This summer, I had an interesting employment opportunity. I was employed by Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) and while I was listed as working primarily at the NEOMED-CSU Partnership Building at Cleveland State University, in reality, I was able to spend time as a supervisor not just at CSU’s campus but also spent a week at a library and a few days at a rural college. This was truly a unique summer job and this is solely because of my great relationship with a NEOMED Health Profession Program Pipeline Coordinator named Ms. Johnson! I’ve known her for about 4 years now, and she’s all over northeast Ohio running programs and going to different high schools. During the summer, she’s also busy with different programs. She’s a wonder woman and one of the hugest role models in my life.
Here’s how my summer went:
June 12-30, I supervised at the CHAMPS (Careers in Health and Medical Professions) program at Cleveland State University. This three-week summer camp provides high school students with skills and knowledge about health/medicine through hands-on activities like labs and field trips. I LOVED being with CHAMPS!
Mad about microbio
The link to my comprehensive blog post on CHAMPS is here:
https://u.osu.edu/dang157hseportfolio/2017/06/21/champs-careers-in-health-and-medical-professions/
July 3-7, I participated in and helped execute a NEOMED-sponsored Academic Boot Camp at Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Cleveland near University Circle and my high school. This camp involved financial literacy (taught by a credit strategist), ACT tutoring, math and science teaching, as well as leadership training. I learned a lot during this short week. High school and college students could attend this event. We had majority high school students, mostly rising juniors and seniors, and about five rising college freshmen. I was the only college sophomore present.
The financial literacy instructor Mrs. Murphy-Williams was phenomenal and extremely effective in getting her messages across to us! I could actually listen to her talk about finances for hours. She just has a voice and charisma that draws your attention. From her, I learned that everyone has a brand. It’s how people perceive them or remember them by. I believe my brand is that I am sweet, determined and hardworking. Many people, especially those close to me, have described me using these traits.
My elevator speech (a quick way to introduce myself) would most likely resemble this:
Hello, my name is Melinda. I am a rising sophomore at The Ohio State University studying Public Health with a Sociology specialization and a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
I am an ambitious go-getter who always wants to help others. I tend to be competitive but my drive is so strong and I never procrastinate. I’m a person who can be relied on to get the job done.
I am passionate about equity and access to high quality, affordable healthcare and education for all. My goals are to reduce racism/discrimination and health disparities, and prevent poverty. I want to improve lives for people worldwide. My future goals also include obtaining my Bachelor’s and Master’s in Health Behavior and Health Promotion in five years.
Mrs. Murphy provided us with so much valuable information – a sheet with 50 of the most common interview questions and booklets relating to credit history/scores and background checks. We also had sheets about budgeting.
Furthermore, this pro directed us to collect all coins we had, even the disrespected pennies in society – they add up over time!
Edutopia clip art relating to financial literacy – Save and make more money than what you spend.
Her plethora of tips are listed below:
* Don’t share personal info. Don’t put out your birthday for others to know and use against you to steal your identity!
*A credit card is part of your brand.
*Everyone you meet is secretly interviewing you. First impressions matter so much!
* Avoid payday loans if you can.
* Don’t spend money faster than you make it.
* Credit is not about how much you have, it’s about WHO you have credit with.
* Have a beneficiary card or Upon Death card with your bank so that your account money can go to your loved ones (younger sibling or parents or children) and not the state.
* Never co-sign or be on your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner’s plan for anything. Money and love should be separate. Good advice!
* Be careful with your debit card. Leave it at home if you do not have a purpose for using it. Carrying it around makes you more inclined to buy.
* Don’t keep all your personal information in one place, like your purse. If that’s stolen, then you lose everything.
* Make sure your voicemail message, email address and signature, and social media accounts are appropriate and represent you well. Employers and schools check your presence online!
* Do things for other people so that they can do things for you one day.
* Do things that matter, and know what you want.
* Every 12 months, check your free three credit reports using www.annualcreditreport.com
Other tips she had were to bring a can opener to your college dorm and to have a side-hustle (selling $1 water bottles at games).
Another component of the camp was leadership training; people from Effective Leadership Academy (https://effectivela.org/), which has impacted over 15,000 students.
