Isabella Anzalone-Senior Project

  5/25/21 Entry #14 I can’t believe that it's finally the last day of senior project! It feels like just yesterday I stepped on campus for the first time. Anyways, my last day started off around the same time as always, 9:00 AM ET. Today was a little different than the rest because I wasn’t actually working on my project. Just tying up the loose ends and making sure my essay sounded solid. I then went to campus for the last senior seminar and to print out the overviews and checklists for students that are interested in the concentration that come by my table tomorrow. I think I’m gonna bring a cup of pens for kids to sign up with. I then went home and hung out for a bit before I got back to work on my essay editing. Once I finished my essay edits, I took another break and then started to write my final journal entry :(. Thanks for tuning in and I hope the students enjoy this concentration!  Signing off!  Isabella Anzalone. Total Hours for the day: 1 hour and 55 mins Total hours: 57

  5/24/21 Entry #13 Just to preface for hours, I did about an hour and a half on Sunday since I needed to get my weekly reflection done and I needed to start my self evaluation paper. Today started off around the same time as the past two weeks. I continued to work on my self evaluation paper until about 11:30 since we had senior seminar. After that I headed off to campus to do a check in with Amy and have her sign all the papers that she needed too. I then met up with Heidi to make sure everything was tip top shape, she recommended I go to Tom too before I present it on Wednesday. I did get some pamphlets and concentration enrollment papers for students who are interested in signing up. I then finished up my paper in the library. I’m going to definitely look at it again tomorrow to make sure it looks perfect. In the evening I spent about another hour doing work with Tom to be sure everything was tip top before Wednesday. Total hours for Sunday: 1 hour and 30 mins Total hours for today

  5/23/21     This week was huge in terms of learning and organization for me. It began when I found out that Dartmouth was not doing in person shadowing due to COVID. It was really sad to hear that yet another good thing was thwarted by this pandemic. However, we came up with the idea to use online shadow experiences, whether it's through Dartmouth or on YouTube. I spent a lot of time looking through the many different videos on shadowing in places like an ER, neurology lab, OB/GYN office and so on. Watching these shadows is not only going to be helpful for the students in the concentration, but it helped me a ton by allowing me to see even more of a hospital setting than I already have. It also helped me by showing me that I am also interested in OB/GYN practices. I really enjoyed watching these videos because it's something I’m interested in and going to college for.     There were definitely a lot more surprises this week than last just because of the lack of in person shad

  5/22/21 Entry #12 Today was my last day of looking for online shadows! It’s weird to think that I only have two days left of my senior project. I plan on doing a little work tomorrow just so I have a good base for the final two days. My main goal today was to finish finding neuro shadows and find some OB/GYN shadows. I wasn’t the biggest fan of neuro and I really don’t know why. Maybe it was because they used a lot of nerdy language, or maybe it was because I just wasn’t into the subject. Next up was OB/GYN and I actually really loved watching those shadows. I enjoyed the shadows so much that I’m considering going into the field some day! I checked in with Amy again after.  See you guys tomorrow for the weekly reflection! Total hours for the day: 4 hours and 20 mins Total hours: 48 hours and 40 mins Written at 10:30 PM

  5/21/21 Entry #11 Today was very similar to last. I took a deep dive for online shadows in neurology and psychology. It was definitely super interesting to learn about since my grandmother had a stroke before I was born. I also want to help stroke patients some time in the future as an occupational therapist. Last night I realized that I needed to update my shadow list and overview to adapt to the new online option for shadow hours. Tomorrow I plan on starting my wrap up process of the project! It’s weird to think that it’s already been two weeks. Total hours for the day: 4 hours and 15 mins Total hours: 44 hours and 20 mins Written at 10:45 PM ET

