The James Hospital Volunteer

Through my scholars program, Mount Leadership Society, as 2nd years we are challenged to get 75 hours of service. Since I want to specialize in oncology when I go into the medical field, I applied to volunteer at The James Hospital. This experience has brought me great joy and exposed me to many new experiences. I volunteer in the Hematology Oncology Transplant Clinic here. My role includes cleaning rooms, keeping things tidy, and most importantly making sure the patients are comfortable. I bring them food, warm blankets and keep them company during their transfusions. The patients here help me realize how grateful I am but their positivity and strength are what really inspire me. I love getting to know them and talking about life. The patients and the people who work there make me realize that I am on the right path in my career and I can continue to make a difference in other’s lives.

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President’s Volunteer Service Award

Summer going into my junior year, I attended a leadership conference called the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership, HOBY. This conference takes place all over the United States for over 10,000 students each year. During this week, students listen to speakers, work in teams, and learn how to be an effective leader in their community. This is especially shown through service and volunteer work.  I was nervous and excited but after that week, I realized my purpose of being there and what my goals for the future were. I learned that leaders do not have to always be the most outspoken or the center of attention, but rather people who care for a certain issue enough to make a difference and get others to do the same. I learned that the way I was going to do this was through volunteering.

In the past, I did not have the courage to go volunteer by myself or branch out. After HOBY, I knew I needed to step out of my comfort zone to achieve my goals and become a leader. I began volunteering for Stepping Stones, a camp for children with disabilities. I found a passion for helping others and made special connections with the participants at the camp. This, however, was just the first step. I got involved in many other volunteer opportunities outside of my high school including coaching volleyball and soccer, leading a youth group for grade school students, and Josh Cares, which is an organization that helps provide child life specialists to children in the hospital. One of my biggest commitments was joining the executive board to plan CancerFree Kid’s Night for the Fight. This is an overnight even for high school students to raise money for pediatric cancer research. I really devoted myself to this organization and found a passion for helping families and children affected by cancer.

Through these service experiences, I gained many hours of volunteer service and therefore received The President’s Volunteer Service Award (Gold Level). The service was much more than this award though because I found something loved and could continue to do my whole life. I became a leader in my own way and developed skills that have helped me in college and will continue to in the future.

Year in Review

Attached is the link to my Year of Service Review. Through my scholars program at Ohio State, Mount Leadership Society, I volunteered for two organizations during my sophomore year, The James Cancer Hospital and Northern Lights Library: Homework Help Center. In this document, it details my experiences and takeaways from these opportunities. Although the year was cut short due to COVID-19, I obtained 72.5 hours of service at these locations.

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness: Currently, I am involved in a Diversity and Inclusion Project Team for a student organization I am involved with, BuckeyeThon. We are working towards involving more people of different backgrounds and being able to support the other organizations who support us. In addition, I am involved in STEP where students create a signature project in a certain area. I personally am hoping to go on a Buck-I-Serve Trip to Ghana in order to help children and women in need.

Original Inquiry: Rather than research, I have focused on getting patient care hours in the medical field by being a nurse aide. This is something that is needed for graduate school but also helps me develop my interpersonal relationships. I feel that it is important to start at the bottom and work your way up because then, in higher positions, it makes you respect everyone who you work with. I also am focusing on shadowing different personnel in the medical field to be sure this is career path is right for me.

Academic Enrichment: I want to become a physician assistant so I am taking Health Sciences courses with a minor in Biology. The classes all are preparing me for graduate school. I also am involved in a Pre-PA club which helps me with getting ready for graduate school. I aLeo took a class to become a nurse aide which I currently do for my summer job in order to get patient care hours and experience in the medical field.

Leadership Development: I am involved in a scholars program at Ohio State that focuses on leadership and service. I am given many opportunities to be a leader here on campus and in different aspects. There are meetings focusing on how to become a better leader in your everyday life. I also hope to hold a higher position in my student organizations I am involved with in the future.

