Education
SOUTH LYON HIGH SCHOOL
South Lyon High School was my home for four years and there I was heavily involved in several school organizations.
Having been a part of these extracurricular activities, they made me focus on my school work and helped me manage my time wisely. I made sure to challenge myself in high school by taking classes such as AP Chemistry, AP Calculus AB, and AP Spanish. Also, I had dual enrolled in Psychology at Washtenaw Community College.
I have received academic awards, too, due to my hard work. This included the following: Honor Roll; Principal's List; Listen, Learn, Exert, and Respect Award; KLAA Scholar Athlete; LVC Scholar Athlete; and a nomination for LVC Sportswoman of the Year.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
I played high school basketball for all four years. My freshmen year, I played on the JV team. Then, halfway through my sophomore season, I was pulled up to varsity. Being a part of such an amazing program has definitely helped shaped me into a better person and player.
My teammates and I have created an unbreakable bond and have created so many memories together that I will cherish forever. Some of my favorite moments during basketball included playing at the Palace, beating our cross town rival twice my junior year, and watching my amazing coach, Coach Mackson, win a Life Changer Award and being recognized for his excellent work on the Today Show.
Even now post-graduation from high school, we have alumni vs variety basketball games which are always a blast!
GIRLS SOCCER
I have been playing soccer since the age of four and have never stopped since, so it was a no brainer to play in high school. My freshmen year, I made the varsity team and I ended up playing at that level for the rest of my high school career.
My team has taught me so much and has helped sharpen my game as well. They have always had my back and they have created many unforgettable memories, too. My favorite moment probably was when we beat East twice and won the Claw Cup as shown in the top picture.
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY
National Honor Society is a group I am very honored to have been a part of. This intelligent group of young individuals help serve their community and their school through superb leadership and excellent character. Some events NHS has put together include our annual Penny Wars, our BIFFIN bottle drive, and our game nights at a local senior citizen center called Abbey Park. I have been apart of NHS for the last two years of high school and I have enjoyed every volunteer opportunity that I have participated in.
STUDENT COUNCIL
I was on the SLHS Student Council since my sophomore year and I loved being a part of a group that gets so heavily involved in the school. We helped put events together such as Homecoming, Prom, Student vs Staff Volleyball, spirit weeks, and so much more. In addition, I was very honored to be elected onto Senior Executive Council my senior year as the Treasurer.
LINK CREW
My junior and senior year I joined Link Crew at SLHS. This is a special group that helps make the transition into high school go smoothly for incoming freshmen. As a Link Crew Leader, you teach your freshmen the in and outs of high school and make them feel welcomed to their new home away from home. I loved being a mentor to underclassmen and I created many friends through this program.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Michigan State University is my home away from home, even now as an alumni. At MSU, I was a part of their residential college for the sciences, Lyman Briggs. in which I graduated with a B.S. in Neuroscience and a minor in Spanish.
I am very happy that I attended MSU! I met so many fantastic people through classes, study groups, sporting events, and even clubs. Some clubs I was a part of include the American Medical Student Association, Neuroscience Club, and the Pre-Student Osteopathic Medical Association. Plus, I very grateful to have been part of the MSU Honors College. My freshmen I even got involved in research at the Cognitive Control NeuroLab as a research assistant under lead researcher Dr. Ravizza.
Also, it has been a goal of mine to study abroad in a Spanish speaking country. The summer of 2020 I was supposed to accomplish this goal by going to Valencia, Spain to finish up my Spanish minor but was unable to go to due to COVID-19. Instead, I took classes online and fulfilled my requirements for my Spanish minor. I am hoping to go on a medical trip aboard in medical school to a Spanish speaking country so I can apply the skills I've learned at SLHS and at MSU to really immerse myself in the culture and understand healthcare more in foreign countries.
College Volunteer Program at Sparrow Hospital
I started to volunteer at the local hospital near campus, Sparrow, through Michigan State University's Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Center in the spring semester of 2019. I am so happy I made this decision because I love my volunteer position at Sparrow! I have volunteered throughout my college career including the summer between my junior and senior year and minus the fall of 2020 due to high COVID cases within the East Lansing area.
