Psychology

Description of the video:

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The best thing about working with stingrays
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is being able to feed them.
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Sometimes we're able to feed them in the tank while we're diving...
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Meet Katie. She's a psychology major who
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dreams of being a dolphin trainer.
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Currently, she's volunteering and interning at the Indianapolis Zoo,
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where she takes care of animals like these stingrays.
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We brought our intern, Alexis Nash with us to find the connection
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between psychology and training.
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Why did you choose psychology to work with animals?
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Well, I didn't know psychology had anything to do with
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training animals at first.
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And so I actually went to a dolphin show and I asked one of the trainers,
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'How do I do what you do?'
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She said, ' Just get a four year degree in psychology.'
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It was in that first semester I talked to Dr. Downey about
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wanting to do this.
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This was new to me...
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So we met up with Dr. Downey, and asked
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how a landlocked psychology program
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is working to help out a student with a marine mammal dream.
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I have colleagues that understand the principles but don't have any direct experience
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with that
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so a lot of credit has to go to Katie for really
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challenging us to make
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us support her and make us prepare her
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in the best way that we could.
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How has Dr. Downey helped you through this entire process?
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She's been amazing. She's helped me from the start. She told me
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I'd have to wait a couple years before I could do the internship
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and I'd have to take some courses beforehand in psychology.
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She's just been there for me from day one
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there for me. And that's what's great about her she cares so much
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about her students.
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We asked Dr. Downey to breakdown what
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kind of a student Katie represents.
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They see themselves as "Here's what I am, here's what I'm good at, here are the things
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I'm not good at,
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and that's just the end of the story. I'm always going to be that way."
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Katie didn't come in like that. Katie came in
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with a growth mindset that says, "Here are the thing's I think I'm good at so far
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but I think I can change and improve
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if I put some work into it."
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Now back at the Indy Zoo,
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Alexis asked her supervisor, Tamera King, how
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Katie's education will help.
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It will help with the training and the behavior
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because it's not only just caring for them, you have to
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recognize their behavior and make sure they're
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healthy and not acting out.
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You basically have to learn the animal.
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You just can't throw them fish or clean up after them.
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So that will definitely help her.
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If there's some room for an educator to feel some pride,
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that's what I feel pride about. Its knowing students leave us
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better people, well-equipped to make the world better.
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That's what we want.
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So Alexis, any final questions for Katie?
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What do you want people to know about the zoo and about your experience?
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I want people to know how much of an amazing experience it is
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to work at the zoo, work with the staff, work with the animals in particular.
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not let people get to do something like this you see in the blast when you're on
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the other side
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and I'm oranges want it
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worth it and I think that's what makes unit
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here although much more
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of
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