Spring Semester Shenanigans

April 26, 2019
by Jessica P.

Getting Involved School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?

Happy last day of classes Trojans! It’s hard to believe that today was already my last day of classes in the Master’s program here at USC. Every semester always seems to fly by but this semester especially has gone by so fast I’m not sure where the time has gone.

Fall semester may get a lot of hype because of football season but I’m a big fan of spring semester also. The past few months have been packed with all different events from traveling internationally for my externship to attending my first AOTA national conference. Here is a sneak peek into what I’ve been up to the past few weeks.

AOTA Conference
In April I was able to attend my first AOTA conference and visit New Orleans for the first time. It was a jam-packed few days attending different workshops and speaker sessions. In between sessions, my friends and I explored New Orleans and of course tried beignets!

At AOTA, I really saw the power of the Trojan Family. From hearing one of my former clinical instructors and USC alumni, Laura Ferrari, speak on her work in forensic mental health to exploring posters, like the one above by Dr. Janice Rocker.

LA Times Festival of Books
This year I had the opportunity to help plan the OT booth at the LA Times Festival of Books Health Pavilion. The Festival of Books is such a fun event to spread OT to the greater Los Angeles community and celebrate OT month! We had stations for stress management, weight management, research recruitment, and sensory integration play.

Tours
The past few weeks have been busy with tours! We’ve had visitors from all over, including freshman from a local high school who are interested in pursuing occupational therapy.

Desert X
While things can get busy in the spring, I always try to make time for occupations outside of school that are meaningful to me. One of my favorite things to do is to explore various art museums so this year my friend and I spent a weekend in Palm Springs. We drove around the various Desert X art installations and ate tons of delicious food!

I hope you all had an amazing semester, I know I did! Good luck on finals and don’t forget to take time for self-care and engaging in your favorite occupations!

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