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March Blog!

March Service Hours: 15 hours; Cumulative Spring Service Hours: 25 hours


And just like that, there are less than two months until graduation. 

We finished up the Psychopharmacology module last week, and I'm so glad I did well on those exams. CCM had me worried, but I'm glad it worked out in the end! I ended up going back home to visit my parents the weekend before the exams, so it was nice to have home-cooked meals and be with my family while studying. My sister even came to visit and brought her dogs! I still have two more presentations and an exam before the program ends, but I like that I'll have more time to dedicate to studying for my MCAT because that's coming up soon now too. 

This month, I continued volunteering at Manning Family Children's Hospital, but I was especially excited to get involved with some of the Tulane Brain Institute's initiatives. I worked a shift during the New Orleans Book Festival with them where I was responsible for showing anybody who stopped by the sheep and human brain samples we had and carefully passing those around, as well as answering any questions they threw my way. The first girl who stopped by the table was so curious and kept on saying how cool it was to actually see a human brain. Her mom also thanked me for being so patient with her daughter and answering her questions, saying that I "completely made her day." I got to meet some graduate and undergraduate students from Tulane and Xavier, so this was a great experience all around! I also volunteered for the Pelicans STEM Fest with the Brain Institute this past weekend and helped facilitate an egg drop activity to really stress the importance of wearing a helmet. Kids who came up to the table had five minutes to build a helmet for their "brain" (the egg, in this case) out of any of the materials we had on the table (e.g. popsicle sticks, packing peanuts, tape, glue, felt squares) and did a drop test at the end to see if they built a good helmet. During the event, Dr. Solch-Ottaiano told me how events like STEM Fest made her realize she never got to experience something like this growing up, and it gave me a deeper appreciation for the older students who helped me realize my passion for science at a relatively young age because access to these kinds of events just isn't there for so many students. I also got to meet Pierre the Pelican, which was really cool (even though I am forever a Grizzlies and Golden State fan first)!



In the home stretch! 

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