Student Blog
Beginnings and Endings

Looking Back — Summer 2008 ⟩
March 7, 2010, by Mari

Beginnings and Endings School/Life Balance

When it all began . . .

As we’re nearing the end of our OT school journey, I can’t believe we’ll be graduating so soon — I have mixed feelings of excitement to be done, sadness to leave the comfort of student life, and anxiety about where I’ll end up in the future. I can just remember when I was in the process of applying to OT school and deciding where to go, when I had my weekly email and phone conversations with Sarah Kelly to ask her my list of questions and help with the decision process! It’s definitely true that time sure flies by when you’re having fun! Lately, I’ve been thinking about all the amazing times I’ve had at USC in the past couple years. So, for my next few blogs, I thought I would take you back through my experience as an OT student at USC!

First, we start with the summer of 2008 when we were immersed in what it really meant to be a full-time student! We didn’t know if we were going to make it out of the summer still being able to think and function during our fall semester classes, but of course, it was completely fine!

As we were lined up to go into the auditorium, I’m sure everyone remembers the first people they befriended! For me, it was Wendy and Miriam!

Here’s Wendy and I pretending to be happy right before our Kinesiology final. 😉

Although it was a lot of studying, we definitely found time to have fun too! We love celebrating birthdays!

Here’s Tina blowing out her candles at the Wine & Dine event hosted by the OT House.

And this is a group picture from Miriam’s birthday — we went to a modern-day play of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and ate at the Tofu House in Korea Town!

We also had fun in Dr. Fazio’s Skills class, which worked out to be the perfect stress reliever from Kinesiology and Neuroscience!

Here’s an angel pot holder that I made from ceramic tiles and grout — probably one of my favorite pieces!

And who knew Neuroscience could be fun too (sorry, Myka — she’s another Student Ambassador who was a Neuroscience major)?! At the end of the summer, I brought in a cake that was in the shape of spinal bone, marking a few of the tracts that ran through it. A little nerdy, I know, but I always think there’s some way to incorporate food into your projects — it just makes it more fun for everyone!

And that’s about it for the first summer. It was definitely a busy summer, but filled with fun as a great start to OT school! =)

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5 weeks closer to graduation . . . ⟩
February 8, 2010, by Michelle

Beginnings and Endings Community

It’s week 5 of the last semester of my master’s. I gotta say it feels good 😊. Even though I still have a couple large hurdles to get through before I actually get to accomplish my dream of having a job and being a “real OT.” At this point I have already started looking online for jobs, and wouldn’t you know that a couple days ago I found an awesome job listing in DC for my dream job.

But now back to life — this past Saturday we had the OT extravaganza. The extravaganza is a chance to celebrate Occupational Therapy! It’s the third time that we’ve had one and except for the rain I think that it was a huge success! Mari, one of the other student ambassadors was responsible for putting the event on and she had asked me and some friends to present a project that we had made last year. Our project was very popular and I enjoyed talking about it so much.

Here’s a picture of my group at the extravaganza.

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