  5/20/21 Entry #10 Today I started at the same time as yesterday. I started out with looking for more cardiology online shadows. It was cut short unfortunately because of the senior seminar at 11:00. I really liked the seminar because it talked about really important information regarding sexual health. I spent some more time on campus then came home to do a little more work on finding shadow videos (there’s a lot and they are all VERY long). It was cut short yet again since I had to come to campus for my game (we lost, unfortunately). After the game I went home and ate some dinner with my mom, then picked up my sister from campus. Around 7:45 I finally sat down to finish up finding cardiology shadows. I then ended my work around 10:05 PM. Total hours for the day: 4 hours and 40 mins Total hours: 40 hours and 5 mins Written at 10:00 PM ET

  5/19/21 Entry #9 I started the day off later than usual today since I got to bed kinda late yesterday. My plan of the day was the same as yesterday, instead, I looked for pediatric shadows and resources. This was super interesting because when people hear about pediatrics, they think of their primary care provider. Like when I hear pediatrics I think of Dr. Lester in New London. But it's a much bigger field than just that, like emergency pediatric medicine or anesthesia. I remember one practitioner recalled a story about how she had just had her first kid and was back at work when she experienced her first patient death. She said that being a partner taught her how the patient’s parents may feel. That was really touching to hear.  I then touched base with Amy and she suggested that we reach out to NHTI for more resources. I think it's a good idea but not for right now, I think I should get the concentration started first. Total hours for the day: 4 hours and 25 mins Total hou

  5/18/21 Entry #8 Today started out at 8:45 when I didn’t exactly know what to do, until it hit me. Since Dartmouth is not doing in person shadowing I figured I would find some online resources for kids. So, I created a list of links for kids. I then spent all day watching different virtual shadow options for dietetics and nutrition and orthopedics. I chose about four videos for each category. It was super interesting to me to learn more about the field I love, like how orthopedic surgeons are called orthopods and dieticians and nutritionists can’t formally diagnose an issue. It took me pretty quickly to find stuff for nutrition and dietetics. The orthopedics however took me a good chunk of my day. I think that was because I found a virtual shadowing seminar that was an hour and forty five minutes long that discussed orthopedic surgery. What was nice is that I did some chores while watching the videos. Total hours for the day: 4 hours and 45 mins Total hours: 31 hours Written at 4:45

  5/17/21 Entry #7 Day #1 of week 2 was definitely a learning experience. It started out earlier than a normal day last week since I had to give my spit test to my sister to turn in. I worked outside today too! The first task I set for myself today was to choose the facilitator. I then proceeded to learn that before a faculty member is chosen for that, Derek has to approve the concentration first. So now the pressure is on because I've got a list of kids who are really interested in this concentration, I don’t wanna let them down. The next task was to email my Dartmouth connections and confirm some things, I then learned that due to COVID Dartmouth-Hitchcock will not be doing in person shadowing opportunities. So I did some digging and found out that people can do online shadowing experiences, like what I do in a day as an RN or what it's like being an orthopedic surgeon. I watched a couple of those videos and came up with some ideas for Dartmouth to use. I took a break and the

  5/15/21 Entry #6 Today wasn’t a work day. I knew it when I woke up and realized I had to get to school before 11:30 for a game today. Proctor Softball took the W at Brewster 21-2 (not to flex).  I realized when I got back that I needed to actually get some more hours in today, so I stopped at the pizza truck to get a cheese pizza and went home to get some work done. When I got home I did some quick work, like typing up a contact sheet for volunteering and shadowing hours and creating a list of people I would want to run the concentration once I leave. After I figured out that I had to do a weekly reflection and halfway through doing that I realized there were prompt questions, so the last paragraph was me answering those questions. The reflection was fun to do because it helped me plan out my upcoming week and track my progress from last week. I did about an hour and a half of work and then went to shower. Hours done today: 1 hour and 30 mins Total hours done: 21 hours and 45 mins Wr

  5/15/21     This week was definitely one for drafting up overviews and emails. Going into this week I knew that I had to start my drafts for the overview, class requirements and much more. I started out with the draft of the overview for the concentration. My mentor, Amy, has been super helpful and supportive with this whole project. Our first meeting we discussed how Proctor has so many environmental science opportunities and very few opportunities for students to study medicine. I then realized that I was going to need Heidi’s help in creating this concentration since she is the head of the program. I sent her both the overview draft and the checklist draft to discuss while we met. We talked for a while and came up with some more awesome ideas for the concentration, like making it a different section of STEM and holding once-a-trimester seminars available to students and the public (once COVID loosens up restrictions).     I also began to contact areas for shadow and volunteering o

