Suzannah Costa, DU Quark
Signing up for the science writing internship with the DU Quark was a little scary at first, because I am usually not one to voluntarily sign up to write outside of a class. Regardless, this internship has been an amazing learning experience, and it has barely even begun. The first few weeks I went back and forth on ideas, trying to figure out what main piece I wanted to write for the internship. I spent so much time between emails and appointments with Dr.K trying to figure out what direction I wanted to go in, but finally decided on something that I am extremely passionate about: children.
For this internship, I have decided that I am going to be developing 2-3 items (posters, videos, storybooks, etc..) on issues that should be communicated to children in a way that will actually be effective in getting the information across. I have loved kids since I started working with them 5 years ago and want to go into pediatrics after medical school. Communicating issues with children is something I am passionate about because when kids ask things like “why do I need to get a shot?,” nobody really knows how to answer them, and I think we need to bridge that gap. Additionally, I am looking to write a short storybook, with mostly pictures and simple sentences, about a kid that has autism and how they are no different than we are and how kids can communicate with them. People with autism are generally seen as weird and antisocial, and yes maybe they take a little more time to warm up to people, but in the end they still want friends just as much as we do, and I think that is something that needs to be emphasized. I do not expect this to make kids automatically go become best friends with someone that has autism or another disability, but it is important to get that awareness out there from a young age.
As of right now, I am developing ideas for the poster and the book and doing a little trial and error with story ideas, but I am really excited to finalize the outlines this week and start developing everything.
Building Bridges 