Graduate School-Third Year Timeline

Fall Semester

  • Elected Secretary of the Health and Wellness Committee of the Asian Festival
  • Began serving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the College of Public Health
  • Began serving as a Graduate Research Assistant for Dr. Julianna Nemeth
  • Presented “The Write Stuff,” a journaling and writing-based workshop
  • Won the Karen H. Evans Memorial Scholarship from Ohio Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE)
  • Presented “Mental Health Stigma: What it is and how do we handle it” breakout session at the 8th Ohio Asian American Health Conference
  • Guest lectured on “Culture and Inequity in Psychology” for an upper-level undergraduate/graduate course (Psychology 5681, Fall 2019)
  • Served as an advisor/staff mentor for the 2019 MUNDO Winter Break trip: Demolishing Preconceptions

Spring Semester

  • Presented “A Beginner’s Guide to Cooking” workshop at the Helpful Tips and Chicken Strips Event
  • Presented an hour long talk about AAPI Mental Health at the APAMSA Region V Conference 2020 (and was the youngest speaker there)
  • Guest lectured (Community Organizing and Social Marketing) in PUBHHBP 3510, Spring 2020

Summer Semester

  • Created and currently leading the inaugural Asian Festival Health and Wellness (AFHW) internship program
  • Presented “Breaking the Cycle of Stigma” with the Asian Community Alliance on May 14th, 2020, 6:30-7:30pm
  • Created recommendations for COVID-19 policies and funding for the governor’s office and public health agencies through serving as on an expert member checking committee for the COVID in Ohio Vulnerable Populations Needs Assessment
  • Served as a Filipino community liaison to create and disseminate COVID-19 information to Ohio Filipino communities
  • Advised high school and college youth about policy advocacy at CLUSA’s Young Leaders for American Summit 2020
  • Began mentoring the COVID-19 Healthcare and Equity cohort for AAPI youth (curriculum designed by me)

Introduction to Mental Health: Destigmatization and Advocacy

So excited to be facilitating my first workshop with Ohio Asian American Health Coalition! This free, public workshop will provide participants with the skills needed to be everyday advocate for mental health and mental health destigmatization. Asian-American Community Services (AACS) is collaborating with us on this event and will be presenting a workshop on human trafficking and sexual assault.

Graduate School-Second Year Timeline

Fall Semester

  • Attended the 4th Annual Public Health Advocacy Workshop: Building a Road Map to Improve Mental Health through Advocacy
  • Became a Program Administrator for Ohio Asian American Health Committee (OAAHC)
  • Serve on OAAHC’s Butterfly Dash for Lupus planning committee
  • Attend Asian Festival Retreat
  • Served on the Future Health Professionals Learning Community Panel
  • Became the Co-Chair of the Asian Festival Volunteer Committee
  • Led a service-learning trip to Puerto Rico with MUNDO  as a Staff Mentor

Spring Semester

  • Awarded Ohio State’s College of Public Health MPH Culminating Project Grant
  • Helped introduce the speaker, Dr. Ruchika Prakash, at Women and Philanthropy’s “Women and Brain Health” event
  • Lead the MUNDO “Who Tells Your Story” Spring break trip to Williamsburg, DC, and Baltimore
  • Nominated for the College of Public Health Student Choice Award
  • Held my first workshop with OAAHC, “Introduction to Mental Health: Destigmatization and Advocacy,” for Minority Health Month
  • Passed my MPH Culminating Exam
  • Assisted with Wat Buddha Samakidham Temple Screenings
  • Helped organize and attended Mental Health First Aid training
  • Facilitated the Central Ohio Lupus Summit
  • Graduated from The Ohio State University with a Masters in Public Health

Summer

  • Ran the Asian Festival’s Health Registration Volunteer program
  • Appointed Volunteer Coordinator for Health and Wellness Committee of the Asian Festival

Graduate School-First Year Timeline

Fall Semester

  • Started graduate school in the College of Public Health, Health Behavior Health Promotion program at The Ohio State University
  • Became a Staff Mentor for MUNDO at OSU
  • Joined OUAB Grad/Prof Committee
  • Narrowed my broad researches interest in health disparities to Asian-American health disparities,with a current focus on mental health
  • Led a service-learning trip to NYC with MUNDO as a Staff Mentor

