Me to Me: Use Resources and Network!

As a first generation student, I wish I had all the help I could get when I started college. With that being said, if I could go back in time and give myself advice, it would be to take advantage of every resource on campus. When I first started, I was unsure where to go to find scholarships or financial aid. Not only that but I did not know who to ask. I spoke to students in class but only kept it at that. I did not think to ask more about their life and the idea of networking did not cross my mind. On that note, I would also tell myself to keep a close network of colleagues for future references. Today, I have maintained a good network and have been exposed to so many opportunities. As simple as it may seem, I have had free meals because a colleague of mine informs me about such events. Networking goes beyond this though as I found an internship out-of-state due to another colleague. One day, I noticed she was typing away and asked what she was working on. She mentioned she was applying to an internship in Boston, so I took that opportunity to do the same and expand upon other states. To say the least, if it was not for her, I would not have known about such benefits. If I had known about the importance of using resources and networking earlier in college, I may have started achieving accomplishments sooner rather than later.

Figure 1. A clipart depicting how networking works. One person knows another, who knows another, and so on ("Linked Connected Network...", n.d.).

Citation:

“Linked Connected Network Free Picture - Connected Circles Transparent Background {#355967 - Free Cliparts on ClipartWiki.” ClipartWiki.com, https://www.clipartwiki.com/iclip/hRxRoR_linked-connected-network-free-picture-connected-circles-transparent/.

Goals: Completed, Ongoing and New.

Since the beginning of school, my goals have ranged from new and old. I’ve listed completed, ongoing and new goals below. 

My completed goals:

1. Shadow a doctor.

2. Learn sign language.

Goals that I am continuing to work towards:

1. Graduate with a BS in Biology in May 2020.

2. Donate my hair to Children with Hair Loss.

3.Skydive.

New goals:

1. Apply for a medical Spanish interpreter program.

2. Get hired as an EMT.

3. Volunteer in a human trafficking organization.

This semester, I had the opportunity to shadow medical professionals at DMG Children’s Rehabilitative Services (CRS) clinic. I observed doctors and nurse practitioners in neurology, spina bífida, pulmonology, genetics, and audiology. That checked off one of my goals and I couldn’t be happier. Another goal I completed was learning sign language. I’ve always been intrigued with this beautiful language and feel proud to say that I’ve finished two years of American Sign Language (ASL) classes.

I have been working towards my ongoing goals for two to four years now. It hasn’t been easy, with difficult classes arising and the feeling that time-is-of-the-essence. I’ve learned that patience and dedicated/ honest work are key. Everything will be worth it in the end and I will proudly pat myself on the back. I can’t wait to see that day.

My new goals are small and nothing drastic or impossible to achieve. I like to set goals that I know I can accomplish, even if they sound challenging. As the old saying goes, if you stick your mind to it, you can achieve anything. Everyday, I am working towards completing my goals and creating new ones. After all, goals have helped me keep my mind on track and focused; that’s something I want to continue doing.

Figure 1. A cartoon climbing up a ladder to get to a goal ("The Gentle Way...", n.d.). This is how goals usually are and it's not easy to get to them. Dedication, self-awareness and time management are a few of the many skills that are helpful in climbing up the ladder and grabbing a goal. 

Citation:

“The Gentle Way to Effective Goal Setting and Ending Procrastination: Goals, Achieving Goals, Coach International.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/24136547976700952/.

My Dream Job

I’ve always had the desire to help others. When it comes to teaching or advising, I don’t hesitate to do so if it means someone will benefit from it. With this in mind, I want a job where I can do this everyday. Not only that but my interest in biology and how the body works has driven me towards a scientific career. What career is that exactly? Well, my dream job would be a researcher and/or pediatric surgeon. 

For the researcher and surgeon position, asking questions, providing answers or trying to find answers are aspects I would cover everyday. I’ve been curious most of my life and still am. Research would feed into my curiosity as I would try to find answers. In addition, I love working with my hands because I learn better that way. Using my hands when following protocols or during surgery/ dissections would be a dream come true. 

Altogether, I know there are various careers that involve biology or helping people. Such examples are a nurse, professor, bioengineer or environmental attorney (yes, an attorney). Unlike research or surgery, these areas didn’t appeal to me. Some careers are shorter than others but I don’t mind how long the education is. At the end of it, I’ll be proud of the hard work it took to achieve my dream job.