It’s headquartered in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. This week, ELA had three college interns and one staff person come to the camp. I was skeptical of the effectiveness of ELA because I initially assumed it would involve cheesy ice-breakers and would not offer me any important skills. However, I did gain some soft skills and the activities were not a torture. Through the activities, I explored my values and my views about myself and the world. The interactive sessions involved games and worksheets. Some topics covered were self-empowerment, growth mindset, embracing change, reflecting on values, and interpersonal and communication skills.
I learned about ego and a communication rule: 7% of the words I say matters compared to 38% tone of voice, and 55% nonverbal body language. This means that body language is crucial in relaying your messages across to others.
*Tip* To get someone to like you more, try to mirror their body language. Leaning forward towards the person you’re talking with also shows that you’re interested in the conversation.
Another topic that resonates with me is the concept of pushing outside your boundaries and stretching yourself. There’s the comfort zone that we all know; we tend to stick to people like us and have habits such as sitting in the same seat for a class. However, if we stay in the same area and never explore or take risks, we won’t grow. The stretch zone is also called the growth zone. It’s about trying new things. When you push yourself too far, you can reach the panic zone, which can turn out poorly. For example, let’s say that a timid person remains comfortable not speaking out and staying in the corner of the room. He/she can enter the stretch zone by chatting up a classmate sitting next to him/her. They might not be ready to be in front of a crowd of strangers, which could lead to them running out the room or fainting. As I enter adulthood, I am in my growth zone for many area, such as being in a new city and learning how to succeed in college.
Another way to learn about yourself is to do a SWOT analysis. This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Something interesting we did involved ethical decision making. The college students and I were told to imagine that we were on a boat which had a hole in it, and there was just one life preserver, with a rope attached to it. Only one person can be using the life preserver, and one person using the rope. This taught us more about each other and how we analyze situations, especially when it comes to who lives and who dies.
One of my favorite parts of ELA was when we did a cube personality test.
https://www.davidwolfe.com/japanese-cube-test-reveals-personality/
The link and any videos titled “Cube Personality Test” would have the same layout. This takes just five minutes of imagining and then the answers reveal surprising knowledge about ourselves. For me, the test was accurate!
The other favorite moment in ELA was when they provided us with a keychain holder that had five blank papers. They are for you to write quotes on. The ELA instructors told us a story of how a boy who went through one of their programs carried this keychain for 3 years, and on the day of his high school graduation, he pulled the keychain out of his pocket and gave it to the founder of ELA. The program changed his life and kept him focused. Therefore, I will maintain a record of motivational quotes so I can continue on my path to greatness and not lose faith in myself either.
A couple of key concepts of Organic Chemistry
The science and math tutor and ACT prep teacher was Ms. McClay. She taught the high school students on preparing for the ACT and some basic chemistry knowledge. For the 6 college students in the camp, she had us research science careers or how we could incorporate science into our careers. We also covered some hours of Organic Chemistry material, specifically carbon structures. We took a pop quiz on it as well.
The college students put on a skit directed by Ms. McClay, and the performance revolved around a 21-year-old patient’s recent admission to the ER and how the visit lead to the discovery of other issues in his life and a diagnosis of a mental illness as well as diabetes. We played the roles of doctor, public health nurse, psychiatrist, social workers, and case manager, while Ms. McClay played the patient’s girlfriend. The skit showed how several factors contribute to a person’s health, and impact how they receive treatment. For example, the patient was a Jehovah’s Witness, and other issues he had were impulsivity, reckless driving, suicidal tendencies, and more. He could never hold a job for very long, and he just came out of a long relationship with a girlfriend, and also had strained relations with his family. We were not trying to portray anyone in particular – this character was entirely made up! It could be possible that there are some individuals in real life like the patient in our skit. It helped to remind us that we cannot see someone’s struggles just by glimpsing at them. There could be a myriad of issues they’re going through. This is what I will try to do when I am a healthcare/public health professional.
Sharing our knowledge and reflecting on our experiences
Every day before camp ended, Ms. Johnson asked us all to sit in a circle and reflect on the day. “Share some knowledge! What did you get out of this?”