I have volunteered mainly as a discharge lounge volunteer and also a patient visitor guide volunteer. As a discharge lounge volunteer, my job was to help the patients that are discharged to their cars. This meant I traveled throughout the hospital with my wheelchair to whatever location my pager sends me to get the patient and eventually bring them to their car. During my time with the patients, I made sure they have everything they needed whether that would be personal belongings or medicine from the pharmacy. Also, we chatted up great conversations together! As a patient visitor guide, a lot of my roles were very similar but I mainly worked up front with visitors. I delivered flowers and other personal belongings, cleaned PAPRs, discharged patients from pre-op and post-op, and helped the Security Ambassadors (they work on checking in visitors to the hospital).
As a discharge lounge volunteer, you are the last person on staff that the patient sees, so it was important to send them on their way with a good-lasting impression of the hospital. Similarly with the patient visitor guide, you are the first friendly face a visitor sees before seeing a loved one so it was important as well to make a good first impression. Being a volunteer allowed me to enhance my people skills and my communication skills.
Alpha Upsilon
During my spring semester of freshmen, I decided to rush co-ed fraternities when I found my perfect match: the Alpha Chi Sigma chapter at MSU called Alpha Upsilon. Alpha Upsilon is a Co-Ed Professional Chemistry Fraternity open to all science majors.
The purpose of Alpha Chi Sigma is reflected in the Three Objects of the Fraternity, which express the true ideals of all its members:
- To bind its members with a tie of true and lasting friendship
- To strive for the advancement of chemistry both as a science and as a profession
- To aid its members, by every honorable means, in the attainment of their ambitions as chemists throughout their mortal lives
HONORS TIMES TWO
My sophomore year I was very excited to join this organization through the Honors College here at MSU. This program pairs Honors College students with bright and gifted elementary school students (grades 2-5) that share similar interests. The goal of this program is to provide these intelligent, young students with MSU mentors who will work with them on fun and educational projects that will enhance their education, while also providing them a positive role model.
So, every week, I work with my second grader on a fun little project for about an hour that will be put toward a bigger project that we would typically present at the end of the school year, however, because of COVID, this didn't happen. My student Norman was very interested in researching anything and everything shark-related, so a lot of activities and crafts were centered around this idea. Even though COVID cut our time short, Norman and I still had a blast hanging out together and learning about sharks! To the left is a picture of one of the crafts we made together!
This organization has taught be excellent planning skills, how to flexible scheduling-wise, and many other valuable skills.
Scribing for Dr. Pohlod
During the spring semester of my sophomore year, I started working for Dr. Christopher Pohlod - a local Pediatric OMM D.O. in the East Lansing area. I found the job through one of my friend's who couldn't work for Dr. Pohlod anymore, so he asked me if I would takeover for him. I am so glad I took the job because it has helped me in many ways! This job has helped me brush up on my anatomy; has helped me understand what is OMM and how it is used in certain situations; and has helped me see what an OMM doctor does on a daily basis. Plus, I have gained important skills working as a scribe, such reporting skills, typing, verbal communication, professionalism, confidentially, electronic health record system skills, active listening, and a knowledge of medical terminology. I still work as a scribe for Dr. Pohlod and I have gone to him for advice regarding medical school and the application process. I can truly say this experience has had a huge impact on me and me wanting to become a doctor.
Osteopathic Medical Scholars Program (OMSP)
I applied to OMSP my freshmen year in the later part of the fall semester and actually didn't get in. I then went to the program director to see what I needed to work on to apply with a stronger application my sophomore year. I was accepted into the program mid-spring of my sophomore year and I have enjoyed my time in the Osteopathic Medical Scholars Program (OMSP) ever since. This program is for undergraduates that want to pursue the osteopathic profession and helps these students explore what Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine has to offer. This program has been great for me because I am surrounded by like-minded people who have similar ambitions; has exposed me to osteopathic principles; has helped guide me through the medical school process; and has brought in several guests speakers to get different views of the profession amongst other things. I highly recommend this program for individuals wanting to go to medical school that agree with the osteopathic philosophy.
MSU Neuroscience Club
This club I have been a member since freshmen year and I have met some of my closest friends in this club! In this club, majority of members are neuroscience majors and of course, each meeting is centered around a certain topic pertaining to neuroscience. For instance, there has been a meeting about Sleep and Dreams, Careers in Neuroscience with guest panelists, Neuroscience of Love, Drugs and Abuse, Psychopaths and Neuroscience (my personal favorite), Alzheimer's, and so many other topics. Members can get involved by going to social events, outreach events, and fundraising events. One event I personally love with this club is the Walk to End Alzheimer's fundraising event we do - I have raised money and participated every year in memory of my Grandpa. Other events I enjoy are the any of the outreach events like when we went to elementary school science nights to teach neuroscience to children and even when we made gift baskets for rehabilitation patients at the Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc.
