Student Blog

The Sound of Music ⟩
September 23, 2013, by Kate

Living in LA School/Life Balance

This weekend was full of studying for me. We have some exams coming up this week, and so over the weekend, I had to sacrifice some of my social time to hit the books, which is just part of being a graduate student. However, since I’m learning so much about balance and the importance of play and leisure, I did take some time this weekend to hang out with some of my friends from the OT program. About 27 of us got together and went to The Sound of Music Sing-a-Long event at The Hollywood Bowl. It was pure joy and the most fun I have had in a long, long time.

There was a costume contest before the movie started, where little kids and adults alike dressed up as characters or lines from the movie. There were “charming sponges” (in reference to Uncle Max’s character), “bowing ladies” (in reference to the lady who wins an award during the festival performance), and nuns galore. The winners were 13 nuns, each with a number on her costume, strung along with rope, to represent “a long line of governesses” that had come before the character of Maria at the Von Trapp household.

When the movie began, the entire auditorium sang along to the words of the songs, cheered when Maria and the Captain were on screen, and booed and hissed at the Baroness and any mention of the Nazis. During “Edelweiss,” we all put our cell phones in the air and swayed back and forth. The evening was full of magic and friendship, and it was just what I needed to recharge my batteries going into this week.

Good news for you: this happens every year! Each year, The Hollywood Bowl does this sing-a-long event to The Sound of Music during September. I know I will try my best to attend next year!

Here’s a picture of me with my mittens on, enjoying some hot cocoa! Although it is Los Angeles, it got pretty chilly this night and I came prepared!

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My Room and the Person-Environment-Occupation Model ⟩
September 20, 2013, by Clarissa

Life Hacks Living in LA School/Life Balance

This past week was so eventful with fun, fieldwork, and organizing my room! The Occupational Therapy and Science Council held a pool party at one of our classmate’s beautiful apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles, the Medici, with yummy food and good company! I also had my first day at my Level I fieldwork this week at a school-based pediatric setting, which was really cool. My clinical instructor was so great and I’m excited to go back!

Surprisingly, though, room organizing was the highlight of my week. I’ve been living out of a suitcase after returning to LA post-Level II fieldwork. Standing in that inferno of clothes and papers, I was thinking about the Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) Model that I learned about in my Mental Health immersion last year and, yes, I started OT-ing myself. My occupation is being an OT student, my person factors included my decreased motivation to study whenever I looked at my room, and my environment was a chaos of my personal belongings (minus the one clear walkway from my door to my bed). To improve my occupational performance as a student, I went to work and I am now SO EXCITED that I like being in my room again! My bookshelf is also the new apple of my eye. The moral of the story here: stay balanced and make time for the little things.

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Turning Work Into Play ⟩
September 19, 2013, by Jen

What are OS/OT?

This past week, I had the opportunity to work with children in an occupational therapy clinic setting. I was very impressed with how well the occupational therapists I observed were able to make a treatment session look so much like play. For example, an adorable child was getting occupational therapy services because of a fine motor delay in performing certain tasks that involve small movements with this child’s fingers. This child normally gets very frustrated when performing a task that involves small movements, but one of the goals for therapy is to be able to pick up Cheerios independently. The occupational therapist found a way to make this task fun for the child. The therapist found out what motivates the child and used this to their advantage in order to get the child to participate. This child LOVES the show Blue’s Clues, so the therapist created a Blue’s Clues-themed treatment session that required the child to practice their fine motor skills. The child enjoyed the session and also worked on needed skills!

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OTSC Retreat ⟩
September 19, 2013, by Jen

Community Getting Involved

This past Sunday was the annual Occupational Therapy and Science Council (OTSC) retreat. This was the first time the new OTSC executive board met and discussed plans for the year. I was very excited to hear everyone’s ideas and got to know each member of the board. We have a lot of motivated and diverse members on the board, so I know it will be an exciting and successful year. The executive board is made up of about 30 first-year and second-year master’s students, an OTD representative, and a PhD representative. Some ideas discussed included getting students motivated to attend the 2014 American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) conference in Maryland, fundraisers where money will be donated to non-profit organizations, and new social events. After the board met, the rest of OTSC (which includes all graduate students in occupational therapy) was invited to join us for pool party and barbeque. It was a great turn out! We made it a potluck and there ended up being more than enough food for everyone to stuff their stomachs. This was a fun and casual way to build unity between the many students in the Division.

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Fieldwork Out-of-State? ⟩
September 17, 2013, by Kate

Fieldwork

I have lived in Los Angeles for 11 years now, which is such an amazing feat. I can’t believe that in August of 2002, I drove from Denver, Colorado, to Los Angeles with most of my belongings, ready to start a new adventure. My undergraduate years at USC were the best four years of my life, and in 2006, I decided to stay in the City of Angels. My parents moved to Seattle, Washington, when I graduated from USC in 2006. I have loved visiting them and exploring a new city that is similar to, yet different from, my hometown of Denver.

As I made my way into a new career path and my journey with occupational therapy, I have a new and exciting adventure to begin. USC’s outstanding team of fieldwork coordinators offers over 750 placements across the country, and I’ve decided that I am going to take advantage of these out-of-state opportunities. I just put in a request with our fieldwork team to be placed somewhere in Seattle for my Level II fieldwork next summer! What an exciting (and a little bit scary!) decision! Now it is in the hands of the fieldwork coordinators to place me in a facility where I can use my existing skills to learn and grow even more. What can I say?? I CANNOT WAIT!!!

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