2021-22
This year was focused on adapting to a new normal. With the pandemic moving everything online last year, it was difficult to adjust back to everything being in person again. My third year at UC has been filled with so many new experiences and learning opportunities. With my involvement in more extracurricular activities, leadership positions, and more challenging courses, I learned the importance of balancing my time and finding what activities I was passionate about.
The first experience that had a significant impact on my personal growth was becoming the co-president of the South Asian American Student Association. As a president, I learned the importance of communication, planning ahead, adapting, and working closely with your team. By planning our 5 large events that had attendances of over 500 students, I learned so much about South Asian countries, holidays, and traditions different from my own. I was also able to learn more about my Pakistani culture, as well as share my favorite aspects of it with others. I was also able to learn how to improve my public speaking skills, and learned the qualities needed for being a good leader. I learned how to adapt quickly when something may have gone wrong in our events, how to deal with responsibility and conflict, and how to stay open-minded and understanding. My involvement in the South Asian American Student Association helped me increase my knowledge on backgrounds different from mine, and I was also able to spread this knowledge into the UC community. I learned how to not be afraid of speaking in front of large crowds, and how to communicate effectively with a team, which are skills that will definitely be useful in my career goal of becoming a physician. I even got to represent SAASA in a multicultural pageant!
The next organization that I was heavily involved in this year was Refuge-UC. Serving as a mentor, the public relations chair on the executive board, and a committee leader, I was able to learn how passionate I am about working with refugees and minority populations. As a mentor, I was able to develop a meaningful connection with my mentee, Sammichikya, and we were able to bond with each other over various topics; whether it was our favorite bands, our favorite foods, similarities in her Nepali culture and my Pakistani culture, or our career goals of becoming doctors. Through our mentoring sessions, Sammichikya and I were also able to make friends with the other mentors and mentees in the organization, and we would all play Uno together every chance we got. As the public relations chair of Refuge-UC, I was also able to explore my creativity skills and learn how much I enjoyed digital designing and running the social media accounts. I was able to learn about the impact of social media as well, and through posting regularly on the account, I was able to grow the organization and recruit more members for our organization. I was also able to create initiatives such as mentor and mentee highlights, interviewing Mr. Parker (the ESL teacher at Aiken High School), and helped with the idea of the creation of committees. As a committee leader, I led the “college and career guides” committee. Throughout the year, my 3 committee members and I met and would work on planning and creating guides over various topics for the refugee students. These guides covered topics such as different colleges at UC with their majors, career pathways available, FAFSA, Scholarships and financial aid, and how to apply to college. This project was very important to me because my committee and I were able to create guides with information that can truly be helpful for the students and can be passed down throughout the organization.
Through my involvement in Refuge, I was also able to get involved as a teacher at Aiken High School for the Cancer Justice Network “Health Champions.” This experience focused on teaching students about COVID so they could in turn share this information with their own communities. This experience truly had a significant impact on my professional goals because it reinforced my passion for working as a physician and helping underserved and refugee populations. Whether it was navigating language barriers and finding a way to translate the information or finding activities to keep the students engaged, this experience taught me how to adapt and problem solve to individual needs, which is similar to what I will need to do as a physician.
For the future, I am planning to work on a project focused on helping the students become certified community health care workers. My goal is to help bridge the gaps in health education and provide the students with valuable information they may use to further their careers. This year has helped me grow immensely in my leadership, communication, and public speaking skills, and has also helped me get out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to try new things. The Honors program has provided me with the opportunity to try new things that I am passionate about, and I am very excited to see what will happen during my last year at UC.
