Finals Week!

December 12, 2013
by Ryan

Classes

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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