HealthyCHILD Student Interns

We offers a variety of training opportunities for both master’s and doctoral students. Please reach out to Dr. Larson directly at tracy.larson@pitt.edu to learn more about these exciting studnet training opportunities.

 
 
Ruoyun Zheng, MA

 

Ruoyun Zheng, MA, is currently studying as a third-year graduate student at University of Pittsburgh in the School of Education pursing her doctoral degree in Social and Comparative Analysis in Education. Ruoyunearned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature in China. During this time, Ruoyun worked part time as an English teacher and a translator. She also joined in an afterschool program, where she offered study aid to primary students inthe local community. In 2016, Ruoyun started her master’s study at UNC, majoring in International Education. Besides learning hard at school, she also volunteered in a Chinese-English bilingual kindergarten classroom at a local elementary school, where she helped with many classroom activities, such as reading stories to students. After completing her study at UNC, Ruoyun became a preschool teacher at Kiddie Academy. This year-long job aroused her interest in learning more in the field of education. After careful consideration, Ruoyun decided to go back to school and started her doctoral study.Throughout Ruoyun’s two years in Pittsburgh, she enjoyed taking graduate courses centering on various educational issues. Meanwhile, she continued to work with youngchildren through her on-campus job at The University Child Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh (UCDC).In her spare time, Ruoyun enjoys cooking, painting, and video-chatting with her families and friends in China. She could not be more excited to continue her journey while being a HealthyCHILD intern and continuing to pursue her career in early childhood education and development.

 

Sophie Shah, B.S.

Sophie Shah, B.S., is a Second-Year student in the University of Pittsburgh School of Education’s Applied Developmental Psychology (ADP) Masters’ Program. Shah graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor's degree in Psychology in April 2020, along with a minor in Music. During the summers early in her college experience, Shah worked at a summer camp in Rosemont, Pennsylvania called Camp Pegasus, which exists to serve children with social and emotional challenges in a therapeutic day-camp setting. She worked as a bunk counselor for a group of approximately 6 children aged 6-8. In December of 2017, she also began working at the University of Pittsburgh’s Early Social Development Lab as a Research Assistant. She enjoyed participating in all parts of the research process, including participant recruitment, data collection, and data entry.

Her interest in Developmental Psychology had grown throughout her years in college, and Shah thus decided to pursue a Masters’ Degree in ADP, as well as a certification in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), after graduation. Toward the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, Shah began an internship at HealthyCHILD, an initiative at the University of Pittsburgh that provides mental, emotional, and behavioral health care to children in the greater Pittsburgh region through consultation and a tiered-model approach to education. 

Outside the classroom, Shah enjoys spending time hiking, jogging, and songwriting with her piano and guitar. She is so thankful to be part of the HealthyCHILD team and can’t wait to get started helping children in need in her community. 

 

Shana DeVlieger, Ed. M.

Shana is a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education studying applied developmental psychology with a minor in research methodology. She is committed to supporting the next generation of early childhood educators and their future students through practice-based pre-service teacher education experiences that foster the perspectives, knowledge, and skills needed to enact responsive and racially equitable pedagogy. Employing mixed methods approaches that amplify the voices of teachers-to-be, she studies how pre-service experiences contribute to beliefs about supporting young children facing trauma and adversity. She is also interested in leveraging interdisciplinary theory and ecologically valid measurement to advance teacher education research. The ultimate aim of her work is to inform optimal teacher education practice and policy, in order to promote educator well-being, high quality teacher-child relationships, and positive developmental outcomes for children. Prior to doctoral studies,she worked as a public elementary school teacher (1st, 2nd, and 4thgrade), early childhood teacher educator, and consultant for a district-wide multi-tiered trauma-sensitive Schools intervention. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from the Universityof Southern California and a Master of Arts in Education with an emphasis in human development and psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

 

Katelyn Smiles, B.S.

Katelyn Smiles, B.S., is currently a first-yearmaster’sstudent at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. She is pursuing her first master’sdegree in Applied Developmental Psychology with a specialization in Children with Special Healthcare Needs and Child Life. She received her bachelor’sdegree at the University of Pittsburgh in Psychology with a minor in Chemistry. In the summers of 2018 and 2019 she worked at a pediatric sports camp at Franciscans Children’s Hospital in Boston, where she taught children ages 4-22 how to play soccer, baseball, and ride a bike. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, playing videogames, and walking her dog. As a Pittsburgh native, she is excited to be working with HealthyCHILD and giving back to the communities she grew up in at Pittsburgh Public Schools.


