Raising the Bar Event

This Monday, Friendship Circle held their annual event that recognizes the amazing work that their volunteers do.  The theme of this event was "raising the bar". Up until monday, most of my work at Friendship Circle was in preparation of this event.  That day there were many last minute things that had to be taken care of, such as decorating the actual location and doing last minute recordings and practicing speeches, etc.  While the process was very stressful, the event ended up running quite smoothly.

During the actual event, even though I was a teen volunteer throughout the year, I was mainly planning and facilitating.  It was an interesting experience to have to give directions to my peers and teens that I volunteered with throughout the year.

Along with the facilitating aspect, my other main role was to give a speech displaying the magnitude of hours that teen volunteers put into this year.  There were about 700 people there, so getting up on the podium was quite nerve racking.  After crunching the numbers while writing this speech, I found that teen volunteers dedicated over 17,000 hours of volunteer service to the Friendship Circle organization and the kids that they help.  This, to me was such a large number that it is difficult to put into perspective.  With some help from a few of the staff members at friendship circle, we found out that if a person walked for that amount of time, they could walk around the entire world twice. That is a pretty cool statistic, and got quite the applause when I told it to the audience. 

Thank You

Throughout my project, there were many times I was bored out of my mind, disgusted with the smell of burning flesh and irked with some of the people I had to deal with on a daily basis.  But it wasn't until Dr. Rezaee put his hand on my shoulder and said "Alright, it's time for you to go, Elise. It was great having you," that I realized how much this project encompassed everything I learned over the last four years of high school and how much it meant to me to end my senior year with an experience like this one.  Every RN, NP, MD, DDS and anesthesiologist looked at me and gushed about how great it was to have me there for an extended amount of time.  Were some people just being nice? Yes. But there were people in that room who saw me almost everyday standing over their shoulders, asking questions, reacting to the room, etc.  They laughed at me when I got lost and talked to me the whole walk to the OR, even if I ended up on the opposite side of the building. They talked with me about their jobs and how they decided on their professions, but they also put forth effort to get to know me as a person, why I was there and what I was thinking in that moment.  Each of them also gave me compliments on my ability to get lost in the hallway almost everyday.

I embarked on this senior project because I wanted to see what it was like to be a surgeon and if it was something I was interested in pursuing. Purely selfish reasons. I watched countless surgeries (I actually counted, it was 47), sat in on 23 consultations, and I can honestly say that being in the medical field is definitely worth every moment of the next 12 years I am going to lose dedicating myself to learning and perfecting my skills as a medical professional.  The feeling I got walking out of the Mather OR doors for the last time was overwhelming. Unexpectedly, each day I was growing attached to each of my fellow team members, the mean ladies at the front desk, the sound of the tools, the smell of the Bovie pen, the feeling of the scrubs, the fast paced walking and the humor that is constantly thrown around a functioning operating room.  Waking up early sucked, yes, but my whole day rushed by and I never realized it until now. Three weeks have gone by and I feel as though I took it for granted.  This experience has showed me that what Hawken has instilled the idea of always asking questions, pursuing your passions and taking some risks into my brain, which has produced a work ethic that I am eternally grateful for.  It paid off. These projects not only give each of us seniors a fun way to end our senior year, but also shows us how much we've grown and how prepared we are for each of our differing futures.  Senior project exposes us to the outside world we strive to be involved in and allows us to be enveloped by our own ideas and perseverance. An informal "thank you" is all I can give to the Hawken and UH Case communities for making my last senior year experience so amazing and memorable.

Appreciating the Parks

Last week, Emma and I drove out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park for a day hike. As many parks as I've been to, it wasn't until this day that I realized just how much I have taken for granted. When most people walk along a trail, they may appreciate the beauty of nature, but they do not always recognize the amount of work that goes into building the trail itself. Even after a trail is built, there is a lot of maintenance that needs to be done to ensure that the trail can continue to be used in the future. 

After actually getting to build waterbars the previous week with the crew at Lake Metroparks, I found them much easier to spot...

Waterbar!

We also found it much easier to spot washouts and flagging...

