We're done already??

Honestly I can’t believe I’m on this side reflecting on something that I can vividly remember hoping for less than a year ago. More frequently as we get closer to graduation, I find myself (while washing my dishes or trying to go to bed at night) wondering how I have come this far, and in this direction? Moving to New Orleans, LA from Madison, WI was not even a remote possibility in the recent past, and in that point in my life, I didn’t know how I was going to ever fulfill my life-long dream of becoming a doctor. I was at a point where the only thing I could do was take the next step forward, no matter where it led.

To summarize it in one word, this year of classes and community service, of new friends and incredible mentors, of discovering who I am in a city across the country has been incredibly . . . therapeutic. I have loved the curriculum of this program, even when I have dreaded it. I think an M.S. in Pharmacology has prepared me incredibly well for a future as a medical student, because it has forced me to learn how I really learn. Some of my main academic priorities this year (aside from improving my GPA) were to manage my time better, approach class material proactively, and reflect on my decisions in order to improve my future performance. Over the course of this year (and countless exams) I have definitely worked on all of those, and I feel I am a better student now than I ever was in college. I look forward to each lecture and class, because I know that it is yet another challenge from which to learn.

In addition to the curriculum, there is the fact that this program has an amazing set of professors and staff who make each day a little easier. Through both the constant encouragement and the ever-increasing expectations our professors have for us, I think we have all grown in ways we had not anticipated. This is especially true in our electives, where we have had to learn how best to approach new material and understand it in a way that allows us the ability to explain it to our classmates. Through these different electives we have constantly been under the pressure to make connections between material that we have learned earlier, and material that is brand new to us. I leave graduate school knowing that I have the tools and a greater ability to approach scientific material with a higher level of understanding then before. I leave with a confidence in myself and my ability to learn that I had been sorely lacking as I left my undergraduate university.

 

Choosing to come to this program has also opened many doors to becoming involved in a community that thrives off of community service. In the 48 hours I have spent this semester volunteering (and in the ~30 hours last semester), I have sought out ways to become involved in this city through various means. Early last year I started by volunteering through events and opportunities that were presented to us: a Tulane sponsored community service day, Habitat for Humanity. As I became more comfortable with my environment (and my ability to navigate the buses), I started volunteering at KIPP and at CGHC in Algiers. Not only have I been able to explore this city and its different neighborhoods by volunteering, but I have also met so many amazing people who are committed to making a difference. In my interview for City Year New Orleans in March I was asked why I want to stay here, and I had the benefit of my experience volunteering to help provide me with that answer. This city, through the teachers, students, health-care providers, construction workers, non-profit leaders, parents, tourists and locals, has shown me what it means to be committed to service. They truly love New Orleans: that sort of love that encompasses the good and the bad. But they also love it enough to help it change and grow and serve its entire community. Everywhere I volunteer, everywhere I go, people here are passionate about making a positive change in New Orleans and in this world. I could not be more excited to stay here to work with City Year, and to continue to see how this experience will help me fulfill my desire to serve, and guide me in pursuing my goal of medical school.  

With our last exam today, and this as my last official blog post, I leave graduate school just 10 months later with a whole new sense of self. I may have come here at a loss to what I was doing with my life and how I was working towards my dreams, forced to take life one slow step at a time. But I am finishing with the knowledge that that “one-step-at-a-time” approach was exactly what I needed. My future doesn’t look quite as confusing right now. My next steps are a bit clearer: take the MCAT at the end of May, apply to medical schools starting in June, become an official City Year Corps Member in July, and go on from there. Who knows- maybe I’ll even continue to blog about it all.

Volunteering in April

Common Ground Health Clinic – Tuesday, April 2nd  – 3 hours
KIPP Leadership Primary – Thursday, April 4th – 2.5 hours
Habitat for Humanity – Saturday, April 6th – 4 hours
Environmental Pharmacology Soil Collection – Sunday, April 7th – 2 hours
Common Ground Health Clinic – Friday, April 26th – 2 hours

In order to take a break from studying (finishing up the SHELF and gearing up for the MCAT), I loaded up the beginning of my month with volunteering at the places I normally do. At the clinic I helped put together the quarterly newsletter that is sent out to a few thousand people in the city and around the nation, and then worked with Desiree on planning for the “Community Day” event that will take place in early May. Many new providers have joined CGHC and as part of the clinic’s goal to serve the Algiers community, the clinic has decided they would like to do a meet and greet by door-knocking around the neighborhood and inviting everyone to a party of-sorts at the new clinic community garden. It sounds like it should be a fun summer event and a nice way to relax after, what I hear, are bound to be two crazy weeks of Jazz Fest.

