This summer, Health Studies student Jafina Tubbs interned for he Twin Falls County Pest Abatement District.
Read on to learn about her internship experience and her love for public health and bugs!
Where did you intern?
I interned this summer with the Twin Falls County Pest Abatement District. Our goal for the summer was to protect the health of people from diseases spread by mosquitoes and biting black flies using environmentally sound and integrated pest management abatement practices.
What were some of your projects or responsibilities?
I helped the county manage the risk of mosquito-borneWest Nile virus by finding mosquito breeding habitat sites and treating them, trapping adult mosquitoes, and doing lab bioassays to test for the virus. I surveyed sites all over the county, such as ponds, marshes, pastures, rivers, canals, streams, dog dishes and horse troughs — or anywhere water could be found — for mosquito and biting black fly larvae. When mosquito habitat was located, it was treated with a biological product to prevent adult mosquitoes from hatching and becoming a nuisance. As a result, I had the opportunity to see a lot of Twin Falls County!
Additionally, I maintained records on the presence of mosquitos in the county by trapping adults, identifying them to species, and testing potential carrier species for West Nile virus using bioassay tests in the abatement district lab.
Why were you drawn to this internship?
I love bugs and my interest is in public health and entomology! This allowed me to work with both things that I enjoy and gain new experiences.
What was the best part of your experience?
It was so fun to be able to work with bugs every day and learn more about these species and their behavior, as well as others that I encountered along the way.
I also gained some valuable experience learning how an abatement district operates and how to assist people in protecting themselves from getting West Nile virus.
What about your internship experience are you most proud of?
One of the highlights is that I helped put together a training conference for abatement professionals in the state of Idaho. It allowed me to coordinate with several different districts and experts in the field, from advertising the conference, inviting speakers, and I even had the opportunity to assist with some of the workshop presentations!
What advice do you have for students who are applying for or completing internships?
I highly recommend that you find something you are interested in and don’t be afraid to ask questions of people who may know and help direct you. Treat every opportunity like a learning experience! Sometimes you learn more from experiences that don’t go the way that you were expecting them to, so don’t be discouraged if things don’t go the way you planned! These experiences often springboard into other unseen opportunities.
Interested in learning about or applying for an internship? Learn more on the SPPH Internship Page!