Togo Africa

Next fall I am going on a medical missions trip to Togo, Africa. I am very excited and and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this. I am going on this trip through my church at home. Several students from MUSC, Doctors, and Physician's Assistants are going on the trip. Togo is a thin strip of land situated in West Africa. I have wanted to be involved in medical missions for a long time, and finally have the opportunity to go. For about 2 years, I have been interested in joining the Peace Corps in Africa. I feel that this trip will be a stepping stone. I also have a passion for medical missions and hope that one day medical missions will be a large part of my life and career. I am a health major and am applying to PA school in the fall, so medicine is the career path that I am seeking. I think that this trip will be an eye opening experience and will give me clinical experience in a different environment. I look forward to this experience and can't wait to get going!

Response to Lying on Your Resume

This article talked about the repercussions of lying on your resume. It is really difficult for me to think about lying on your resume...which is probably naive of me. I can understand the pressures of trying to make your resume more appealing to employers. I am currently experiencing the stress of trying to work on my resume for PA school. The article speaks about the fact that companies are now better at finding out when someone lies on their resume. Background checks are conducted to explain why an employee's performance is not up to par.
The article talks about the most common resume lies. Many resume lies are about academic credentials or making dates of employment look like you weren't unemployed for extended periods of time. Some people exaggerate about their job titles, or embellish their job responsibilities and achievements. The article also spoke about why people lie on their resumes. Some people feel desperate when they are unemployed for long periods of time and cannot seem to be hired.
There are many consequences for lying on resumes. When someone lies on their resume and make themselves look more qualified for the position than honest job seekers. Also, if someone lies on their resume, they will have to live with the fear of being caught. If they are caught they will be fired.
The overall message of the article was to let readers know that no matter how stressful applying for jobs are or how long one goes without employment, there are ways to be hired and to make your resume the best it can be without lying. The moral of the article is that it is not worth it to lie on your resume!!

REsponse to Presentations

I thought all of the presentations were very interesting. Each of the presentations stuck out to me in various ways. The presentation about Trans fat was very interesting to me because I am a Health Sciences major and have taken Nutrition classes. Ever since hearing the presentation, I have been obsessive about double checking nutrition labels on food to see if it contains "partially hydrogenated coconut oil". Surprisingly, everything that says it contains "Zero Trans Fat" actually contains the partially hydrogenated oil which means that it has Trans Fat. This just makes me more careful about what I eat. I also liked the presentation about Hershey chocolate and how to taste chocolate. I didn't know that chocolate was like wine and the taste should be savored. Also, I didn't know that Hershey's anniversary was coming up. The presentation about mules was extremely entertaining, as well. The graphics on the slide show were hilarious and the way that the information was presented was very interesting. It taught me a lot about the importance of mules. I thought it was interesting to know that one of my classmates has trained mules. The presentation on obesity and physical activity in adolescents was also interesting. One of the topics that we discuss pretty regularly in my major is how to solve the obesity epidemic in this country. The statistics and ideas for solving the problems were interesting, as well. Overall, the presentations in the class were all very interesting. It is always interesting to see the various topics that people present on and how everyone has different interests.

Mock Interview Reflection

Today I had my mock interview to practice for a job interview that I will be having this summer. I am applying for a job as an Emergency Tech at a hospital in Charleston, and the mock interview focused on this particular job. I eventually want to attend PA school, so I need a job that can give me firsthand clinical experience in the medical field. I thought the interview was very helpful. I was able to practice being confident and calm during the interview. Mrs. Rogers asked questions regarding the type of positions I had held in the past, what previous experience I had in medical care, what I am studying at Clemson, etc. I felt like the interview went smoothly like a normal conversation. I have had interviews in the past with other summer jobs, but have never had to interview for a position in the medical field. The questions that Mrs. Rogers asked me helped me to feel more prepared about the types of questions I may be asked when I actually interview at the hospital. I also had my resume and cover letter critiqued with some helpful hints on how to make them more effective. I thought the interview was fun, not scary at all, and it was very helpful in allowing me to have some practice for my actual interview.

Free Topic: Election

Lately, I have been extremely confused about the election. This is the first presidential election that I have been able to vote in since turning 18, and I have been trying to take it seriously. I have taken numerous quizzes to see which candidate I am most likely to vote for, done research on most of the candidates, and tried to keep up with the debates. However, I am still not sure who the right person is to be our next president.
I am a Health Sciences major, so one of the issues that interests me most is what the candidates plan to do to improve our Healthcare system. The issue seems to be whether or not we should have a Universal Healthcare system. It is easy to see that there are extreme divisions between political parties concerning this issue. Politics, for the most part, just annoys me because everyone is more focused on which political party they are a part of, rather than voting based on the issues.
One of the main things that I am trying to do is focus on each individual issue, rather than voting for a party. I want to vote for the candidate, not the Republican or Democratic party. However, there is never going to be the perfect candidate with whom I agree 100 percent. This is why I am still very confused about this election.

I thought that the tips on how to write a good cover letter were helpful. I agreed with most everything in the tutorials. The tutorials spoke on how the cover letter should be personal and speak to one person in the company. I agree that this makes you stand out above other candidates if you can put yourself on a personal level with your potential employer. I also agreed that cover letters should not be sent out to every company that you apply for. This defeats the purpose of the cover letter if you send out one blanket letter to every company you apply to. I disagreed with the one part of the tutorials that spoke about adding a post script to the end of the cover letter. I believe that this makes the letter less professional. The most useful section of the tutorial was the cover letter checklist. It provides a backbone to the cover letter, and it keeps you on track when writing your cover letter. Before reading the tutorial, I was not aware that the cover letter needed to be a personal letter written to a specific person in the company. Now I can use this advice when writing my cover letter for my mock interview.

Helpful Articles about Interviews

The first article that I read dealt with asking the interviewer questions. You should always say "yes" when the interviewer asks if you have any questions. This simply shows your interest in the job. It also gives you a chance to "show off" your knowledge of the position that you are applying for. In my case, I would want to show my interest in attending the PA program at MUSC and would want to show that I had researched the school and new about the program. I would not want to ask questions about when our break is or how hard the exams might be. I would ask, 'How would you describe the ideal PA student?'
The other article that I read gave some tips on how to be relaxed for the interview. You should arrive about 1o minutes before the interview, but not much earlier because you do not want to cause yourself to worry. You should also relax so that you can appear as a confident candidate for the position. You should show your interviewer how calm and confident you are. The article also gave advice on how to relax yourself. It gave tips such as taking deep, slow breaths, sitting up straight and not crossing your legs or arms, speaking slowly, and keeping your jaw relaxed. Also, smiling is very important.