been working on my own series of stories with the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County. On my first Friday, I was given the entire front page on my pre-coverage of the AWL’s annual Stroll for Strays. The Stroll for Strays is an event where residents can bring their own dogs or use dogs in the shelter and take them for a two-mile walk. The event raises money for the shelter.

While continuing my series on the AWL with constant visits, I met an abandoned terrier-pit mix puppy and immediately knew it was my dog. I adopted her the day I saw her and decided to name her Evey. I never thought I would get real journalism experience and a pet out of this internship.

While I have received countless front page articles and top stories during my first three weeks of my internship, there was one thing I had not done that I am especially fond of: see movies and review them.

Being a pop culture guru, I write movie reviews for the Bachelor during the school year while simultaneously performing duties as the News Editor for the student-run paper. Ever since I saw Jurassic Park at the age of six and sat in complete awe at what I was seeing, movies have become a sort of hobby. My dream is to write for movies one day, or at least be able to review them at a large newspaper or magazine, like Entertainment Weekly.

Recently, GKC Cinemas allowed me to have my own private screening of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer before its June 15th release and just the other day I was given the opportunity to screen Evan Almighty before it was released on June 22nd.

This is the epitome of what an internship should be - doing what I love to do and getting opportunities I never thought I would have. This is definitely what students would call "The Wabash Experience."

Posted by Kyle Dunaway at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Adam Current ‘11

As a proud member of the incoming class of 2011, I am anxiously awaiting all of the challenges that I will face at Wabash College. Born and raised in Veedersburg, Indiana - a mere twenty-mile hike from campus - I was first intrigued by Wabash because of the closeness of the swimming and diving team. Going through the recruiting process was especially fun for me considering my background in swimming is one in which I was the only one with year-round swimming experience on my high school team.

When I first started to seriously look at colleges during my junior year, I overlooked a lot of the academics of the various colleges - instead choosing to focus on what swimming program would best suit my interests. Understanding how Wabash excels both in the classroom and in the pool was the perfect fit for me. I remember my first official ‘campus visit’ I had - what I saw was a team that was willing to take time out of their busy academic schedules to visit with me as a potential recruit. It was at that moment that I felt as if I actually belonged somewhere.

In my high school career I did see success in swimming, but I lacked the feeling of camaraderie on my team. My high school was so small that I at least knew the names and something about all eighty members of my graduating class. Needless to say, I will be looking forward to attending a slightly larger college…while still holding on to the uniqueness of a small-school setting. I qualified for the Indiana state meet in both my junior and senior years, and am looking to build upon such success at the collegiate level. With a talented group of freshmen and an extremely talented group of returning swimmers/divers, I am anxious to have the feeling of being a part of a true ‘team.’

This summer I am waking up at 5:30am every morning to train for the upcoming season. I am also coaching our neighborhood swimming team with fellow Wabash friend and teammate, Kyle O’Keefe. On July 12^th, I am heading to Coburg, Germany for my high school’s foreign exchange trip, which will be my second year participating in the program. In Coburg, I will enjoy the best bratwursts known to man and also the town’s outdoor fifty-meter pool with adjoining waterslide and wave pool. Most importantly, however, is my excitement for joining the Wabash swimming and diving program upon my return.

Anxiously awaiting Wabash…

Adam

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Nathan Rutz ‘09

This summer I am participating in Mountain Justice Summer, a collective effort by several Appalachian environmental groups to help stop mountaintop removal (MTR) strip mining. Mountaintop removal strip mining is exactly what it sounds like - coal companies run people out of their homes, clear cut the forest, and then use explosives to destroy the mountain in order to get to the coal seams. Results of this include: destroyed ecosystems, polluted water, and massively decreased property values. The coal industry often argues that MTR is necessary for the economy, but according to the Appalachian Regional Commission's data, the counties with the most coal mining have the worst overall economy and highest unemployment rates. You can read more about MTR on wikipedia.

I am currently stationed in West Virginia, where the most mining occurs, and where the laws are not friendly toward the environment or the citizens. The department of environmental protection here relies on coal companies' self-reporting any environmental hazards or downfalls, so that pretty much never happens. As a chemistry dude, I am helping out by taking water samples and testing them and hopefully proving illegal dumping and improper waste disposal by the coal companies. †It's a tough battle here, but definitely one worth fighting. The Appalachians are a beautiful mountain range, and the forest ecosystems are some of the most diverse in North America, trumped only by the rainforest in the northwest US.

You can help out by using less electricity, not supporting "clean coal" initiatives which neglect the problem of extraction, and calling your power company and requesting that as much of your electricity as possible come from environmentally friendly sources. Mountain Justice Summer also realizes that environmental issues do not happen in a vacuum, that the systems of oppression and greed that cause MTR also cause social problems. This is why, on my birthday, May 26, we counter-protested a KKK/Nazi rally in Knoxville, TN. We dressed up as clowns and called ourselves the CCC - Coup Clutz Clowns. We developed an ethic of fighting hate with humor, and came up with several short skits with the idea that we were just a bunch of happy clowns trying to get in on the KKK's street party, knowing nothing of their hate. So we made a bunch of letter signs and arranged them to spell various puns on "white power,” like "wife power,” "white flour,” "might shower,” and "white KKKowards.” With each pun, we had a little skit showing what we meant.

When I actually got to the rally, I was flabbergasted that people could actually harbor so much hate, I was totally floored by the crazy signs the KKK/Nazi members held. Fortunately, the clown feeling prevailed, and we performed our zany skits, much to the chagrin and hate of the KKK/Nazis.

You can read about, see, and watch what happened at the rally here.

Some pictures taken by a woman on our side.

Click here to watch video of the Knoxville Rally.

Check back through the summer. I may post a few more times about what's going on here.

Rutz

Posted by Kyle Dunaway at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)