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  • Career Exploration

    Blurry. Out of focus. Just over the horizon. So close, but out of reach. Wondering how to best represent my career goals, I first considered a photo of a stethoscope or a person in a lab coat. I thought about a world map or a compass to symbolize adventure and exploration. Yet, none of those felt right. They felt cold or forced, too narrow, not representative of what I see in my mind when I think of my future. The blurry photo above is much more accurate actually! I have huge dreams for my future. At the same time, I cannot articulate what those are yet! I know they will involve healthcare, viewing a patient as a whole person, and intercultural communication. I also have a feeling my future career will incorporate things I have not even imagined yet. That is daunting but also super exciting.

    Over the past two quarters, I have been taking advantages of opportunities to understand what it looks like to work in public health while also fostering skills in networking and cross-culture exchange. To my friends and family I have described it as my "career investigation." At this point in my investigation I am leaning more towards medical school than a Masters degree in public health, but I am open to whatever the future holds. I look forward to continuing this investigation/exploration and allowing the blurriness to focus over the next two years. However, I hope that is never completely in focus. I hope there is always some blurriness of the horizon, that there will be unexpected opportunities in my future. 

  • Conversation Partners Program

    In the Fall Quarter I decided to participate in the DU Conversation Partners program through the DU English Language Center. I was paired with an international student from China named Jiajun. We were expected to meet once a week for an hour and talk to each other. At our first meeting, he and I were both very nervous. He was nervous that I would not be able to understand him and that he would say something wrong. I was nervous that I would talk too fast or say the wrong thing and accidentally offend him. The fact that we were both nervous, but with the best intentions, was comforting to me. When we had trouble communicating, we got creative! We wrote words down on each other’s notebooks. We Googled images to supplement our words. We drew pictures in the air and even acted some things out. Fast forward eight months, and we have built a lifelong friendship that I cherish. I look forward to seeing him each week and we have so much fun!

    We have some things in common, like we both enjoy the outdoors and listening to Ed Sheeran. We spend a lot of time discussing our differences, like how we think about the individual vs. the collective and what school and education mean to us. The above photo is from April 2019 when Jiajun and I went hiking at Lookout Mountain. Our most recent conversation was on Easter, so I explained that I am Catholic and what Easter means to me. Jiajun is not religious, and we talked about that. Then we spent the rest of the hour debating why the Easter Bunny hides eggs :)

    The experience showed me that building relationships with people different from me are so important. And even more broadly, that it is very worthwhile to persevere through those first awkward times in other areas of my life. I have to risk getting embarrassed and doing the wrong thing because getting out of my comfort zone like that is going to expand my view of the world.

  • Global Voices Event Panelist

    I participated in the Global Voices event as a panelist. The event was hosted at the DU International House and focused on cross-cultural storytelling. I was asked to be a panelist for the event and share my experience with intercultural communication. The group of participants included domestic and international students as well as graduate students and faculty members. Each panelist was given a few minutes to share their stories and experiences. Then, attendees broke into small groups and discussed their perspectives on cross-cultural exchanges. Finally, attendees moved to different stations around the world and reflected on topics such as food, clothing, culture, and diversity.

    There were three guiding questions for the panelists: When did you have a meaningful cross-cultural exchange? How did the exchange impact you or your community? And how does this impact your experience at DU?  I discussed my friendship with Jiajun, a Chinese international student I met through the DU English Language Center Conversation Partners Program. I told the group that I did not have much intercultural experience before college. I had a desire to expand my group of friends and interact with people different from me, but I was afraid of doing the wrong thing. Through my friendship with Jiajun, I came to realize that he was just as nervous as I was and it was worth overcoming the intial awkwardness to build a meaningful friendship. 

    When I shared these thoughts with the group, I was surprised that so many people could relate. They came up to me afterward and told me that they, too, grew up in a place where most people looked like them, thought like them, and behaved like them. They desired connections with a diverse group of friends in college, but they were intimidated. I was glad to share some of my fears and experiences to normalize their feelings and encourage others to take a risk and step outside their comfort zone. After that event, I learned a bit about myself as well as the community that I engaged with.

