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My STEP Signature Project was an EMT Certification Program through Columbus State Community College. I spent ten weeks learning about how to provide prehospital care as an EMT-Basic in the state of Ohio. I learned how to provide a primary and secondary assessment for both medical and trauma patients, as well as how to provide treatment when necessary. I also completed hospital clinical shifts in various emergency rooms, as well as three field clinical shifts with Grandview Fire Department and Westerville Fire Department.
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Completing my STEP Signature Project helped me realize how resilient I am. In other words, a transformation that occurred in me was that I learned to celebrate small victories and be proud of myself for even doing something as small as showing up to class after a late night of studying. I had a pretty academically challenging junior year, taking five classes each semester while also coping with the deaths of my grandpa and grandma, one of which occurred in the fall and the other in spring. After completing my junior year, I had about two weeks to recuperate before jumping into ten weeks of rigorous EMT coursework, where I had classes four times a week for five hours each day. On top of going to EMT school and working twelve hour clinical shifts, I was taking another course while working about 20 hours a week as a lifeguard. It felt as if my days were a constant loop of waking up, going to school, going to work, and studying from August 2021 until August 2022, and I didn’t realize how much it took a toll on me until I earned my national EMT certification a few weeks ago.
Throughout EMT school, I learned how to give myself breaks, and I learned to reward myself in small ways for each five-hour class I sat through, each twelve hour clinic I finished, and each homework assignment I turned in. Doing this helped me stay motivated and prevented major burnout. With all that said, I’m very proud of myself for persevering, and I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to complete my STEP project successfully.
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My EMT instructor, Keith, helped me arrive at my transformation. He truly cared about my success and each student’s success, but he also cared about our emotional and mental well-being. He understood that a lot of what EMT’s do requires severe mental strength because we see cases of severe abuse, traumatizing accidents, and deaths. During my first clinical shift at OSU East Hospital, I witnessed a man die of cardiac arrest. I finished my shift, suppressing my tears until I got in my car and drove home with cloudy vision. The next day in class, we had a quiz that I didn’t do my best on. Keith pulled me aside and allowed me to confide in him. I confessed I didn’t get a chance to study because I was dealing with emotions from seeing a human being die in person. He told me he understood. I confessed that I was distracted and did not listen to a single word of his lecture that day. He told me he understood. The thing he said that stuck out to me most was this: “Victoria, I’m just proud of you for even staying in this program. I’m proud that you showed up to class today.” Becoming an EMT is not easy because of the horrible things we see, as rewarding as the job is. He taught me to just be proud of myself for picking myself up the day after witnessing a death, going to class, and trying my best on a quiz. I will forever be grateful for his support and guidance.
The students in my class also played a big role in making my experience at EMT school memorable. Most of the students were also enrolled in four year universities like me, and they wanted to earn their EMT certification to gain clinical experience for their graduate school applications. I made friends with a handful of pre-meds, pre-PA students, a nursing student, and a woman who was an art school dropout that then went to culinary school, became a chef, and then decided to pursue emergency medical services! There was such a diverse demographic of ages and career interests, yet everyone was so supportive of each other’s successes that it made coming to class fun and worthwhile, as rigorous as it was.
I also made a friend who was a 25-year-old nontraditional student at Ohio State studying aerospace engineering. She dropped out of college several years prior, spent years traveling around the world, then returned to pursue her bachelor’s in aerospace engineering. She then decided to go to EMT school because she also toyed with the idea of entering the medical field and becoming a doctor someday. She ended up graduating at the top of our class, which goes to show that her gut feeling of exploring medicine despite the degree she was earning was right. Her experiences—as well as the art student/chef’s experiences— opened my eyes to just how dynamic life is, and that there is no single path that works for everyone. Change is okay, and exploring one’s passions is okay as long as they have the means. Most importantly, trusting yourself and celebrating every small step in the right direction is key to preventing self-doubt and imposter syndrome.
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Learning how to celebrate small victories and becoming open to changes in life paths has helped me grow so much as a person. I consider myself to be a perfectionist who used to be really scared of major changes, especially if they pertained to my career. My mom immigrated from Indonesia to the United States to give my sister and I opportunities for great education and fulfilling careers. She always said that once we pick a major and a pre-professional path, we must stick to it because we don’t have the time or money to change majors once or twice. I realized years later that though she was correct about us not having the financial means to switch career paths many times, she was wrong about the lack of time I have to figure out what I want to do as a career. Change can be scary, but it also opens lots of doors if you listen to your intuition carefully.
I wanted to be a medical doctor for nearly six years before I realized that I didn’t want a career that allowed little work-life balance and also required me to bank on getting accepted into a residency that was not guaranteed. For months, I was too proud to switch to a different career path, and now I am so glad to be pursuing dental school instead because it allows me to provide patient care right out of school, which is my ultimate goal. I want to be able to help patients as soon as I can, and I do not believe I have to jump through more hoops to make a difference in my community. When I finally changed my career focus, it was nerve-racking at first, but that worry quickly turned into relief and pride. I was proud of myself for embracing this change, and I celebrated this small victory of pursuing a career that was both creative and scientific and, most importantly, allowed me to live a balanced life. To tie things back to my STEP project, enrolling in a ten-week intensive EMT course after one of the hardest years of my life was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, but I got through it by celebrating every small victory and keeping the big picture in mind.
