About Me

My name is Kaitlyn Snyder, and I am a second-year undergraduate student from Duluth, Minnesota. As an honors student, I am majoring in Sociology with a minor in Biology and am hoping to attend PA school after graduation. I aspire to live a life of service and believe that a career in medicine will complement both my passion for science and my desire to help and form connections with people. On campus, I choose to take part in student organizations that foster my inclination to learn and volunteer, and that apply what I learn inside the classroom to the world beyond. One such opportunity has been my role as a resident advisor, through which I have developed my leadership skills and have had the pleasure of creating relationships with and learning from Buckeyes whose backgrounds are vastly different than my own. I am so excited to use this platform to track my growth, both as a student and person, and try my hand at blogging over the course of my remaining time at The Ohio State University!

Honors Contract G.O.A.L.S.

 

Global Awareness

Cultural competency is an important attribute to have in a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected. In order to improve myself as a global citizen, I plan to complete the Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement (DICE) Program through the Multicultural Center (MCC) here at Ohio State. I have already had the opportunity to attend several MCC events, including those that were part of Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month. As a biracial Asian American, my experience is not the same as those of other members of the APIDA community; but the events I attended gave me validation and a sense of camaraderie. They also prompted me to reflect upon the diversity within the community and made me more excited to continue attending events that celebrate other cultures.

Original Inquiry

Bloom’s Taxonomy is an extremely popular learning model that depicts a pyramid of cognitive skills that students should practice. The learning objective at the very top of this hierarchy is “Create,” so I know that original inquiry is one of the most effective and powerful tools for expanding a student’s critical thinking and problem-solving skills. One requirement of my Sociology major curriculum is to have an experiential learning component be part of your time as an undergraduate student at Ohio State. I plan to meet this expectation by participating in undergraduate research in Sociology. I believe that this will be a great opportunity to learn outside of the classroom and contribute to a field that I find to be very compelling.

Academic Enrichment

After graduating from Ohio State, I want to pursue a master’s degree and become a physician assistant. I believe that earning a degree in Sociology with a minor in Biology will lay a well-rounded foundation for a career in the medical field. While any medical professional needs to have scientific expertise, the actual practice of medicine is providing support to people; and individuals with aspirations to work in healthcare should have an understanding of the non-scientific aspects of the field. For example, we need to be aware of the health disparities seen between different groups of people and of the institutional barriers that may inhibit a person from receiving quality healthcare. Thus, Sociology and Biology complement one another and are natural fits for me. By committing myself to taking high-level courses and challenging myself with a multi-dimensional course of study, I know that I will graduate fully prepared to take the next steps towards getting where I want to go.

Leadership Development

Being a resident advisor has been one of the most meaningful experiences I have had at Ohio State thus far. In this role, I am part of a team that strives to foster a healthy and inclusive community by promoting intentional, holistic wellness. I have developed my communication skills, learned about conflict management, and challenged myself to find creative solutions to many different kinds of problems. These are skills that will serve me well after graduating from Ohio State. As the team approach to patient care continues to grow in medicine, I know that I will be well-equipped to play an integral role wherever I work.

Service Engagement

I am a member of the student organization Remote Area Medical (RAM) Columbus. We are a service-based group that seeks to provide underserved populations with quality medical care. We do this by supporting the nationwide organization of RAM. We volunteer throughout the Columbus community, travel to neighboring states in order to serve at RAM free clinics, and hope to host a free clinic of our own in the coming year. Before I graduate, I also want to get involved with Columbus Public Health. I know that they have several initiatives that I would love to contribute to, including CelebrateOne (which seeks to decrease infant mortality rates in the city of Columbus) and the Office of Minority Health among others.

Service Engagement

One of the reasons why I want to have a career in medicine is because I would like to live my life serving others. In high school, I volunteered at my local hospital, and I will continue to do so this summer. I will also reapply to volunteer at the Wexner Medical Center.

Although the Humanism in Medicine Club is largely a service-oriented group, I haven’t been as active as I have been in the past in terms of volunteering. I think that now that my first semester is coming to a close, however, I am finally starting to find my footing here, and I will strive to be much more engaged in the future. I’m still looking for a place off-campus to commit my time to, but I have had a blast already with BuckeyeThon and HiM.

Leadership Development

This past week, I applied to be a resident advisor for the next school year, and I am extremely excited about the possibilities that go along with being a part of Residence Life. Being a resident advisor would be a great opportunity to further develop my leadership skills and meet new people, and it would definitely push me out of my comfort zone. I would love the opportunity to help students who may be having trouble transitioning to college or who haven’t quite found their niche at Ohio State.