  • CPHA Meeting

    I attended a meeting of the CPHA (Colorado Public Health Association) Health Equity Coalition at Denver Health on March 18, 2019. There were approximately 25 health professionals in attendance with backgrounds ranging from the Colorado Department of Public Health, Denver Health, Denver Children’s Hospital, and various universities. The Coalition discussed a few of its main goals: to provide education to members of the Coalition and the larger CPHA membership, to advise and guide the CPHA board to advance health equity, and to advance health equity in leadership and government. In the meeting, the Coalition talked about how changing the narrative around health equity (both in CPHA and in the Colorado community) is important when trying to influence policy. There was also discussion about defining health equity and having representation throughout the organization with people from diverse backgrounds.

    I was grateful to be able to attend this meeting and network with professionals in the field of public health. I have been reflecting more and more about my future path and whether that leads to medical school or public health. I was inspired by all of the successful professionals, both men and women, in the room who were so dedicated and passionate about health equity. That was my first experience thinking and talking about health equity outside of the college setting. It was also not what I expected. I went into the meeting thinking the Coalition would be a very action-oriented group planning events to further health equity in the area and talking about their active projects. Instead, while a couple individuals reported on their work, the meeting largely focused on rewriting/rewording the CPHA bylaws. It was tedious and there was argument within the group about using one word versus the other. One member sparked a long discussion when she called out another member for using “us vs. them” terminology when referring to the Coalition as it relates to the larger CPHA. In this way, the meeting exposed me to the bureaucratic component of public health. I also realized that this group was focused on advancing health equity on a systems and policy level more than a community level.

    I left the meeting with a lot to think about. Upon reflection, I did not particularly enjoy the meeting itself. It was long and tedious, and the members argued about some trivial things. I did not think to myself, “I want to attend meetings like this all the time in my future career.” But, I really enjoyed speaking one-on-one with the members afterward. I was inspired by the paths they chose for their careers, and when speaking to them, I often thought, “Wow, what this person is doing is really cool. I’d love to do something like that with my career.” I talked to a woman who works in Boulder and integrates her health equity passion with the social determinants of health there. She recently organized a Black Lives Matter event. A man who works at the Children’s Hospital talked about health equity in that setting. I also was able to network with two women who are the directors for an Emerging Leaders group through CPHA. They focus on providing leadership training and education to students and young professionals in public health and related fields. I will be attending an Emerging Leaders meeting next week and am excited to see where that leads. Ultimately what I took from this experience is that there are some aspects of this field that are really action-oriented and exciting while there are some that are more less exciting like changing the language around health equity and rewording policy. I recognize that each is important, and I am glad to have been exposed to both.

  • Coffee & Career Questions

    One of the most rewarding activities I have done in my career investigation is asking professionals in the field if I could pick their brain about their career paths over coffee. They are always happy to share their passions and stories, and it has allowed me to have a more accurate picture in my mind of what it looks like to work in public health (or the health field in general). In April, I had a very interesting meeting with a woman who works at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. 

    Dr. Nancy Lorenzon, my pre-health advisor, had connected us via email and then we met for coffee at Mutiny Comics on Broadway. I learned that she does not have a formal background in health, but instead came into her job in an unconventional way. She is majoring in Yoga and incorporates a unique vision into her job working with youth on health equity advocacy topics. While she used to work on more community-based projects, she now has moved on to a systems-based approach. Talking with her reminded me that there are so many different career paths within health that you can really make it your own.

  • GlobalRes

    I wrote a Capstone essay to complete my Intercultural Communication Certification. I discuss why I joined the GlobalRes program in the first place: “I challenge you. I challenge you to, every once in a while, take a look at your friends and the people in your life. Make sure they are not all people just like you. That they don’t all look like you, think like you, and have a similar background as you.” Those words of one of the speakers at my freshman orientation last year left an impression on me. When the opportunity arose to join the GlobalRes community, I saw it as the perfect way to meet people different from me and learn more about them as well as myself.

