Student Blog
School/Life Balance

Wow Wow Wow ⟩
April 11, 2013, by Amber

Classes Getting Involved School/Life Balance

Life has been moving at a million miles per hour since my last post! It seems that EVERYTHING happens in the Spring, and my life has been incredibly full of a variety of tasks and fun activities. I have been learning more about my path through the doctoral program and getting prepared for that transition. Another transition has occurred with the onboarding of the new student ambassadors who will be entertaining you with their blogs starting in a few short weeks! The new ambassadors have already been involved in several events. On April 1st, we celebrated the start of OT Month by hosting a rally with lunch, skits, and some awesome OT swag! Just last week, we hosted the incoming students at the Admitted Students’ Reception at the beautiful Town and Gown venue at USC.

The AOTA national conference for occupational therapists will take place in a couple of weeks. I am so proud to be presenting my research on animal assisted therapy at the conference as a poster presentation! I am also looking forward to Dr. Florence Clark’s farewell address and the special USC Alumni celebration taking place on Saturday night. I was also honored to be a part of our Division campaign video, which will be unveiled at the celebration.

Attending the Occupational Therapy Extravaganza last Saturday was a wonderful experience. It is planned each year by our honor society PTE, and they hosted a day of amazing speakers and creative showcases of our students’ work. In my role as Co-Chair of our student council OTSC, I have also been spending several hours per week planning our students’ end of the year celebration, for which we have chartered a private boat for a night cruise with a DJ, photo booth, and more fun! I am greatly looking forward to that celebration, and the even more amazing celebration a week after when I graduate from this program with a Master’s degree.

With all this excitement it is easy to forget that I still have lots of coursework and projects to complete, not least of all our comprehensive exam which covers material we have learned across the entire program! I can’t believe it will all be over in a few short weeks!

The present and future Student Ambassadors

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Faculty Dinner ⟩
April 4, 2013, by Alisa

Community School/Life Balance

Last week a group of students were able to enjoy dinner with faculty at California Pizza Kitchen in support of a fundraiser for OTSC (Occupational Therapy and Science Council). It was great to be able to see faculty outside of class and got to know them on a more personal level. I love being able to learn more about their histories, passions, and experiences both OT and non-OT related. Shout out to Dr. Clark, Dr. Cermak, and Dr. Solomon for making time for students despite their busy schedules.

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Externship in Thailand ⟩
April 3, 2013, by Alisa

Externships International School/Life Balance

I can’t believe I got a rare opportunity to spend 3 weeks in Thailand. Of course, I took it and ran with it. 2 weeks of externship and a week of spring break. The goal of the externship was to learn leadership skills, so I reached out to my aunt who is the owner of Sammie and Sandy Beauty Spa and the chairperson of a non-profit organization, Zonta International (Bangkok 7 region). Some of the highlights of my externship were that I got to table a booth for my aunt’s company at the Bangkok International Hair Show and a golf course. Those were two different populations, but I had to utilize my people skills to engage potential customers in our services and products. It was a tough crowd I have to say, but it was still a valuable experience. Zonta International had a Rose Day, where all of the regions met up to represent different ASEAN countries. I got to dress up in Thai traditional clothing and networked with the members through an evening of great food and music while learning about ASEAN countries and potential business opportunities there.

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Rest and Relaxation ⟩
March 26, 2013, by Amber

Living in LA School/Life Balance

During Spring Break last week, I took the opportunity to unwind and take time for rest and relaxation. It was good timing, coming on the heels of my two-week externship, which was a wonderful challenge and learning experience. I used my break to spend quality time with my friends and family while having fun! For the first half of Spring Break, I traveled to my family’s vacation home in the Sierras near Yosemite National Park. My sister brought my 12-month-old nephew and I got to witness his first snow experience! We cooked meals together and played games. We also hit the slopes for a day of skiing.

For the second half of break, I returned to Southern California and my aunt flew down from the Bay Area. We spent a long weekend in Newport Beach at a beautiful resort, soaking up the sun and exploring the area. We shopped, swam in the pool, ate delicious meals, and explored several beaches. We even rented an electric boat to cruise the harbor, which broke down and resulted in us being towed back to the resort by the county sheriff! It was a fun adventure and a silly way to end the weekend. My experiences over the break were rejuvenating and put me in a wonderful refreshed state of mind. Now I am back at school and the countdown is on to graduation! The next several weeks are sure to fly by, and I will be a graduate before I know it!

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Goodbye, February! ⟩
February 26, 2013, by Paula

Externships Fieldwork School/Life Balance

So here we are, Week 7 of the semester! The Division has been buzzing with visits from AOTA Leadership visits, the AOTA Assembly of Student Delegate elections, and many exciting things coming up. This week is the week-long fieldwork experience for the first years. For the next two weeks, the second years will be out on their externship assignments. After that, we have spring break and then we are nearly to April (Occupational Therapy month) which is jam-packed with events, assignments, presentations and finally, the 2013 AOTA Conference! There are just so many things to look forward to and we all know that the time is going to fly by.

For the externship, many of the second years will be going out of the area, some are returning to the home-state while others are travelling to entirely new places. There is a group of students travelling to Ghana, another group to Costa Rica, and other students will be travelling to China, Thailand, Scotland and Canada. I will be staying in the Los Angeles area and learning more about how occupational therapy services can be better integrated into the palliative care services within an acute pediatric hematology-oncology population. I am very excited to take this opportunity to widen my scope of experience within this population and to find more ways of helping the families involved in such life-changing experiences.

Although it is a challenge, it is so important to not get ahead of yourself (balance, right??). I always take a moment to be sure to be present and appreciative of what is happening today. This has always been something that I need to work on since I tend to be a ‘planner.’ So instead of becoming stressed about “will everything in my externship turn out just as I hope it will?”, or “what will my schedule be during the two weeks away from class?”, I think back on the semester and on the year, and I just slow myself down. This year has been a year of growth for all of my peers. It is awesome to see how everyone interacts in class and in clinical scenarios now that we have gone through the practice immersions and are investigating the elective courses. It has also been amazing to see how viewpoints and career goals change. The different things which I see inspire passion within my classmates is so refreshing. Imagine if we were each interested in the exact same thing. Our practice would never grow and flourish as OT has had the opportunity to do.