Over the course of my second year at Ohio State, I participated in a second year service project at the Wexner Medical Center. I volunteered on the Surgical Intensive Care Unit floor helping families to be connected to their loved ones while maintaining a sterile environment. It was a great experience working at the front desk because I got to meet with families and be a comforting and caring person in their time of need. I also was able to contact doctors and nurses to ask about the status of patients whether they were in surgery or still taking a rest in their rooms and relay that to the patients. In the fall semester I work on Sundays from 9-12 and this past semester, I worked from 4-7 on Fridays. I enjoyed volunteering here so much that I am also volunteering here for the summer while staying at OSU. It has been one of my favorite experiences while being here and allows me to pay back some time to the community.
Interview with Medical Student
I interviewed my friend Matt that will be attending medical school this summer and he had some good advice about looking for and applying to medical school.
His biggest emphasis was to not apply until you are ready. If your MCAT score is not good enough, wait and take it again. If you want to do research or volunteer work for a while, take a gap year and improve your resume. Applying to medical school is super expensive in itself so in order to not waste money and time, don’t apply and go to interviews until you are sure that you are ready.
Second, he talked about the importance of having a broad resume. It is important to have volunteer work under your belt both in medical related locations and places in the community. It is important to have shadowing hours or clinical hours in which you are a setting that is similar to a doctor. It is important to have leadership roles that show that you are someone that people can rely on. It is obviously also important to have good grades and a good MCAT score.
Next, the interview process is difficult but it is also easy to prepare for. Having strong responses to difficult questions will set you apart form other applicants. It is necessary to be able to be both personable and knowledgeable when answering questions.
Lastly, medical school is hard to get into so it is important to apply to places that are realistic to get into based on your resume and apply to a lot of schools because it is common to get more rejection than acceptances. Don’t give up. If it doesn’t work out this year, take another year, get your masters degree, or do something to make an impact and try again.
It was great talking to Matt because there were quite a few more technical things about apply to medical school that I was unaware of but it made me excited to get to that point in my life! I know there are bound to be difficulties along the way but I am ready for the adventure.
Year in Review
I think back to last summer, the summer before starting college at The Ohio State University and it all feels kind of like a dream. It feels like graduation was a lifetime ago. I had no idea what I was getting myself into by traveling hundreds of miles from home, away from my friends and family, starting as a D1 athlete and a double major. I did it all in high school and still had free time and I though college would be the same. I was very wrong. I though college would just be a continuation of high school and nothing harder. I thought Health Science Scholars would be just a class and less of a community type feeling in my life. Unfortunately I was wrong, but it wasn’t bad that I was. I had to do a lot of rearranging of priorities, quite a sport that I loved, and focus in on school work a lot harder than I have ever had to. I had to spend more hours than I thought existed in a day studying for chemistry or calculus, writing papers in French, and reading lots of literature and textbooks. Working out and meals became my only breaks in the day and sleep was less of a leisure activity and more of a necessity to be able to function the next day. I found my niche at Ohio State though, especially in my sorority and through many of the friends I made on my floor and in my dorm building. My goals for next year is to begin the school year being more prepared for my classes and have more realistic expectations of how life will go. I am looking forward to participating in HSS events and I would like to take on more of a leadership role amongst younger HSS students. I also am looking forward to volunteering through a single organization and making a bigger impact in one place.
My most memorable service experience in my first year of Health Science Scholars was easily my participation in weekly volunteer shifts at Wexner Medical Center. I am currently a University Ambassador at the Wexner which means that I come for two hours a week and escort patients from one place to another if they have different appointments or in different locations. I also take their family members or other visitors from the front area to their rooms or to waiting areas. To be perfectly honest I really wasn’t looking forward to this volunteer position because it was at 7 am on Friday mornings. I am not a person who is super into going out or anything on Thursdays, but I tend to be not much of a morning person and enjoy doing homework or studying late into the night. My first shift at the Wexner changed my mind however. Because I go into the hospital at an early house, most of the patients I interact with are going in for surgery, an area I am interested for a future career. I get to take patients in who are nervous about their surgeries and family members that are often very anxious about the upcoming events and hearing back news. I get to be a person for them to talk to that isn’t involved in any of their health care. I am just someone to smile at them, walk, or push them if they are in a wheel chair or bed, to their proper location and remind them that everything is going to be okay. A lot of times in health care I feel like the person to person connection is lost especially between a doctor and the patient because the patient often doesn’t understand everything that is happening to them or everything that is about to occur in the procedure, but I am there to remind them that they are humans, their feelings are valid, and that they are in good hands from the second they walk in the doors at Wexner Medical Center.
Eat.
For the “Eat” portion of the “Eat. Go. Do.” project, I decided that I wanted to try authentic deep dish pizza. Luckily, my family had planned an adventure to Chicago during spring break where were spent a couple days exploring the city, visiting millennium park and the bean as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. One night my family all ventured to a family owned deep dish pizza restaurant where I had my very first slice of deep dish pizza. It was just as amazing as I was hoping it would be. Having to cut it with a knife and fork and how thick and cheesy it was, it was great. I definitely recommend trying it sometime.
Go.
For the “Go” portion of the “Eat. Go. Do.” project, I had decided that I wanted to visit a place off campus so spontaneously one day my friends and I left for hocking hills for the day complete with a Mexican food family dinner on the way home. We hiked into the old man’s cave on the first warm day of the spring, took a couple pictures and enjoyed a day off campus. I love visiting parks back at home so getting to go hiking outside felt good and it made Ohio feel a little more like home. Over the course of this semester, I’ve been looking for ways to make Columbus, 12 hours from my hometown, feel like home and getting to go out into nature made Ohio feel like Minnesota.
Do.
