Taylor Students Find Purpose Through Fehribach Center Summer Internship

Taylor students Falon Terry ’27 and Nate Taylor ’28 walked away from their summer internships with more than just professional experience. Through the Gregory S. Fehribach Center, they gained greater clarity about their futures, realizing that accessible workplaces exist.

Summer Internship

Terry and Taylor are visually impaired and had questions about finding summer internships able to accommodate their needs. Through their connection with Dr. Scott Barrett, Assistant Director of Taylor’s Academic Enrichment Center (AEC) and Coordinator of Accessibility & Disability Resources, both students connected with the Fehribach Center and its summer internship program.

The Fehribach Center, based within Eskenazi Health, connects students with disabilities to summer internships where they can thrive. The center works to provide accessible environments for students with disabilities and allows them to freely explore different careers and develop professional skills.

For Terry, the opportunity helped her decide what career she wanted to pursue in her future. Before the internship, Terry wasn't sure where she wanted to go after completing her degree in Psychology. However, after spending the summer as an adjustment counseling intern with BOSMA Enterprises, she gained a clearer sense of direction.

BOSMA provides vision rehabilitation services to people who have experienced vision loss. During her internship, Terry had the opportunity to observe counseling sessions and work with clients as they navigated the mental and emotional challenge that comes with vision loss.

Terry was touched by this work and is now planning to pursue her master’s degree in social work and explore clinical rehabilitation counseling programs. “The internship completely changed the trajectory of what I wanted to do,” Terry said.

She also experienced a professional environment in which she was seen and cared for. “I felt very at home during my internship,” she said.

For Taylor, the internship provided a different form of career exploration. He was tasked with researching different businesses, connecting with professionals, and writing reports based on all the information gathered. Taylor shared that with every conversation, he gained tangible communication skills that will benefit him both personally and professionally throughout the rest of his life.

Taylor’s internship revealed to him that a great number of things are accessible to him. “This opportunity provides people with disabilities the understanding that life outside of the educational system is possible,” Taylor said. “It shows them that they can do the same things in the workplace as well. They are not alone.”

Taylor also shared that the experience helped him recognize his interest in leadership and desire to serve. He is currently serving as a Discipleship Assistant at Taylor and credits the internship for giving him greater confidence in the position.

Academic Enrichment Center

Both Terry and Taylor expressed gratitude for Dr. Barrett and the AEC, for helping them find their respective internships through the Fehribach Center. “I wouldn’t have found the internship if not for him mentioning it,” Terry said.

The AEC provides support to students with disabilities and seeks to provide them with equal access to education as well as a fulfilling college experience. For Taylor, one particularly meaningful example of support came through his enrollment in a math course. Because visual graphics can be difficult to access, the university purchased a Braille embosser that could convert the written materials into Braille so that Taylor could access the worksheets.

For both students, accessibility has meant more than providing accommodations. Their experiences at Taylor and with the Fehribach Center have emphasized the importance of being seen as whole people with professional aspirations, talents, and contributions.

Through their summer internships, both students gained greater confidence in who they are and who they want to become.