Great work, Jeremy!  Jeremy Dixon just finished up a six-month social justice practicum at WSHS as part of his master’s program in Industrial and Organization Psychology at Adler University.  

For his project, Jeremy expanded our humane education programming to underserved children in our area. He worked with Christina Morrison, our Director of Development, and Carol Thygesen and Roberta Diehl, our Humane Education Managers, to develop a relationship with Metropolitan Family Services. Starting this Fall, WSHS will provide humane education to the families living in Metropolitan Family Services’ emergency shelter. Jeremy also wrote the documents that secured funding for this program from The Collins Family Heritage Foundation. 

Jeremy has an undergraduate degree in business administration, with a double minor in marketing and psychology, so while interning at WSHS, Jeremy joined our Marketing Advisory Group.  Working with this group, he contributed to our corporate partnership program, our long-term loveable campaign, our pop-up merchandise store, and our marketing brochures. Jeremy also put in hours of online research to find financial resources for pet owners in need. His research is incorporated into a comprehensive document available on our website. 

Jeremy was not anticipating extensive one-on-one time with the animals during his internship until he offered to foster our three Coffee Shop puppies, Dunkin, Peet and Caribou. Jeremy’s coonhound mix Bella was the perfect puppy nanny, showing the foster puppies the ropes of being a family dog.  Bella did such a good job that Caribou ending up staying, joining Bella and 10-year-old chocolate lab and WSHS alum Zeva in the Dixon family. Jeremy loved every bit of his three months with the puppies. Being able to watch the puppies learn and grow during this critical stage in their development was worth the hard work. 

We have appreciated all that Jeremy has done for WSHS and our community!  Jeremy is grateful for the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of animals and individuals in the Downers Grove area.  The best news is that Jeremy is not going anywhere; he will continue to volunteer with WSHS!  Jeremy says, “It is extremely motivating to have people around you with the same goal in mind of making a lasting impact on the lives of animals.”  He’s thrilled to be working with other volunteers who share the same passion that he has for animal welfare.