Figure 1. A funny research meme that shows a surprised boxer dog ("Enjoyed Research?...", 2012). Research is a difficult area but requires a lot of patience and appreciation. Though my experience with research hasn't been the best, I am hopeful to find an area I genuinely enjoy. 

Citation

“Enjoyed Research? Are You Sure You're Doing It Right?” Cheezburger, Cheezburger, 29 Nov. 2012, https://cheezburger.com/6822989056.

My Earliest Memory

As my arm inches closer and closer, which feels like ten seconds with how slow-motion this felt, I get a better look as to what I’m reaching for. It was a green ball, with a pink bow sitting on a brown square. As soon as my hand touches the green ball... black; my mind goes black. I never got to see what it was! Why must you do this to me, brain? Was this just another dream? I remembered it so vividly, it couldn’t be.

This happened when I was months old so twenty years later, I decided to bring it to my dad’s attention. He sat there, listened to every word I said without showing any emotion. I was slowly starting to believe it was only a dream; how would my father know this happened? When I finished describing this moment, he told me I had grabbed a cactus that was shaped like a turkey. It really did happen… but why did I remember this certain moment? I was curious and carried that throughout my life.

I’ve grabbed the turkey-shaped cactus in various moments throughout my life, not knowing what would happen next. When I was searching for scholarships during community college, I ended up applying for an internship, not knowing where it would take me. That internship at Phoenix College helped me prepare for an opportunity in Iowa. Then I was introduced to an internship at Arizona State University. One led to another and I want to reach for more.

I’ve always been curious about finding out what makes us, us; our different personalities, anatomy or even our way of thinking. I want to dive into what goes on within the brain that makes us do certain things. Most of my life can easily go back to my curious, eye-catching decisions. Why is that? Even though I don’t know what the outcome will be, I know it will be worthwhile and I will learn from it. This is why biology, my cactus, interests me so much; my curiosity got the best of me!

Figure 1. There is a cactus named "curiosity cactus", which is seen in this picture ("Curiosity Cactus...", n.d.). Even though the cactus I grabbed and have engraved into my brain looks completely different, it is my unique curiosity cactus.

Citation

“Curiosity Cactus - Cereus Peruvianus ‘Monstrosus’ - Weird! - 4’ Pot.” Walmart.com, https://www.walmart.com/ip/Curiosity-Cactus-Cereus-peruvianus-Monstrosus-Weird-4-Pot/339466865.

Donating to Children With Hair Loss

Over the last few years that I’ve been in college, I enjoyed assignments that pertained to my goals. Reason being that I already had goals in mind so these assignments were natural and easy. What I am now realizing is that I’m glad I always had goals in mind. Sure, I didn’t write them down or make a vision board but I knew where I wanted to go. Turns out, you can check yourself by writing down goals in a SMART manner. No, I don’t mean there’s a stupid or smart way... SMART is an acronym for:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time-bound

Of course, there are other words that can be used for the acronym such as Significant, Motivating and so on. So how exactly do SMART goals work? Well, if there’s a goal that you may have in mind, you use that to break it into the 5 categories. You ask yourself questions like “how will I know when I’ve reached my goal?”, “what will I do to get to my goal?”, etc. That being said, I recently used this method on a personal goal of mine: donating my hair to Children With Hair Loss (CWHL). Listed below is the SMART method I applied.

S- I want to be able to put a smile on a child’s face. Everyday, people get haircuts and most often then not, it’s thrown away. I want to take advantage of the hair on my head and give it to someone who is struggling and may benefit from it. There are organizations that are dedicated to creating wigs for children, one of which is CWHL. They make wigs and give them to children for free. This is an organization I want to support because I appreciate what they do and I love the fact that they provide their services to families at no charge.

M- Hair is 8 inches or longer (the length I will donate).

A- CWHL prefers hair that is healthy and not treated. From the time I started my goal, I have not damaged my hair by dying it and limited heat exposure (straightening/ curling). I could also start taking vitamins that will help my hair grow faster and healthier.

R- I rarely cut my hair so growing it is no problem.

T- Hair takes awhile to grow (especially mine)! I’ve been growing my hair out for about a year now and I still have more to go. I hope to have my hair down to my middle/ lower back by the time I donate it (1-1.5 years from now).

As I’ve mentioned before, using this method helped me determine if I was taking the right steps toward my goal. I encourage you all to do the same! :)

Figure 1. The logo for Children With Hair Loss, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating and donating wigs to children with diseases that affect their hair ("Donate Your Hair", n.d.). 