    Today, when I take a look at my friends and the people around me, I see a diverse group of wonderful people. I see Jiajun, my friend in the dining hall, my roommate, and all of my new GlobalRes friends. Those friendships feel richer for our mutual effort, understanding, and genuine appreciation for our differences. “Help Me Understand” has transformed the way I approach sensitive conversations. The CCAI has given names to the dimensions to intercultural understanding, as well as provided some tangible ways to improve in the particular areas. I am positive that I have much more to learn, but at this point I am not as afraid of saying the wrong thing or acting the wrong way. Instead, I see opportunities to practice my new skills and make new friends in the process.

    In the essay below, I discuss practical ways I applied my new skills:

  • Intercultural Communication Certification

    Through my GlobalRes living and learning community this year, I went through training to become certified in Intercultural Communication through a company called Real World Solutions. This involved dialogue, discussion, reflection, and participation in group application exercises followed by the completion of a capstone project.  I thought is was really useful to go through this practical training because I have always been interested in learning about different cultures and interacting with people different from me, but I didn’t know how. I was afraid of doing the wrong thing and accidentally offending someone. Through this training, I gained some practical tools to help me feel more confident in those situations. In one particular exercise, the group discussed four skill sets for effective intercultural communication: Emotional Resilience, Flexibility/Openness, Perceptual Acuity, and Personal Autonomy. Since discussing those skill sets, I have been applying that terminology to situations in my life where I feel I used those skills effectively or where I feel I was lacking in that department. It was really transformed the way I look at cross-cultural exchanges. I have been using "help me understand" dialogue regularly after this training.

    Below is a sample from the training describing four skillsets. In the margin is my self-assessed ranking for each of them. 

  • CultureFest

    I represented GlobalRes (a sophomore living and learning community that I am a member of this year) at a table at DU CultureFest on April 12, 2019. When people visited our table, they could spin a wheel that had flags from countries of the world on it. If they guessed the country’s flag correctly, they got a prize. Most people did not guess correctly, but one person knew the country that each of the 20 flags belonged to! Some people approached the table and asked what the program was about, what I liked about it, and how to apply.

    I initially signed up for this event to support my living and learning community. I will admit that not many people approached our table. (After this experience, I realized that the key to drawing people to a table in those situations is through food.) But this gave me the opportunity to talk to some other members who were also working the table. By reflecting on other experiences (such as the CPHA meeting at Denver Health), I am finding that the event or activity itself is often not the most important part. Instead, I have been benefiting a lot from connecting with people at the events.

    Through this experience, I applied knowledge and skills about networking that I have been developing throughout the past two quarters. I connected with an international student from Thailand who is also majoring in Biology. I connected with the Graduate Coordinator of GlobalRes and learned more about her career path. I told her about a class I am taking this quarter called God & Giving about religion and philanthropy in America. She just finished a paper on a similar topic, and we talked about the notion that “there is no such thing as a free gift.” She is graduating this year, so she told me about the job she has lined up working with refugee populations in North Carolina. She has some public health connections and recommended a few courses I might like.

    When I hosted this table, I expected to be applying knowledge and skills I have been developing related to intercultural communication and curiosity about other cultures. While that was part of it, I realized through this experience that part of engaging is connecting with people around me and networking with inspiring people doing really interesting things at DU.

  • CPHA Emerging Leaders 

    At the CPHA (Colorado Public Health Association) meeting I attended in March, I connected with two women in charge of an Emerging Leaders group. The group is open to students interested in public health as well as recent graduates in the field. I attended their meeting in April via Zoom in which they discussed leadership styles and ways to cope with stress in the field of public health. I thought the members were inspiring and look forward to learning more about their career paths! Below is my copy of the meeting agenda:

This portfolio last updated: 06-Jun-2022 8:12 PM