Internship Alum Interviews: Kira Kunzman

This post about Kira was one in a series in which interns in the Winter 2023 cohort interviewed past interns about how Concussion Alliance impacted their lives going forward. The below interview follows up with Kira, a senior psychology major at Carleton College. To learn more, see Kira Kunzman’s profile page. Sam Gossard, a sophomore psychology major at Carleton College, conducted this interview. See Sam Gossard’s profile.

*The transcript is lightly edited for clarity

Sam Gossard:

Hello everyone. I'm here today with Kira, who is a two-time intern for Concussion Alliance. Kira, would you like to introduce yourself?

Kira Kunzman:

Hi, I'm Kira. I am currently a senior at Carleton College. I'm a psychology major and cognitive science minor. I was part of Concussion Alliance in 2022 as a science writing intern, and then came back in 2023 as a science writing mentor and worked on the administrative side more.

Sam Gossard:

What skills did you learn during your 2022 and 2023 internships with Concussion Alliance, and how do they apply to the labs you've taken at Carleton and your career path?

Kira Kunzman:

2022 was definitely a really big learning experience for me. I didn't have any background in concussions other than knowing teammates who had had it before, but there was a lot of reading research and trying to figure out what it meant. I think I slowly evolved to understanding the research as I read it and really gained an understanding of what concussions are, how the treatment process works, and just how to be a better science writer and researcher. In 2023, it was really cool because I got to go back through a lot of the material that we had learned previously and find things in it that I hadn't previously seen before and I didn't know. The thing with research is that it's constantly changing, so you also get to learn a lot more of the new stuff that comes out between the years, and just the huge leap in where research was in 2022 and then where it was in 2023 was pretty cool.

Then, in terms of where I'm headed now, I know it is going to be something in the medical field. I think I want to be some kind of care provider. I'm not exactly sure what that'll look like yet, but Concussion Alliance gave me the opportunity to see how concussions fit into different aspects of the medical field on the research side, but also on the patient side and the provider side, and it gave me a really cool outlook on how that seeps into every single branch of the medical field.

Sam Gossard:

With everything that you've learned about concussions, did that impact your relationships with others at all? Did you become more knowledgeable about treatment options and how to expand education toward everyone who's experienced concussions?

Kira Kunzman:

Yeah. I think that beforehand, like I said, I didn't really know what concussions were. I knew that you had to rest and it put you out of practice and games for a while, but I wasn't really sure what the neurobiology behind that was and how the process looked for the the individual. I think after I went through the internship, particularly the first time, I gave a presentation to the soccer team at my college. It was an info session where I told them, this is what happens, this is how you recover to come back to practice, which the athletic trainer will walk you through if that ever happens. Here's how it looks to return to school, which is ultimately the more important part of the recovery because you can't return to play before you return to school.

Being a collegiate athlete means that you really have to put your academics first. So it was cool to see how everything that I had researched that summer was really put into play when it comes to students and trying to get them back into learning.

Sam Gossard:

What made you want to return for another internship and to write for the newsletter?

Kira Kunzman:

I think the biggest reason is just the community at Concussion Alliance. I think that it's a really cool place where you get to learn, but you also feel comfortable having conversations and engaging in discussions. And it was the first internship that I felt comfortable expressing my opinion. A lot of internships don't give you the opportunity to create your own materials and add to the organization in a meaningful way. And I think that Connor and Malayka do a really incredible job helping you learn, but also allowing you to teach them and to teach others.

Sam Gossard:

With the internship being over Zoom, were there enjoyable social activities and did you meet other externs at Concussion Alliance?

Kira Kunzman:

Yeah, I enjoyed our, I think it was called our Social Fridays. Those were really fun. I think that it was nice to have the PMs lead that, and working on the administrative side the second year, I was able to see that there is quite a bit of work that goes into thinking of a fun idea to get people engaged and to get people talking. There were people from all around the country, and I think that I was able to create really good relationships with people from different schools that I didn't know super well. If it ever comes to me wanting to get back in touch with one of them, I think it would be super easy because of the connections we created through the social hours and through just working together, especially in partnerships.

Sam Gossard:

So you said that Concussion Alliance put you in contact with other interns and externs. Were there any professionals that you were put in contact with through Connor and Malayka?

Kira Kunzman:

I think they do a really good job of giving you emails and giving you the opportunity to reach out to different researchers. Personally, I never followed up on that because research isn't really my goal as a career, but I know that if it was, it would be really easy to get in touch with those researchers because of the opportunities that you're given. I also worked with one of the researchers for our presentation at the IBIA (International Brain Injury Association) this past year, so that was pretty cool, and I got to hear from her directly and get direct feedback from her. I will say that they really get you engaged with the researchers and the clinicians who come to present throughout the externship or internship.

Sam Gossard:

Do you want to talk a little more about that presentation at IBIA?

Kira Kunzman:

So it's the International Brain Injury Association, and if I remember correctly, it's the largest group of brain research done internationally. And so they call a bunch of clinicians and researchers together, and basically, everyone just shares the work they've been doing. It's an incredible conference. You hear everything from mTBIs to very severe brain injuries, and it was a cool experience just to see how Concussion Alliance is coming alive on a more international scale and seeing the work that we've been doing is relevant to the research that we read about during the internship.

Sam Gossard:

And then just one last question. What drew you into working with Concussion Alliance in the first place?

Kira Kunzman:

I had a teammate who did it, and she really recommended it. It's also just super convenient for it to be remote. You can be anywhere for it, but at the same time, it doesn't feel remote. You don't feel disconnected in any way. It's also a really great learning opportunity. You feel like you're learning a ton throughout the process skills-wise, and then just knowledge-wise. You can see how that transfers to your college experience and learning.