Oh Kay

Alongside a group of my peers, I did something brave today. We did something brave today. Background Information: As many of you know, I have the honor and privilege of serving as UIWSOM's SGA President. As part of this role, I also serve on the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP) and as a Student Delegate for the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association (TOMA). I spent this past week in Chigaco, Illinois at the Summer COSGP Conference and at the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) House of Delegates (HOD). At our COSGP Conferences, we work on professional/leadership development and collaborate with presidents and representatives from every other osteopathic medical school in the nation to develop ideas and solve problems to collectively improve each and every one of each other's schools. This was my third conference with COSGP, and it was just as energizing and inspiring as before. We developed ideas and initiatives to bring back to our schools f...

Clark Reflection Series - Prompt:  What happens when “Time Stands Still”? Take some time to reflect upon moments in your life when time has stopped. What or who caused/causes time to stand still for you? How did you feel in that moment, and what have you learned or realized from that experience? Response:  The first boy I fell in love with had the bluest of eyes, curly curly hair, & mini pecas all over his face. Yeah, I know. Dreamy. He took me on this date to Gruene once. We ate at the Gristmill, got some ice cream from the corner store, walked around boutiques. Y ou know, all that cheesy stuff. At one of these massively expensive boutiques, Johnny Cash came on.   And we stopped.   He pulled me in close and we danced. Even though he never danced. We slow danced without fear or all the "You break it, you buy it" signs. Slow danced while I stared into his  beautiful and he into my quite ordinary eyes.   And time stopped. So ...

Written for my Humans of UIWSOM blog post. A couple of months ago, I watched an amazingly strong woman tell her story to the entire Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents. She stood in front of a large room, full of the leaders from each osteopathic medical school across the nation and showed an immense amount of strength by choosing to be vulnerable – to be vulnerable in order to empower others. Over the next few weeks, I watched e v e r y  s i n g l e testimony in the case against the monster called by Larry Nassar. I watched each young woman tell their story. And tell it loudly. Recently, a friend of mine told me her story. And although her story was told behind closed doors, it was told with the same amount of strength and power as exemplified by all of the women who I watched share their stories with the nation. And so finally, here I am. I am not nearly as brave, not nearly as strong, as I sit here behind my screen. But here I am, to finally (and very v...

So quick blurb: While in my masters program at TCOM, I joined this organization called MIND (Mentality Initiative to Nurture DOctors). This organization focuses on advocating for the emotional, mental, physical, holistic health of medical students, and the faculty and staff at SOM. With their permission, I was able to bring this organization to UIWSOM and start it at my own medical school. One thing I was particularly excited to do was to help plan events that would facilitate a deeper connection between the students and the faculty/staff on campus. Yesterday, we had our introductory meeting (open to all) and ended with our very first Clark Reflection Series. Much like one of the reflections I've posted on my blog before, we were given a prompt and an opportunity to write. After writing, we sat in small groups and read our work aloud (the hardest part for me), followed by positive feedback from our partners listening. The reflection topic was Crises and Epiphanies , and we were...

Dear UIWSOM peers, If Eric Cassell is accurate with respect to the nature of suffering, then I know what suffering is. Cassell describes that suffering can come from a loss of self in relation to the world, whether it be things, events, or relationships. His description of suffering most resonated with me in the aspect of loss of relationships, more specifically the relationship with myself. During my junior year of college, I began working on my application to medical school – MCAT, essays, applications, more essays. After what seemed like constant and continuous year of working and applying towards my lifelong dream, I didn’t even get a single interview. I failed. And this failure was somewhat of an identity crisis for me. I knew how to fail on the soccer field, how to let my teammates down, how to get problems wrong in the classroom, but I had absolutely no idea how to fail at what I had considered my life or how to let myself down. I hated the idea of failing, and as my ow...