As part of the 2016 Basic Reporting class students wrote about a student and their internships. Student journalists were able to follow students during a day of their internship while others found students with an independent study. The projects ranged from working in the coroner’s office to research about the effect of climate change on plants. This semester The Shield will run a series showcasing these stories.

Ayla Taylor has held the organs of drug overdose victims in her hands.

The junior criminal justice major learned from that experience that when someone dies of a drug overdose, their organs are heavier because of the liquids.

“I knew when I transferred (to the university) from the University of New Mexico I wanted to find an internship related to my criminal justice major,” Taylor said.

Taylor found an internship with the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s office.

Taylor said most internships were already filled when she came to USI.

“I had to push pretty hard to get this opportunity,” she said.

Taylor said everything she has seen so far is pretty much what she expected.

“I have gotten to pick up some livers; hold some brains,” Taylor said.

Taylor said she’s wanted to go into the criminal justice field since she was 12 years old. Her biggest inspirations were shows like “Blacklist” and “Person of Interest.”

Taylor said being able to intern has given her practical experience she never would have received sitting in a classroom.

“There are things you cannot learn in a classroom,” Taylor said. “People think the liver is the size of your fist, but it’s actually the size of your head. Doing your job hands on gives you the ability to ask about abnormalities.”

Taylor described a bullet that never exited the head of a victim, and a car accident that was so bad they did not even perform an autopsy.

“We just took tissue samples,” Taylor said.

Taylor said most of the cases have been drug overdoses.

“We call these ‘negative cases,’” she said. “That means there was no other cause of death than drugs.”

Deputy Coroner, Deb Smith, said she has been working at the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s office for 20 years.

“We are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Smith said. “We virtually never close.”

Smith said the main function of the interns is to observe the work being done in the office.

“Our hope is that whoever comes into the office wants to learn,” Smith said. “We hope the internship turns out to be all they hoped it would be.”

Smith said Taylor’s internship started out a little slow.

“When (Taylor) first came to intern here there wasn’t a lot going on,” Smith said. “Death is not really something you can predict or plan for. (Taylor) became more involved toward the end of the semester when cases started to pick up.”

Smith said Taylor began coming in after hours and participating in autopsies.

Taylor described her internship as the art of educated guessing.

“You never know what actually happened to a person,” Taylor said. “You can make guesses based on the evidence you see, but it’s basically a mystery. It’s fascinating.”