Service Engagement: Service is very important to me and through my scholars program, I was given many opportunities. During our sophomore year students focus on getting 75 hours of service at a specific site. For this, I am volunteering at the Columbus Metropolitan Library at their Homework Help Center. I help students ages 1-8 after school here. In addition, I am volunteering at The James Hospital. My position this semester focuses on helping patients stay comfortable during their visit or helping clean the rooms. I have begun forming relationships with these patients and getting to know them. With my goal of going into pediatric oncology, this has helped me understand different scenarios. In addition to this goal of going into pediatric oncology, I am involved in the largest student run philanthropy on Ohio, BuckeyeThon. We raise funds to support the Hematology, Oncology, and BMT unit at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in hopes of ending pediatric cancer.

Career

My goal for my future career is to become Physician Assistant and specialize in pediatric oncology. Through experiences with raising funds and awareness for pediatric oncology in high school and now continually doing it through BuckeyeThon at Ohio State, this has become a passion of mine. As for becoming a Physician Assistant, this requires attending graduate school. I am getting volunteer experience in a hospital setting, as well as working as a Nurse Aide to get patient care hours. These experiences have given me insight into what is in store for the future. I think it is humbling to start at the bottom as a nurse aide and work my way up to Physician Assistant. Linked, is my resume with these experiences and others that have shaped me into the person I am today.

Senior Project (High School)

At my school, every senior must complete a “senior project” where each student picks a topic to research for a whole year and do service with. That student must write a research paper, do volunteer work, and create a final project that relates to this topic.

For my senior project, my topic was making the most out of adversity specifically with childhood cancer. This was important to me because since sophomore year, I have wanted to become a physician’s assistant and work in pediatric oncology. Working with families who have gone through this battle would help me gain some insight on if this job would be right for me. I worked with a nonprofit in Cincinnati called CancerFree KIDS. Every year they host an event, Night for the Fight, where over 1,000 high school students stay up all night and raise money for pediatric cancer research. I had been involved in this event for 3 years on the leadership team and was hoping to do something a little more.  My goal for this project was to work with families whose kids have had childhood cancer and create a video to portray at CancerFree KIDS’ Night for the Fight.

With the help from my mentor, I worked with 3 amazing families whose children are childhood cancer survivors! I created questions, interviewed them, and compiled different clips into one video. I learned that creating a video is a lot harder than I expected and took a lot more time and hard work. Through this process, I saw first hand how much of an impact cancer had on these families. To see how they overcame adversity as a family and still continue to have a positive outlook on life is inspiring. I became inspired to share their story with others at Night for the Fight, in hopes of others wanting to raise more awareness and money to help end pediatric cancer. I showed the video in February 2018 and received lots of feedback from students who felt a connection with the video.

By showing this video and taking a whole year to go through this process, I gained many different skills to use throughout my life. Some of these skills include: confidence, time management, professionalism, and perseverance. My biggest takeaway though was that I still want to pursue a career in pediatric oncology as a physician’s assistant. This has helped me in college by choosing a major and getting involved with different clubs such as: Future Buckeye Physician Assistants and Buckeyethon. I hope to continue to be an advocate for curing childhood cancer and this was just one of my first steps in doing so.

Here is my video I created through this. I hope you enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAEsrORkMHo&featur=

About Me

Hi my name is Carly Hawk and I am an undergraduate student at The Ohio State University. I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. In my time at Ohio State, I plan to major in health sciences on a pre-PA track, with a minor in Biology. My goal for the future after receiving my Masters for a Physician Assistant is to become a pediatric oncologist.

In high school, I found a strong interest in researching to find a cure for cancer and working with different organizations in hopes of raising money for research, especially in pediatrics. As a college student, I aim to pursue these interests by joining clubs and possibly conducting research.

Outside of school, I enjoy staying active, reading books, and spending time with friends. I am passionate about leadership and service in my community which lead me to apply for Mount Leadership Society. Through this scholars program, a group of students and I focus on different social issues to address and combat within the Columbus community and globally. Looking forward, I cannot wait to begin my journey at Ohio State and continue to develop into the best person I can be.