Year 1

My transition from high school to my first year of college went smoother than I imagined it would. 

The workload was fairly light, I made friends, and I even had the courage to meet with professors occasionally.  Until I reached my second semester. By the second half of the second semester, I was experiencing the burnout my peers had warned me about. I felt as if I were drowning in work, extracurriculars, and MedSci seminars, but at the same time still felt like I wasn't doing enough. Until I met with Dr. Anil Menon, director of the Medical Sciences major. Meeting with Dr. Menon was one of the very first steps I took in navigating my life and taking control of my future. After meeting Dr. Menon, I learned that I don't have to go through everything alone and that there is always someone in my corner I can reach out to. 

After hearing this, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Learning how to adapt and improve my growth mindset was a very important accomplishment for me this year. As a society that is constantly changing, the idea of having a growing and dynamic mindset is becoming more important than a typical and static one. I think being in a science-based major is what allows me to be slightly above average and what allows me to have even more of a growth mindset since the start of my semester. For example, an old professor really liked to drill the idea of "ok, but why?" into our heads when we were learning new things or trying to solve new problems. While having the right answer is still extremely important in his class, he wanted us to seek knowledge beyond the questions and their answers. Academic validation has been a driving factor in navigating through my definition of "perfection". But I didn't want to live out my college days like that anymore.

I would have much rather skipped to "getting the A" than actually gone through the journey of learning and building on my knowledge. But I learned that this was something that could be overcome by placing less value on that "A" and more value on the fact that I have the opportunity to learn about something new. I realized that life doesn't consist of just work, school, and sleep. I learned that in order to be a more effective human being, I have to allow myself to experience the beauty and joy in life without feeling guilty that I could be using that time to study or explore research. So, I traveled with my family, visited the Cincinnati Art Museum with my friends, and felt ready to complete my first year of college. Still, I felt like there was something missing. 

This is where HEAL comes in. The Health Equity and Advocacy League is a student organization, co-founded by me and a friend, dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of a proper healthcare system in overexploited countries. We believe that every child deserves access to quality medical and educational services regardless of class, race, or disability, and we organize fundraising events and activities to collect donations for international schools in countries like Nigeria, Syria, and India. After going almost a year without any advocacy work like what I did in the Borderless Relations Committee, I knew I wanted to redirect my passions again to addressing a social disparity that plagues millions of children around the world. Like the BRC, HEAL allows me to educate people about my culture while learning about others' and dismantling harmful systems in communities. 

Forming HEAL was one of the more eye-opening things I have done since starting school. I have learned more about myself by surrounding myself with passionate people who also want to find the beauty in life than I ever did cruising through my first semester. Now that I have my co-president and Eboard, Dr. Menon, and students across the globe counting on me, I owe it to them and myself to continue to strengthen my growth mindset and not fall back on my old routines. I simply can not afford to fall victim to the monotonous drone of high expectations and unnecessary stress. I am excited to see how far HEAL can go in addressing the racial and able-bodied disparities and prejudices that exist in the healthcare system now that I am equipped with this new mindset.