Posts

About Me

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My name is Aissata Dia. I am Senegalese-American. I am pursuing a major in Biology and a minor in French with a concentration in Pre-optometry. I want to attend The College of Optometry at OSU. I want to become an optometrist and open an eye clinic in Senegal to educate and raise awareness on eye health.

I am currently involved in African Youth League, Eyes on Health and Pre Optometry club. I am also a mentor for a nonprofit organization called Community Refugee & Immigration Services(CRIS). I am passionate about helping the immigrant/refugee community. By being a mentor, I will directly be influencing the youth of the immigrant/refugee community.

The goal of this E-portfolio is to document my journey in reaching my goals to become an optometrist.

Year in Review

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Semester in Review

1st semester

This semester has a been a challenge. Having to adjust to life being all online has been difficult. I had to learn new habits to be productive in school. I learned that I work best when I work outside of my dorm. I also learned that I work best when I plan out my day. After, I learned what worked for me I noticed a huge improvement. Another challenge I faced was adjusting to interacting with people via the internet. Once I learned to treat these interactions as if we were in person, it helped tremendously. Looking back at this semester, it was pretty great once I adjusted to the new normal.

2nd semester

This semester was like a rollercoaster. I started off strong and then life hit me. I had surgery and was out of school for two weeks. Catching up was extremely difficult, but I persevered and got it done. I learned a great deal about myself this semester. I learned that no matter how much you plan, unexpected road bumps are bound to happen. I had to learn how to navigate around those road bumps. I also mastered my studying style. Once I understood what worked best for me, I saw a huge improvement in my classes. This semester definitely challenged me, but it all worked out in the end.

 

G.O.A.L.S.

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G stands for Global Awareness which is an understanding of global and cultural perspectives with social, political, economic, cultural and environmental components. I have been showcasing global awareness in high school by being a Global Scholar. As a global scholar, I increased my cultural competence by engaging in activities that thought me more about the world as a whole. I plan on to continue working on my global awareness by studying abroad and joining cultural clubs.

O stands for Original Inquiry which is nurturing your interests. I am interested in starting a program which I educate children on the importance of eye health in Senegal. To work on this, I am currently reaching out to schools in Senegal to see if they’re interested. I also am reaching out to Realeyes to see if the would be interested in partnering with me. I plan on getting this program up and running by the end of next semester.

A stands for Academic Enrichment which is excelling in your academic with rigorous coursework in class and outside the class. I have shown this by taking rigorous coursework during my four years of high school while being active outside of school. I am currently taking 16 credit hours and I am also active in pre-optometry club, CRIS, and African Youth League. I plan on taking 17 credit hours next semester and staying active in all of the extracurriculars.

L stands for Leadership Development which is developing leadership skills and applying them in everything you do. I have shown this by taking initiative in my classes and maintaining my grades during a global pandemic. I plan on applying for the leader board position in pre-optometry club next semester.

S stands for Service Engagement which is being willing to be active in your community and helping your community for the better. I am a mentor for Community Refugee & Immigration Service. I mentor a newly immigrated Congolese high schooler. I throughly enjoy spending time with my mentee. I plan on continuing mentoring for the remainder of the college. I also want to volunteer abroad in another country in the future.

Artifacts

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I recently attended an event called Impact HBCU. The event was about getting together future African-American optometrists and basically motivating them and encouraging them to continue on this journey. They emphasized on bridging the 13% gap. The 13% gap is basically having the same representation of the African-American population in the optometry field.

This event impacted me tremendously. It made me feel like I wasn’t on this journey alone. I knew that I had people that supported me and could help. After the event, I got into contact with them and they helped me find a Black-owned optometry office in Columbus where I could shadow. This was huge for me because not only did I get to see what the field is about, I was able to see people who look like me working in that field.