During the second semester of my freshman year, I was offered the opportunity to volunteer at Jordan Valley Community Health Center. While volunteering, I was able to assist patients in finding their check in site, work with departments to complete projects, and represent Jordan Valley to the Springfield community. This opportunity allowed me to work with many people, including a demographic that is close to my heart, those who are living in poverty. These patients sometimes came in scared because it was their first time coming to Jordan Valley and they did not know what to do. I was honored to be able to help these patients at their most vulnerable time when they simply needed someone to care. This experience led to a summer internship at Jordan Valley that will allow me to continue to work with these patients. I am so glad that I accepted the opportunity to volunteer with this amazing organization!
During the summer of 2017, I had the opportunity to intern for Jordan Valley Community Health Center in the Optometry department. My responsibilities included starting patient exams, scheduling appointments, and dispensing and adjusting glasses. I loved this job because it gave me the chance to see a side of Jordan Valley that I had not been able to see as a volunteer. I was able to be involved in the direct patient care which helped me understand what it is like to work in a healthcare setting. I enjoyed being able to more completely understand Jordan Valley and what they do on a daily basis to bring about positive change for the entire community, not only those who can pay.
Sophomore
My sophomore year, I was able to continue my work with Jordan Valley Community Health Center through the Refugee Transportation Assimilation Project. As a volunteer in this program, I met refugees at their homes and used the city bus system to transport them to and home from their primary care appointments at Jordan Valley. Many of these refugees were resettled in Springfield, MO by International Institute of Southwest Missouri after escaping the civil war in their home country, The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Shortly after arriving in Springfield, the refugees are enrolled in English classes at Ozarks Technical Community College and many seek employment. Jordan Valley helps with the primary care needs of the refugees and uses student ambassadors such as myself to familiarize them with the city bus system. The eventual goal is that the refugees will be able to use the city bus system independently for transportation. I am honored to be part of this program and help these strong people receive healthcare. Working with this program has taught me that barriers can be overcome when everyone works together for a common goal as Jordan Valley, City Utilities, Drury University, and International Institute have done. For my work in this program, I was honored as a Loren Broaddus scholar by Drury University and received the Ambassador of Hope Award for Leadership from Jordan Valley.
Junior
During the summer after my junior year, I attended my first summer retreat for the Bryant Scholars program at the University of Missouri, where I will be attending medical school. I was able to meet all of the people who are in the Bryant Scholars program - many of whom will be part of my medical school class. Meeting the people in my program was such a great experience because it put me at ease that I would know a few people going into medical school rather than going in without knowing anybody. Additionally, the retreat simulated a week of medical school in which we had a patient-based learning case to solve in small groups and were tasked with making objectives based on the case and presenting our findings to the rest of the group. The experience of solving a patient-based learning case with my group was unlike anything I have done before, It was the ultimate team effort where we all went to the library together to work on our presentations together and bounced ideas off of one another constantly. Experiencing the retreat made me so excited to start medical school and get better at solving the patient-based learning cases with my new friends.
Senior
A month before starting my senior year, I decided to get certified as an indoor cycling instructor. I had been taking spin classes at the gym I worked at for some time and found it to be a great stress relief. However, my gym did not offer any morning spin classes two days a week, so some people were missing out on cycling classes on days they worked late or were not able to make it to the gym in the afternoon or over lunch. Additionally, instructors were struggling to find people to sub their classes when they had to be gone. I asked my boss if I could get certified to teach and start an early morning spin class on the two days that one was not already offered. I am so grateful to my boss for taking a chance on me and allowing me to get certified and start my own class. The process of building my own class and developing myself as a spin instructor has allowed me to grow in so many ways that I did not expect. Creating my playlists and workouts each week for class has given me a creative outlet and indoor cycling has become such a great hobby!