Junior at IUPUI

Major: Biology

Minors: Chemistry and Honors Leadership

Pre-med

Why Biology?

I am a junior at IUPUI, and I am studying Biology. Biology is the study of life and it helps break down the core material needed to understand the human body and how the body system works. I am a pre-medicine student, and it is essential that I have a strong understanding of the core sciences before attending medical school. Most courses are challenging in the Biology, but once you master them, it makes sense how everything is connected.

My desire to study Biology began when I was in high school. I had always enjoyed math and science since elementary school; I can't describe the adrenaline rush during our timed math quizzes. When the idea of photosynthesis was introduced to me in 4th grade, I was fascinated by it and couldn't stop explaining it to my family. I liked learning about science throughout middle and high school. When it was time to choose my major for college, I couldn't think of any other major that I would be passionate about other than Biology.

My Experiences

My experiences over time has allowed me to develop on multiple different skills. I have improved upon my communicating, collaborating, organizing, problem solving, and leadership skills. My diverse experiences that include part time jobs, volunteering, and campus involvement has enhance my personality personally and professionally. Below, I have included my experiences that shape me into who I am.

Vida Study Abroad: Dominican Republic

I got an opportunity to experience a different healthcare system and interact with a diverse community over spring break of 2023. During our stay, we worked on several projects that included building bottle houses for families in need. We cut bottles and stacked them inside the wired panel, which reduced the amount of cement we used and contributed to sustainability. In addition to the bottle house project, we also helped fix a roof by adding a layer of cement. These efforts aligned with 7 Elements' commitment to providing sustainable solutions instead of temporary fixes.

On another day, we had the opportunity to participate in a medical brigade. We helped with patient registration, vitals, history, and dispensing medication. The experience was eye-opening and allowed me to appreciate the challenges that communities face when it comes to healthcare.

In addition to our project work, we had free time and spent two days relaxing at the beach next to our lodge. One of our group members, Gavin, discovered an ice cream shop nearby, and we decided to integrate an evening ice cream trip into our schedule. We also spent time with the three dogs at our place, which helped me overcome my fear of them.

My experience in the Dominican Republic taught me about the ongoing challenges that communities face due to limited resources. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to sustainable solutions and gain a deeper appreciation for sustainable living practices.

Medical scribe at Eskenazi Health

Medical Scribe

I recently worked as a medical scribe, which allowed me to explore my passion for providing care of others. I worked as an ER scribe at Eskenazi, and it allowed me to intake new experiences each day. I got to witness the relationship between physician and patients. I also got to observe patients coming in with various types of trauma and complains. I am a pre-medicine student, and working as a medical scribe allowed me to gain experience in the medical field and also helped me in deciding if pursing medicine was the right career path for me.

In Fall 2022, I stepped into the role of the Honors College Peer Mentoring mentor leader. I had served as a mentor my sophomore year and was a mentee my freshman year. With this experience, I expanded on my teamwork and critical solving skills. As a mentor leader, I collaborated with other leaders to plan our social events throughout the semester. As a leader, it is my responsibility to lead events as well. Before the start of the mentoring semester, leaders meet up and decide on any changes that need to made to better the program. This experience allowed me to become more proficient in communicating as I was constantly communicating with leaders, mentors, and mentees. In addition, I developed on my critical problem solving skills. I sometimes had mentors and mentees that were having issues to meet up and communicate.

Honors College Peer Mentor Leader

Regatta

IUPUI's Regatta Steering Committee Member

Over the fall of 2022, I served as a Coordinator of Traditions for Regatta. Regatta is a long running tradition at IUPUI, and being a part of the steering committee makes me feel connected to the campus and its people. My experience allowed me become a better leader. I was in-charge of Regatta Royalty and planned and executed everything related to the position. I constructed a point rubric to come up with the royalty winners. Over the semester, I constructed an application for individuals interested in Regatta Royalty to apply. I scheduled all applicants and interviewed them. Throughout my time as the Coordinator of Traditions, I gained leadership skills because I decided and ran all of the operations without any past experience or documents from previous years. In addition, I strengthened my communicational skills because I had to communicate with my team and the applicants to keep everyone on the same page.

