Career

OSU -The James Comprehensive Cancer Center

The James Comprehensive Care Center
Volunteering on the Fifth Floor

 

Volunteering at the James has taught me patience and the value of kindness. Standing near the front desk and greeting and escorting people where they wanted to go was an experience. Speaking to patients and the communities around them have aided in my personal growth. Beforehand the only experience I had, had in a hospital was when my grandmother was ill and in those instances I could see the stances of family and how hospital staff can aid in the showing of mercy and kindness through one of the hardest experiences in my life. Wanting to give back to the community that had helped, I made sure to smile at every newcomer and ask about how their day was going outside of the hospital and it was nice to see their faces lighten even if it were for a few moments. This is an experience I hope to continue in the fall.

 

 

My Family Pantry

Volunteering at the food pantry is an enlightening experience. First, packaging food and making sure to bag them correctly increases our collaboration skills and increases our patience as groups. Then, taking carts of the food out to the cars of people who need it allows us to exchange dialogue and get to know the clients and their various lives. I had begun working as the Operation Supervisor as of February 2021! I control the placement of the food, the packaging and interactions with clients and volunteers throughout the pantry. Training and helping new volunteers has allowed growth in my leadership skills and as a whole, it is a humbling experience. I have developed a family in the community and will continue to work throughout the fall.

 

 

Abdinur.4_Najmo_Resume

 

Artifacts

Something that really impacted me this year was being the service chair for the Muslim Student Association. With the pandemic, it was extremely hard not only to find volunteer opportunities but to grow as a person. I felt stunted as the world around me shifted and changed and no one really knew how the future would look. Something that really helped was a food pantry I would go to every Saturday. Even though covid was hard and the restrictions we had to endure (six feet apart and masks while doing hard labor) was difficult I found myself looking forward to it every week. It was the only social interaction I would get and it would be an entire day dedicated to helping others. At the end, I made a service event to the pantry and many people from the organization came out for a day of social distancing and helping. It was the first real event I had ever planned in my life and although not necessarily difficult, I will always remember it.

 

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Project Downtown

Most Sunday afternoons in the union, the Muslim Student Association holds a weekly meeting where we make food “packages” for the homeless consisting of a fruit, a turkey sandwich, and a granola bar. Making around a hundred in an hour and getting to know members as well as other people on campus who wanted to help out was fun and enlightening as we had a discussion at the very end about the task. We were encouraged to think about why we were doing what we were doing and it gave me time to reflect and think. I saw this as a way to give back to a community who needed it as well as aiding those who could not help themselves. As a group, we tied this back to religion and thought about why things like people going hungry happen. I was slightly taken aback as I had never thought about why suffering had occurred, but just understood it as the way the world worked. We spoke on different reasonings like it all being a tested on those lacking food and those with the food as well as way to grow closer to God through the actions of helping others. It gave us time to self reflect and also acknowledge that although suffering occurs, we should try our best to relieve what we can.

During the pandemic, project downtown was moved to the church basement and remained about the same except for the necessary restrictions. I think after 2020, I genuinely saw the value of helping others.

About Me

Hi! My name is Najmo Abdinur. I am on a pre-med track as a neuroscience major at The Ohio State University. I am the current Service Chair of the Muslim Student Association and I volunteer at the James Cancer Hospital. I hope to build a career helping those in need.

I enjoy writing and do it often in my free time. I am currently working on a book series and hope to publish my work someday.

I am a bilingual Somali-American and can vaguely speak, read and write in French and Arabic.

I hope to use this platform as a way to aid my goals and reflection in order to gain from not only experiencing but reflecting on my actions and challenging myself to continue to build my career.

This is me!

 

Abdinur.4_Najmo_Resume

 

 

 

Welcome to my Honors & Scholars e-Portfolio

Hi! My name is Najmo Abdinur and I am an Ohio State University student majoring in Neuroscience. I hope to use this platform as a way to build my goals and to self reflect in order to gain from not only experiencing but reflecting on my actions and challenging myself to continue to build a successful and fulfilling career.

Year in Review

4/29/2021

I think we’ve had a pretty interesting year. And it taught me a lot. Firstly, I want to acknowledge every single health care worker and researcher that worked through the pandemic. I am extremely grateful to them and wish them well. This year has been challenging. I think I’ve never felt both happier and sadder than I had in my life. There were a lot of hard moments with classes that seemed impossible online and with family and the pandemic and the increasing worry someone I know would die. I think something good that came out of it was solidifying what I wanted to do in my life. I was always on the border of what I should be, but now I think I would like to be a part of the health care environment. I saw so much misconception and destruction that came from 2020. Not only health wise but even racially. Everything seemed to be at its boiling point. I saw many people in a lot of pain. And I couldn’t do anything to help them. I want to dedicate my life healing and taking care of others.

 

11/6/2019

At the beginning of this school year, I never really thought things through. I had joined a major I didn’t enjoy and spent very little time studying and learning about not only the subjects I was enrolled in, but the future I had in front of me. As time went on and classes grew harder, many things became apparent. I began to look into other majors and different career paths and switched into a field that focused more on the study of behavior instead of the study of life. When I focused on something I was interested in, suddenly studying for the classes seemed less like a chore as I delved more into subjects I actually wanted to know more about.

Now, I keep a calendar. I ensure I study for all of my subjects to the best of my ability and continue to learn more about the different careers I can join. This additional step has added given me more management of my time and created a system that can help me in the future.

Focusing more on what I enjoyed also played a role in the scholars program I had chosen. Even though, I didn’t enjoy the bits and pieces of biology, I am still fascinated by how we exist and how, as a whole, we can heal. Joining the scholars program has given me a perspective into the medical field and volunteering with different groups of people. This has taught me social and scientific skills I will use in the future and has aided me in my search for a good career.

 

 

G.O.A.L.S.

GOALS
To be Globally aware and culturally diverse in appreciation and actions

Engage in Original inquiry through research and projects to increase knowledge in the world

Enhance Academic enrichment by pursuing the challenges of education and expanding curriculums from our classrooms to the world around us

Build Leadership development through networking and leading class discussions or going to lead a project outside of our campus community

And to continue Service engagement aiding to decrease the societal issues around us and incorporating service to a career in the future.

I chose to be a Biological Sciences Scholar in order to enhance Academic Enrichment and to continue Service engagement. Aiding in volunteer work that has connected me with different clubs around the school helped me learn many different perspectives on different social issues and community issues on campus. From hunger in our community to feminism in society, the scholars program’s necessary requirement for volunteering has helped me branch out and search for opportunities which lead to discussions that can enhance Academic Enrichment outside of the classroom. Inside the classroom, being a Biological Sciences Scholar aided me in my path to a career. Deciding on a major linked to medicine, biology (the study of life) was a core subject I have to learn and being around a community that holds discussions and lectures on working in the medical field are experiences that will be helpful in the near future.

To be a successful scholar, we have to be willing to learn anything keeping our minds open for opportunities to learn even if we don’t necessarily agree or understand. Sometimes that can be difficult as being a scholar or even a leader face challenges amongst pressure from opposing sides or lack of full comprehension but pushing passed those traits and gathering various perspectives on any issue can help diffuse any challenge that may arise.