Month: August 2019

Artifacts

This is an image taken of me on a strenuous backpacking and rock climbing expedition that I went on last summer. Here, I just made it over the side of a mountain that I rock climbed. This was a climb that I trained for the entire trip, however didn’t think that I was going to be able to accomplish. Ever since this trip, I have had a different outlook on life and how I approach challenges. This trip taught me invaluable life lessons such as self-reliance, leadership, goal-setting, and living beyond my comfort zone. Even though my first two months at OSU have not involved much outdoor exploration, I have been able to apply these same lessons to many of the new challenges that I have encountered here. So far within my first semester, I have been made it a task of mine to explore many new things and take risks in order to find out what I’m meant to be doing here. For example, I have explored new classes that I don’t know if I’m going to succeed in, I’ve joined clubs that I wasn’t sure if I’d have the time for, I’ve made it a task to meet new people every day,and all while juggling the intensity of my new schoolwork. I’m aware that these next four years will only be an even steeper uphill climb, however, I’m confident that the skills that I’m continuing to learn by applying these tangible outlooks will not only carry me through these years, but allow me to discover what it is I’m truly meant to accomplish in order to leave a legacy. 

About Me

My name is Emma Kaplan, I am a first year majoring in Public Health. My passion lies in providing access to medical care to areas of the world where it is not easily accessible. Thus, through a group called GPSA (Global Public Service Academy) I’ve been able to serve and lead medical service trips to Williamson, WV in order to train residents as well as provide medical care. I hope to remain involved in groups like this and potentially start my own chapter at OSU. At the same time, I am also heavily involved in scientific inquiry and by being in Biological Scholars I hope to further explore research opportunities at OSU. Throughout high school my scientific research focused on nonsense mediated mRNA decay and I hope to continue molecular biology research at OSU. Aside from my main academic interests, I enjoy studying astronomy and stargazing, rock climbing, and listening to music in my free time!

Year in Review

Throughout my first semester at OSU, I have challenged myself with a myriad of new experiences that have shaped me into an absolutely new person. Living on my own for the first time has taught me how to balance time and prioritize things in my life without anyone telling me to do so. This all plays into my development of self-reliance which will only strengthen within my next semesters in college. Early on in the semester I changed my major from Biology to Public Health in order to spend more time learning about the actual issues in health care throughout the world, while still staying on the pre-med track. I will be taking more public health courses next semester which will only strengthen my passion for the field. Overall, now that I have started to become accustomed to the style of the classes here (which was a challenge at first) my main goal for next semester is to become more involved in clubs and student organizations on campus to take a lot of what I am studying outside of the classroom! 

G.O.A.L.S.

 

  • Global Awareness: I have already been looking into several Public Health study abroad opportunities even for this upcoming summer. Additionally, since my main interest is entering a field of global health, I have already started to join clubs such as the Global (and Public) Health Initiative, MEDLife, and Doctors Without Boarders.

 

  • Original Inquiry: I plan to fulfill my own original inquiries in many ways, however so far I have already started heavily investigating researchers that I would like to do research under. Most importantly, I have identified that Guramrit Singh’s research focused on the control of post-transcriptional gene expression via dynamic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes is what I am interested in joining. I’ve identified his research in particular because of how similar it is to previous research that I have done involving nonsense mediated mRNA decay complexes. Additionally, the researcher that I worked with at Case Western Reserve University has stated that she would be willing to help me find more similar research projects at OSU! 

 

  • Academic Enrichment: My coursework this semester is taking adjusting to but I am learning more than I ever have! I would like to be doing more learning outside of my immediate coursework, however, I believe that taking my time to discover my teachers after hours and other opportunities to enhance the learning that I am doing in these classes is already beginning to enrich my learning and prepare me for future classes.
  • Leadership Development: I have already been in touch with administrators on the board of the Global Public Service Academy (GPSA) to discuss starting a chapter at OSU. I went on two medical service trips with this group in high school and I believe that bringing a chapter to OSU would help me continue to be involved with the program, allow others to be involved, and continue to bring change to communities!

 

  • Service Engagement: This overlaps with me hoping to bring the GPSA medical service program to OSU^… However I am still continuing to seek out new service opportunities in clubs here at OSU.