When I started in OHP, the pathway I saw myself gravitating toward the most was research and creative activity as I was a biology pre-professional major with a background in the arts from high school. The pathway that I identified with the second most was leadership from my time in scouting growing up. While I did have some experiences that aligned with these pathways, what surprises me most looking back was that most of the experiences I did, were related in some way to community engagement. Furthermore, reflecting on the nature of this pathway, I think there is a an for the other two pathways being able to tie neatly into community engagement. 

            Looking at my co-curriculars, some obviously tie into community engagement. For example, volunteering in the emergency department and being a BIOS ambassador saw me representing the community that is Ohio University and serving the surrounding community. My internship as a summer search scholar allowed me to learn more about vulnerable populations and what healthcare can do for them. 

            A close second when it came to pathways I engaged in through co-curriculars was leadership with those being a PLTL leader and a summer camp counselor. While these are leadership positions, there was an aspect of community too. As a PLTL leader I am teaching, but these students are my peers and classmates, and I made the effort to figure out was important to them to optimize their experience. As a counselor, the camp staff made a community that looked out for each other, stepping in and helping one another for the good of providing the best experience for our campers. Even my position as a research assistant had a community component as I presented for a research fair and interacted with other researchers seeking advice on my experiments.

            My curricular experiences followed a similar pattern. Some of the classes I took were chosen because of my personal interests. These classes were Democracy in Action, Intro to Ethical Research, Professional Ethics in Healthcare Professions and Back to the Wilds. Each of these relate to community through the societal importance political advocacy; ethical scientific advancement; equitable, benevolent, and beneficent healthcare; and ecological security. Other classes such as the Honors Engagement Lab made a global community service project their centerpiece. 

            In hindsight, looking at all the ways that seemingly unrelated experiences can be tied into community engagement, it makes a lot of sense that I did so much on this pathway. I want to be a physician, and healthcare exists because community requires it. Caring for people necessitates your being aware of what is going on in the community around you. I am going into healthcare because I feel called to serve my community in a way that allows me to interact with lots of people face to face and engaging my interests in nature and life science. I want to work with a large and diverse patient population in a large hospital setting, and knowing this, it makes sense that community engagement aligned with my experiences as well it did because those are the things I value.