Volunteering Spring 2019

For my last semester as a Dunn Sport and Wellness Scholar, I completed my volunteer requirement through volunteering weekly at the OSU Wexner Medical Center. Specifically, I volunteer in the Surgical Prep and Recovery unit within the Brain and Spine Hospital for a shift of three hours every Wednesday evening. This entails getting to discharge patients who have often spent long hours in the same day surgery unit here, as well as turning over hospital rooms to be used the following day by cleaning and prepping beds and completing other housekeeping tasks.

As a third-semester returning volunteer at the WMC, I had the opportunity to request the SPR shift based on my previous hours served. This shift is unique to my experiences at the hospital so far in that volunteers serve on the shift in pairs. This has allowed my leadership here to be very collaborative as I am often given the opportunity to work with another student to complete tasks. This distribution of tasks means that I am frequently engaging my communication skills to ensure that we are maximizing our efficiency.

Being in the hospital is inspirational to me, as I would like to go to medical school after undergrad. My shift has been eye-opening as I realized how much I enjoy getting to work with patients even for small moments. Even a small positive impact from me can go a long way for someone who has spent the day in surgery. Because of service learning, I am able to provide small acts of kindness to people as I pursue my way to med school.

Volunteering Autumn 2018

This semester, I participated in an extended volunteer activity, a weekly shift at the OSU Wexner Medical Center’s Brain and Spine Hospital (BSH). The Wexner Medical Center provides semesterly applications for students to pick up shifts in the various departments of the hospital. This semester was my second volunteering for the WMC and I will be back for a third in the spring. I volunteered once a week for a two hour shift. My duties included various maintenance and supportive tasks on a single inpatient floor. Specifically, I stocked nurse servers, visited with patients, took patients’ food trays, sharps containers, and other used items to dispose of, and visited with patients. As a result of this service I have learned that I work best when able to ask questions and gain feedback in a position, which I did not have an opportunity to do at the BSH (my mentor was a nurse who was very busy day to day.) However, this helped me gain autonomy and perfect how I spent my time each week which was important to me. Because I performed a lot of busy work I had plenty of time for self-reflection and I tried to encourage myself to keep full effort up and stay very engaged even if my work seemed to go mostly unnoticed. Because of service learning at the OSUWMC I am learning the operations of a hospital and benefitting medical staff which I am glad to have the privilege to do.
https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/patient-and-visitor-guide/volunteers/college-volunteers

Year In Review

As the year is coming to an end, I have the opportunity to reflect on my experiences during my first year in Columbus. DSWS has been a defining aspect of my freshman year as it was my first community involvement here. Because of Dunn Scholars, I have broadened my interests and taken time to focus on self-improvement often.

Coming into school, I felt very confident that I knew what areas I was not going to gear my academic pursuits toward. During several professional development opportunities, I have open-mindedly considered how different careers might actually fit my interests that I would not have previously expected. Hearing about AccelWELL from Nikki Meyer, for example, made me realize that there is more to business than I originally thought and that I should not block that option out. Hearing from Maryanna Klatt allowed me to hear from a physician, someone in the career I am striving toward, whose daily life is so different than I would’ve imagined a typical physician’s to be.

One of the most valuable aspects that I can obtain from DSWS is the close proximity I have to students of every year at OSU, who have gone through many of the same experiences I am currently in. Their willingness to support me and my fellow first-years has repeatedly demonstrated to me how beneficial it can be to reach out with questions and advice and reminded me to never be afraid to ask for help.

DSWS, through leadership class, through groupwork, and through service, has taught me time and time again the importance of being openminded. Being thrown into this program and all of its requirements has taught me the importance of taking advantage of freshman year and the opportunity to get involved in something new.

When I entered DSWS, I felt overwhelmed, unsure of my classes and my extracurrical involvements, and like I was just one of many at such a large school. I could not feel more differently about this. Our second-year mentors seemed so far ahead of us during welcome week. Now, I am confident walking around campus, making my own decisions, and letting go of past endeavors in trade for new ones. DSWS has granted me a support system which has allowed me to grow as an individual and also link up and take on bigger goals as part of a group.

