The same day Mount Saint Mary College’s Fall 2020 semester began, Jacquelene McClorey of Chester, N.Y., a Psychology major, also started her internship at the Orange County Youth Bureau.
On Monday, August 24, McClorey joined the Youth Bureau team. She’s helping to expand the bureau’s initiatives through focusing on her potential career interests: veterans and military families, children, and suicide prevention. She will also assist with the Youth Bureau’s coordination of the Orange County Workforce Prep Program, which will develop virtual job readiness training resources for schools and help youths to volunteer in the emergency response field.
She credits Robin Rosenberg of the Mount’s Career Center with helping her to obtain the internship.
Though she has only been there a few days, McClorey is already working on important projects for the bureau. “This internship is largely about networking, getting involved with other departments, and seeing how we can help each other in order to help children [and] veterans,” she explained. “It’s great.”
Youth Bureau Executive Director Rachel Wilson, McClorey’s supervisor, says that her intern is off to an excellent start.
“She is excited to learn about so many services that she never knew about,” said Wilson. “She has also been given the opportunity to be trained to join the team of facilitators to deliver Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings.”
McClorey began her college journey in 2013 at another institution, but put her studies on hold to join the United States Marine Corps, where she worked as a Motor Transport Maintenance Technician for several years. When it came time to continue her education at a new college, the Mount was her first choice.
“My mother, Andrea Ricciardi, graduated from the Mount in 2010 for psychology and always talked about what a phenomenal program they had,” McClorey explained. “It was easy to decide where to go.”
Wilson, a 1997 graduate of the Mount herself, is thankful for her time pursuing a dual BA in Psychology and Human Services at the college.
“It is truly an honor to be able to pass along life’s lessons to help students like Jacquelene as they navigate their educational and career paths,” said Wilson. “They help to keep us more-seasoned professionals refreshed as we see things through their eyes and are reminded how we ended up doing our work’s mission, and the impact we’ve made over the years.”
Wilson gave back to her alma mater recently when she served as the guest speaker at the 25th anniversary induction ceremony of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology. Having served as the Mount chapter’s first president, she was excited to reconnect with her mentors, Psychology professors Paul Schwartz, Rae Fallon, and Lawrence T. Force.
After she completes college at the Mount, McClorey’s goal is to become a licensed mental health counselor and work with active duty military members and veterans.
“My passions are work involving military/veterans and children,” she explained. “I want to help as many people as possible and I do want to do a lot involving those groups. My goal is to have my own practice one day.”