Jamie Cranmer, BA
 

Jamie Cranmer is a second-year graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh working towards her Master’s in Applied Developmental Psychology as well as a certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis. She graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a minor in Health and Wellbeing. While in Virginia, Jamie worked as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. During her undergraduate career, Jamie was an avid volunteer and accumulated over 2000 combined hours of experience as a UVA hospital volunteer, a Big with Big Brothers Big Sisters, a crisis line operator, a food pantry volunteer, and an upper elementary math and science tutor. During her first year, Jamie worked as a research assistant on a social-emotional learning project at The Pace School. Currently, she is an intern at the Office of Child Development with HealthyCHILD and a practicum student at The Children’s Institute. Jamie is excited about learning more about other fields who work with children and how best to collaborate with them.

 

Haya Abdellatif, M. Ed., M. Sc

Haya Abdellatif is, currently, a third-year Ph.D. student in the Urban Special Education Scholars Program at the University of Pittsburgh. She has a master’s degree in Special Education and is certified to teach Secondary English Language Arts and Secondary Special Education. She also completed a master’s degree in counseling psychology during which she interned for a year as a counselor for elementary level students with emotional and behavioral disorders in a special education school. In addition to her academic and professional experiences, Haya has had numerous volunteer experiences co-leading psychoeducation groups to help students, ranging in age from 9 to 16 years, overcome social, behavioral, and emotional difficulties.

Over time, Haya has developed a keen interest in examining the influence that contextual conditions have on the experiences of students with emotional and behavioral difficulties in schools and in their communities. She is currently leading a research study which looks at special education teachers’ experiences of stress and coping to help identify and address factors that might help special education teachers commit longer to their jobs and deliver high quality instruction and services to special education students. For her next research project, Haya plans to examine school engagement of families of students with or are at risk for disabilities and who are from marginalized communities. She hopes that this study will help her identify barriers that keep marginalized families from engaging fully with their schools. The goal of this study will be to inform implications on how schools can address these barriers so they can become more accessible and engaging to all families.

In her free time, Haya likes to meditate, watch travel vlogs, and read world literature. Whenever she has a bit more time (and when the weather is nice) she enjoys going on long hikes with her husband and two miniature Schnauzers.  

 

Gigi Stephens, BS

Gigi Stephens, BS, is currently a first-year graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh’s Applied Developmental Psychology program with a concentration in Behavioral Health in Schools and Communities. Stephens was selected to be a part of the Applied Developmental Psychology’s Applied in Five program and started taking graduate courses in her final undergraduate year to be able to complete her Master’s in Science degree the following Spring in 2021. Stephens completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2020 with minors in Linguistics and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. During her undergraduate education, she interned at Family Resources Therapeutic Preschool from 2019-2020 working with children aged 3-6 which prompted her to further her education in developmental psychology.Outside of academics, Stephens is a member of the Pitt Women’s Rugby team and enjoys reading and watching movies with friends. She is excited to be a part of the HealthyCHILD team this year to continue working with children in schools and furthering her career in behavioral health.

 

Xinrui Huang, BS

Xinrui Huang, BS, is currently studying as a second-year graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, pursuing her first master's degree in Social Work with a concentration in Mental Health. Huang completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Michigan State University. During her undergraduate education, she spent holiday seasons at the mental health department in a hospital working with all ages and expanding her developmental knowledge. After graduation, she became a research assistant at a Child Emotion Lab at Michigan State University and developed skills of analyzing children's emotions. After leaving the lab, she worked at a family therapy center working with parents and children in Beijing. Throughout Huang’s first year in Pittsburgh, sheenjoyed interning at Community Living and Support Services, helping people of disabilities get involved in the community. It was during this time she learned the importanceofadvocating and supportingminority people.In her spare time, Huang learns video editing with Adobe Premiere. She is an equestrian and enjoys attending horse shows. She also enjoys scuba diving, sky diving, and rock climbing. She looks forward to her future as a licensed professional social worker and a certified Mental Health specialist.

 
Lauren Beatty, B.S.
 
Lauren Beatty received her Bachelor of Science in May 2019 from East Stroudsburg University, majoring in Rehabilitation and Human Services; she had also completed a minor in psychology. Currently, she is working towards getting a Masters in Social Workat the University of Pittsburgh. Lauren has recently just become an intern for The Office of Child Development’s HealthyChild program.
 
