Student Blog
Getting Involved

USC Interdisciplinary Health Symposium! ⟩
October 21, 2013, by Kate

Community Getting Involved

This Saturday, the USC Student-Run Clinic presented the 3rd Annual USC Interdisciplinary Health Symposium. I was fortunate enough to be on the planning committee for this event as part of the USC Student-Run Clinic Occupational Therapy Board. Since the first week of school, I have been meeting with different students from the other health profession programs (medicine, physician assistant and pharmacy) to put together the panels and topics to be covered. This year the keynote covered disaster-preparedness, an all-too important topic since we live in California, the home of a few earthquakes here and there. The afternoon tracks included cerebrovascular accident (CVA aka stroke) and motivational interviewing, or what to do after a disaster hits. There was great attendance by students from all the programs and I am so proud to have been a part of it!

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USC Division of OS/OT Rocks! ⟩
October 21, 2013, by Ryan

Getting Involved School/Life Balance

Let’s see, today I want to talk about how much I love having such supportive faculty and staff here at USC Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. I have been feeling very overwhelmed this semester, of course, because there is a lot I have to learn in order to be such a fantastic OT but I have also taken on more activities this semester. One, that I am a Student Ambassador, which includes 10 hours a week of assisting the Admissions team by pumping up prospective students during the stressful time of either choosing a career in occupational therapy and/or choosing the number one school in the country for OT (USC, of course).

I am also working in a non-profit group called Active Minds and helping start a chapter at USC to educate students about mental illness issues as well as promote mental well-being throughout our lives. The first month of school I thought I could handle the stress of the my course workload on my own because I did it last year, but eventually I decided one day after class to talk to my professor about how much trouble I was having completing all the assignments on time. She made me feel so much better by giving me suggestions on ways to catch up and suggested meeting the following week to see if I need any more help.

In addition, I have decided to take advantage of the OT Faculty Practice on campus and receive free (because of the student health insurance) OT services to help me manage all the extra work I have been trying to do this semester. My occupational therapist is great! The first session seemed so simple and then I realized amazingly she had switched it around so that I was doing the work without even realizing it. So good, right?! This has caused me to slowly start taking on ways to look at my schedule and organize it in a more efficient and meaningful way. And she has done this in such a collaborative way that makes me feel so empowered, that I could eventually do on my own. I love Occupational Therapy! These are just two more experiences that have given me more insight into other facets of occupational therapy and will be a great addition for when I finally become a practitioner myself.

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OTSC Retreat ⟩
September 19, 2013, by Jen

Community Getting Involved

This past Sunday was the annual Occupational Therapy and Science Council (OTSC) retreat. This was the first time the new OTSC executive board met and discussed plans for the year. I was very excited to hear everyone’s ideas and got to know each member of the board. We have a lot of motivated and diverse members on the board, so I know it will be an exciting and successful year. The executive board is made up of about 30 first-year and second-year master’s students, an OTD representative, and a PhD representative. Some ideas discussed included getting students motivated to attend the 2014 American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) conference in Maryland, fundraisers where money will be donated to non-profit organizations, and new social events. After the board met, the rest of OTSC (which includes all graduate students in occupational therapy) was invited to join us for pool party and barbeque. It was a great turn out! We made it a potluck and there ended up being more than enough food for everyone to stuff their stomachs. This was a fun and casual way to build unity between the many students in the Division.

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Trojans Talk OT ⟩
September 14, 2013, by Rob

Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

I’ve heard it said there are opportunities for everyone in occupational therapy. At the very least, there is room to make your own path. My background is in communications and I spent four years working as a fishing reporter before I switched to occupational therapy. The “why” of that is a story for a different time.

I wanted to do something related to journalism as an occupational therapy student, so I started a podcast through the Division. What began as one interview with Dr. Samia Rafeedie, a passionate and dedicated professor I had in my first course at USC, quickly turned into a multi-student effort with a page on the Division website.

Fellow Trojan Alyssa Concha is now heading up the Trojans Talk OT podcast and together with a few other students, we will be presenting our work in a poster presentation at the Occupational Therapy Association of California’s yearly conference next month. I am proud of how far things have come, from those inauspicious beginnings as a fresh-faced first-year with my reporter’s microphone.

My current in-progress project focuses on the mental health arena of occupational therapy. I wanted to explore what seems to be a great need for OT, both in the community and hospital settings, and get student, instructor and practitioner input. I completed one interview over the summer and have an interview scheduled for Monday. After that, I get to give myself a crash-course review of audio-editing software so I can turn the recordings into the finished product that will grace the website later this month.

Visit the Trojans Talk OT podcast page.

Send us an e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you want to get involved with the podcast or have an idea for a future episode.

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My Occupations in 4 Words: Disneyland and Fight On! ⟩
September 13, 2013, by Clarissa

Getting Involved Living in LA School/Life Balance

Since we don’t start our Level I Fieldwork until the fourth week of class, I had this past Tuesday free and I decided to spend it at Disneyland with three other occupational therapy students. We all got annual passes last year and escaping reality in Disneyland is one of our favorite occupations. One perk about living in Los Angeles is that Mickey and Minnie Mouse don’t live too far away.

As one of the social chairs for the Occupational Therapy and Science Council (OTSC), fall semester not only means Halloween decorations at Disneyland but also that it’s time to plan interdisciplinary tailgates for football season! For the game this past Saturday, I coordinated with the socials chairs of physical therapy (PT) for a joint tailgate. The people setting up had to get there at 6:30am and the tailgate lasted until 7:00pm! As you can see, football and tailgating are HUGE parts of USC student culture. PTs and OTs share the same building, so tailgates like these help make the hallways a friendlier place. Interdisciplinary events are also great because they provide students with the opportunity to educate one another about our professions. Over the summer at my Level II fieldwork site, I would co-treat with PTs all the time. It is so important to understand what they do for the benefit of our patients. I’m a big advocate of interdisciplinary cooperation, especially after having worked in an interdisciplinary setting in the Student Run Clinic. In the past, we’ve also done tailgates with pharmacy and I’m also planning a tailgate with the public health program in the future. Did I mention that I also befriended an adorable half dog and half Trojan creature?

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