The photo here is from BuckeyeThon, where I danced with other DSWS’ers for 12 hours straight and raised over $25,000 For The Kids!

At some of the entrances to the stadium, rally towels were being distributed that say “Be Feared.” The gate I went through did not hand them out, but I found an abandoned rally towel on the ground. I picked it up and decided to keep it. After the big win, I was even more adamant on keeping it to remember this event. Although holding it at the time did not necessarily seem an important aspect of supporting OSU, I got to take home the towel. My roommate and I both hung ours up in our dorm in Morrill as not only a much-needed decoration but also a reminder of what an great night that was. Also, it was cool getting to show my parents the towel when they came to visit me during parents’ weekend. My dad attended OSU back in his day but he only went to vet school here so he did not get to have the full OSU game-day experiences that I do now. Additionally, he commuted for undergrad so he loves to hear my updates on what life is like here now. When my parents saw the rally towel, they thought it was great that I had seen the value in saving it. My parents have always loved to represent OSU because my dad but they are even more excited about the school’s traditions because of me now. My dad talks fondly of his memories here and encouraged me to save the towel, regardless of its otherwise low value, because of the memories that are attached to it.

One of my favorite nights at OSU so far had to be the night that we beat Penn State. It was a freezing cold Saturday but it was still all that we had been looking forward to all week. Unfortunately, I happened to be extremely sick, so I took a nap and woke up just in time to head to The Shoe. I waited in the interior of the stadium to meet up with my friends, and we headed into the game about fifteen minutes late. It was a sad entrance to the game considering Ohio State was already down by 14 points. I sat with my friends through a cold, discouraging first half of the game. At the end of the first quarter, we even debated leaving, envisioning a tragic Penn State shutout as the only possible ending. But, by halftime there was a glimmer of hope that kept us there. The memorable part began once the second half got rolling. The abrupt departure of some Penn State fans in rows around us was a positive signal and the energy of the OSU fans was reignited. Since this season was began with my first ever OSU game, I can truly say that I have never experienced anything like it. Rushing the field with my friends at the end of the game was amazing, surrounded by people screaming out Carmen and being squished by thousands of bodies all racing toward the field. Being able to say that I got to watch my team beat the number two team in the country that night is a great reminder of why people here have so much pride in OSU.

G.O.A.L.S.

[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation is a reflective description of the artifact that attempts to communicate its significance.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

About Me

My name is Molly Greenblat and I am a freshman in Dunn Sport and Wellness Scholars at the Ohio State University. I am from a small town called Middletown that sits in the middle of Maryland, about an hour from Baltimore, D.C., and Annapolis each. All of my family lives in Maryland, including my immediate family which consists of my sister and parents. My two closest friends graduated with me from Middletown High School, but we split off to Terra Haute, Indiana, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Columbus of course, for college. Luckily, we keep in touch still. They are driven, intelligent, and caring people who helped guide me through many high school experiences, including major choices like applying to college. In my family, my dad is the only other person who attended college, so I consider him and my friends to be some of my biggest role models. However, both of my parents are extremely supportive and encourage me to have extensive goals. As a student I am working towards declaring a major in neuroscience at the end of this year. Alongside of this, I am working on my pre-medicine requirements so that I can continue into medical school. In high school, I gained an interest for this field after watching the experiences of those close to me as they dealt with mental health issues. Upon taking my first course in Psychology, I felt inspired but wanted to travel a pathway that could lead me to a broader range of careers. Although I am currently on the medical route, I hope to learn more about the possibilities in neuroscience that exist in various fields, including medical technology development and law. My academic goals are driven by my passion for helping others and my interest in the medical field that has developed through many of my volunteering and internship experiences. As well, an all-around state of wellness is an aspect of my life that I find highly important. Neuroscience affects any given individual’s ability to be his or her best and this significance is why I enjoy learning so much about it.