While completing her undergraduate degree Laurenwas an assistant teacher at Childtowne Montessori School working with children throughout the ages of toddler, pre-k and kindergarten. Since moving to Pittsburgh, she has worked at Sarah Heinz house as a camp counselor for children in grades 1 and 2. She also had the opportunity to internalongside Pittsburgh students, from ages 6-14 at Friendship Academy, being a classroom therapist to serve children that needed help with their emotional and behavioral needs.Recently, in May 2019 she obtained a job with UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital as a Milieu therapist working on the general adult floor.
 
Lauren’s interests lie in the mental health field and would love to get a job working with children with emotional, mental, and behavioral needs as a mental health therapist.She is excited to start working with HealthyChild to gainmore knowledge and experience working with children to help prepare her for her future goals. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, playing the guitar, baking, taking walks alongside the water downtown and spending time with her family and friends.
 
Tyler Foxwell, M.S.
 
Tyler Foxwellrecently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s Applied Developmental Psychology master’s degree program, with a concentration in Behavioral Health in Schools and Communities. He also completed an internship with the LEND program, in which he managed a five-person multidisciplinary team in a family-centered clinic for children and youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities. He graduated with a Biology BS from Wheaton College in 2008 and has been working in cancer and digestive disease research sincethen, authoring many articles. Tyler has been working with and caring for children and people with disabilities in his free time, volunteering at UPMC Children’s Hospital 2013-2016, being the caretaker for a severely intellectually disabled man, and volunteering with children in other miscellaneous contexts.Tyler has a strong background in the sciences and medicine and a calling to work with children, especially those with disabilities and those in need of behavioral support. His role with HealthyCHILD presents an excellent way of combining these aptitudes into a vocation. He looks forward to honing his skills and immersing himself in the classroom with HealthyCHILD. If you would like to talk about human evolution, cosmology, or Japan, or play with Legos, please approach him!
The child is in me still, and sometimes not so still.—Fred Rogers
 
 
 
 
 
Taylor Crosby, B.A.
 
Taylor Crosby, B.S. received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Strategic Communication, from St. Cloud State University in May of 2018. She is currently working towards her Master of Science Degree in Applied Developmental Psychology (ADP) with a specialization in Behavioral Healthin Schools and Communities. Taylor will be working with the Office of Child Development in the HealthyCHILD program as a Developmental Health Consultant Intern. Upon graduation Taylor accepted a job with a professionalsports team, working in Corporate Sales.Despite the positive and insightful experience. Taylor’s passion for working with children and helping, led her back to school with thegoal of developing programs that better serve kids’ individual experiences. With 10+ years of involvement on and working with a team. Taylor is keen to listen, learn and develop trusting relationships. Her experience working in camps and sports will lend a new insight on how development can be achieved.
 
 
Hannah Kelly, B.S.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

2021-2022

 

Nora Smith
Paige Hocycko
Sherlene Francisco
Karl Jancart
Bing Xu
Kaylyn Zola
Akari Fujino
Madeline Ginsberg
Heather Roesinger
Joung Yon Choi
 
2020-2021
Jamie Kranmer
Gigi Stephens
Sophie Shaw
Breanna Phillips
Heather Roesinger
Shana Devlieger
Xinrui Zheng

 

2019-2020

 

Dana Duncombe
Moesha Godwin
Kelley Gavel
Justine Barry
Heather Roesinger

2018-19
Samantha Couto
Jackie Micklage
Ruchira Ragavan
Heather Roesinger
Claire Furman

2017-18
Gabriella McCardell
Rysa Gagliano
Brandon Maun
Jacky Welage
Cassie Bridgeman
Rachel Lepage

2016-2017
Samantha Lee
Carly Valach
Robin McNeal
Katelyn Ratliff
Kristin Duns
Chelsea Enright
Amy Lewis

2015-2016
Lauren Beatty
Tyler Foxwell
Hannah Kelley
Cydney Quinn
 
2014-2015
Taylour Kimmel
Katy Borden
Kelley Keenan
Margaret Clingan
Sarah Gamble
Mandy Graft
Montia Brock
Suzannah Chatlos
CJ Fleischmann
 
2013-14
Julie Buzgon
Paulette Cantwell
Roxanne Harris
Daniel Wells
Christopher Wesling, Jr.
Caroline Zieth

2012-2013
Jackie Petruzzi
Melanie Moore
Laura Stephens
Elena Fedorocsko
Jenna Wooderek
Chelsea Pallatino
Sumeyye Esra Koten-Guclu
Jao Whai Seo
Elieen McKeating-Esterle