So many great things have happened in these past few days that it is almost hard to believe. Wednesday was a big day, with Research Showcase taking place at the Ford Center at the Star that evening. I had the help of my amazing friend Shivani, who helped me in everything from loading my presentation board and props into the car at 3:00 pm to buying us Chipotle before the showcase to helping me clean up my table on the field at 9:00 pm after all visitors had left. The atmosphere in the stadium was buzzing with excitement and anticipation for this high-energy and eye-opening event. When the doors of the stadium opened, I felt a pang of uncertainty as to what to expect when people began entering the field. However, any nervousness dissolved immediately as I began seeing familiar faces from my classes at Liberty. After getting to speak with visiting friends and graduated ISM students who are now in college, I became swept up in the adrenaline and blood-pumping energy of sharing my passions in pediatrics and business with anyone interested. Dr. Gerlacher, my mentor, was able to stay for the entire event, which I appreciate so much. I have learned more about both pediatrics and the business of medicine than I ever could have imagined knowing in my short month of mentorship so far, and I am genuinely excited to continue this growing experience through the rest of this year in ISM. At Showcase, the two hours seemed to fly by as I spoke with a wide variety of people, ranging from middle schoolers who asked about advice for success in high school to my teachers from middle school and now to my friends and classmates. Research Showcase as a whole was an unforgettable experience that has been by far the highlight of my ISM journey thus far. On Friday, I was given the exciting opportunity to speak about the ISM program to eighth grade GT students at Fowler Middle School. I still remember the presentation about ISM that I had listened to as an eighth grader in Mrs. Arndorfer’s GT class, and it was an honor to be able to leave this impact on these students. After my middle school presentation that morning, I joined my AP Art class on a field trip to the Kimball Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It was a beautiful day and the art, especially the KAWS exhibit, was breathtaking. On Saturday, I tutored at Kumon after not being able to work for the past few shifts, which reminded me of how much I love being around the smiling faces and contagious laughter of children. For the rest of the day, I went on a nature walk at a local nature preserve and spent time relaxing and enjoying the warm winter that Texas has brought us this year. It has been a great week, and I am looking forward to exciting things to come in the future.
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If the last few blog posts I've written made it seem like I had pushed ISM to the back of my mind, this week has reversed that idea completely. With my first ten-minute ISM research speech presented on Friday, this week had consisted of preparation, a few nervous breakdowns, and of course many holiday-themed Starbucks drinks. On Thursday of this week, I went on a research interview at a local Starbucks with Dr. Gary Gerlacher, a well-known pediatric urgent care business owner and former pediatrician. I was extremely excited going into this interview because Dr. Gerlacher was so different from any other professionals I had met with. He blends business and pediatrics into his own company, where he helps to open pediatric clinics across the nation that maximize profits and effectiveness. When I began speaking with Dr. Gerlacher about my desire to create an original work related to both pediatrics and business, he introduced me to PediaQ, an innovative company that uses a mobile app interface to create an on-demand service for pediatric urgent care. Dr. Gerlacher was gracious enough to introduce me through email to Mr. Jon O'Sullivan, the founder and CEO of PediaQ, to arrange a meeting and learn more about his company. My research interview with Dr. Gerlacher was an eye-opening experience, and I learned more about pediatrics in that hour of speaking to him than I had in weeks of online research. I presented my research speech on Friday to my ISM class just as I had practiced multiple times in front of my family the night before, and I felt relieved and proud as I finished my first-ever ISM speech. I know that the speeches in ISM from here on out will only be longer in length and more comprehensive in content, but I feel confident that I will be prepared and ready for the challenges when the time comes. ISM students of years' past have studied topics ranging anywhere from a focus in corporate law to specialized fields like cardiothoracic surgery, but these students all had one thing in common- they have all faced tough moments of stress and failure through the course of the year as they worked to accomplish the tasks assigned to them by Mr. Wysong. As of this week, I have encountered my first ISM struggle of the year, and I can walk away from this experience with a deeper insight into my weaknesses and a better understanding of how to problem solve in real-life situations. My