Mackenzie Goltz has spent her summer working primarily with birds, opossums, and raccoons at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife in Florida.

Goltz featured on WFTX working with pelican

Throughout the summer, we're checking in with several returning student-athletes who are partaking in unique experiences relating to student research or internships. Our second profile highlights Mackenzie Goltz, a junior defender from the women's soccer team.

Goltz's internship has taken the biology major to Sanibel, Fla., where the Advising, Planning, and Experiential Learning (APEX) Fellow is working at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW), a leading teaching hospital and visitor education center dedicated to saving wildlife through state-of-the-art veterinary care, research, education, and conservation medicine. The clinic cares for approximately 3,500 wildlife patients each year spanning over 200 species.

Goltz's primary duties center around the daily treatment of young animals, in particular birds, opossums, and raccoons. As a student extern, Goltz's key tasks range from feedings and cleanings, administering medicines, and checking bandages and wounds. If the animals need blood drawn or x-rays, Goltz helps set them up, and oftentimes does the blood draws herself.

"Patients can have anywhere from two to six treatments over the course of the day, depending on if they need to be tube fed and their age," explained Goltz. "Babies are much more demanding in terms of the number of feeds, enrichment, and monitoring hydration."

While not in the treatment rooms, Goltz assists with surgeries, procedures, and processing the clinic's new intakes.

Outside of caring for young animals, CROW regularly treats sea turtles with toxic algal blooms, more commonly known as red tide. This causes sea turtles to float on the surface of the water, making them easy prey, or wash up on their backs on beaches. The clinic currently has five sea turtles in its care, and Goltz assists with blood draws, which are used to monitor the toxin levels.

"This data is huge for research on red tide and the human impact on the environment," said Goltz. "It also serves as a great platform for us to get residents and visitors interested in the wildlife and stewardship."

Goltz, who knew "she wanted to work with wildlife for her internship," chose CROW over two other clinics, mainly due to the opportunity to work with different species than those common to rehabilitation facilities in the Midwest. At present, CROW has seven externs and fellows, including two already in veterinary school.

"One of the amazing things about CROW is that every extern is treated equally," shared Goltz. "I have just as many opportunities and learning experiences as a person in veterinary school. The other students are all incredibly generous in sharing their knowledge."

Goltz hopes to apply the knowledge gained from her time at CROW in her future studies at the College noting, "I am interested in both veterinary medicine and conservation, so I would love my independent study to be on conservation of some large animal."

About APEX Fellowships

APEX Fellowships offer structure and mentored support to students engaged in unpaid summer internships or vocational exploration programs of at least six weeks (or at least 225 hours) in duration. The fellowship includes funding, a learning contract, regular structured reflection, final reflective assignment and evaluation, on-campus reporting, and ongoing staff support. This summer, the College's experiential learning team funded 59 such fellowships. To learn more about the College's APEX Fellowship program, visit https://www.wooster.edu/academics/apex/experiential/apex-fellowships/.