Citation
“Donate Your Hair.” Children with Hair Loss, https://childrenwithhairloss.us/donate/donate-your-hair/.

Community College Presentation

When it comes to creating PowerPoints, I absolutely love it. I put so much detail into the spacing between words and pictures, font size or the lining of pictures. Yes, I am very picky when it comes to PowerPoints and presentations. Recently, I’ve been preparing one for my presentation at South Mountain Community College (SMCC) tomorrow (April 12th). Luckily, I won’t be the only one presenting; other TRAIN students will be there to share their own experiences, research and/or advice.

For my presentation, I will talk about summer internships and go into detail as to what to look for and why they’re beneficial. At the end, I hope I’m able to convince students to apply to them. I chose this topic because my summer internship at the University of Iowa made me want to inform others about such opportunities. Before I applied, I wasn’t aware of these internships. Looking back, if I could help someone have the same (if not better) experience than me, why not share it?

During our TRAIN class yesterday, April 10th, we practiced our presentations to help us prepare for tomorrow. After seeing everyone present, I can’t wait until the real presentations! I hope students enjoy what we share and are able to benefit from it. :)

Figure 1. Logo of South Mountain Community College. TRAIN scholars from ASU West and I will be sharing our stories and advice to attending students ("Brand Guidelines", n.d.). 

Citation

“Brand Guidelines.” Maricopa Community Colleges, https://www.maricopa.edu/about/brand-guidelines

What’s Your Challenge?

In the TRAIN course, we recently began discussing Mindsets by Carol Dweck. In this book, she illustrates the differences between a growth and fixed mindset. For those of you who may not know, a growth mindset is flexible when faced with challenges while a fixed mindset is “stubborn”. This is a very generic definition of the two and the book goes into depth about the two. In order to tie the book to the class, we looked at strategies used in previous experiences and how they can be incorporated into a new learning challenge.

One of my accomplishments was becoming a researcher. Going back to the day I found out about S-STEM, I had no idea what internships were but I went for it anyway. Today, I’ve learned so much from taking that step forward and getting out of my comfort zone (Strategy #1). Once I became comfortable at Phoenix College, not only did I apply for internships around Arizona but also the country. In addition, repetitive practice and LOTS of patience helped me become a better researcher (Strategy #2). There were instances where data wouldn’t make sense but I couldn’t give up that easily. I had to push through to try and answer my hypothesis. Scientific research is also very hands-on and that worked perfectly for me. I learn best when I use my hands because it actually sticks in my mind (Strategy #3). Last but not least, asking questions was crucial (Strategy #4)! There were times where I would annoy MYSELF because of how many times I asked the same question over and over.

So what’s my new learning challenge? It’s to learn and become better at car-related areas. In my case, I want to work on parallel parking and basic car terminology.

First and foremost, parallel parking? I don’t know her; I try to avoid her. However, one day I couldn’t. I was running late to my class and there were no available parking spots in my usual lot... but there was ONE. That one and only spot along the curb. As I’m pulling up to it, I’m nervous and frantic because 1. I had cars behind me and 2. I hadn’t parallel parked since my driver’s license test (2 years ago). After turning my steering wheel about a thousand times and switching between drive and reverse, I was able to barely stay within the box. I refuse to go through that again so I’ve made it a goal to become better. Just like I did to become a researcher, I need to get out of my comfort zone and practice (Strategy #1 and #2). I’m going to deliberately put myself in situations where I have to parallel park because, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

Recently, I had to get a few things fixed in my car. So, when I received the call from the mechanic about fixing the “bushings”, I acted like I knew what he was talking about, told him to go ahead and hung up. As soon as I hung up, I realized I had no idea what he was doing to my car. I immediately called him back and asked him question after question (Strategy #4). After he explained it to me, I repeated it to him to make sure I understood. Now, I’m not saying I’m going to become Mechanic Brenda but I use my car everyday, I should at least know a few things about it.

Before this activity, I didn’t think about approaching challenges the same way I achieved accomplishments. That being said, I’ll leave you with this: what’s your next challenge and what strategies will you use to conquer it?

Figure 1. An illustration depicting the differences between a growth and fixed mindset ("HandTao Growth... Poster, 2019).

Citations:

Dweck, Carol S. Mindset the New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books, 2016.

“HandTao Growth... Poster.” Amazon, Amazon, 2019,

www.amazon.com/HandTao-Growth mindset-Artwork-

Decorations/dp/B07G75F3X7.