JMH Volunteer

I am a volunteer at the Johnson Memorial Hospital. When volunteering in the ER at JMH, I assist with whatever the care providers need help with that is within my ability. My assistant allows the care providers to spend more time with their patients when they do not have to worry about running labs, sanitizing rooms, or stocking supplies in the ER rooms.

Johnson Memorial ER Volunteer

Main Street Hospice Volunteer

As a Hospice volunteer, I developed on my empathy skills of understanding others. Being a Hospice volunteer and working with patients helped me to slow down and reflect on my actions. When I work with Hospice patients, it allows me to stop thinking about myself and shift my focus entirely on my patient. Outside of volunteering, I follow a "to do list", but that is not something that can be used for volunteering. I never know what I will be going into when I am asked to help out with a patient, and that causes me to enter a patient's place with an open mind. This experience has allowed me to not form judgements and have open ears for patients to talk to me. As a hospice volunteer, I work with patients and families who need any kind of help. As a hospice volunteer, I help out in providing light housekeeping and companionship to the patient and the family. I believe what I do is very rewarding to me.

Women4Change@IUPUI

I got involved with W4C@IUPUI my sophomore year. As an executive member of Women for Change, I collaborate with the organization to bring meaningful change for our women and society. The organization allows me to address concerns and opinions with confidence, and that is why it is so significant to me. I support everything that this organization stands for.

Women for Change Executive Member

Interchurch Food Pantry Volunteer

Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County Volunteer

Starting my freshman year at IUPUI, I volunteered at the Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County. I started volunteering at the pantry when covid had started. My service allowed families with obtaining groceries and basic sanitary household supplies. As a volunteer, I would stock the pantry, pick out items families need, and help with loading cars with groceries. This experience was very meaningful to me because it allowed me to serve my communication who was in need of help at the time.

During my freshmen year at IUPUI, I started exploring medical career. I was interested in pharmacy at first, so I started working as a pharmacy technician. This experience allowed me to get my first initial exposure to the medical field. As a pharmacy technician, I was able to get a slight exposure to medicines, diagnosis, and treatments, and as a pre-medicine student, that exposure was necessary to become familiar with the basic chemical drug treatment.

Pharmacy Technician

Teamwork

What it means to me:

When working as a team member, it's essential to communicate proficiently. Regardless how minor or significant a change might be, I try to let my team know ahead of time in order to avoid any miscommunication or misunderstanding. In addition to proficient communication, team participation from everyone makes a difference; if it appears as if someone is not part of a group effort, I try to ask for his or her advise in order that person to get and feel involved. When working on a team, having a leader helps in organizing tasks and goals for the team. When working with a team where a leader is not present, but a leader is needed to help advance the team, I tend to take the leadership role to enhance proficiency of the group work being done.

Teamwork + Experience

From my experiences, teamwork has been essential for some specific tasks of mine to be successful. When I worked as a medical scribe, it was important that I collaborated with the care providing team in order to deliver the best patient care possible. I would obtain some of my medical history from the nurses when they would check in a patient, and I would obtain some of my patient information from the patient and the physician to complete my note. Similar to this experience, teamwork had also allowed me to work more efficiently when working in a pharmacy as a pharmacy technician. My pharmacist and my peer pharmacy technicians would team up to provide patient care as proficiently as possible. As a pharmacy technician, I would assistant to check out patients with their prescriptions, fill out prescriptions, and answer calls in collaboration with other technicians. This allowed the pharmacist to verify prescriptions, administrate vaccines, and answer medical questions asked by the patients.

Other than these two medical situation, teamwork has been essential in every volunteering setting I have been a part of. Currently, I am a hospital volunteer in the emergency room. I work with nurses, physicians, and patients, and my role is to assist in roles that would allow for a better patient care. I assist in delivering lab specimen to the lab, sanitizing rooms, and aiding in stocking emergency rooms. My duties as a hospital volunteer allows for nurses to spend more time with the patient with not having to worry about additional responsibilities. In addition to these three teamwork experiences, I have been part of other team efforts that have allowed me to improve and become better as a team member. As a team member who works with a team, communication and a group effort has allowed me to limit miscommunication and aided me to amplify proficiency. Even though independent work is essential, the ability to work with a team has allowed me strengthen my communicational skills and to contribute to group effort more efficiently. With my strengthened communicational skills, I have been able to take leadership roles with a greater confidence this year. I still need to improve upon my ability to remain confident when I communicate, and I plan to continue to work on it.

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