2023-2024
Reflecting on my third year at UC, I made a lot of unforgettable memories, encouraged myself to make new friends, and made sure to engage myself as much as possible. I began with my new role as a LACRL Coordinator for BIOL1081, which I absolutely adored. I was given the opportunity to mentor a small group of learning assistants/content review leaders throughout the semester and served as one of their first points of contact, while also being a guide and a source of constructive feedback. Through this role, I was also able to establish myself as more of an authority figure and be a dependable resource inside and outside of the classroom for students and other employees. With this position, I have learned how to adapt and be more resilient, collaborate and work as a team, and become a dependable leader. I am forever thankful for this position and the lifelong connections I have made through it.
During the fall, I also continued to volunteer at Cincinnati Children's Hospital as a student researcher. Unfortunately, I was only able to dedicate four hours a week, but I still feel like I was able to make the most of it and work on improving my laboratory skills. Continuing this experience really gave me the opportunity to explore the nonclinical side of medicine further, which I ended up enjoying more than I thought I would. Another semester in lab also gave me the chance to work with more technology and understand procedures for extraction, analyzation, and quantification. Being able to better understand the laboratory side of the medical field has helped me see what will happen downstream of collections, which I think is important to know because I have obtained a wholistic view of medicine and not just one side.
As much as I did enjoy lab work, I transitioned to clinical research in the spring, which I was also equally excited about. I love getting to interact with patients, so I felt it was important for me to continue strengthening things like my interpersonal skills. Throughout the semester, I became very familiar with consenting, sample collection, data entry, visit prep, etc. Even though a lot of the visits ended up getting cancelled, I was able to use that time to learn about everything else, so I felt it as a nice balance between clinical and some data management/lab. One of the biggest things I learned from this experience was that I need to quickly learn how to read a room and understand the needs and attitude of the patient so that I can adjust my own attitude accordingly. This is definitely a major skill that I will need as a future physician as well because it will facilitate my interactions with patients and make me more efficient.
Throughout the entire year, I remained involved in my position as a new UHP ambassador. I really enjoyed this experience as well because it wasn't an extreme commitment, but it still gave me the opportunity to represent UHP and connect with other UHP members. I mainly helped discuss the different aspects and requirements of UHP to incoming members, but this ultimately allowed me to work on my speaking skills. In addition, I worked hard to hone my leadership skills and be seen as a positive influence to members of both UC and UHP.
It is bittersweet to only have a year left of my undergraduate career. I am sad that it will be over, but I am also super excited about what the next year has in store for me. I will start off the fall semester by taking an honors seminar on climate change, which automatically intrigued me. From the beginning of my UHP journey, I have wanted to get more involved with and learn about the environment, but it was difficult to find a good time for me to do so with all my other classes and commitments. Now that I am done with most of my degree requirements, I can take some time to focus on this passion and see where it takes me. In the end, I simply want to learn about how I can take care of the environment and the people that live on it, and this class will get me closer to achieving this goal.
With the following year on mind, I hope to finish out strong and complete my certificate in minority health and a minor in chemistry. I also want to continue to maintain my GPA. For my professional goals, I want to continue to be seen as a leader in my position for the Learning Commons, strengthen my cultural humility skills, and work on team building that can achieve mutual goals.