Student Blog
Classes

Friday Quicktakes ⟩
October 24, 2014, by Claire

Classes Getting Involved

Happy Friday!

Today I wanted to share some snippets about my week, so here are a few photos.

This past weekend was OTAC! So great to see our faculty and alumni win awards, give presentations, and participate in the learning/networking experience! In the student track, we got to play with some toys and make our own for pediatrics OT!

Also, here’s a shout out to Rob, one of our former student ambassadors (transformed into Rose King in support of our 2017 OT Centennial Vision float!) and Caitlin, also an occupational therapy student in the USC program!

This week, our adult rehabilitation class did an activity analysis activity. Our team was assigned to do an activity analysis on “making a snack.” We shared a lot of different yummy ideas, perused Pinterest, and decided to make some Jack-O-Lantern quesadillas to reflect our Halloween spirit!

Did you know our classroom walls are actually giant white boards? We were practicing goal writing and developing treatment plans; our teams put all our ideas on the board and our professor gave us feedback. I secretly hope someone will come into our classrooms and leave beautiful drawings one day, like these.

Have a good weekend! 😊

⋯

Yay USC undergrad OT classes! ⟩
October 3, 2014, by Claire

Classes

Today’s a shoutout post to all USC undergraduate students taking OT courses! A couple weeks ago, Leila and I had the privilege to visit OT classes at the main UPC campus to talk about the Occupational Science minor program. I was also lucky to give a HSC tour with some Bachelor’s-to-Master’s OT students earlier this semester. You guys really rock! As a current Bachelor-to-Master’s OT student (last year already, wow!), these assignments mean a lot to me personally. It was super exciting to see this year’s classes and see how much they have grown. In my freshman year (that was back in 2010!), I took OT310x Creativity Workshop and OT250 Introduction to Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. I remember a student ambassador coming to talk to us about Occupational Therapy, and it’s so crazy to see everything come full circle. Not only that, that year we had about almost ten students signed up for the Friday morning class, but this year, the class is now double its size! Thank you to all the students for hearing our spiels about how amazing occupational therapy is and how much we love USC OT, and I had so much fun answering any questions that people had. USC Pre-OT club is having their first site visit — go check it out!! Best of luck to all USC undergrads — hope to see you at other USC OT events or at the Master’s program!

⋯

White coats, scantrons, and football, oh my! ⟩
September 5, 2014, by Claire

Classes School/Life Balance

Happy Friday! Last week, our division held the white coat ceremony for our MAI, MAII (including BS-MA), and OTD students. It was very exciting to see everyone look so professional (and spiffy) in their white coats. I remember when taking the oath last year, I was very inspired by what occupational therapists value and strive to do in their practice. Congratulations to all of you!

This week is our second week of class! I am currently in the adult physical rehabilitation immersion, and the course has taken on a new format known as Team-Based Learning, where learning takes place in a team setting as opposed to traditional teaching styles like lecture. In general, the process is: 1. Pre-readings; 2. Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT); 3. Group Readiness Assurance Test (GRAT); 4. Reviewing Test; 5. Case Applications. To be honest, some of us were a little skeptical about the model when it was first introduced to us. Personally, I was worried about completing the pre-reading and missing information that would have been presented in a lecture. However, our professors continually referenced the research behind this style of teaching and we had our first “RAT”s this week. I found myself much more engaged in the entire process — our adrenaline was definitely running and it encouraged active discussion. Plus, the GRAT is a scratch-off scantron and there’s something exciting about seeing a star on your scantron to notify your team that the answer chosen is correct. I’m interested in seeing how the rest of the semester will play out!

Last weekend we kicked off the football season with a win against Fresno State. Tomorrow USC takes on Stanford. I know several friends who are trekking up to NorCal this weekend for the game (we call it the “weekender”). Fight on!

⋯

One year down, one to go! ⟩
August 21, 2014, by Kristy

Beginnings and Endings Classes Fieldwork

As I begin my first level II fieldwork, I slowly make the transition from a “first year” to a “second year” — you’re kidding right?!? As you may know, the program here at USC is just over two years, in which we spend our first summer in a intensive kick start to grad school, fall and spring in two immersions, second summer in our first level II fieldwork, followed by our last immersion in the fall, a spring semester full of electives, and then our last summer level II fieldwork. Not too shabby! (Follow this link for an in-depth description.) I just cannot believe that I have already finished up my first year here! Let me tell you, time flies when you’re having fun, especially in occupational therapy! The “second years” always seemed so knowledgeable, and always knew what was going on in the world of OT; I was in awe of them when I started the program and asked a million questions! Now I realize I will be the one getting the questions and providing answers. Am I ready to pass on the knowledge I have learned in the program from my courses, from my professors, from my fieldwork experiences, from student organizations? I think so!

⋯

The End and the Beginning ⟩
May 12, 2014, by Clarissa

Beginnings and Endings Classes

I’m graduating this Friday! Time really has flown. So much has happened this Spring semester and I have a dream that I will still post 15+ blog posts this week so I can update all of you about the past 3 months. Get ready for my blog binge!

Life has been crazy. I was so busy the week before this studying for the comprehensive exam, which took place last Monday. The exam consisted of 6 classes of material that spanned from Fall semester of first year to Spring semester of our second year. Yes, when I say “comprehensive,” I really mean comprehensive! Our class was great, though, about making study guides together for the test.

So I found out a couple days later that I passed it! It looks like my Master’s is in the bag (given that I pass this summer’s clinical internship). WOOHOO! Here’s my fellow student ambassador Rob and I celebrating our victory! We’re moving on to bigger things!

What bigger and better things, you ask? I have 3 months of clinical internship this summer at California Children’s Services, which is a pediatric physical disabilities site. This is the practice area I want to go into, so I’m really excited for my experience there this summer!

Another big experience on the horizon is my doctoral residency next year! At USC, we have a doctorate program that takes 1 year to complete after we finish the Master’s. The residency has several tracks and I’m doing the “Advanced Clinical Practice” track. I’ve been researching and interviewing at different potential residency sites throughout this semester.

After doing observations last week at a couple of sites, I finally decided on spending the next year at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center as a doctoral resident. I actually took the motor control class here last year and I fell in love with this place — hooray for more learning and growing at this amazing institution next year!

⋯