Skills & Strengths Within the Workplace:

Some skills or strengths I brought into my lab include: being very organized, being consistent with my time commitments, being a critical thinker, and working well in a group setting. I have gained my organizational skills and time management skills from my experiences with being an athlete in high school and having a very booked schedule. I have gained my skills as a critical thinker and my strong social skills within a group from my being involved as a leader in some college organizations, such as IUI's Pre-Dental Club. These skills will help me complete my internship work effectively because it will keep my production high and focused during my lab time, which will benefit the lab's purpose as a whole. 

This year I have been a team member that is flexible. As the semester has went on and changed, so has the schedules of everyone I work alongside in lab with. This means that I have had to start coming in to lab at different times than originally planned. I feel that the longer I have been participating in my internship, the more of an integral lab member I have became. My contributions to the lab include producing much data and keeping collected data very organized. This plays a large part in overall project I am working on by allowing other lab members to make conclusions about their own experiments based on my data. My efforts, no matter how large or small, help the lab's mission progress because I am taking some work off of the shoulders of my fellow lab members, allowing everyone to not become too overwhelmed with things and stay focused and productive.

Successes and Challenges Within the Workplace:

I have felt success while working in my lab during this Fall when I had to re-do my first trial of counting osteoclasts (bone cells) to get a better understanding of their morphology, and my counting improved! To gain a better understanding of osteoclast morphology I met up with my supervisor and she helped me better understanding why my numbers were off. Another time I felt success in my lab was when I was able to help my lab team with dissections which I had never done before. To gain confidence in what I was doing I asked as many questions as possible and gained great experience. 

 One success I have experienced while working in my lab this Spring was when I collected large amounts of data on my own and after analysis, my measurements were consistent with the data previously collected by the PhD student I work with. The data I collected contained bone density measurements and various tooth measurements that can be very tedious to collect. This makes me proud of myself because it showcased my consistent pursuit for precision while measuring. From this experience I have learned that precision truly matters. This will play an integral role in my future career as a dentist because precision is everything when it comes to delivery the best dentistry for every unique patient.

One challenge I have faced within my internship this Fall was trying to get as much lab time in as possible, but having to schedule around my studying time for my Dental Admissions Test for dental school. To try and overcome this problem I communicated as much as possible the times in which I needed to study, and the lab was accommodating to that. Another challenge I have faced is being able to create a schedule that lines up with the schedules of the other members on my lab team. While I do have a very busy schedule as a pre-dental student, my lab understands where I am at in my academic career and I am able to gain more time with my lab team on Friday's. 

One challenge I have faced during my internship this Spring was trying to use my lab time to my greatest ability. This semester I have been able to spend more hours in my lab, which has been great, but it still does not feel like enough time to get all of the data I need collected. To try and overcome this problem I have been spending the largest chunk of lab time on Fridays so I can go through as much data collection as possible all at once, instead of going through the vicious cycle of "starting and stopping" each day during the week before I have classes. The PhD student I work with has been an amazing mentor to me and has taught me to overcome these time obstacles by teaching me how to set time boundaries and make lists of priorities.