Spring Semester

  • Joined Lupus Optimal Health group
  • Collaboratively wrote a grant for Asian-American mental health screenings for the Asian Festival
  • Became a volunteer with the Ohio Asian American Health Coalition
  • Led a service-learning trip to Memphis, New Orleans and Birmingham with MUNDO about the history of the South and the Civil Rights movement
  • Attended with the Midwestern Asian-American Student Union (MAASU) Conference
  • Attended the Norman Y. Mineta Leadership Institute
  • Was a finalist for the Graduate trustee position for OSU’s Board of Trustees

Summer Semester

  • Joined the Asian Festival RN Committee
  • Began doing research on mental health in Asian-Americans at Capital University
  • Participated in Ohio Asian American Pacific Islander Legislative Day

 

Commencement Reception Speech

Every year, Ohio State invites one graduating undergraduate to speak at their commencement reception and dinner before the ceremony. I was honored this year to be that speaker. I was given the opportunity to speak about why I chose Ohio State, my struggles, my extracurricular activities, and my amazing mentors.

Giving the speech below was an amazing experience that I will never forget, as I tried to convey what these four years at college have meant to me.

“When I entered Ohio State as an eighteen year old girl, I was eager and just a bit terrified. I had chosen Ohio State for so many reasons – its many majors and its proximity to the city as well as to my family. It seemed like opportunities for professional development and good memories were everywhere, from late night ice cream dates around Mirror Lake to internship opportunities in Columbus. But, most importantly, I could see myself at Ohio State. I recognized parts of myself in classmates, in campus organizations, in leadership initiatives, and I knew I wanted to make my mark as well.

But, as much as I loved it, undergrad has been anything but easy. There have been obstacles, both academic and personal. I’ve had to conquer physics and organic chemistry. I’ve had to figure out who I am while also finding my place and still passing History of Art. My time as a Buckeye started off rather rocky. I made frequent trips to the doctor for kidney infections and eye ulcers. Academically, I was succeeding on the pre-med track, but that success almost became a trap. Doing well convinces you not to question your decisions, for your success must be confirmation that you’re on the right path. At the same time, there was always the haunting inkling that becoming a doctor wasn’t my true calling. On top of all this, I didn’t know how capable I was. I had fallen in with people who convinced me I was “less.” I didn’t know yet how much I could do. I didn’t know how to test myself and to find my limits so I could shatter them.

I have been blessed with absolutely amazing mentors, who have helped me through each of these obstacles and emotional storms. My honors advisors were my first lifeline. Deni Allman patiently answered every odd pre-med, pre-health, and pre-law question while I tried to map out my future. Meanwhile, peer mentoring with Joanna Spanos gave me the space I needed to grow as a student, mentor, and person. I owe my leadership style and confidence to these two powerful women. Julius Mayo was my advisor for MUNDO, and he lit in me my passion for social justice and multiculturalism. He gave me responsibility after responsibility and his trust in me made me work even harder to be worthy of it. Under his supportive eye, I planned national service-learning trips, helped design the curriculum for a new STEP cohort, and programmed for MUNDO as its President and Student Coordinator. The skills I learned from Julius, the confidence I gained from Deni and Joanna, and the passion I had for patient care led to me founding KindCarts Service Initiative. This crafting-based initiative has allowed me to combine my love of creativity and drive to improve the patient experience by donating thousands of hand-crafted comfort and morale items to local cancer patients. Besides the opportunities to grow and lead, the activities also led to me meeting the most incredible friends. We have been together – from falling through sewers in New Orleans, to playing Truth or Dare until 4 AM, to weekend trips to Hocking Hills. They, too, inspire me to do my best, as I excitedly imagine the world where our visions build a better present and future.

My career confusion finally came to a close when my neuroscience professor, Dr. Bennet Givens, introduced me to the field of public health, an area that combines everything I love about MUNDO with everything I love about KindCarts, a place where I could work to improve health and greater inequalities. So, after graduation, I will be starting my PhD at The Ohio State University as a Dean’s Distinguished University Fellow in the College of Public Health.

Pieces of me are scattered throughout campus for years to come, from my name carved in Sphinx Plaza to the ephemeral ghosts of my past struggles, failings, and triumphs. My undergraduate experience has been special because, at Ohio State, I never felt the need to fit into one box. I didn’t have to just conduct research in neuroimmunology, I could also research folklore. I could intern in the medical center and in the honors office. I could work to advance multicultural awareness on campus and still devote time to visiting patients’ rooms and taking them out to the rooftop garden. There was never a mold to fill or a formula to follow, only the opportunity to create my own space and my own unique legacy.