Little Caesars
I was in dire need of a job my freshmen year of college, so over my winter break, I applied to work as a crew member at the local Little Caesars in South Lyon. I mainly worked over breaks and sometimes over the summer. My job consisted of preparing and making the pizza and other Little Caesar products, operating kitchen equipment, working at the cashier register, and cleaning work stations. I loved this job because it kept me on my toes and making pizzas can be pretty fun, too. In general, this job allowed me to gain lots of customer service skills such as adaptability; clear communication skills; taking responsibility of my mistakes; patience; effective listening; being attentive; time management skills; a willingness to improve; and many other valuable skills. Lots of these skills I can see myself even applying in the future when I become a physician.
COVID Screener
I will never forget the email saying that we were going to be online for the rest of the spring semester my sophomore year of college in 2020. My time volunteering was cut short and I wanted to get more involved in the hospital. A month after the semester ended, Tracy, our Volunteer Program Specialist, send out an email stating that Sparrow was looking for people to work as COVID screeners. I immediately applied for the job termed Security Entrance Coordinator, and I started officially working that July of 2020 until the end of my junior year. My role included a variety of tasks - I helped screen visitors; I directed or guided visitors to various parts of the hospital; I checked visitors out; I made sure visitors followed hospital mandates and NIH guidelines; I delivered flowers and belongings to patients; and I cleaned PAPRs for our visitors who were able to visit loved ones on the COVID floors. This job taught me definitely how to deal with conflict like when dealing with uncooperative visitors. Also, it has taught be to be patient; to use positive language or to be upbeat; to have thick skin; and lots of other skills - really lots of these skills were customer service skills that I was building upon from previous jobs. Overall, the number one skill that I made sure to apply in this job was empathy since I interacted with many family members who had lost loved ones. This job made me consider medicine even more!
Mother Teresa House
I joined the wonderful team at Mother Teresa House at the beginning of my senior year here at MSU. I decided to join as a volunteer not only to exposure myself to hands-on clinical experience, but also because I have witnessed palliative care before with a couple of my grandparents which was really inspiring. In addition, I took a CNA prior to COVID and absolutely loved it but I never got state certified due to the timing of the pandemic.
As a volunteer, I essentially made our two guests comfortable by providing medicine when needed or at the indicated times in the care plan; repositioned patients to prevent bed sores; groomed patients by brushing their hair, teeth, dentures, etc.; fed patients; cleaned the house; and stocked supplies. My favorite part was talking to the guests and keeping them company!
This volunteer position has been very beneficial, as I mentioned, for hands-on clinical experience but also it has helped enhance other skills such as communication skills, patience, empathy, compassion, and flexibility. Lots of these skills I plan on using in my future as a physician as well.
Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine
July 2023 is when I started my medical education journey in which I started at Michigan State Univesity's College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Macomb campus over in Clinton Township area. I completed my first two years of medical school there learning the ins and outs of every body system from MSK to cardiology to neurology along with learning OMM. I actually joined the OMM clinic elective course in which we give back to the community by volunteering our time to treat individuals with OMT free of charge to practice our skills.
While there I participated in many clubs and activities! For instance, I was the president of the Student Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons in which we put together events like letter writing for soliders overseas and had an event in which upperclassman from each branch talked about their time at officer training school. I was also on the Peer Mentors eboard as the Health and Wellness chair for MUC in which I helped put together events like a cornhole tournament and therapy dog sessions and more.
I also participated in Macomb Street Medicine in which we would partner with a local safe needle exchange program called HARM:LESS that had a plethora of other resources for those that are unhoused and battling addiction. We would provide wound care, safe sex kits, safe smoke kits, antibiotics for skin infections, and more.
I also joined Sigma Sigma Phi which is a osteopathic service fraternity dedicated to not only doing well in school but serving the community. Through this organization, we have volunteered at Gleaner's kitchen to Capushin kitchen to even helping out at the Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society amongst other organizations.
Now, I am at University of Michigan Health West outside of Grand Rapids for my last two years of medical school and I am loving rotations! I have gotten involved in Grand Rapids Street Medicine and the UMHW Sports Medicine program, too, to give back to the community.