"A Partner In My Education": 11/13/16

I believe to learn, one must want to learn and take part in the action themselves. It is kind a how the old saying says that you can take a house to the river but you cannot force it to drink water. If the horse does not want to drink or does not bend down to drink it will not drink. I feel I am a “partner in my education” at my internship as I have the desire to learn and I feel I put in the effort to learn. My teacher has given me the utensils to learn by helping me get an internship. My mentor has given me the opportunity to learn by allowing me to join them in their sessions. Thus, all that is left is for me to take up that opportunity, for me get involved, help, and ask questions. I feel I do take advantage of these resources that have been given to me, and in return I have learned new things I did not know before. I am a partner in my education.

While attending my internship, I have been educated about quite a few new careers I did not know about. I have acquired a greater understanding about what being a physical therapist or occupational therapist means. When I had begun this internship, I knew physical therapist and occupational therapist were occupations. However, I did not know what entitled being those two kinds of therapist. The more I go to my internship the more I feel the occupation of physical therapist could be a potential career path for me. I have come to love the idea of working with children every day. I love helping them build their obstacle courses and building bonds with them at each appointment. They bring happiness and silliness at each session. Another occupation I learned about at my internship is orthotics.

I would say my main goal when I began this internship was to no become that intern that just stands in the corner, says nothing, and just watches. I wanted to make sure I interacted with my mentors and if I could the patients. I wanted to make sure I took every opportunity I had to ask questions and learn something each day. I go only once a week for three hours. That is a lot of time over a while, but still its just one day of the week I get to learn and ask questions my teachers at school cannot always answer. My main goal was to make sure I took full advantage of this beautiful opportunity I was given. I feel I have meet that my mentor knows my name, she lets me participate with the patients, she lets me buid the obstacle course for the kids, she notices when I leave, and she knows I always have questions for her after sessions. The regular patients even know my name. They look forward to seeing me. The other day my mentor told me she would love it if I was the intern there on Mondays because I always get involved and help. To me this was a compliment. It let me know I was reaching my goal and doing what I should be doing.

I would not say I have changed any of my goals. However, I have added goals. I would like to learn and research more about the condition Craniosynostosis and how often cranium molding helmets are used to treat this condition. I plan to begin my research by talking to the orthotics department at CHOA.