Assignment 13: Partner in Your Education

Education is a valuable resource everyone should take advantage of. No matter who you are or what grade you are in, you can get the most out of your education. In doing so, you can take advantage of help sessions, extra credit, or -- like myself -- an internship. My internship has been a partner in my education in many ways. One way it has aided me is by shaping what major I intend to choose in college. Recently my friends and I have been applying for college, but they have conflicted on what major to choose. Engineering? Education? Healthcare? These majors run through their head, but for me, this process was a breeze. Knowing what major I want to follow, this prevents me from suddenly changing my major and taking classes that are not necessary for graduation. Without hesitation, I chose biomedical engineering, because my internship has showed me how I can put my passion of helping others into a career that I know I will enjoy. Another way my internship has been a partner in my education is by advancing my communication skills. Prior to my internship, I had trouble speaking to large groups and unfamiliar people. Since interning, my presentation skills have increased and boosted my grade. I have been able to speak and collaborate with my classmates, I do not often speak to. Although I have advanced at speaking to others, my communication skills have extended to my writing. By creating blog posts each week, it has been easier for me to construct essays and other written pieces. This has aided me in my lit class when we have timed essays. There are numerous ways that my internship has been a partner in my education, but shaping my major and advancing my communication skills have been the most impactful to my education.

Although I have greatly gained educational advancements, my mentor has gained additional help and relief through my aid. On busy days when my mentor has three patients at once, I help by demonstrating exercises. This has made her life easier by not losing focus on her patients and stopping her from performing massages or dry needling on a patient. Further more, I feel as though I have made her life easier by setting up equipment and putting it back. By doing this, it allows her to do other tasks, while I help in retrieving equipment for the patient to use.

In my Assignment 11: Mentorship Write Up/Picture, I wrote about my goal of being influenced by my internship on what steps to take and how I can achieve them. So far, my goal is almost fulfilled. As I complete my college and scholarship applications, I think about how my internship is the first step into college and my future career. Knowing that an internship is a primitive resource that students are limited to, I explain in my applications how my internship will allow me to have an advantage over other students, who are in the same program with me. I go in depth on what characteristics I have gained through interning, such as a strong work ethic and adaptability. By having experience and knowing what is expected, I am able to go forth into things with confidence. Since my goal is not fully fulfilled, I know with greater experience I can achieve this step of receiving college admission and scholarship money and take on the next steps that I will encounter and achieve. Although this is one goal I briefly wrote about, I mentioned my relationship with patients in Assignment 10: Internship Update. My relationship with patients have greatly increased. I feel as though it has increased since I asked my mentor if I could receive a name tag. My name is one you can botch and completely forget about (Kamayla...KA-MAY-LA). When I was working with a patient, I found out he thought my name was Makayla. It came to mind "If I frequently work with him, do other patients I frequently work with do not know my name?" After interning that day, I asked my mentor for a name tag, and since then, I have noticed that patients feel more comfortable with me and speak to me more often. With this goal of establishing a better relationship with patients, I can say this has been fulfilled since I took initiative of asking for a name tag.