At the end of the week, Ms. Johnson surprised the high school and college students with backpacks filled with school supplies! Loose-leaf paper, highlighters, black pens, colored pens, mechanical pencils, folders, a notebook, a water bottle, a USB flash drive, and index cards! I was amazed at how this camp provided us with so much. Ms. Johnson asked NEOMED for the funds to have this summer camp since it can help reach youth and allow them to better themselves.
School supply stash! I am so thankful.
July 10-20, participate in activities including art therapy, daily discussions, implementing SOLE mode, community health work training, and more.
Daily duties include helping with set up and clean up of activity areas, completing timesheets, tracking attendance, and helping other participants with any issues.
July 10 – Cleveland State University
– We completed a SOLE session. (SOLE stands for Self Organized Learning Environment). We broke out into groups to answer the question: “What are your roles and duties as a citizen in your community, and what are the influences of your roles and duties?” Each group has a few minutes to dissect the question and then find at least two sources and statistics to back up their findings. We had a great discussion.
– We later watched videos from the documentary People Like Us. One episode was about Tammy Crabtree’s family living in poverty in Waverly, Ohio, a rural village. It’s so saddening to witness people in terrible conditions, living without heat or transportation. Tammy had to walk 10.5 miles to work. She had no car or working furnace at home. Furthermore, her kids did not seem to appreciate how she struggled to make ends meet and feed them. Then outside sources intervened to alleviate some of the family’s burdens. This lead to an exploration of rural poverty and discussion of whether my peers felt sorry for Tammy or felt like she deserved it.
Watch these two videos to see Tammy’s story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ZpauS5Doo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqs4_Zs2GvI
– Norman Rockwell photo interpretation followed by art therapy
Next, we looked at a Norman Rockwell painting. The facilitator Anita Iveljic (Hiram Class of 2014 and now AmeriCorps Associate Director at NEOMED) guided our discussion. She asked about what we observed in the print. Then she asked how we felt, and why the artist may have made this piece. The Problem We All Live With, an oil on canvas from 1964, captures Ruby Bridges being walked to school by four U.S. marshals. We discussed that racism is still a prevalent issue today, but it’s more subtle than in the ’60s. We all have prejudices, but not inherently, and there’s widespread implicit bias as well. We learn about stereotypes in media and in conversations overheard when we were little. Hopefully, in America, race will no longer be a divide between people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problem_We_All_Live_With
http://www.politico.com/story/2011/08/art-sends-rare-wh-message-on-race-061677
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-28/america-has-a-big-race-problem
To end the day, we used oil pastels, watercolor pastels, and paints to draw a portrait of a partner in the room. I am always welcome to art therapy but it was a challenge to draw a person. However, my partner said that I did a good job and she liked how I drew her.
July 11 – Cleveland State University
– Overview of Upcoming Trip
– Reading of story
While I do not recall the title of this story, although I am sure it is fictional, the summary is that a woman lost her husband in a tragic accident (murdered by someone who stole his car when the husband simply wanted to help an elderly woman with a flat tire). The 33-year-old deceased man’s organs: cornea, heart, pancreas, and more, went to various places around Texas, and to a total of eight individuals. The woman felt utterly empty and sought the person who now possessed the husband’s heart. Coincidentally, this transplant recipient was also 33 and she mails this person back and forth, because all she wanted to do was to listen to the beating heart for an hour. It was a touching story.
Hiram Excursion Trip – July 12 to July 14
This rural educational experience trip was overseen and supported by the NEOMED HPAC Program, the HRSA HCOP grant, and AmeriCorps. The purpose was to expand professional and educational growth through lab experience, scientific discussions, and learning about rural culture, while experiencing a movie and campfire s’mores.
We stayed at East Hall for three days, two nights.
Wednesday, 7/12
– Campus Tour of Hiram College
– Lunch (all you can eat)
– Hiram Lab Experience in Gerstacker Science Hall
We split up into two rooms because there were a lot of students. We extracted DNA from cheek cells and also from our saliva, and used these in tests to analyze our genetic diversity. We used PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification and electrophoresis. Specifically, we looked at the Pv92 sequence presence or absence in our genomes! You are either +/+ if both parents gave you this, +/- if one parent gave you a Pv92, or -/-, if neither of them did.
