Experiences
IUPUI Pre-Dental Club
For the past two years, I have been involved in IUPUI's pre-dental club as a general member. Throughout my involvement in this organization, I have been able to create networks with many other pre-dental students that share my goals, interests, and passions. I have also been able to learn so much about the process of applying for dental school through a variety of meetings, such a panels from current dental students and meetings focused on the application and DAT. As a requirement of the club, members must participate in a volunteer event held by the organization, which I have found myself to enjoy so much each year by being active and involved in the community.
IUPUI Regatta Steering Committee
For the 2021-2022 academic year, I have the honor as serving at the Director of Public Relations for the Regatta Steering Committee. The role of this position includes forming a marketing plan, developing calendars, and creating content for press releases. With Regatta being the largest student led organization at IUPUI, this is a role that I believe can truly leave an impact on not only the community, but one that will continue for generations beyond me.
IUPUI Honors Peer Mentor Program
As a member of the Honors College at IUPUI, I joined the Honors Peer Mentor program to play a more active role. My freshman year, I served the role of a mentee with an assigned mentor that I met with monthly and went to with any questions I had about the college experience. I felt that my mentor had such a strong impact on me that I was moved to become a mentor this past year. I was assigned two freshmen with similar majors and goals as me and was able to aid them through the struggles of being a freshman in college. While I was able to provide help and comfort to these students, I felt I was also able to learn so much about myself during this experience. I recently accepted the position as an Honors Peer Mentor Leader to work to add even more into the program.
Women4Change @ IUPUI
During my first semester of college, I became involved in Women4Change at IUPUI, which is an organization dedicated to fighting for equal rights as well as empowering women. I found myself surrounded by many strong women who were all focused on the same goals as me, which was to fight for civil justice and empower all women. This past year I decided to become more involved by taking on a role on the executive board as the chair of Public Relations, which I have greatly enjoyed. My responsibilities include promoting club outreach on all social media platforms to inform members and other followers of important events and meetings, as well as designing many graphics used to post and inform about these events.
Volunteer at Gleaners
Recently, I began volunteering at Gleaners Food Bank to work to give back to my community. This position involved sorting through food shipments to ensure good quality, packaging food, and then placing boxes of food inside of cars. Giving back to the community has been overall such a rewarding experience that I love to dedicate my time to.
Biology Prep Lab (FYSA)
Through IUPUI's First Year Science Apprenticeship program, I was able to work in a biology preparation lab. This position included preparing plates, supplies, and materials for a variety of biology laboratories including genetics and cell biology. The experience I gained from this position opened so many doors for me, and I owe that all to the skills I developed while doing so. Those include working independently, applying the knowledge from my coursework into real life scenarios, and improving my laboratory skills greatly. After experiencing the satisfaction of successfully applying my knowledge from my academics to real world scenarios and working in a lab, I knew these were instances I wanted to continue to pursue not only in my graduate years, but as much as possible in my time as an undergraduate.
Images from: https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=ENDental Shadowing/Work
During my senior year of high school, I took part in our vocational program that not only allowed me to get +70 hours of dental shadowing, but also got me dental assisting certified. I gained many skills throughout this course, including analyzing x-rays, teeth numbering, head and neck anatomy, and knowledge about dental instruments. Last summer, I decided to further advance these skills into working as a sterilization technician at an orthodontist office which allowed me to not only become familiar with many tools and procedures, but also be able to watch these first hand. These combined experiences showed me how truly passionate I am about dentistry and that I desire to be the best in the field. I believe that through this internship, I can learn much more about an important component of teeth to further my knowledge about a topic I want to make a career out of.