  5/14/21 Entry #5 Today I started a little earlier than normal since I got some Dunkin for breakfast (BEC on an everything bagel <3). I knew right away that today was gonna be a lot more productive than yesterday. I checked the survey one last time and sent Heidi a webex about the numbers. Then I checked to see if Dartmouth had emailed back and they did! They’re 100% on board with the concentration and having seminars on campus. They did bring up a good point about who would be the main communication point would be. I still haven’t really thought about who is gonna be the faculty advisor for the concentration. I was thinking about Heidi or Amy. About halfway through my working time I decided to go and work outside in my hammock because the weather was perfect for it. While I was outside I was taking a look at some volunteering and shadowing opportunities for students at New London Hospital and also began planning out some of the seminars that would be by Dartmouth. The main one tha

  5/13/21 Entry #4 Today was very slow and a little unproductive in terms of paperwork. I checked the survey a bunch of times and it turns out the new concentration actually had the highest votes! There have only really been 19 responses though, but it's a start. I’m also excited because I came up with the idea to hold an information session for all the concentrations for students who are interested in it for next year. I messaged Heidi about it and hopefully she thinks it’s a good idea as well. I finally finished up writing the overview and looking over it. I also chose the emblem today and put it into the font and format the Proctor uses. It looks really nice and I’m really happy that I chose a good emblem.  Today was tough just because I couldn’t actually sit down and focus this morning so I was a little unproductive. But once I sat down in the training room to get treatment, I got a good productive 20 minutes in. Hours done today: 3 hours and 20 mins Total hours: 16 hours and 1

  5/12/21 Entry #3 Today started the same as always. I got up at 8:45 and started working at 9:00. The first task of the day was checking to see if anyone had emailed me back about shadowing. Diane did with some questions regarding numbers of students and some more details about the shadowing. So I responded. It then sparked another idea to create a survey and see how many kids would be interested in the program and actually doing it.  I then proceeded to battle with Canva about seeing how all of my information was gonna look in the Proctor format. I did not enjoy that experience at all because of how the colors never looked right. I did come up with some ideas for the emblem as shown below. I might send out a survey to see who likes which one more. The second half of my day was very spotty. I did a couple minutes of work while getting treatment in the training room (thanks Kelly), I did a couple of minutes with some friends that I hadn’t seen in a little while and then I did a couple

  5/11/21 Entry #2 Day two of senior project began with the first half of the day being focused on the topics of the capstone project and contacting local health care centers about students being able to shadow there. The first thing I did was email Diane about being able to take a couple of students for shadow hours. The next thing I did was email my connection at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Workforce Readiness Institute about shadow hours as well as doing the once-a-trimester seminars that would be open to all who are interested. For those who are interested in learning more about DHWRI I'll include a link down below. I also worked on my competencies more on the checklist because some of them weren’t as applicable for students doing more STEM focused medical studies.  (Workspace of the day). The second half of my day I spent on campus working outside on the turf. At first it was very sunny, then got windy and cloudy. I still stayed outside though. I was very focused on editing my overvie

                                                                 5/10/21 Entry #1 This is my first senior project blog post! For those who don’t know what I am doing for my senior project I am creating a new academic concentration for students who are interested in the medical field. I’m super pumped for it because I know so many other students who are interested in the medical field but didn’t want to do the other concentrations available.  Anyways, the first half of my day was dedicated to drafting up my overview for the concentration and getting the required classes. Before I started typing up my draft, I took a look at the existing concentration’s overviews and based mine on those. Next up was choosing the required classes for the concentration. I already had a bit of a plan when it came to choosing the classes that would be required because there were some classes that were really obvious, like AP Bio and Anatomy and Physiology. Some were on the fence though, like Psychology and S