Co-Curriculars
BIOS Ambassador: This is a position organized by the biology department to act as a student face for prospective student events. In the fall I would table for tour groups, and in the spring I would sit on panels for Bobcat Up Close days. I gained a good amount of public speaking experience from this, as well as opportunities to talk with some of the faculty that would be doing the events with me.
Camp Counselor/Lifeguard: This was probably one of my favorite experiences in the past four years. I worked at a summer camp as a counselor for kids anywhere between 7 and 15 years old. I would lead daily activities in the woods or down at the waterfront where I also had a position as a lifeguard. Many of the staff were international, and I made some very good friends. This job gave me experince working on a multicultural team while staying in the woods of rural Ohio
Edison Biotech Institute Research Assistant: Following some events in my personal life, I felt very moved to join a medical research project upon entering university. One of my friends who was tutoring me at the time was talking about his research with lung cancer at EBI. I reached out to the primary investigator and worked there for over two years until he retired, and it gave me some hands-on experience with basic laboratory techniques and how to conduct ethical research. I even was able to head my own project in that last year designing a new protocol for cell counting,
Organic Chemistry PLTL Leader: This was probably my most consistent leadership role while at OU. When I was going through organic chemistry, which is the bane of many pre-med's academic careers, I did peer lead team lernign (PLTL) and had the benefit of an amazing leader who understood the concepts and filled in a lot of the gaps from lecture. He really improved my self-confidence with the subject and I wanted to do the same. I have taught 2 sections for the last 4 semesters and really enjoyed it. This experience has really tested my grasp of organic chemistry and my skills as a teacher, and I have had to workshop and readdress some of the strategies I had going into teaching these sessions.
Emergency Department Volunteer: The beginning of my third year I was thinking on my extracurriculars only to realize I was a pre-med student with very little clinical exposure. I had heard some of the ERs in the area took volunteers and was interested. Four semesters later and I have used this experience as a springboard to becoming an EMT which I plan to do during the gap between graduating and getting into medical school. This opportunity was my first experience dealing with patients, and it has confirmed that this is a setting I could see myself working in.
SEARCH Summer Scholars at Nationwide Children's Hospital: This was something I was able to do going into my fourth year. I was able to shadow different subspecialties in the pediatric cardiology department at Nationwide Children's while also learning about public health in underserved populations. This experience gave me a new respect for what it is to be a healthcare professional, and definitely added more fuel to my drive to become a part of this profession.