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!