- What are the top three things you learned during your Impact Fellowship? Please elaborate.
One thing that I learned and is a main focus of these fellowships is that in order to really have an impact, ventures need to be sustainable. Real change stems from organizations that have the ability to function continuously, in a sustainable way, and have the ability to expand. Another thing I learned was that I have the ability to start making a change now. Feeling like I could begin using my love of science to have a chance to better other’s lives as a student is very empowering and one of the main things that draws me to continue working on my venture. A third is that seeing is better than learning in a classroom. Fieldwork this summer made the work of my project come to life and seem much more real and important than when it was in a meeting room or a lab. Specifically for my project, seeing people who have dealt with Sickle Cell Disease in some way and what they have endured was very eye-opening.
- How did the Impact Fellowship facilitate your professional development? Please provide three examples.
One important skill developed by the impact fellowship program is public speaking ability. I feel like between the first and last presentation my team and I have become much more confident and more effective in presenting our venture. This could come in handy in future presentations as well as interviews when I need to make a case for why I matter as opposed to why our venture matters. Another skill is being more aware of and able to understand the practices and values of other cultures. I specifically recall the discussion of sweatshops in the spring semester and how we as Americans may villainize them in all situations without understanding that they may have benefits for some groups in other parts of the world. This is applicable in all realms of life as in reality, very few people will share the same background as you and making an effort to see something from someone else’s perspective is valuable. The last professional skill is having experience in healthcare in other parts of the world. Being able to dive into the function of a vastly different healthcare system was extremely interesting and being able to compare it to the US’s was difficult but has its merit. This may be applicable as I hope to enter the world of medicine and may have an interest in attempting to improve it if I can. Seeing and studying healthcare that is completely different could help me to think outside the box in this area.
- How did the Impact Fellowship help you grow personally? Please provide three examples.
This fellowship has forced me to really work in a group. Many times in classes the work can be easily split up and done as a few individuals rather than actually putting heads together and thinking as a team. For these fellowships the nature of the work makes it far more advantageous to really collaborate. Going off of this I have grown in being less stubborn and more willing to compromise when issues arise. This is important all year long, but much more so during fieldwork. The time in Sierra Leone is so limited and being argumentative generally will only reduce how productive your team will be and how much your venture will be able to accomplish following the trip. Finally, I have continued to hone my skills as a creative problem solver. This has come from situations during fieldwork and in the lab during device optimization. I think this matters a lot for my future because science is driven by creativity and pushing the limits of what is known.