What is LINK?
Welcome to LINK!
The Leading Internships for New Knowledge (LINK) program is an integral piece of the Animas High School curriculum in Durango, Colorado, as it exemplifies our belief in the value of student-centered, personalized instruction that connects learning to the adult world. LINK takes students beyond the classroom walls in order to clarify personal, college and career goals while teaching invaluable professional skills and life lessons.
With support from the LINK Internship Coordinator, students find internships either locally or further afield that allow them to dive deeply into their individual passions, interests and potential career paths. They are paired with LINK Mentors who generously share their time, energy and expertise. While on their internships, AHS juniors make meaningful contributions to their host businesses and organizations while also completing individual LINK Projects.
The Program at a Glance:
Animas High School is creating a community of life-long learners. As a college preparatory school, students are supported in setting long-term personal, scholastic and professional goals. In their junior year, students are paired for three weeks with professionals who provide real world experience in their fields. Students complete academically rigorous projects at their internship sites, culminating in a LINK Exhibition.
LINK 1.0
Who? Juniors from AHS paired with mentors who are professionals in their fields
What? A three-week long internship (30-40 hours a week) that promotes community involvement and connects classroom learning to the outside world, students do not attend classes in order to focus all their attention on the internship
Where? Businesses and organizations in Durango and beyond
When? Three weeks in spring, exact dates each year can be found on the AHS School Calendar
Why? LINK supports students in lifelong skills such as:
• thriving in a professional setting
• refining college and career goals
• application of what they learn in our classrooms
• making positive contributions to the community
• developing a strong sense of self
The Leading Internships for New Knowledge (LINK) program is an integral piece of the Animas High School curriculum in Durango, Colorado, as it exemplifies our belief in the value of student-centered, personalized instruction that connects learning to the adult world. LINK takes students beyond the classroom walls in order to clarify personal, college and career goals while teaching invaluable professional skills and life lessons.
With support from the LINK Internship Coordinator, students find internships either locally or further afield that allow them to dive deeply into their individual passions, interests and potential career paths. They are paired with LINK Mentors who generously share their time, energy and expertise. While on their internships, AHS juniors make meaningful contributions to their host businesses and organizations while also completing individual LINK Projects.
The Program at a Glance:
Animas High School is creating a community of life-long learners. As a college preparatory school, students are supported in setting long-term personal, scholastic and professional goals. In their junior year, students are paired for three weeks with professionals who provide real world experience in their fields. Students complete academically rigorous projects at their internship sites, culminating in a LINK Exhibition.
LINK 1.0
Who? Juniors from AHS paired with mentors who are professionals in their fields
What? A three-week long internship (30-40 hours a week) that promotes community involvement and connects classroom learning to the outside world, students do not attend classes in order to focus all their attention on the internship
Where? Businesses and organizations in Durango and beyond
When? Three weeks in spring, exact dates each year can be found on the AHS School Calendar
Why? LINK supports students in lifelong skills such as:
• thriving in a professional setting
• refining college and career goals
• application of what they learn in our classrooms
• making positive contributions to the community
• developing a strong sense of self
Absolute Physical Therapy
"We strive to provide the highest quality care, combining manual therapy with specific corrective exercise to help optimize long-term outcomes. We are motivated to create a fun, engaging environment and set ourselves apart by keeping on the forefront of research and techniques to get patients back to life and recreation as quickly as possible. Patient education is important to us, so each patient is given the knowledge to help manage their own condition during and after treatment. Our therapists work together as team, and appreciate the ability to collaborate together to help solve more complex patient cases." |
Anticipation and Preparation
I initially wanted to do my internship at a Chemistry lab, but due to it being a government organization, my potential mentor unfortunately said "no." I then had the idea to shift over to physical therapy, because I knew Amanda previously from working with her as a patient earlier in the school year. Earlier in my academic career I was interested in the medical field, but I recently had migrated away from that. However, I decided that I would consider physical therapy, because it is a different type of medical that focuses on movement and muscles, and it had really helped me as an athlete. I hoped to learn whether being a physical therapist or PTA is something that I'm interested in doing as a career.
Muscle Referral Patterns
For my LINK Project, I chose to study muscle referral patterns. My mentor utilized dryneedling as a tool to help release tight muscles, as well as to "wake up" muscles that haven't been used in a while in post-op patients. However, the idea with dryneedling is not to just stick a needle wherever it hurts and hook it up to STIM. Instead, it is important to diagnose the root of the pain, which can then be treated by needling in certain muscle trigger points. The research I conducted was then looked over by my mentor, who wanted to display more evidence of the effectivity of dryneedling at the front of the clinic. People want to know whether it's actually been scientifically proven that it does anything, and now they can. The first time I was dryneedled I was also a little uneasy, so it's completely understandable why a patient might question the technique. The research I did was real and made an impact on the clinic, because it was compiled and put into a binder in the front office.
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Reflection
The most important skill to have as a physical therapist is compassion, which I believe that I had coming into this internship. You are working with a wide variety of people, both the elderly population, post-op patients, injured athletes, etc. It is absolutely crucial to have good communication and patience. At the start of my internship, I was nervous and overwhelmed by the amount of talking my mentor did with each of her patients: she knew them all as friends, and treated them as such. For that reason, it was sometimes difficult for me to find my place in the business, especially since I was not a therapist, and could not dryneedle or do tissue work. While I was there, Amanda assured me that I was doing a great job, and I feel as if my assistance to her and the clinic makes it likely for her to accept a high school intern again. As well, personally, I took so much out of this experience that I will carry with me through the rest of my high school and college career. I think it's so valuable for young people to get the chance to experiment and explore what they want to do for the rest of their lives in this kind of low-stakes environment, before you're already committed to a major, degree, or career.