This year I have grown more as a professional, student and club member. My second year service project over the summer immersed me in the professional environment of a hospital and I was blessed to learn from extraordinary therapists. These past two semesters, I have learned a lot about the human body and have gotten to take classes in my major as well as complete more prerequisites for graduate school. Fall semester I was able to volunteer with Dodd Rehabilitation Services and learned about how much work it is to maintain a clean and organized hospital environment for patients. This semester, I began observing with The Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Department at Wilce Student Health Center; I have really enjoyed being able to experience a different environment with therapy and getting to know more physical therapists.
This year I took on two small leadership positions in organizations on campus. I was a Commillee Captain in the Boo Radley Society which gave me the ability to aid in the organization and creation of events as well as provided experience in working with a budget. I was a peer mentor for Health Sciences Scholars which allowed me to connect with a first year student that was new to Ohio State. Both of these positions taught me more about coming out of my comfort zone and engaging with people that have other interests than me but have similar goals for the club or future.
For this fall I have arranged research that is related to concussion recovery and Tango dancing with a faculty member of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. The research will put me out of my comfort zone as I have not participated in serious research before. However, I am eager to learn from my faculty mentor and look forward to working with more diverse populations. I will also begin volunteering with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital physical therapy department or with the DPT student-run clinic in Columbus. Either volunteering opportunity will provide new experiences in PT and with diverse populations. I also participated in the STEP program and plan on attending an international Buck-I-SERV trip to Ghana in order to volunteer with women and children to learn about their health and education in Winter 2019. I have applied to be an Anatomy 3300 TA which will help me thoroughly learn the human body and provide a new leadership opportunity–fingers crossed! 🙂
All in all, I am thankful for the opportunities that OSU has provided for me and I look forward to growth in knowledge, empathy, diversity and leadership in the coming semesters!