2024 Interns

Jack is an ASTA intern and Adventure Camp assistant. He is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in psychology at Rice University. He is particularly interested in adolescent development, motivation, and social psychology and hopes to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist. His work in psychology includes research at the Adult Skills and Knowledge Lab (ASK) Lab where he helped to run a project to measure proficiency and progression of employee learning. For the past year, he has been mentoring 30+ refugee students to better adapt to life in the United States and help them navigate academic, social-emotional, and civil issues. On campus, he is both a member of the neuroscience club and an orientation week advisor. Jack is looking forward to following the adventure camp’s mission and to help these children grow stronger every day!

Kayla Tracey is a rising senior at Michigan State University majoring in Psychology with a minor in Cognitive Science. At Michigan State, Kayla is a student volunteer with the Center for Survivors where she provides crisis intervention services over hotline, crisis chat, and in person crisis advocacy. Additionally, this fall, Kayla will be stepping into the role of President for the Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention student organization. Kayla has been involved in research since her freshman year. She is currently an Undergraduate Research Assistant and working in the ARISE lab and in the Health and Risk Communication Center. In the ARISE lab she is an active participant on projects analyzing the sociocultural influences on body image, weight bias, and intuitive eating and attempting to increase equity in eating disorder research and treatment. In the HRCC Kayla works on projects that attempt to reduce institutional carbon output by means of reducing water consumption. Kayla is also a student member of the Social Science Scholars program and the Women’s Leadership Institute student cohort. Kayla’s involvement in research and volunteering has led to her interest in improving the research-practice gap that she has learned about in her psychology studies. She hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in order to continue performing research to inform evidence-based interventions for children and adolescent populations. Kayla is grateful for the opportunity to intern at ATSA because of the first-hand experience in a clinical setting and to learn more about working with pediatric populations dealing with anxiety. She is excited to see the children at Adventure Camp use their Brave and work toward their goal!

Raquel Baptiste is a rising junior at Berea College and is pursing a major in psychology with a minor in Biology. At Berea College she has worked as a lab assistant for going on three years now where she has assisted in a research study focused on learning scientific approaches to nutritional and reproductive management. Additionally in her Lab assistant position she also has past experience observing, learning and understanding the non-verbal communications of animals used in lab courses and research studies as well as the non-verbal communications of students in lab courses she assisted in. Last summer she served as an academic mentor as well as a teaching assistant in a camp aimed at acquainting incoming freshmen to college life. She takes great interest in understanding the emotional and neurological aspects that affect individual behavior and plans to put that interest to use in the field of clinical or neuropsychology someday. She is most excited for learning how selective mutism affects the brain and individual functioning and helping the kids use their brave at adventure camp!

Azka is a rising senior at University of Southern California, majoring in Psychology. She is an ATSA intern and an Adventure camp assistant this summer. She has been particularly interested in child development and disorders, such as ADHD, dyslexia, and autism and how that impacts the trajectory of their future. She is also interested in the taboo around mental health and improving the accessibility of it, especially in countries where it is not as common, such as Pakistan. For the past year Azka has been working as a Research Assistant at the Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI). She has worked on projects that investigate music and its relation to memory and nostalgia. She hopes to pursue a career in clinical psychology and master in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is very excited to be able to watch children get control over their fears.

Brooke Theis is a rising senior at Tulane University majoring in psychology and minoring in social work. Working toward her Bachelor of Science, Brooke manages the impressive role of being a Division I athlete on the Tulane Women’s Tennis team along with serving as an active member in the International Honor Society in Psychology. As a lifelong player, she has found joy in using her 15+ years of skills to teach tennis and mentor children in her local community along with kids in underprivileged neighborhoods throughout Chicago. These experiences inspired her enthusiasm in psychology, particularly in learning science based interventions to encourage emotional well-being. In 2023, Brooke earned the opportunity to serve as a kindergarten assistant teacher in New Orleans. She loved working with the kids and forming meaningful relationships with children across all backgrounds. Through this unique position, Brooke performed academic assessments, helped students develop phonemic awareness, and taught letter recognition skills. In addition, Brooke is an active volunteer in Feed my Starving Children, St. Michael's Special School, and her church. She also loves to feed and take care of street cats and volunteers in TNR to help local animal organizations. In the future, Brooke hopes to earn her Masters or PhD in school or clinical psychology. She is extremely excited and grateful to be an intern at ATSA, and cannot wait to help children this summer use their brave!