We also got the opportunity to work with a Natural Resource Specialist from Lake Metroparks, who showed us how to flag areas like wetlands and how to use a GPS to log important data. Even though I have often seen flagging while out for a walk, I never really gave it any more thought.

Flagging a wetland

Using the GPS

Emma is excited by the GPS!

Wrapping it up at Hawken

For the last three days of project Sarah and I are working on the trails at Hawken, mostly by walking them and consciously kicking sticks and debris off the surface, lining less clear sections with sticks, and clipping away andy branches that have grown into the trail. I've always found it kind of sad that most of the student body doesn't know that we have a lot of woods to walk in, and doesn't use the trails. However, cross country and track are using them increasingly frequently, and I've seen a lot more people running out there lately that seem to be there willingly, favoring a run in the woods over one on the track. Trails made for running have to be a lot wider and smoother than those that people are just walking on, and one of the things that we've been doing is clearing the new green trail that runs against a cliff of branches so that on tomorrow's service day the students working on that trail can focus on cutting into the soil and making it wider instead of just making it passable. We're also taking note of down trees that need to be removed from the trail using a chainsaw, and areas that we think the service people should focus on re-routing or improving using shovels.

Fitting In

As Sarah has mentioned, for a lot of our project we felt slightly out of place; we were far younger than anyone else at KTA, were the only women in the lunchroom at Lake Metroparks, and felt like we knew nothing standing next to the Holden interns and employees who knew every plant we passed and bird call we heard. However, looking back, even when we weren't quite strong enough to help at the Metroparks, or didn't understand jokes, everyone that we met was extremely friendly, ready to talk and teach us. At KTA, the president invited us to her house, and while we couldn't go because we had a long drive, she talked to us for hours after work about the goals of the association. At Lake Metroparks, we were shuffled around to various parks to see different projects when there weren't any of them that we could help out with, and rode in various people's worktrucks so that we could learn about their careers, information that they very willingly offered. And at Holden Arboretum, the people we're working with joke around with us, invited us to their end of the week Conservation Crew ice cream break and let us sit in on their brief staff meeting. One of the biggest lessons that we've learned is that people are wonderful, kind and open, and that they'll talk your ear off about the most interesting stuff if you'll let them.

Hot Doctor

One of the best parts about working in a hospital is that there are always a lot of different cool things to see and even more people to meet.  In the OR there can be up to 12 to 13 people in one room working on one operation once you add in all the necessary surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists.  In my three weeks at the UH Case Medical Center I have observed in specifically ENT areas; OR, pediatrics and adult clinic.  The people within ENT have been extremely welcoming and kind (expect for a mean front desk lady) even in the crazy busy setting of the OR.  With almost a dozen people in a room, having a teenager just standing around would annoy me, so their kindness has been much appreciated.  Dr. Rezaee, my sponsor and Hawken Alum ('88), has been one of the most welcoming, and has set me up with many different people I had not intended to work with throughout my project. His actions have actually enhanced my project in a way I did not know what possible.  What I've seen and experienced and learned is something I am eternally thankful for because it has broadened my horizons on just how many medical positions there are.


Oh, and today I worked with a super hot resident. Devilishly handsome. And a surgeon.

New Opportunities In The Future - Day Ten

I have thoroughly enjoyed my senior project and the entire experience of working with child life specialists at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital. As projects come to an end, it's hard to say goodbye, but I definitely know I would love to come back in the future. If I can work around my work schedule in the summer, I was invited back to continue volunteering during the summer. Although I would not be able to work as many hours and as many days during the week, I will still get the chance to help out at the hospital.

This experience has been extremely influential and has helped me discover what I'd like to pursue in the future. Although I don't think I want to be specifically a child life specialist, I know for sure I would love to go into the medical field, specializing in pediatrics. Whether it's pre-med or nursing, Rainbow would be a dream job location for me. I absolutely love the atmosphere and the community. I have talked to my other sponsors and they gave me someone to contact in the future for a possible internship with a child life specialist at Rainbow NEXT SUMMER! I'm definitely going for it!

~Clare