Student Blog
Oh Happy Day! ⟩
December 16, 2013, by Clarissa
I just took my last final today for my Current Issues in Adulthood and Aging class — hip hip hooray! I always have trouble picking from a jillion things to blog about but since it’s a jolly day, I’ll blog about jolly things — the OT Ugly Holiday Sweater Party! As the social chair of OTSC, I always look forward to planning and implementing this event. This event is a young tradition, started only last year, where the students get together and eat, participate in an ugly sweater competition, decorate gingerbread houses and ornaments, and make holiday cards. This year, we held it at the Center for Occupation and Lifestyle Redesign, which is a beautiful Victorian house owned by the USC OS/OT Division. The homey atmosphere, festive decorations, and Christmas tree made the party that much more enjoyable.
It has been so long since we had the opportunity to be creative and do arts and crafts! Participating in crafts reminds me why I so strongly believe in OT — meaningful ways of occupying my time lifts my mood, boost my self-esteem upon product completion, and, since I like doing crafts with other people, increases socialization. Basically, it’s a recipe for well-being. Unfortunately, in the midst of projects, finals, and papers, my creative brain has taken a backseat so it felt great to unwind and create again. On top of that, I was able to catch up with so many classmates and get to know first years. I get lonely with my laptop as my only companion during finals week.
This year, we also teamed up with another student group in our division called Design in Action. They encouraged the students to build gingerbread houses with universal design in mind — they created ramps, grab bars, handrails, and wheelchair accessible doorways. It was a fun way of incorporating some of the principles we learned in class and I loved hearing our classmates’ stories about each house. I was really impressed with some of these houses. Here is the first place winner along with some happy OTs!
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Snow Day! ⟩
December 13, 2013, by Rob
Last Friday I was giving a tour to a prospective student when what should we stumble upon but a giant snow pile next to Tommy Trojan on the main campus.
I’m always open to the unexpected when touring students on both of our campuses — you never know what might happen — but I was not prepared for snow! Being from Chicago, snow is nothing new to me, but after almost two years of sunny southern California, it certainly was a surprise.
Turned out, they had trucked in a load of snow and dumped it in the middle of campus for everyone to enjoy.
So naturally, I indulged my Midwestern roots (and my inner child) and had a good old fashioned snowball fight. I would love to brag about how I “won,” but the prospective student somehow managed to get snow down the back of my shirt. Fortunately for me, the snow fell between my outer shirt and inner shirt, which made the situation even more comical. Afterwards, I juggled snowballs for the first time!
Such good-natured fun was exactly what I needed in the middle of preparations for finals week. We had a big project due that morning and an essay due that afternoon. I was tired and just a little stressed. After playing in the snow, none of that seemed to matter. A little bit of occupation-based snow therapy was exactly what I needed!
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Finals Week! ⟩
December 12, 2013, by Ryan
Whoa! It is finals week, ya’ll, and it is no joke! Of course, I had the sit-down, typical, multiple choice exams for 3 of my classes. But I have also had projects and papers for a few of my other classes. And that has been such a positive experience. First one was on Friday for Dr. Fazio’s OT 570 Occupation-Centered Programs for the Community class. Our big project was to go through the steps to develop a mock-proposal for a service that is needed for a particular population out in the community. The cool part is that after we graduate, we have all the materials done to actually implement these programs and some alumni have! So for this project, you could work in a group or solo. I was very passionate about a certain population (and no one else was), so I worked by myself. I realized quickly that this was a bit difficult to do on my own, but it was worth it. The final for this class was the written proposal as well as a poster presentation to the department staff and faculty. Sound intimidating, right? But it wasn’t. I really enjoyed making my poster and it came out quite nice. I enjoyed sharing my project because I think it could really benefit people and also viewing other posters from my classmates was amazing and I saw a lot of creative ideas for so many different populations. My project was relating to older adults (between 50 and 70 years of age) who are healthy and still able to work. I was interested in their experience with unanticipated or early retirement. For individuals going through this huge life event they can lose their confidence, social connections, and financial support as well as purpose that gets them out of bed and sense of contribution to society. Especially with the baby boomer generation increasing the amount of older adults in our society, there is not enough support or services to deal with this issue. I was proud to contribute this idea as well as see how smart and wonderful my classmates are. Yay OT, USC, & Dr. Fazio!
FYI, here is my first attempt (since I am the worst with technology) to add a photo 😊
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Prepping for the Practicum!! ⟩
December 11, 2013, by Kate
I just finished the last exam for our adult physical rehabilitation immersion course and my brain is officially mush. It was a 75-question multiple choice test covering the last 4 weeks of our semester. We also had a documentation practicum where we had to write a SOAP note (a type of progress note covering a treatment session). I studied a lot for this last exam and I’m hoping my hard work paid off. I have to remain clear-headed, however, because tomorrow at 8 am I have the practicum portion of the final!
The practicum is a portion of our exam where the students must prepare for a simulated treatment session and role-play an intervention with another student. We are given four case studies to choose from, and we select one case upon which to write a long-term and short-term goal and a treatment session plan. The students meet tomorrow at different times, are paired up with a random student, and perform the treatment session in front of a faculty member.
A bunch of the students got together right after our exam this morning to practice going over the practicum. We exchanged ideas and shared creativity in designing our treatment sessions. It is pretty stressful to prepare something like this and role play in front of a professor who teaches us for a living, but it’s still nice to know we are all in the same boat.
Here’s a picture of me and my classmate, Dennis, using sock-aids in our practice treatment session. Wish me luck!!!
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Thanksgiving is OVER . . . Back to the Grind! ⟩
December 2, 2013, by Kate
Wow! Thanksgiving break was fabulous! It was very much needed! As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I headed to Colorado for a ski weekend with my parents. It was glorious!! The mountain recently opened for the season, so only a few runs were open on the front side of the mountain. The snow was a little crusty and icy, but it was great to get out and be active in nature. The beauty of Mother Nature and the crisp air rejuvenated me. Getting some physical exercise in, even at 10,000 feet, was great. And skiing with my dad is one occupation that we have enjoyed together since I was 2 years-old (27 years of being ski buddies!). We also enjoyed cooking together and had a great Thanksgiving dinner, complete with pumpkin pie made from a REAL pumpkin! All in all, a great vacation, filled with fun, food and a little bit of studying.
That’s right, I wrote “studying.” It’s easy to forget that you have things due this week when you’re having fun. But alas, it’s the nature of the grad-school beast. First up, a test today in our Health and Wellness course! I really enjoy this class, so I am not too worried because I am interested in the material. This Friday is our last day of classes. We have our poster presentations in our class on Occupation-Centered Programs for the Community. We have been working all semester on identifying a population in need of program development, performing a needs assessment, and creating a program that would is unique and fulfills the needs of the community. We also have a final paper due on Friday in our Health and Wellness class that includes research, a case study on one health and wellness variable, and an intervention plan. Sounds like a whole lot!!! And it is. But then I remember that this is the last week of classes and finals start next week!
Thankfully, I feel refreshed and rejuvenated from my mini-vacation and I am ready to get back to the grind and conquer all that I have due this week! Bring it on!!
Here’s a picture of my dad and I getting ready to hit the slopes! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
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