Student Blog

Goals for winter break ⟩
December 17, 2012, by Alisa

Life Hacks

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:

1. To foster a relationship between USC OT Division and Thai universities and organizations
2. To address a lack of resources available for students and faculty interested in getting international experience in Thailand
3. To provide unique opportunities for collaboration in future projects and research
4. 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
5. 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

Classes School/Life Balance

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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Crossing the Finish Line ⟩
December 12, 2012, by Amber

Classes

Well, it’s already finals week and I’ve almost completed another semester of grad school! I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed, particularly this semester. My schedule was especially packed as I took on part-time work this school year. It has felt very good to finish up one class after another, starting last Friday when I presented a community program that I had created with a group. That project was the culmination of an entire semester’s work in my community programming course, and we presented our poster along with all of our classmates in an inspiring display of creativity and hard work. I felt proud to explain my program to other students and faculty that attended the presentation. Today, I turned in a lengthy case study paper for my Health Promotion and Wellness course. I also took a final exam for my Adult Physical Rehabilitation and Geriatrics immersion course. In addition to the written exam, we will have a lab practicum tomorrow morning where we will execute an actual occupational therapy session based on a case study. What am I going to do in a mere 18 hours when all of this hard work is complete? I’m going to Disneyland! I am looking forward to celebrating the end of the year with Mickey and relaxing at last.

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How do you make the season bright? ⟩
December 12, 2012, by Kendra

Community School/Life Balance

Happy 12/12/12! This time tomorrow I will be blissfully done with all my final papers/exams, etc. And this time in one week I will be waking up to see the Olympic Mountains outside my window, spending my first Christmas away from my family with my husband. So many exciting changes to look forward to, and as I endeavor to make change I think on the traditions that have helped make this time of year so precious to me.

Some traditions I hold dear are food and presents (shocking I’m sure!). My family loves to gather in the kitchen and cook for hours on Christmas Eve. While we have a feast for Christmas Eve dinner we also feast throughout Christmas day, making it a relaxing, elastic waistband kind of day. But despite years of making homemade cinnamon rolls and potato soup and ceviche, we still have yet, after 20+ years of making Christmas dinner as a family, to find the perfect Christmas Eve dessert. Even though there is no perfect sweet treat to look forward to each year, it has become its own dysfunctional tradition: what new-fangled dessert do we try this year? We’ve done chocolate pudding, coconut cake, cookies, chocolate cake, and homemade ice cream. And despite all of their delicious success, we still prefer to try again next year. This odd little tradition is very close to my heart.

Another tradition I hold dear is wrapping presents. Odd right? But since I was 16, I’ve sat in my mother’s work room for hours upon hours making perfect hospital folds and sealing packages with invisible tape while my mother makes the most beautiful bows and the TV plays ‘Christmas in Connecticut’ or the ‘Muppet Christmas Carol.’ It is our quiet time between cooking and holiday parties, when we can reminisce and cry at a movie we’ve seen at least 20 times together.

This year I won’t be wrapping presents for hours or finding the perfect imperfect dessert, but I will be taking these traditions to my new family and in years to come sharing these traditions with my children. That is what makes the season bright for me.

So as people fly home, drive home, stay home for the holidays I wonder what are your holiday traditions? What do you do with your family to keep the season bright? What meals do you cook? What church service do you attend? How does your family open presents? How do you show your loved ones gratitude and love during the season?

Peace, Love and OT to all and happy break to students!

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