News and Knowledge

OAR summer interns Lindsay Owen and Connery O’Brien wrapped up their two-month internships on July 31, grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a nonprofit organization that focuses on autism. “I was drawn to OAR and the OAR internship program because of the amazing work that they do and getting to experience a unique organization that is focused on the research aspects of autism,” says Owen, who will be a senior at High Point University in North Carolina where she is majoring in psychology and special education.

O’Brien, who will be a senior at Davidson College in North Carolina, also credited OAR’s focus as her reason for choosing OAR for her internship. “In high school, I volunteered weekly at an afterschool program for kids with autism, and the summer after I graduated I worked as a counselor at a special needs sleep-away camp,” she explains, motivating her to major in psychology and get involved in the special needs community at Davidson. “It was refreshing to find an organization like OAR that has such a specific and unique mission of supporting the autism community through applied research.”

Owen has spent her time at OAR working on the Operation Autism website, the Think Safety website, the upcoming Jobs portal, and the OAR Scholarship Program. “Through working on the Jobs Portal, I have been able to explore a part of autism that is often forgotten, adulthood. Learning how to effectively find research to create information to go into the Portal will be useful in my classes. I will also be able to use it while student teaching in the spring during IEP meetings. It will give me the ability to understand what opportunities are out there for adults with autism and how parents can help their students prepare for the future.”

“One of the most meaningful parts of my internship has been working on the scholarship program. I was able to hear so many stories about the students who apply and the challenges that they had to overcome to get to where they are now,” notes Owen.

O’Brien spent her two months at OAR working on the Schoolhouse Initiative, which has given her insight into how a “small non-profit organization runs on many different levels, which has been valuable for me as I would like to work in a nonprofit organization in the future.”

O’Brien has most enjoyed being able to “contribute something tangible to the autism community” through work on long-term projects that called for research, outside feedback, and support from other staff members. “It has been inspiring for me to be a part of such a small group of people that has such a great impact on the autism community. At OAR, I have not just offered operational support, I have had the opportunity to contribute my work and my ideas to what we do here. I am constantly amazed by how much can be accomplished by a group so small!”