Student Blog
The Circle of Life ⟩
December 29, 2012, by Paula
The long break from classes has been a great opportunity to accomplish goals from the semester which are pushed aside for studying and more accessible study breaks with friends. It has been so great spending this time at home with my family and visiting with friends from different points in my life. My family made it through the whirlwind of Christmas celebrations — spread through about 5 days of festivities. With things calming down a bit, this week was the perfect time for a date with my mom in San Francisco. We traveled in to the city and browsed the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, grabbed lunch and then went to the matinee of The Lion King at the Orpheum Theater. Having grown up in the Bay Area and spent almost 20 years living in the area, it is still nice to act like tourists occasionally.
The show was amazing. I do not have any background in theater, unlike many of my peers (and fellow-student ambassador, Kendra, who is definitely a pro) and I have only been to two performances but I have so enjoyed it each time. The effects, costumes, and coordination of all sights and sounds is just mind-blowing! This performance was unique to the one I had previously seen because there were children in the cast. As I sat watching with my mom, I was taken back to my childhood — which was full of Disney movies — and I wondered how things may have been different if I had been interested in theater instead of the many lifelong occupations I still cherish and pursue. Here were 9 year old children involved in a touring production who were bringing it all to the table and loving it! It was so great to see and I found myself wondering if their parents were also in theater and if the adults in the cast had also begun their careers in this art as a child. This job is clearly rigorous, with frequency of performances and the demands on the body and mind to commit to characters, and it is incredible that these professionals do what they do. Viewing and experiencing these performances is a new occupation of mine — although it may not come to fruition until I have a salary. :] I encourage you to give a new occupation a try before the new year!
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Break Time ⟩
December 18, 2012, by Amber
Well, school is officially out for winter break and I am free for the next month. Whenever I have a long break from classes, a seemingly endless list of things I want to do immediately forms in my mind. Among the items on my list: play the piano, craft several Christmas presents, re-learn Photoshop, read a novel, catch up with a dozen different friends, and travel to two other states for Christmas and New Year celebrations. Needless to say, I never seem to accomplish even a fraction of my “to do” list. What I have managed to do so far is spend two days at Disneyland and organize my paperwork and binders from the fall semester. And it’s already time to leave on my three-week, three-state jaunt. I am looking forward to visiting family and friends that I don’t see as often as I would like. And nothing beats the celebration on Christmas Eve when my entire extended family gets together, each with their trademark potluck dish in tow. It’s a wonderful, warm time of year and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.
My cat is not as thrilled as I am about Christmas.
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Goals for winter break ⟩
December 17, 2012, by Alisa
I’m done with finals! Woohoo! I’m looking forward to relaxing more over winter break.
I’ll be doing a stay-cation this break, and here are some of my goals:
- Decorate the Christmas tree (I just did last night!)
- Learn how to play a ukulele (I purchased one over Black Friday weekend!)
- Learn how to juggle (a friend told me I have potential 😉)
- Master the Gangnam-style dance
- Read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
- Do more yoga
These goals should keep me busy, and I’ll keep in touch by blogging too. Do you have plans for the holidays?
It’s beginning to look and feel like Christmas!
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The Road to Centennial Vision: USC–Thailand Collaborations ⟩
December 17, 2012, by Alisa
Classes Externships International
I recently had a poster presentation for my community programming class! It was super exciting to be able to see the finish products of our semester long work. Throughout the project, I learned that although working independent has its perks and glory, it could be very hard to motivate oneself to do project. No joke. Even though I felt comfortable asking my professor any questions I had, it would have been nice to have a partner whom I could bounce ideas with. So, I’ve learned my lesson, but in case you’re wondering about my project, which I’m really excited about. Here is a little synopsis of it.
Title: The Road to Centennial Vision: USC–Thailand Collaborations
Goal: My goal for this potential collaboration is to help USC occupational therapy students and faculty realize the American Occupational Therapy Association Centennial Vision through expanding international experiences and collaborations in ongoing and future projects in order to become more “globally connected.”
Objectives:
- To foster a relationship between USC OT Division and Thai universities and organizations
- To address a lack of resources available for students and faculty interested in getting international experience in Thailand
- To provide unique opportunities for collaboration in future projects and research
- To offer a reference by those interested in joining or creating new programs in Thailand so that they know what services are already being provided, what needs remain, and what possibilities for collaborations exist
- To foster a better understanding of the Thai culture and way of life and promote tourism
One potential collaboration I see happening is with the Thai Elephant-Assisted Therapy Project. Here’s a little more about the project:
From the research that I have gathered, a unique opportunity for collaboration is with the Thai Elephant-Assisted Therapy Project (TETP): an innovative intervention for individuals with autism. The TETP was started in 2007 with a two-fold intention: to sustain conservation and welfare of elephants and address autism. The program has provided a binding force that allows for collaboration across disciplines from researchers, practitioners, and students. The research studies have collected data from participants ranging from 11-19 years old and only female elephants were used. Animals that have been known to provide such therapeutic benefits include horses (hippotherapy) and dogs. Young elephants are used in the program since they tend to be more playful, which is considered a plus when working with children with ASD since they tend to have difficulties engaging in play. According to Zailani (2012), the activities incorporated in the program are preparation (e.g., money management when buying snacks for elephants), sensory integration (e.g., singing the elephant song and riding), social skills (e.g., with each other and elephants), and daily living skills (e.g., bathing and grooming). This program is available for free for children with ASD and has been researched by Dr. Nuntanee Satiansukpon, at Chiang Mai University.
I’m planning to do my leadership capstone in March in Thailand and would love to be able to see this in action. Stay tuned!
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FIN ⟩
December 14, 2012, by Ricky
Ahhh . . . nothing like being done with another semester. On the real, these last two weeks were the roughest yet (for me). The schoolwork wasn’t that hard, it was the volume of stuff that piled up towards the end that did it. That, and my time management skills (or lack thereof . . . no, definitely lack thereof). I was done on Wednesday — it’s Friday now, and I am still recovering. My battle scars were comprised of tightness in the chest, tension in all parts of my body down to my little toes, and some peculiar behavior in my eyes — darn you laptop screen! (fist clenched . . . ever so tightly). My adversary consisted of the following:
Week 1
Monday — early final (yay)
Thursday — group presentation
Friday — community program poster presentation + proposal (oh, roughly 100 pages)
Week 2
Wednesday — 10 page paper
Wednesday (yes, same Wednesday) — 10 page case study
To some, it may seem like just another finals period, but in my lived-experience, I no likey :( The happily-ever-after in this story is that I am still breathing. I am always amazed of what we are capable of when we are put to the test (literally, in this case). Plus, there’s always room for it to be worse. I always tell myself that it isn’t really that bad until I get that bad metallic taste in my mouth . . . you know what I mean? You’ve read Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, right? Anybody? Anyhow, thank you all for the chance to vent a bit. Now for a little recess . . .
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