Volunteers and Internships

Summer 2025

Ashlynn came to us from NC State. She had plenty of experience with animals from working at a local pet store. Her goal is to become a veterinarian when she graduates. She was wonderful with the animal care and was able to help with some of our summer camp and library presentations. 

Summer 2025

Brady did his UNCW senior year internship with us. He did a lot of summer camps programs during his time here and even took over teaching many of them. In between rainy days and camp classes, Brady was also super helpful in completing some construction projects outside.

Spring 2025

Nathan came to us as an intern in his senior year of UNCW. He had no reptile experience when he got here - but we never turn down a man that loves to clean! To this day the tortoises miss him. Nathan was a great help in the rescue and during one of our large festivals. 

Fall 2024

 Jacob was an intern from UNCW in his senior year. He didn't have much experience with reptiles but he quickly became an amazing volunteer. Jacob had a lot of intern hours to fulfill so he came out to the rescue each week for animal care duties and helped us with updating the outdoor tortoise houses. He also worked many of our fall festival events and did very well helping the public meet these awesome animals.  

Fall 2022

 Haley was our first virtual marketing intern. She attended Newberry College in South Carolina. She has a snake of her own and wanted to get her intern hours by helping us with our digital marketing. It was a learning experience for us because we'd never had any marketing help before but she helped us with social media, digital flyers, and more.  

Fall 2021

 Meghan was our intern through UNCW during her last semester of college. She got her degree in Environmental Science. She loves all animals and has quite a menagerie herself. She has continued to work with all types of animals back in her home town.  

Summer 2021

 Beth is our youngest intern so far. She was still in high school and came to us part-time over the summer. She has a lot of reptile knowledge and loved learning about all the animals here. She was an amazing help in our move into the new building by putting together new Zen enclosures and helping decorate them.  She is holding Rory one of our favorite rehab cases. Once Rory became healthy, Beth took her home to spoil her.  

Summer 2020

 Riley was going to NC State at the time of her internship, and ultimately wanted to be a veterinarian. She came to work every day ready to get projects done. She took great care of all the animals and still asks about them often. She even comes back often during her breaks from vet school. Riley has definitely become part of the Fresh Start family! Littlefoot, the adopted turtle in the photo, is now happily helping Riley study. 

Summer 2020

 Gabby attended ECU at the time of her internship, and ultimately planned to be an engineer. Her internship program allowed her to choose something she had a personal interest in. While she had never worked with exotics before she loves animals and enjoyed her time here. She never hesitated to jump in and help with an animal or get dirty working on a project outside.