December 2025/January 2026: A Busy Winter Break


January Hrs: 66

Spring Total Hrs: 66

Over the winter break, the service that I did kept me busy. I returned to Manning Family Children's over the Christmas holidays. During my time in the hospital over the holiday, I was still getting to give a patients a somewhat normal experience while they’re in the hospital, whether I play board games with the patients, playing Minecraft in the playroom with a patient, or being a pretend patient, I never know what the day would bring for me. 

In addition to the hospital, I went back to Salmen Scout Reservation for their annual Winter Camp as a volunteer staff member. While at camp, I primarily taught Scouts the Chemistry and Public Health merit badges, which I requested because I wanted to use my knowledge from my academic career to help the Scouts understand the concepts that were required for the merit badges, such as pH, the chemistry behind cooking, bacteria, viruses, the diseases that they transmit, and treatment. I enjoyed this experience, and the Scouts enjoyed my merit badge classes as well. I also helped the younger staff members with flag ceremonies and assisted with cleanup of the camp. I am always grateful to return to Salmen Scout Reservation, as I have cared about this camp and the staff since I worked my first summer camp in high school.

When classes resumed, there was no shortage of interesting topics to learn about. The reproductive module gave me a new perspective on reproductive medicine that is normally not noticed by men. The Cell Control Modules are complicated, and I will embrace the challenge, especially with the tyrosine kinase modules. The two things that I have enjoyed throughout this first month back was the Endocrine Pharmacology class, as I am fascinated with how stress works in the human body, and the Thyroid Pharm lecture because I got to finally understand my dad’s thyroid medications that he has to take. Overall, It has been great to return to a busy academic schedule, and I can’t wait to continue and see where the program takes me next!

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