This semester, I decided that my “Do” portion of the “Eat. Go. Do.” project would be to participate in a community service project. I had been a part of the American Red Cross Club my first semester but the volunteering didn’t make me feel super fulfilled so I decided I wanted to participate in some volunteering that was actually a hands on project. I volunteered at the “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes” event where money was raised to support health relationships and to raise awareness of sexual assault and violence. Guys would put on high heeled shoes and walk a mile in “our shoes” around the oval, high street, and the union. I helped guys check in, hand out pairs of shoes, and completed the mile walk with the guys, getting to hear their comments of the pains and awkwardness of it. I was quick to add comments about how cars were honking at them and how females get similar treatments but with a lot more negative connotation. It was great to be able to feel like I was making a difference, raising awareness, and making friends. It was actually one of my favorite experiences this year at Ohio State.
Eat. Go. Do. Proposal
The Eat. Go. Do. project for first year Health Science Scholars students will be a challenge for second semester freshman to try or accomplish things they have never done before. I plan to “Eat” deep dish pizza for the first time, “Go” to a different place in Ohio as I have really only explored Columbus being from Minnesota, and I plan to “Do” by participate in a community service event.
Final Strategic Life Plan
Representing all the physical and mental strength I’ve gained while being at Ohio State
My first official Ohio State head shot for my position as a student life blogger.
My best friend and biggest support system at Ohio State, Samantha Oberdier
After participating in a semester with the Health Science Scholars Program at Ohio State University, I have gained a better appreciation for the steps I must take for my future plans to become a reality. Learning about all the different parts and perspectives of health care made realize all the aspects that a doctor’s job really entails and understanding these branches furthered my knowledge of the health care system we live in today and the future of health care that will be present when I enter the workforce, from finances to patient care. I’m looking forward to all the opportunities that will build my hands-on experience including internships and research projects at Ohio State, around the United State and even in other countries. Starting with after school projects, lab experience, and making faculty and professional connections will aid in my academic and personal growth as well as my professional growth. I plan to get involved in more volunteering through the medical center and increase my volunteering hours through American Red Cross Club. I plan to participate in shadowing over my winter break and obtain a lab technician position over the summer. Being in Health Science Scholars helped me to see all of my possibilities and to expand my ideas of what I want to do in the health care field. The support I get from my health science scholar mentors and fellow students is astounding and it reinforces the idea that it takes team work and support to be successful and to accomplish big things, even if that just means completing my first semester of freshman year.
About Me
Welcome to my e-Portfolio!
My name is Allison Walker and I am a Freshman at The Ohio State University. I was born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota and my family spends our summers in Northern Wisconsin where our cabin sits lakeside. I plan to major in Biochemistry and French on the pre-med track in hopes of becoming an Obstetrics and Gynecology doctor. My passions include nutrition, crew, organization, dancing, and zumba. My academic interests include chemistry, mathematics, and biology.
I have participated in research at Mayo Clinic Rochester in Radiation Oncology with breast cancer patients under Dr. Ivy Petersen MD. In 2014, I researched the effectiveness of patient education methodologies for diagnosis and treatment of female cancers through analysis of survey data. I also shadow Dr. Peterson in her treatment of patients to learn more about cancer treatment and patient care. In 2015 I began a research project on the effects of radiation impact to the lungs on breast cancer patients who have obtained radiation pneumonitis by measuring medical scans as well as physical symptoms of the disease. I also shadowed Dr. Margret Gill MD, Family Medicine Physician, and Dr. Jamie Bakkum-Gamez MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology. Both of these programs were great opportunities to discover my interests in medicine and experience viewing surgical procedures as well as patient-doctor relationships.
I have traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti twice for mission trips where we partner with “Visyon Espwa pou Ayiti” or “Vision Hope for Haiti” which is a non-profit organization that takes in under-privileged kids in their community. The children are given food, and are taught English, French, and other world skills so that they can be hired for jobs in the future and provide for their future families. I have helped teach these classes as well as work on projects for the community including digging and building a well for fresh water, constructing and painting a building for sewing classes, and an electricity project to provide the community with lighting. The volunteers and the children have become my second family and another trip is in the making for July 2016. Visiting Haiti has strengthened my French and Creole skills as well as given me perspective on world relations, third-world poverty, and first-world privilege.
As for sports, I have been a member of the Rochester Rowing Club for three years and a captain for one year. We’ve participated in regattas all over the Midwest including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio as well as championships in Canada. I race in eights, fours, quads, doubles and my personal favorite, singles. I also have been in dance since I was three years old at Allegro School of Dance and Music participating in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, and Contemporary styles. I performed with Crescendo Dance Company, a competition team, The Metropolitan Ballet’s Dracula, Rochester Ensemble of Dancers, and Children’s Dance Theatre’s Coppelia, Pinocchio, and Alice in Wonderland. I also participated in summer dance intensives at the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts, Kansas City Ballet, and Louisville Ballet.
In the summer of 2014 I was selected to be a part of the National Youth Leadership Forum: Advanced Medicine and Health Care at Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Medical School, and the University of Maryland Medical School and Simulation Center. I spent 10 days going to classes, working in the simulation center, and visiting intensive care units as well as training to be an EMT.
I am heavily involved in volunteering. At my church, St. Luke’s Episcopal, I am a vacation bible school coach, a middle school retreat leader, a food shelf volunteer, an acolyte and a youth representative on my church’s vestry. I have participated on smaller mission trips to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. Through my school, Mayo High, I was an active member of my key club and a Spartan 300 leader welcoming incoming freshman, being a leader in courage retreats for middle school students, and being a peer tutor in mathematics.
A few other activities I have participated in include:
- American Red Cross Club member and volunteer
- Ohio State Student Buckeye Blog promotion student life
- Working at IntaJuice
Go Bucks!