I also volunteered at KIPP this month with Jenny. The teachers and staff are starting to wind-down for the year, so one of my tasks was to take inventory of, and put away the student graduation robes! While I’m in the process of getting ready to graduate for the 3rd time, it was more exciting for me to count the number of tiny graduation robes that will be presented to the 1st graders at KIPP. Over the time I have spent volunteering there, I have come to realize not only how much time and effort the teachers put in, but also how much each student strives to achieve. They are each expected to work incredibly hard, and through the constant interventions (and compassion) the teachers provide, they are challenged to grow everyday: academically, emotionally and socially. While kindergarten or 1st grade at KIPP doesn’t look like what I went through, it is truly a testament to the change this school is trying to have on children in this city. Not only are they making an impact on the high drop-out rates, but they are fulfilling the desire most parents have for their children: to provide the best education possible. These kids are getting ready for their first graduation so that they can make it to the next big one- high school, and I have a feeling that most of them will.

Habitat on Saturday was a half day because it was also the day of the 1st Annual Habitat Romp! A Tulane team of Jade, Alex, Srinath, Shuo and myself worked with two other groups (a Christian men’s organization and a small group from Loyola) to work on a house in the process of being built- literally. Some groups nailed in the roof, others put in siding, and we prepared the windows for painting. This pretty much involved caulking all of the windows and using wood glue to fill in any extra holes. It wasn’t necessarily the most glamorous job, but it did take the five of us the full four hours to finish it.

As most of my classmates did, I also participated in the soil collection “volunteer opportunity” for Environmental Pharmacology. I think Dr. Mielke gave us all a great background on the importance of this work, and I know I was definitely excited to get out into the city and take some samples of my own. Geared with the information sheets and plastic cups Dr. Mielke provided us, my classmate Alex and I made a day of it. We first headed over to Cabrini Park in the French Quarter. While it is currently being used as a dog park (which happened to be packed with adorable dogs curious about what we were doing), it is a site that is being considered for a playground. And with its proximity to another KIPP Charter school, it is understandable that the park should be checked for high lead levels. (The results of our collection showed higher than acceptable lead levels at the park- between 200 and 335 ppm in 5 different parts of the park. Acceptable levels are 100 ppm.) We also headed over to another popular area- Louis Armstrong Park on Rampart St. It was a gorgeous Sunday and the park was filled with locals, tourists, children and social groups. Fortunately the lead levels here were lower, and with so much grass, lead getting around isn’t as much of a concern. (Lead levels were between 5-165ppm).

(Pictures to come soon)

Volunteering around NOLA

KIPP Leadership Primary - March 4th, 2013 - 2.5 hours

Common Ground Health Clinic - March 5th, 2013 - 3 hours

Common Ground Health Clinic - March 8th, 2013 - 2 hours

KIPP Leadership Primary - March 11th, 2013 - 2.5 hours

KIPP Leadership Primary - March 18th, 2013 - 2.5 hours

  

Heading into March, I knew I would need some productive study breaks while preparing for the Pharmacology Shelf exam. I figured the best way to do that was to head over to KIPP Leadership Primary and Common Ground Health Clinic to volunteer my time. 

One of the 4 cabinets of
student and staff uniforms.

Paul cutting reward
dollars

As usual my time at KIPP this month revolved around helping the teachers and administrators with any extra tasks they had. On March 4th, this included taking inventory of the student and staff uniforms and cutting "dollars" as rewards for the students. The first task took a surprisingly long time, as I had to count, organize and document all of the shirts and cardigans. On a separate visit I spent my time clearing up a large work space, making teacher gift packages and taking inventory of/organizing the massive bookshelf of knick-knacks and useful teacher supplies. March 18th I ended up volunteering alone and spent time doing multiple little tasks: putting together file organizers, cleaning nap mates and keyboards, reorganizing work-space, etc.

 

All of our reward dollars!

 

Myself, Paul and Sheeva after a morning of volunteering, and
in our "Love" shirts :)

 

Organizing the storage shelves of knick-knacks.

 

Teacher-appreciation packages I put together. I knew learning
how to curl ribbon would come in handy one day!

Just a neat shelf of some of
the mixtures that the
herbalists use on a
daily basis.

I didn't have as much of a chance to volunteer at CGHC, but I did spend some time helping the outreach team earlier in the month. One day a large group of spring-breakers from Michigan were at the clinic helping out with a survey. A local group has been knocking on doors, collecting signatures to have more community-member seats opened on the city council. Because I had my laptop with me, I helped enter the information of all those who had signed the petition while the students went out into the neighborhood to collect more signatures. On my second visit to the clinic, I was lucky enough to attend one of the CGHC Board Meetings. I had the chance to meet the mamy health-care providers and CGHC staff and learn about the different projects that are going on. A few Tulane Public Health students have joined the clinic for their internship experience, and they are starting some exciting projects, such as a Hispanic community worker training to better reach this often under-served community.