From Bio-Rad Pv92 Informatics Kit
This lab took hours to complete because the procedure was complex, involving pipettes, tubes, micro centrifuges, and other equipment. Sadly, not a lot of students’ results appeared, most likely because there were errors during the experiment. Mine showed up though; I was +/+. According to the handout we received, people of Asian ancestry were more likely to have positive (+) allele frequencies. For example, 86% Chinese, 80% Filipino, 84% Java, and 90% of Taiwanese have the + allele. In comparison, the chart on our packet also showed that people of European origins are more likely to have the negative (-) allele; 18% for Euro-Americans, 10% for German, 12% for Hungarian, 18% for Syrian and 20% for Swiss. This was all very interesting, but I wish I understood more about the material.
– Bioethics Dilemma Prep
We were provided with a packet of articles relating to athletes using enhancements such as inhaling xenon gas or blood doping to improve performance. Steroids, injecting hormones, or living/training in high altitude environments help with strength or red oxygen cell formation. The various essays offered insights on the issue from experts and former athletes themselves. Is the use of these various methods cheating and therefore unfair? What qualifies as fairness? I learned about how one side supports the fact that all athletes should have wide access to the same drugs, so the playing field is level. However, critics claim that if all drugs were allowed, there’d be pressures on the athletes to use them. Some say that athletes should have the same opportunities to use drugs, and then their use can be optimized. According to one author, we should invest in developing safer forms of enhancement since people are going to continue using them anyways.
– Dinner
– Biomedical Humanities Discussion
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/08/12/sunday-review/12DOPING/12DOPING-articleLarge.jpg
The entire camp group came together to discuss what we believed were fair and unfair ways to enhance athletic performance. I personally think that living or training at high altitude environments are fair. Things like low oxygen tents or blood transfusions require thousands of dollars. This is a waste of money to me; people are in need of blood everyday. We even heard about abortion doping; women runners reportedly aborted their babies before races, while they benefitted from the extra red blood cells in their bodies. This is ridiculous and inhumane.
– Chopped! S’mores Competition
We divided campers into groups of eight people to get together and create s’mores that were healthy and creative. They could use four ingredients off of our provided list, which had 26 ingredients. They could pick from Nutella, wow butter, cream cheese, vanilla chips, powdered sugar, soft tortillas, green apples, sour brite octopus, air head extremes, pineapples, and mangos, to name some from the list. Then 15 minutes before they were supposed to present their concoctions, the staff members introduced to each group their secret ingredients.
– Campfire
Outside, each group presented their s’mores to the five judges. We had 10 groups total, and some groups stuck with the traditional graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallows. Almost all used fruit in their s’mores as well. In the end, Groups B and E won. Their prizes were Hiram Health water bottles.
Thursday, 7/13
– Breakfast
– Middlefield Cheese Co-Op Visit
Elmer was the employee that greeted us and gave us an overview of the operation. He actually helped build the factory. I learned a lot and saw what it’s like to make cheese. There are about 18-20 employees and 70+ farmers, who are 98% Amish. The cows that provide the milk all have names, and milk is delivered in jugs. The cheese is made by hand in open vats. No artificial growth hormones are used.
(More information on the co-op can be found here: http://www.geaugamapleleaf.com/news/a-slice-of-tasty-tradition-in-geauga-county/)
– Amish Farm Visit
Dan Chardon in Middlefield, OH is a mutual connection of a Hiram or NEOMED worker. He allowed us to visit his farm, which he said was 70 acres of land. He has six kids, who were adorable and quiet. While they did not talk, they watched us and followed us around as Dan showed us city folks a tour. We were as curious of the family as they were about us.
Dan presented his 40,000 pieces of garlic he had picked over three days. They could be sold for $15,000! What a whopping harvest! The farmer also butchers deer; he does not hunt them, but people bring them in to him. He raises livestock as well: chickens, sheep, and horses. I believe he said there’s 300 sheep, and the lambs are eventually sold and separated from their families. The horses are used only for transportation purposes, not for riding on, but for pulling the carriages. Also, the eggs of the chickens are sold. Although he makes minimum wage, he does not complain; he is comfortable and happy with his life. The students asked what he did in his free time, and he replied that he did not have much. Most of his time was spent on the farm. There was always something to do.
