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.
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This week started and ended with exciting activities. On Monday, October 31st, I celebrated Halloween "Trunk or Treat" style. Trunk or Treat is my high school's take on the classic Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating. Different organizations on campus sign up for parking spots in the student parking lot, and they decorate car trunks in unique themes. On Halloween night, children in the Frisco community come to the Liberty High School parking lot to stop by the trunks and trick-or-treat at each organization's car trunk. I worked with the other National Honor Society officers to set up the NHS "Winter Wonderland" themed trunk. Our two cars were decorated with festive green and red, and we had a full-size white Christmas tree decorated with candy. Handing out candy to the adorable toddlers in their Halloween costumes was such a blast! After Trunk or Treat, the next few days consisted of catching up on schoolwork and preparing for the first research speech that we have coming up next week. I scheduled a research interview with Dr. Gerlacher, a local doctor who has had experience as a both a pediatrician and a business manager. On Friday, DECA had its annual Mavs Day, in which students from across the area spend a day at the American Airlines Center learning about the business aspect of sports enterprises, and at the end of the day everyone gets to watch the Mavericks as they play in a season game. I loved getting to explore Dallas before the business presentations, touring American Airlines Center and seeing the practice courts for the Mavs, listening to the business executives in the Mavericks brand speak to us, and of course cheering my heart out for the Mavericks! At the end of the game, the Mavs fell 10 points short to the Portland Trailblazers. Although our team wasn't able to get the win, I had an amazing time getting to learn more about the field of sports management and spending time with my friends.
Since the beginning of the year, ISM has taught me many new aspects of professionalism and proper business etiquette. Something new I have learned this week was the importance of properly addressed and hand-written thank you cards. I had never mailed a hand-written thank you card to anyone before until Mr. Wysong began encouraging us to send one to each professional that had agreed to speak with us for ISM interviews. These cards would serve as genuine tokens of appreciation for those who took time out of their busy schedules to help ISM students in their endeavors. After having a research interview on Monday morning at BestNest Pediatrics with Dr. Mee Yung Knapp and another research interview on Tuesday with Dr. Iresh Kumar at Lone Star Physicians, I made sure to write thank you notes for both of them and mail them to their offices as a way to show my gratitude. Later in the week, Mr. Wysong sent out an email with a list of contact information for each of the professionals who had attended Business Symposium last week. After looking through the list, I chose to write letters to the two professionals who had interviewed me during the mock interview period of the symposium. After having written quite a few of these letters, I have now realized that the seemingly small gesture means a lot and I know that taking the time to sit down and make hand-written thank you cards is something I will continue to do for years to come. 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. |
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