Brienna Bohn ’25 is an animal science major from Norton, Massachusetts. She interned at Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, Massachusetts and received a stipend from COLSA’s SOAR fund to support her experience.
The SOAR Fund supports undergraduate students by providing stipends that can be used to supplement unpaid internships or pay for transportation to interviews and career events. The SOAR Fund accepts applications year-round. While all COLSA students are invited to apply, applicants with financial need are strongly encouraged.
Brienna: I was an Intern in the hoofstock department at Southwick’s Zoo. Every day I spent most of my time cleaning the habitats of various animals and occasionally helping to create and put out enrichment for them, and I helped with animal husbandry on over 300 different animals.
My favorite part of the experience was bonding with the animals and learning each of their personalities, and my favorite animals to interact with were the tigers, lions, snow leopards, cheetahs, siamangs, giraffes, rhinos, and ostriches.
It has helped me narrow down what I both want and don’t want to do for a career in the future. It also gave me amazing and unique experiences in the exotics field and memories I will have forever.
Brienna: The fact that it was an opportunity to work with exotic animals, which was something I hadn’t gotten to do before.
Brienna: I challenged myself more mentally and physically than I ever have in my life, and it made me realize I am capable of more than I thought.
Brienna: Time management, how to be efficient in a limited amount of time.
Brienna: Join organizations and check social media. Do your research so you know what you’re getting yourself into.
Brienna: The opportunities! I likely wouldn’t have found this internship if I didn’t go to UNH.