main task for the week was to begin contacting professionals and to have successfully scheduled two research interviews to gain more knowledge in the field of pediatrics. As my classmates began to make phone calls and send emails to biomedical engineers and constitutional lawyers, I found myself struggling to get a single response from any pediatrician in the area. I spent the first half of the week hopelessly trying to google email addresses of pediatric offices, unwisely leaning on email as my sole source of communication with professionals. In my ISM class on Thursday, I came to the alarming realization that my reliance on using only email to contact pediatricians had left me way behind in progress, especially compared to my classmates. While other ISM students were productively booking their fourth research interview and receiving multiple email responses, I had only found three pediatricians who had emails listed on their websites. After allowing myself the initial moment of panic and worry, I shifted in mental gear to figure out a solution for my ineffective method of communication. Once I realized that the best way to get into contact with pediatricians was by telephone, I sat out during tennis practice later that day and spent the afternoon speaking with the secretaries of over 40 pediatric offices using the phone numbers I had found online. While a large majority of the pediatricians were either too busy or unavailable to meet for an interview, I was able to get into contact with a few local pediatricians and I even had the opportunity to go in for a research interview that evening with a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Pediatric Urgent Care of North Texas. My efforts had ultimately paid off, and I currently have two additional research interviews booked for the next two weeks. This experience as a whole has sharpened my patience and my ability to deal with setbacks, two valuable assets that I will now be able to exercise in various situations in the future. Although ISM will only become more demanding as the year goes on, I am more than willing to take these challenges head on, knowing that I will grow as an individual through my experiences. Next Wednesday will be the district-wide Business Symposium, and I am excited for the amazing opportunity and the great benefits it will bring to me and my fellow ISM classmates. As the second month of school approaches, I am starting to ease into the daily routine of school again. Lessons in my classes are starting to shift from concept review to brand-new topics, a nerve-wracking yet exciting change. My ISM teacher, Mr. Wysong, has been preparing us for the upcoming Business Symposium in October. This highly-anticipated event will consist of all the ISM students in the district in one building, interacting with local professionals through mock interviews. I am looking forward to the Symposium because it will be an eye-opening experience that will give me valuable insight to aid me in my future research interviews with pediatricians. To help establish my professionalism before Business Symposium, I have set up a new voicemail greeting as well as phone and email templates to help me when I contact professionals. I have also revised my resume and asked my classmates for advice on how to improve it. Once Mr. Wysong approves of my completed work, I will be able to start contacting professionals in Pediatrics and hopefully scheduling meeting times. So far, my experiences in ISM have set an amazing standard for the rest of the year! I'm excited to see the growth that my classmates and I undergo as we begin to delve deeper into our fields of study. With the third week of school coming to a close, it still hasn't fully settled in that this will be my last year at Liberty High School. Being a senior means that as of now, I have experienced eleven action-packed years of education, more standardized tests than I could ever keep track of, and countless lighthearted memories with lifelong friends. This year, I am a member of my school's Independent Study and Mentorship Program, where I have the opportunity to delve deeper into a career path that I am interested in studying in the future. Trying to nail down a field that I wanted to pursue this year was so difficult for me because there are so many potential fields that I am interested in! Ultimately, I decided that pediatrics would blend my love for working with kids with gratifying feeling of knowing that my actions are bettering others' lives. Throughout my ISM journey this year, I plan to find a mentor who will teach me the inner workings of working as a pediatrician, conduct research and execute projects within the field of pediatrics, and become a more professional and well-informed individual who is ready to take my next step into the future. While I am aware that pediatrics may not be the field I end up having a career in, but I am confident that my experiences in ISM this year will shape me into a more polished and experienced student who has the ability to succeed in whichever field I end up pursuing. I am excited and ready to see what my senior year has in store for me! |
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