If I am not hired, however, I think that I’ll try to take on a more active role in the Humanism in Medicine Club. I have already thoroughly enjoyed the time that I’ve put into the organization, so I think that that might be a good first step for me. We are currently fundraising for our BuckeyeThon team, and I am super passionate about this project. I think that it would be really cool if I can step up and lead that initiative for the organization next year. I have also thought about applying to be a chemistry lab TA next year because I have had a lot of success in general chemistry so far and am probably one of the few who enjoyed the lab portion of the course this semester.

Original Inquiry

My high school teachers referred to Bloom’s Taxonomy whenever they could as a benchmark for learning. At the very top of Bloom’s Taxonomy is “Create,” so I know that Original Inquiry is one of the most effective and powerful tools for expanding a student’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. Here at Ohio State, I hope to find a position in a lab where I can further develop those skills and gain experience in research. I am particularly interested in research pertaining to cancer, genetics, and other related medical topics. In addition, the sociology major contains an integrated elective requirement for which I hope to participate in a faculty member’s research. Another route I could take to fulfill the requirement is the course called Social Science Business Collaborative: A Service Learning Approach. Students who take this course develop research projects with local businesses in order to serve the community.

I am also committed to challenging myself with upper level courses. A few that I’m most excited about include Cancer Genetics, Violence, and Health Disparities in Social Context.

Global Awareness

One of the reasons I was so excited to come to Ohio State was the opportunity to learn from and about people who have different backgrounds than me. Although I haven’t found the time do so thus far, I would really like to invest myself in some sort of multicultural student organization. One of the organizations that I’ve looked into is MUNDO, which works to make connections and promote social change at local, national, and global levels. They are partnered with Residence Life to provide service, learning, and leadership opportunities. Because second-year students live on campus, I think that it might be a good fit for me next year.

Several of my sociology major classes will also help me to become a more informed global citizen. Courses such as Sociology of Terrorism and The Sociology of Global Health and Illness cover topics that are not only incredibly fascinating to me, but also provide insight into human experiences, behaviors, and communities that are very different from my own.

REACH Out

Last month, the Humanism in Medicine Club brought in representatives from the Ohio State REACH program to talk to us about their work in suicide prevention. Mental health is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, as I have several people back home who have suffered at its hand. Most recently, my high school was rocked with the death of a student who had taken his own life. For that reason, out of everything that I have done and experienced in the three months since I’ve been at Ohio State, this particular meeting stuck with me.

By the end of the evening, I was confident that I could approach someone who was showing signs of mental illness and provide them with resources to get help. These are skills that could prove to be vital in the future, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn. Medicine revolves around people. So people should be at the center of our focus.

REACH is a great program at Ohio State that works to raise awareness and prevent suicide by teaching people how to help in five steps:

Recognize warning signs

Engage with empathy

Ask directly about suicide

Communicate hope

Help suicidal individuals to access care and treatment

For more information on how to get certified in suicide prevention, visit http://www.reach.osu.edu

Academic Enrichment

I don’t think that I’ve ever been more excited about where I am and what I’m doing than I am right now. I recently had the opportunity to meet with each of my major advisors, and I cannot wait to start plugging away in all of the courses that I’m going to be taking! I am particularly looking forward to Classical Mythology and Introduction to Psychology.

I chose to major in biology because I loved my AP Biology course in high school, and it was during that course that I really started to feel like I knew what I wanted to do with my life. That same year, I had surgery on my ankle, so I spent a lot of time at the hospital and in the clinic. It was in this way that I landed on medicine.

Unlike biology, I didn’t know that I wanted to study sociology. I had never even considered it until I heard Dr. Hollie Brehm speak at my orientation session over the summer. Before that, and before even knowing that I wanted to become a doctor, I had played with a lot of different career paths. There was a time when I wanted to be a teacher, and then I wanted to be a lawyer, and then I wanted to be a journalist. All of these careers require an understanding of people, and medicine isn’t an exception. I believe that studying sociology will give me the skills necessary to excel no matter where I end up in the future because I think that having a deeper understanding of those around me and of the world is important to being a citizen of society. This belief is what has me so committed to immersing myself in both the sciences and the social sciences. The ability to do so is what is so great about a liberal arts education.

My Academic Plan has helped me develop a collection and schedule of courses that are going to prepare me for my future career and combine my two majors into a curriculum that I’m extremely excited about. It has also alleviated a lot of the stress I had that stemmed from not knowing what I should do or when I should do it. I think that for now, I have a good template to follow for the next several semesters.

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]