I took Narrative and Medicine in the spring semester of my freshman year in hopes that it would be an interesting literature GenEd, but the class ended up being much more influential than I originally thought. The course focused on how illness and our experience with failing health is not just a list of symptoms or a problem to solve, but instead is a story, and thinking of it as such can allow us to have agency over our experiences dealing with the medical field. Throughout the semester we read a series of narratives in different formats to show different choices and portrayals of illness, which helped to combat the idea of the experience of sickness as the same for everyone involved. Exposure to these different narratives taught me that everyone experiences illness differently, and being able to write about or express ones illness on their own terms may allow them the emotional processing or understanding they need to choose to stop or continue forward in their treatment. My professor was a graduate student himself, so he understood the rigors of life as a student and strove to make the class relatable and impactful for an undergraduate. Overall, I think the most important thing I came to understand through this class was the relationship between the sciences and the humanities, and how important it is that future STEM majors are not just learning all math and science in their undergraduate careers. Studies have shown that exposure to the humanities fosters skills that STEM classes do not always emphasize, so by implementing a curriculum that is comprehensive we are creating well rounded students who are more equipped to understand and take on the world around them.

Ironically, I didn’t plan to take one of the most influential classes I have enrolled in at Ohio State. Somehow my scheduling appointment glitched and in addition to my science classes, I was enrolled in a History of Ancient Medicine course as well. As someone who has always had a strong interest in both history and science, I decided to not to drop the course and see what it was about, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made in college. This class was a breath of fresh air for me as it helped to break up all of the science classes I was taking, and gave me the opportunity to gain a better understanding of how the sciences and humanities can come together to make more competent and empathetic physicians. At the end of this class we were required to write an essay about how the inclusion of humanities and ancient thought can better the practice of medicine today, something I was very proud of and have attached below. I hope to continue this passion by taking more humanities courses both in and out of the classroom in the future.

Ancient Medicine Final Essay

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to complete my first Buckeyethon in the spring semester before 2020, and it was a great experience. As I am originally from Philadelphia, I grew up seeing Penn State students come to school events and stand on roadsides collecting money for Thon, so I was very excited to join the event once I came to campus. Together with other active brothers in my service fraternity, we completed fundraisers and held a bake sale to raise money for children fighting pediatric cancer. By the dance marathon, I was able to raise 275 dollars to go toward research at Nationwide Childrens Hospital.

As a freshman, I was disappointed to find that my high school did not have a Model UN club, so I decided to create one myself. I spent the majority of my sophomore year filling out paperwork and finding a sponsor, but it all paid off in junior year when I got to hold my first meeting. Finally in senior year we went to our first conference at American University with the club executive board, pictured on the left at the train station before going to DC.

Two years ago I went to the Cayman Islands with my family and got to experience some of the local culture and food. We went to Rum Point and got to swim with stingrays, see starfish, and get a tour of the island and its history. One of the places we stopped at was a town called Hell, which was given its name because of the odd grey rocks that take up almost all of the town, giving it a cavernous and otherworldly feel, as pictured to the right.

One of my favorite teachers I have ever had was my biology teacher, Mrs. Dietsch. When she was working on her third masters degree, she selected a few of her best students to help her with her required research, and I was one of the chosen few. Every day we would look at the health of brine shrimp exposed to different household chemicals, and counted how many in each sample petri dish had died that day, and organized the data in a spreadsheet. The picture included is me and two of the other helpers along with our teacher and a few of our other classmates before graduation.

 My first scholars event was the Columbus Clippers baseball game, where I met two of my now good friends and learned more about the type of community the scholars program at Ohio State could offer.