The Amish life was meaningful to Dan because three or four generations of his family lived on the land. He attended a private school until eighth grade, and a kid muttered to herself why Dan did not continue to high school. Actually after age 13/14, vocational training begins, and that’s when the individual pursues their craft or skilled trade. Amish people can have jobs in carpentry, farming, etc. The Amish lifestyle is interesting and is simple. Some kids did not understand and called it weird. Dan did not condemn the outside world for using technology or electricity. He respects us, just like we should respect them. Personal questions I had written and did not get to ask were “Has the Amish community decreased? Do you hear much about the outside world?” We all clapped and thanked Dan for our tour and departed for Hiram College.
– Lunch
– Water Balloon Battle
Hundreds of water balloons lay in containers out on an open playing field near the dorms we were staying in. This was optional, but about several dozen students participated. They brought their own Nerf guns and Super Soakers. We had plenty of photos of the battle. The kids had fun. Those who did not partake had free time to go to the gym or remain in their dorm. A student and I did walking and jogging around the track circling the football field.
– Dinner
– Stress relief therapies (mindfulness, music therapy, art therapy, pet, yoga, drum circle)
Plans had to be changed regarding this activity; many speakers cancelled, so we only had a mindfulness speaker, but she captured everyone’s focus and I truly enjoyed being with her. Rebecca Reynold is a health coach, certified drugless practitioner, certified Thai massage practitioner, and a raw and vegan lifestyle educator. Based in the Lakewood area of Cleveland, she also does women’s retreats and much more.
Being mindful is different than having your mind full. Free yourself and just be in the moment. Do not think about the past or future, but focus on the present. Photo from Friendsaction.co.uk
She began our session by rubbing peppermint oil on our wrists and telling us to smell them. We were then directed through imagining something we wanted. We kept our eyes closed during this. We had to picture what we wanted. What did we look like when we eventually obtained what we wanted? How did we feel? What were we envisioning? Then she said to imagine us receiving an award stating that we deserved what we received. Some students shared their goals of obtaining careers. Another boy dreamed of having a sports car. I went through the activity too, and I dreamed of finding love and true happiness, and the public health career and traveling the world appeared after.
We learned about an artist who looks into people’s eyes as a performance art. For one piece, in 2010, Marina Abramovic sat in a chair at a museum and people lined up, to the point that the line stretched outside the museum, to sit across from her and have her stare into their eyes. This can be a few minutes to even 40 minutes. She looked into 1,500+ people’s eyes. This is incredible. A shattering moment was when Ms. Abramovic had her head down as she always does before an art patron sits down. When she felt someone take a seat across from her, she gazed upwards and tears flowed down her eyes soon after, because she was looking at a former lover of hers that she’d seen decades ago. Hearing this story touched me. The campers were asked themselves, if brave enough, to look into someone else’s eyes, for three minutes, and then share what they learned about their partner from just observing.
http://www.marinaabramovic.com/bio.html
https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/06/03/marina-abramovic-the-artist-speaks/
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/artist-marina-abramovic-former-lover-ulay-reunite.html
‡
Next, we discussed and practiced doing a few ancient mudras. When we do a peace sign with our pointer and middle fingers, that’s a mudra. Furthermore, from Ms. Reynolds, I learned that energy is like a boomerang. She told us that she was 5 foot 7 in the seventh grade. She was already taller than most of her teachers, and was called Big Bird and Tree Woman during her childhood. When we exhibit anger and hate, we will get it in return. That is why we cannot allow our negative energy to linger. Our session was just an hour and it was too soon. The kids really enjoyed being with her as well.
The Buddha is doing the mudra of No Fear. Sometimes He is portrayed having both hands up.
