September Adventures

 September Community Service Hours: 2

For this month's community service, I volunteered at Second Harvest Food Bank as a community kitchen volunteer. As a volunteer, the first task was to form an assembly line to pack meal kits that consisted of pork chops, mashed potatoes, vegetable medleys, rice, bean, and garlic bread. After this was completed, we helped with other tasks that included prepping mason jars for the chefs' future meals, mincing green onions and jalapeños, and placing fish on baking sheets to be baked. One thing that surprised me to see was that majority of the volunteers were retired elders. They shared stories with me about how volunteering at the food bank has become an integral part of their lives, while many of them volunteer there several times a week.

I viewed this as an extremely important event to partake in because these meals go out to local communities and facilities to feed those that have trouble securing a nutritious meal. I enjoyed participating in this service because of how important it is to make food available to those that need access to it. Investing some of my free time to do my part in feeding the community made me feel really good, and it also made me more appreciative of the things I sometimes forget to be grateful for. 

During the month, we've gotten through two modules (Inflammation and Infectious Disease & Cell Biology), along with a few Advances in Pharmacology student presentations. I really enjoyed the module about inflammation, especially the section where we discussed how gout works. I've had many patients coming in with complaints of gout when I was working full-time at urgent care, so it was pretty neat to learn the details about it in the lecture. My first assigned Advances presentation was about gout so I was really excited about that. I have had two presentations for Pharmacology this month and I WAS NERVOUS! However, I am grateful that we have the opportunity to present to each other because the experience has helped with my fear of public speaking. I usually keep a fidget toy with me while I'm presenting to keep my nerves at bay, but it doesn't always work (haha)!

Our next modules are expected to be even more intense, so I have to buckle down and really perfect my studying technique! One thing I can improve on for sure is how soon I go back to review the material after it's originally taught. This will give me more time to practice my active recall. All in all, I am super excited to see what the next month brings for both school and service! 

*Volunteers were not allowed to bring cell phones into the kitchen so my pictures are from after service.