When tropical storms devastated Belize in June, DU student Linda Baker had a chance to test her education in a real-life event.

Baker had just completed her first year in the International Disaster Psychology Program at the DU Graduate School of Professional Psychology. She is one of more than a dozen graduate-level psychology students who interned abroad during the summer as part of their masters degree program.

The interns expected to spend their time drafting the region’s first mental health disaster preparedness plan with the Pan American Health Organization. Instead, Baker and her fellow interns found themselves facing a disaster.

The interns arrived on June 16, two weeks after the floods.

Baker remembers one family’s dilemma. Rising water woke the family at 2 a.m. The father climbed a coconut tree with two of his youngest daughters on his back and another in his arms. The other family members sought shelter in similar ways.

Baker said most of the disaster victims were “incredibly” resilient.

“They just bounced back,” she said. “Part of the experience was being thrown into the midst of things and having to draw on resources I didn’t know I had.”

Some of those resources came from the course work she had completed in the previous year.

“It was an amazing experience,” said Alyson Welch, who interned with PAHO alongside Baker.

Halfway around the world, another intern had a similar positive experience.

Jo Vendl spent eight weeks in Bosnia working with orphans through Hope and Homes for Children. She assisted caseworkers dealing with orphans and troubled families.

Despite the language barrier, “little kids understood the bond I was trying to build even though there was hardly any communication.”

A mental hospital Vendl visited was low on resources and social institutions were way behind the times, said Vendl. Yet, local people were eager to improve their situation.

Vendl and Baker agreed that on their return to the U.S. they had trouble readjusting.

“People in that part of the world have nothing but they’re pretty happy,” Baker said. All the interns agreed they would do it again.

“It was a life-changing experience,” said Welch. “There are things that no classroom can prepare you for.

Vendl agreed: “This summer is something everyone should experience; it changed every one of us. Even if I never go back, knowing that those people exist makes a difference.”