Internship Alum Interview: Zachary Napora

Dec 15

This post is part of a series of interviews with past interns about how Concussion Alliance impacted their lives going forward. This interview follows up with Zachary Napora, who is currently a junior neuroscience major at the College of Wooster. To learn more, see Zachary Napora’s profile page. This interview was conducted by Ella Gullickson, a sophomore history major at Carleton College, as part of her December 2023 internship. See Ella’s profile.

Zach Napora:

My name's Zach Napora. I'm a junior at the College of Wooster. I play soccer there. I'm a neuroscience major and I was an intern for Concussion Alliance over the summer.

Ella Gullickson:

That's super cool. What drew you into Concussion Alliance?

Zach Napora:

So I had a unique way of finding Concussion Alliance, where I found it through the patient side where I had a long-term concussion, was looking for answers and just stumbled upon the website and got a lot of help from it. And so when I was recovered, for some reason I was back on the website, saw they had an internship program and applied from there.

Ella Gullickson:

That's super cool. It's really cool to hear that you found it so helpful that you wanted to continue creating more resources. What were some highlights of your Concussion Alliance internship experience?

Zach Napora:

I would definitely say getting to work on the webpage. Me and a partner worked on the athletic training webpage and just having a big long-term project was really cool. And then getting to interview all the people we got to interview for it was cool. And then just seeing it all come together and actually going up on the website, it was very rewarding.

Ella Gullickson:

That's really cool. Did you interview athletic trainers?

Zach Napora:

Yeah. I forget his name, but we interviewed the head of athletic trainers, one of those organizations. So he had a lot of information. [Zach and his intern team interviewed Jeb Davis, President of the Colorado Athletic Trainers Association.]

Ella Gullickson:

Wow, that's really cool. Do you find that you use that athletic trainers resource a lot while playing soccer?

Zach Napora:

I wouldn't say I use it a lot. Just working on it was eye-opening in that there's such a range of knowledge with athletic trainers when it comes to concussions, so it exposed me to the fact that the athletic trainer at my school might not know a whole lot as opposed to some of the experts in concussions and athletic training. So I would say I've definitely used the information I gained from that project more than I've used the actual web page.

Ella Gullickson:

That makes sense. How, if at all, did Concussion Alliance influence your plans for the future?

Zach Napora:

I think it's influenced it a lot. I want to continue in this brain injury realm. My college has a big senior project, and so I'm directing that project to a similar style as Concussion Alliance. So I definitely would say it's impacted me.

Ella Gullickson:

That's really cool. Were you interested in neuroscience before you started your internship at Concussion Alliance, or was it sort of fueled?

Zach Napora:

A bit of both. So I was actually a psychology major coming into that summer, and then while I was working at the Concussion Alliance, I was doing an online chemistry class so I could switch over to neuroscience. So as soon as I got to school in the fall, I switched over. So I would say it was a combo of just my brain injury getting me more involved in neuroscience and then also just the Concussion Alliance for sure.

Ella Gullickson:

That's really cool. Has Concussion Alliance connected you with other interns or professionals since your internship?

Zach Napora:

I think it definitely has. Our cohort was very close, I would say, even though it was all Zoom. We had a bunch of Carleton women's soccer players, so I was following their season a little bit just because I was curious, and it seemed like they did really well, so that was cool.

Ella Gullickson:

That's awesome. They play in the field right below my dorm, so I see them from an aerial view, and they did really well. That's really cool. How did the internship help you more broadly?

Zach Napora:

I would say just like all the things you said before, you asked about. I would say it's definitely strengthened my interest in brain injury research and neuroscience. And then the other thing I did was all the guest speakers were really interesting and I learned a lot about different segments of the population that are underserved when it comes to brain injuries. So especially prison populations and domestic abuse cases, stuff like that. So that was just stuff I never would've been exposed to.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, that's really interesting. Also, on your webpage, I read that there's a discrepancy in care for underfunded schools or non-Title 1 schools, so that minorities are underserved when it comes to athletic training, and then the outcomes of their recovery are different. I thought that was really interesting.

Zach Napora:

Yeah. That's a big problem.

Ella Gullickson:

What did you learn about concussions through the internship? Sorry. Did what you learned about concussions through the internship impact your relationship with others?

Zach Napora:

Ooh, that's an interesting question.

Ella Gullickson:

No problem.

Zach Napora:

... About concussions. I can give you an example. So for my soccer team, there was one instance where in the first half, one of our players got hit in the head. It was right next to me, and I thought it was a pretty hard impact, but he was saying he was fine, whatever. So he ended up going back in the game, and I could tell his balance was sort of off, so I told our coach; he got pulled out, and it turned out he had a concussion. So I think it's just kind of that thing, being an advocate on your campus is something that I think we all, like all of the interns, gained from the internship. Yeah.

Ella Gullickson:

Nice. So you said you experienced a concussion. What link on the website specifically helped you besides, you said it was vestibular that helped you understand your concussion better?

Zach Napora:

I think it was a combo of different ones. I definitely looked at the vestibular page. I definitely looked at the college student-specific page because that's what I was. I think I looked at the marijuana concussion one. I remember just browsing, and my takeaway was it was just nice to have everything succinct and together, all the information, and it seemed like very reliable stuff.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, right at your fingertips. I think that's helpful because it's demoralizing to have to go and seek out so many different pieces of information.

Zach Napora:

Yeah, definitely.

Ella Gullickson:

Did using the site influence your decision to apply for the internship? You said that you saw the internship on the website. Was it just because the website had helped you so much that you were like, yeah, I want to help out with the internship?

Zach Napora:

Yeah. That's exactly right. I don't think I would've found it without my previous experience using the website and I wouldn't have been as motivated to apply for sure.

Ella Gullickson:

That makes sense. How did your internship experience at Concussion Alliance change your perspective on your concussion experience?

Zach Napora:

It was very cool to talk with other people who, a lot of our group, had gone through similar experiences with a longer-term concussion. And then I remember I had one one-on-one meeting with Conor because it was pretty close to... My internship was fairly recent from my head injury, so it was like the exposure to all the information was... Basically, me and Conor had a one-on-one meeting, and just him telling his story was very cool 'cause it just mirrored mine in a lot of ways. So I think just having that group with a lot of us with a shared experience was very beneficial.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, I've experienced that myself. It's interesting because I had all my concussions from soccer too, and I didn't see the website, so I didn't know that those resources were available. But I would say that was a large part of the reason I wanted to do the internship was because of my persistent symptoms and my continuing to deal with those things. I wanted to help others like you.