Working As One

I remember my first time in college when I watched my University 101 class come together as we completed a community service project. I discussed my experience in my University 101 Community Service Reflection paper when I as a freshman enrolled in the course. As a class, we decided to make homemade blankets for the nearby children’s shelter. One by one, a group would finish with their blanket, but they would not stop working. Everyone was extremely helpful and made sure every group was able to finish in time. It was refreshing to see the bonds of friendship carried into the classroom. This was a class of students who began as strangers and left as friends. As a freshman it is extremely nerve-racking to come to college and not know your place. In my U101 classroom, this was not the case. We felt like a family and would always offer continuous support for one another. Looking back, this activity not only benefited those in need, but also benefitted the class as a whole. It brought us all together and we worked as one to complete each and every blanket. I learned the importance of teamwork. This reminded me of the concept I learned in my Biology 101 course called mutualism, the idea of species working together to support one another.

I carried this lesson with me as I took on my next role at USC. After such an amazing experience as a mentor for University 101, I wanted to continue pursuing this new passion for helping other students during their time at USC. That is when I decided to take another leap of faith and run for Vice President of Operations (VPO) for Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED), a pre-health honor society. In my election speech, I included my passion to make AED feel more like a family and build the relationship between our members. Knowing how much I benefited from amazing mentors, I wanted to be sure the members of AED felt that our organization was there to support and mentor them as a pre-health student. I wanted to encourage the current members of AED to work together to support one another and to reach this goal I suggested improving the mentor families within AED. I recommended that families become focused on pre-health fields in order for members to truly receive advice and mentoring from those in their family. The position of VPO allows me to work closely with and be a mentor for the cabinet members as well. The cabinet is made of 10 members. I decided to focus on building the relationship between the cabinet members and myself. I realized that the cabinet and I needed to work well together and to do that we needed to establish a strong and supportive relationship with one another.