I want to conclude with what college has meant to me. College is like your first love. Your time here: it’s supposed to hurt you, and confuse you, and elate you, and bring you fear and worry and joy. For me and other seniors graduating tomorrow, college has broken us and then built us back up, time and time again, so that now, we stand straighter, stand taller, and walk prouder than ever before. We are more than what we were and every challenge and break has been repaired with gold on our skins. And, while I loved that eighteen year old girl who walked into Ohio State, I am in love with the twenty-two year old woman who is walking out – and I hope that every senior feels the same.

When we throw our hats in the air tomorrow, we are saying goodbye to this wondrous slice of life in Columbus, whether it lasted 3 or 4 or 5 years. We say goodbye to every late night common room talk, every tear over every midterm, every road trip, every roommate fight, every crafting and baking party, every terrifying public speaking experience, and every Carmen sang with friends. But, we say goodbye with a smile, because we will always be Buckeyes and we’ll never forget what a time we had here, and how firm thy friendship was, O-HI-O.”

Commencement Video: Tools of the Trade

Asked to choose one object to represent her time at Ohio State and how it will help her succeed after graduation, Ana Sucaldito chose a book that breaks down some of the things she's passionate about. See which book, and maybe take a read yourself!

Posted by The Ohio State University on Tuesday, May 2, 2017

#29

Earlier, I wrote a piece, a list of 28 lessons that I had taken away from Ohio State and I wanted to end with the biggest thing I will take away from college, from the years 2013-2017. After writing it, I decided that number 29, deserved more space than a list of one-liners could give.

#29 is embodied the picture above. Each of these pots is a friend, two I met freshmen year, one in sophomore summer, and one in junior year. Each one is precious to me. At a crafting/game night, I asked if they could paint something for me that signified our friendship, either how we met, or what we will remember about each other.

For the yellow, I will remember taking my first MUNDO trip, a trip I now consider my first “college experience,” to see the Lion King and being worried about knowing no one. I will remember getting early to the bus circle and sitting by a stranger, and talking for hours on the bus there, at Wendy’s, on the way back from Pittsburgh. We tried to rock-climb half a dozen times first semester but would never remember to check the climbing schedule; we went together to our first Party at the Wex and found art that affected us and art where our attempt at interpretations made us laugh. She was the reason I switched my major to Neuroscience, the friend who would meet me in Lincoln’s lobby to talk barefoot at all the odd hours and the girl whose friendship and light continually inspired me to push through first year.

For the polka dots, I will remember seeing a girl set up her Doctor Who poster on the bottom bunk, and on the first day, recognizing pieces of my sister in my new roommate. I will remember afternoons studying side by side and being happily distracted by watching OUaT over her shoulder; I will remember her teasing at my daily and greasy to-go bags from Mirror Lake Creamery and my responding quips about her extremely colorful RPAC meals. She stayed up late to give me “The Talk,” complete with pictures and recommendations to Youtube videos, applied to Mirrors and eventually Sphinx Honorary with me and always served as my anchor in a sea of overwhelming newness. She was the recipient of my finals week Cheryl’s cookies boxes, an example of unabashed pride in what she loves and a mothering influence that give me my first family at OSU.

For the pink pot, I will remember unexpected meeting a girl in my lab one summer and finding out she was going to be my research partner. I will remember discovering that she was one of the girls’ who got the house my roommates and I were trying to lease the fall before, I will remember opening up to her early on for advice. We muddled through research together, learning how to present, perform behavioral assays and pretend like we knew what we were doing even when we didn’t. She taught me to how to recognize sarcasm (most of the time), exposed me to more Harry Potter trivia than I will ever need to know, and her courage in admitting pre-med wasn’t her life path and switching to her true passion gave me the courage to do the same.

For the blue pot, I will remember being flustered when a student introduced himself to me by formally shaking my hand and worrying that I didn’t have a proper business handshake. I will remember him giving me a safe space to talk about vulnerable parts of myself that I didn’t always acknowledge, I will remember his playful shock at my music taste when we exchanged playlists and my own surprise at what was on his. We unwound outside of class, spending time watching movies, playing Truth or Dare, learning how to box, play chess and quill. He let me cut his hair on a dare, cooks and crafts with me regularly, whether the project is Filipino food or sewing neck pillows, and is an unwavering pillar of support and kindness.

These pots are just four of the friends I have made—I still need to rope everyone else into painting a pot with me. But my friends—their stories, our connections—are the most valuable thing I will take away from 2013-2017. I have been told: surround yourself with excellence. I didn’t set out to do that, but in the process of making friends and family, I have found the most excellent people that I could ever imagine to find and I am blessed to have them.