A: Upperclassmen Interview

For my Academic interview I chose my HSS Peer Mentor Emily. Since the day I first met Emily I knew I was going to look up to her. Not only do we share similar majors, but we also share similar values. She was actually one of the first Vegans I’ve met, and definitely the first Christian one. So I knew that I wanted to interview her for this post. Luckily for me she agreed, despite how last minute I made this out to be (I AM SO SORRY).

Q1: What is your Major?

Emily is majoring in Nutrition Science with a minor in Integrated approaches to Health and Wellness (I’m a future dietetics major!). Nutrition science I already knew about, and is pretty easy to figure out what it’s about. Integrated Approaches to Health and Wellness was new to me, but Emily explained it pretty easily. According to her its looking at different perspectives in order to help the body heal itself. She also said it had a philosophical aspect and that it was based a lot in Nature and Nurture. To me, that sounds like a really interesting way to look at health and healing, to go outside the “normal” way of treating just the symptoms rather than healing the root of the problem. I didn’t know much about this field before, but I’m definitely interested in learning more. Maybe even taking some classes in it?

Q2: What were some Internships/Jobs that prepared you for this?

Ok, this is so cool. Emily work in an Acupuncture clinic! This is both way cool, and slightly terrifying to me. Besides the needles though, it is really interesting and gives a good insight into what she was saying about different approaches to medicine. Her boss has an Oriental Medicine degree, which allows her to do both western and eastern medicine and Emily is getting to learn about this through her work there. She says she helps with the acupuncture and gets to make different teas. Obviously not all of her work is fun/interesting, so she also has to deal with the necessary office management. Overall though her job is definitely “goals” (except the needles).

Q3: What extracurriculars do you do?

Emily is a very busy person, and if nothing else is a role model in time management. Not yet am I able to handle as many things at once (hopefully one day!). She not only has school and her job, but she also is a part of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority (I hear sororities require a lot of commitment!), a very active member of Camp Kessum (a camp/supportive club for children whose parents have/had cancer), she handles HSS requirements, and she has time for Church and a class she goes to for it. I cannot even compare, and hope to one day have the energy and commitment to put in the time for things I love like she does. Now, not all of these connect to her major/career goals, but they’re all something she loves and is willing to put that time into. I think that’s super important, not every aspect of our lives is going to reflect our career/education. We’re allowed to have interests outside of school/work, and Emily definitely does. Of course, her interests also teach her valuable skills that can be transferred over to any part of her life so even if our interests fall outside our majors we can still gain useful skills towards them. Like Emily’s ability to manage her time/projects, or her compassion and ability to work with other, and obviously all of the relationships she builds in these organizations. There’s definitely a valuable lesson in doing what you love, and putting your all into it. But I think everyone is capable of reading into that themselves!

Q4: What do you want to do specifically? Career wise?

Do you know what a Naturopath is? I was a bit confused, even after Emily’s description and had to google a definition. Luckily, Naturopathic.org had one:

“Naturopathic medicine is a distinct primary health care profession, emphasizing prevention, treatment, and optimal health through the use of therapeutic methods and substances that encourage individuals’ inherent self-healing process.  The practice of naturopathic medicine includes modern and traditional, scientific, and empirical methods.”

So basically, it’s very similar to the Integrated approach to Health and Wellness minor that Emily is doing. Also, this is amazing. I’m all for this and would love to go to a doctor like this rather than the normal ones, just need to find out if my insurance covers it! Seriously though, this fits with what Emily is studying and her goals, so while the job itself is new to me, I’m not surprised that this is her goal. To get to this point, Emily is going to go to med school for 4 years, and then master in Acupuncture (Oh God needles) so she has a bit of a long road in front of her. However, shes motivated and committed so I don’t think we need to worry!

Q5: What made you choose this major/career path?

Emily was very forthcoming with her history and the decision to become a Naturopath/major in Nutrition. She also is completely fine with me sharing that story, but I’m not. I feel like this is a very personal story that I can’t come to understand or share in a meaningful way after briefly touching on it in a 20 minute interview. However, this story gives really good insight into who she is and why she chose to go into nutrition. Emily lost her mother at a young age to cancer, and later her stepmother was also diagnosed. I can’t even imagine how terrifying and sad this must be, but Emily didn’t seem to talk about it as if it was hopeless and sad. Instead, Emily mentions how her stepmom was already a bit of a hippie and how she had been rubbing off on Emily even before the diagnosis. She goes on to talk about how after the diagnosis they got very serious about their health and that they went vegan and did their best to take care of and heal their bodies. She also talks about how she had gone with her stepmom to a Naturopathic doctor and how that experience helped her shift towards majoring in Nutrition. Of course, all of this happened before college so Emily never actually changed her major (she originally wanted to be a DENTIST though. Oh God Teeth…). Shes one of those few people who stick to one major from the beginning till the end, so I have hope that I can too. It’s easy to see though that this choice wasn’t half-assed or meaningless, a lot of thought and care went into choosing her major and I think that’s really important. We’re not going to school for jobs, we’re here for careers and even lifestyles. This is a serious choice that Emily seemed to take very seriously, which is something we all need to do in this situation. (I know I didn’t explain all of this very well, but I don’t think I can explain it any better. This is Emily’s story and only she can explain it as she experienced it).

Q6: How Prepared do you feel?

This was my last question, and for good reason. Obviously preparation is an ongoing process, and relative. Emily’s answer definitely made me feel better about my own feelings towards my preparation (for this major and my future career). Emily hits on the question of whether OSU is the best place for her to learn this, her doubts around this question and subsequent decision to stay. Obviously OSU is very competitive, and one of the best institutions in the country and in the end Emily must feel that it prepares her enough otherwise I’m certain she’d transfer. She also explains how she feels like shes all over the place, overwhelmed, and like she has too much on her plate. I can relate, and I don’t have half as many commitments as she does. She explained that despite the fact that she feels this way and has these doubts that her support network and colleagues give her encouragement and help her see that realistically she is on track. This is a really crucial insight I think, not only for Emily or in my own life, but for everyone in college and dealing with this. We all have doubts, and there never seems to be enough time, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t moving forward. Things can be tough, but these tough times strengthen us and show us how much we can handle. And when things get tough, it’s important to have a support system and some very honest people to tell you it’s ok, you’re ok, and you will get through this (and of course to call you on your shit and keep you on the right track and humble).

This is a very long post, and I’m very sorry if you don’t feel like reading all of it. Because in this interview I learned some very important lessons, or at least was able to make old lessons seem more realistic and applicable to myself. I’m so glad Emily was my HSS Mentor this year, and that she agreed to do this very last minute interview despite her own very busy schedule. Emily has definitely found her purpose, and I hope that I can find mine.