Here are Rebecca Reynolds’ websites to find out more about her.
https://www.facebook.com/SoultoEarthWellness/
https://twitter.com/wellwithrebecca
http://www.soultoearthwellness.com/
– Movie with Discussion
We watched a movie that was planned to have a discussion along with it, but this did not happen. Gattaca is a 1997 sci-fi, drama, and thriller movie. The plot summary provided by IMDB:
Gattaca Corp. is an aerospace firm in the future. During this time society analyzes your DNA and determines where you belong in life. Ethan Hawke’s character was born with a congenital heart condition which would cast him out of getting a chance to travel in space. So in turn he assumes the identity of an athlete who has genes that would allow him to achieve his dream of space travel.
Friday, 7/14
– Breakfast
– Check-out
– Tour of NEOMED
I have been to NEOMED three times before. I have fond memories here. It was fortuitous to me that I saw an incoming med student there who actually spoke to me at my high school a few years ago while he served in AmeriCorps. He’s now starting medical school. He looked familiar and then I saw his name tag, and indeed it was the same guy. I should have wished him kind words and good luck for school, but I did not stop to talk to him.
NEOMED new campus
– Back to Cleveland State University for the Summer Internship Celebration
– Lunch
– Speeches
– Videos of Amish Farm trip and Water Balloon Fight were played.
A post assessment evaluation will be emailed to us, asking us about how our experiences went.
REFLECTION
The five weeks being with NEOMED were short. I had a splendid time with CHAMPS and the other camps/excursions in July offered me new perspectives on underserved communities. This was also my first time being a camp counselor (supervising people on an overnight visit.) I was responsible for knowing the whereabouts and activity of the four girls in my suite. Other supervisors had to handle six kids, or even another group altogether in addition to their own. I learned more about my strengths and weaknesses. An example of how I employed professionalism and maturity is when I put the girls’ needs above my own. One of them forgot her jacket in the dorm, and I finished my dinner abruptly to let her into the dorm across the street from the dining hall. Supervisors are the only ones with keys to the building and the suite. I have to listen to them and if they are not comfortable with something, I have to try to help them feel safe.
Overall, the girls I had were easy to get along with, and posed no major issues. An issue I personally had was not being in the camp counselor group chat, which included the program/camp coordinators. Sometimes the supervisors themselves were not sure of what was happening because the schedule was adjusted if we finished an activity early or events are cancelled. There was confusion but we went with the flow.
A huge challenge was the loud, disrespectful campers. On multiple occasions, we reminded them to be quiet and listen when a speaker is talking, yet they did not obey. I often heard cursing from a few people, such as on the bus and around the college. People continued to talk during the movie too. Additionally, some did not keep hands and feet to themselves; I noticed girls lounging in a chair with their feet on the wall or on a school bus with their feet dangling over the top of the seat. I was frustrated and enervated. But they are high school students, and rowdiness and hyperactivity is expected. I actually played the game of Telephone with the other Cleveland campers.
Another problem was when I had to clean up scraps of candy wrappers left over from the children’s messes. When it was time to check out of the dorms, I did a final sweep of the suite, and noticed leftover water bottles and granola bars. We had to leave the room in the exact same condition as it was when we entered the dorm. Even though I conveyed to my suite-mates that I was sorry for being a bad supervisor since the camp was not going as smoothly as expected, and that I myself was unsure of what to do at times, they said it’s 50/50, meaning that both sides have to put in effort.
I did enjoy my experience at Hiram College and NEOMED. While I wasn’t the best supervisor, and also possibly the least experienced, I am glad to have been a part of the camp. I got to walk my suite-mates around Hiram to our various scheduled events. The knowledge about Amish people and rural life will carry with me during my career. I want to help ensure that people in the country also receive quality healthcare, which can be problematic since they’re surrounded by fields of corn or wheat or cows. They could be miles away from a primary care provider. There also may not be a grocery store nearby. When we went to NEOMED in Rootstown, Ohio, gas stations and convenience stores, along with a smattering of pizza parlors, were lining the main road. It’s a different way of life in this rural area, and I want to gain more experience working with the rural populations in the future. A possible entry-level job for me can be Community Health Worker. My desire to work with a variety of people and travel the planet still remains strong after these past few months.
I hope to positively impact my people of Ohio.
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