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Fall Quarter '24

Organizing a non-profit halloween dental event

This was one of my most memorable volunteer dates at Floss Boss The Mobile Dentist! I am grateful for the outcome of the event: $11,673 in services donated and 20 children were treated in a single day. This event personally impacted me because I learned to interact with young children in a dental clinic setting over a long period of time. I had never treated children for an entire day, but that day all of our patients were little kids. I loved it! There is a lot of energy, patience, and creativity required to work with young children. It was eye opening to see how young kids behave in dental settings when they know that their siblings and friends are coming to the same dentist too. It warmed my heart to be able to make each kid smile, especially knowing that they are bravely overcoming hardships in life. I hope that they were inspired and touched by their experiences at our mobile clinic! 

My experience supports my values of personal growth, public service, intentional learning, and experiential learning. It fills my heart to know the difference we are making on our communities. Mary's Place, our partner for the event is based in Seattle and aims to provide housing and resources for women and children so that no child sleeps outside. They were amazing in coordinating this event and scheduling patients. This partnership was a major learning experience for me as assistant in community relations. 

09.14.2024

Learning to study for calculus tests

Autumn quarter, I had a mix of emotions starting the school year; nonetheless, I am proud of my consistent scores in my course at UW called Calculus For Natural Sciences. It was a reflection of the construction of the course, the professor's excellence in teaching, and his connection with students as well as my dedication to learning. Professor Gaj was the first professor that had ever told me to call him by his first name. That speaks volumes as to his approach to teaching. I started the class slightly nervous because my last math class was precalculus in 10th grade (3 years prior). Hard work, practice, and perseverance are the three things that helped me perform well on these tests. I learned about derivatives in a way that was constructive and interesting. I will apply this to my biology courses that require a higher level of mathematical comprehension. The practice of repetition, overcoming challenges, and asking questions was what formed the personal growth this quarter. 

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Completing 2 physics labs

Last year when I started the physics series I did not know pre-dental students need to take the physics labs. I realized this and decided to take the labs this quarter. I started with 2 of the labs and consistently submitted lab reports and attended all lab sections. Taking the lab courses after the lectures was a great refresher on all the information I had previously learned about. This was my first lab at UW and it was solely graded on lab reports, so I focused my time on these and ensuring I drew correct conclusions. This was one of my biggest accomplishments this quarter because although the lecture series was difficult, I was proud of my overall understanding of physics and why it is needed as a future dental professional.

This artifact shows the grades from all of my reports from this quarter. I consistently made an effort to organize data and make accurate calculations. I am particularly happy that although it was a lot of physics content from a year ago, I was still able to recall, and differentiate the topics from the 1st and 2nd part of the physics series. I demonstrated personal growth and intentional learning.

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Training to run a 12k race

This quarter, I surprised myself and completed a 12k race! I was surprised because I was not inclined to singing up for the race when my boss first announced it in our office group chat. However, when I told my older sister, who is an excellent runner, about it in passing she challenged me--there was no turning back. I accepted the challenge. I signed up on Nov. 11th and started training for the race that would take place Dec. 15th. 

Keeping in mind the fact that I had never ran 7 miles in a row before, I started training little by little. First I would try timing my mile times and then I would run 3 miles without breaks, then finally completed a 12k about 1 week ahead of the big day! The race itself took place in Marina Park, Kirkland and the theme was Christmas so we all wore Christmas sweaters and it was a beautiful scene.

The preparation for the race taught me that it is extremely satisfying to challenge myself physically because you ultimately show yourself what you can do. It meant a lot to have my sisters there with me, and to bond while also experiencing a race with my boss/mentor, Dr. Kim. The experience, including the training that it took to achieve my goal, was one of personal growth.

12.15.2024

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