MCGC Laboratory
I am often mistaken for a college student by other lab techs when I mentor. They’ll ask if I’ve learned certain things in my classes yet, and in reality I’ve only taken a high school level biology course. I take this as a good thing, though, because it shows that others see me as responsible and independent. These are traits that I have further developed throughout high school. I’ve always been fairly responsible, but as a freshman I always went with the flow of whatever the standard was. For example, I always followed the flow charts our school had for scheduling and signed up for the standard core classes. Now, as a senior, I’ve been branching off and taking classes that aren’t on the flow charts but that I think will be more beneficial for me in the future. As a result, I have classes in three different buildings throughout the day. I start my day in Hilliard City Schools’ College Jumpstart program, where I take dual enrollment college courses through Columbus State Community College. This way I can finish my high school requirements and at the same time get some of my basic courses out of the way for next year. Then I go to my home building for yearbook production, physics, and band. I end my day at the third building, where I take Career Mentorship to gain real experiences in my future career field. In addition to my class schedule, I must also balance mentoring twice a week with the high school’s women’s track and field schedule. As the team manager, I aim to attend every meet, and there are normally two each week. I have become much better at managing my schedule, making sure I get to classes on time and still have space for mentoring, track meets, and any homework or studying I need to do. I won’t lie, high school has been fairly stressful from time to time. However, as it comes to an end, I’m thankful that I’ve been able to grow from it and become better prepared for my future.
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Continuing with our learning from last week’s guest facilitator, Mr. Todd Alexander from Alexander Life Coaching, this week we discussed what Hero Archetypes are and how they relate to the real world. We talked about six hero archetypes: the innocent, the orphan, the wanderer, the warrior, the martyr, and the magician. As a hero moves through their story, the ideal ending point is the magician, in which they have reached their full potential and have the ability to inspire hope in others. Along the way, however, some heroes get stuck in other archetypes, such as the wanderer or the martyr. A wanderer is someone who has yet to discover who they are, so they often live a life of loneliness. A martyr is someone who accepts pain and remains in a position in which they are being hurt because they cannot distinguish between suffering and sacrifice that will foster personal growth. Having an understanding of each of these archetypes is important as it can help us identify where we are on our paths to becoming magicians, as well as provide us with options to escape any of the other archetypes if we become trapped. In addition, it can also help us to communicate with others, for if we can identify where they are on their path, we will be able to better connect with and understand them. Outside of the classroom, I have progressed from the blood bank area of the lab to urinalysis. So far, I’m not a huge fan of it, but I’ve only just started. Also, in addition to going to the lab twice a week, my mentor Melissa gave me a textbook on urinalysis that I can take home and read on the days I am home. I talked to her and the mentorship program coordinator about counting this as mentoring time, and they both agreed that it’s a great way for me to catch up on hours since I started a few weeks after most of the other students in my class. Overall, I have enjoyed learning about our hardware, software, and hero archetypes from Mr. Alexander. And while I don’t think urinalysis will be my favorite, it’s important to me that I gain a realistic perspective of this career field, and I can’t do that without spending time in every area of the job I can. In this post, I will once again be sharing about how much I love my mentor site. Two weeks ago was my spring break, so instead of only going to the lab two days I mentored Tuesday through Friday. I learned how they perform tests for blood typing, which is what made me interested in blood from the beginning. In my freshman year biology course, blood typing was my favorite unit. I even mapped out Punnett squares for a large portion of my family to try to figure out that my blood type was. This past year I got a blood typing kit for Christmas, and I know it sounds super nerdy but that was one of the best presents I’ve ever received. I typed myself that day, I’m A positive! After learning how to type blood, last week I learned how to crossmatch blood in order to determine whether or not patient blood and donor blood are compatible. This part is extremely important, because if patient blood and donor blood are not compatible, the donor blood can cause the patient’s blood to essentially clot inside their body, resulting in the patient’s death. On a brighter note, in class we had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Todd Alexander from Alexander Life Coaching. He spoke to us about our hardware, our software, and how they play out in our lives. Our hardware is our multiple intelligences, and our software is our Myers-Briggs personality type. The theory of multiple intelligences states that instead of only having one kind of “smart,” there are eight different areas of intelligence. My top intelligence is musical, which means I’m good at remembering songs and rhymes, I appreciate the elements of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony, and I try to incorporate those four elements into whatever I’m doing. The Myers-Briggs personality type breaks down patterns of behavior into four opposing preferences, each represented by a unique letter. My type is ISFJ, which I learned is also known as the “defender” or “nurturer” personality type. This means I am a friendly person, but also dedicated to protecting my family and friends (I described each letter in more depth on my About page). So, to sum up, I incorporate music into many areas of my life, and I always stand up for my loved ones. Also, I love studying blood, and I cannot stress enough how grateful I am for the opportunity to spend time working in a real lab. |
AuthorA high school senior exploring the field of medical laboratory science. Archives
April 2019
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