With the grind for original work and research showcase finally over, there is now ample downtime in ISM for students to focus on their mentorship. Thus, I am looking forward to gaining more hands-on experiences in the medical field. One of the classes that I miss most from last year is Health Science Clinicals, so it will be nice to be in the clinical setting interacting with patients at Dr. Dike’s office once again. Since I have a mentor visit scheduled for Friday, I am excited to see what interesting cases the day will hold for me.
Furthermore, previously at mentor visits, Dr. Dike had expressed that he is thinking about starting a new research project with a fellow psychologist, and he would love to have me on his research team. I hope to find out more about this project at the mentor visit, and see whether this is something I could work on for my final product or if it is a summer project. Regardless of the time frame, this is an exciting opportunity because I can conduct research with professionals and make an impact on the neurological community! As the this final stretch of high school rolls around, I am glad that I can start dedicating more time and energy to ISM and my mentorship.
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This week was amazing. On Wednesday, all of the ISM students headed over to the Ford Center at The Star for Research Showcase. Setting up in time and making sure my board didn’t fall as it had in the past was stressful, but the overall experience was totally worth it.
Before the Showcase officially began, I had some time to check out other students’ projects, and it was amazing to hear about they were studying. In fact, I happened to set up my board right next to a student who was studying Neuropsychology, so I was able to talk to her mentor and learn more about what exactly that field entailed and how it differed from Neurology. When my mentor, Dr. Dike, arrived at the Showcase, he was quite impressed with the ISM program, and he was so excited that his three daughters would be in FISD because they would have all of these opportunities as well. As the showcase started, I was able to talk to a variety of different students, parents, teachers of the past and present, and even neurologists. Many doctors came up to my board because they knew Dr. Dike, and it made me realize how lucky I was to be working with such a renowned doctor. My favorite visitors, however, were a group of sophomores who were genuinely interested in neurology. They were so fascinated with the case studies that I had written over the Anti-GQ1b Antibody Syndromes, and it made me happy that I was able to help others find their passion as well. Research Showcase is my favorite night of the ISM program, and I am so glad that it went so well. With the deadline for original work right around the corner, this week consisted of more mentor visits than I had been able to go on last year. Because of winter break, Dr. Dike was able to find time in his schedule to meet, and I was able to get his guidance on my project. When I first began my project, it was quite confusing to navigate through all the academic sources that explained how to write a case study, but after writing two case studies, I feel confident in my ability to write them in the future.
In addition to writing case studies, I also made an infographic over the different types of Anti-GQ1b Antibody Syndromes. Since both of my case studies had to do with patients that suffered from different variants of this disease, I thought that it would be helpful to create a visual aid that Dr. Dike could hang up at his clinic. After getting the infographic printed and laminated on a bigger piece of paper, a feeling of relief came over me: my original work was almost complete. In addition to original work, going on mentor visits has been quite enriching because I always get to learn something new from Dr. Dike. As original work comes to an end, I am looking forward to shadowing Dr. Dike and getting more hands-on with neurology. |