My Year as an AmeriCorps Member
Since my gap year post, I've been getting a lot of requests to share more about my AmeriCorps experience. I hope this helps!
Program Overview
AmeriCorps has many programs across the country focusing on a variety of areas of service. I was in a Community HealthCorps, which focuses on health care in underserved populations. The program I did was with a large Federally Qualified Community Health Center (FQHC). The organization has 5 health centers throughout the county and 6 School Based Health Centers.
The center serves a large population of underserved individuals and families. The health care provided is comprehensive and follows a patient centered care and "medical home" model. (for more information on the patient centered medical home click here) For example, at a single location, there were areas for family physician visits, dental visits, women's health visits, WIC, Wellness, and behavioral health integration specialists (social workers and mental health counselors) all under one roof to ensure patients are having their needs met. There is also a dental van that visits schools and the school based health centers are fully equipped/staffed by a nurse practitioners (this way, parents, who usually day labor or have hourly jobs don't have to leave work and kids don't have to leave school for their medical needs). AmeriCorps members are in different departments, including WIC, Wellness, Insurance Outreach & Enrollment, and School Based Health. I was in School Based Health.
Logistics
For this program, you commit to an 11 month term of service for a total of 1,700 hours in this program. A stipend of ~$12,580 for the year is broken down and disbursed on a biweekly basis to aid with living costs (housing is not provided). At the end of the term, you receive an education award of ~$5,000 to apply to previous or future school loans!
Day to Day
As I mentioned, I was a part of the School Based Health Centers (SBHC)! You're probably wondering what an SBHC is. Basically, it is a medical office located in the school that offers all of the services a doctor's office would. It is staffed by a nurse practitioner and medical assistants, and fully equipped for things like physicals, labs, and more. This way, students can have their medical needs met without missing classes and parents also don't need to miss work. It's a really amazing program for the whole community.
My primary duty as an AmeriCorps member is this department was health education. There was a school district wide after school program, and we would teach the same set of students each week about different monthly health topics. These topics included heart healthy eating, alcohol and drug awareness, stress management, and dental hygeine, just to name a few. We based our lessons on the Health Smart evidence based curriculum and created engaging, fun material to get the kids involved and interested in taking control of their health. It was very reawrding because the students got really into it and looked forward to having us each week. They also told us their success stories on how they got their families to switch from white rice to brown rice or how they tried a healthy recipe we made in class at home. It was great and I really miss them!
Aside from teaching after school, we also ran an after school program called Future Health Care Leaders for high school students. The club provided those interested in pursuing a health career with exposure to different careers and connections to professionals in the field. It was definitely the kind of club I wish I had available to me when I was in high school. We also did a number of special projects including hand washing lessons, dental assemblies open airways for asthma classes, and red ribbon week in the schools.
On Fridays, we got together with the rest of the AmeriCorps wide projects for "team fridays" where we ould do other community service projects with high risk populations including veterans, foster children, homeless, and children at risk for obesity.
I know that's a lot of information, but the main things in my weekly schedule looked a little something like this:
Final Thoughts
Like I mentioned in my "To Gap Year or Not to Gap Year?" post, I had the time of my life in AmeriCorps and I am so happy that I chose to do it for my gap year. Now that I am in medical school, I definitely miss my students and my coworkers, but the lessons they taught me and the memories we share will always stay with me. If you have any questions about AmeriCorps or other gap year options, leave a comment or send me an email!
White Coat Ceremony, Part Two
It's official! I am a first year medical student. It's so surreal and I still can't believe that I can finally say that. I definitely thought I was going to get around to this post sooner (aka before my first day of classes) BUT between orientation, my boyfriend visiting, the ceremony itself, and getting ready for the first day of classes, let's just say that things got a little hectic!
The second ceremony happened on the last day of orientation. (If you're confused about why I had two ceremonies, read about it here!) It was yet another sunny and BEAUTIFUL day, but then again what day isn't isn't in California? Before the ceremony, we gathered in a huge lecture hall where we learned about the history of the tradition, received our coats, uniformly folded them over our arms (in a way that would allow our "cloakers" to easily put them on us!), and finally, participated in a mass procession into an ornate theatre for the ceremony.
As we arrived, you could already hear the cheers since the theatre was packed with everyone's family and friends. We have a pretty large class, so the ceremony itself went on for a while, but it was really special! We are separated into societies that kind of remind me of Harry Potter houses and each of us got cloaked by our respective society dean. We ended by reciting a pledge as a class, and then it was time to celebrate! They had an awesome reception for us outside complete with a steel drum band (my favorite!), refreshments, and a pretty sunset.
Since my family is across the country, I think it worked out perfectly that they were able to make it to my first ceremony and that my boyfriend could make it for this one. With the first ceremony, I was able to share that once in a lifetime moment of having my parents help me put on my white coat. I also got to celebrate with my boyfriend, who has supported me throughout this entire journey, and had an amazing last few days of complete freedom with him before starting. My heart is FULL of love and gratitude.
On that note, I feel honored, humbled, and blessed to be beginning this new chapter of my life. Not everyone has the opportunity to do what they truly love and are passionate about as a career and I am so excited! I've always loved learning, but I am genuinely/nerdily more excited than ever before to learn all that I can about the human body, the ethical, social, socioeconomic, and inherently human aspects of health, and to find my place as a future healer, mentor, community member, and physician. Even though the journey will be challenging, I know it will be exceedingly rewarding.
Thank you to everyone who has been tuning in and reading my blog so far. I can't wait to share these next 4 years with you!
White Coat Ceremony, Part One
As many of you who follow me on social media already know, I had my first white coat ceremony last week! It was such a surreal, AMAZING experience and I'm so happy that my family could make the cross country trip to be there for it.
I dreamed about that day since I was a little girl, and my parents always made sure I knew school came first (even before chores teehee) and that I had whatever I needed to get here. I truly owe it all to them.
This ceremony was more intimate, and there is a tradition where you can choose who you want to help you put on your white coat. Naturally, I chose my mom and dad. When it was finally my turn and they helped me (clumsily cause that's just who I am HAHA) put my arms into the sleeves and straighten it up, I felt a rush of emotion because of the symbolism and how special the moment was. I didn't even care that it felt like 100° under the tent. I will remember that moment as one of pure happiness and gratitude forever.
I know it's probably weird that I keep saying "first" and "part one"when it comes to white coat, so let me explain. Since I'm in a special program focusing on service to disadvantaged populations and underserved communities affiliated with another school, I'm lucky enough to get not one, but TWO white coats! *happy dance* My other ceremony will be at the end of orientation week next Friday, and I'll share a blog post with more thoughts on beginning this amazing journey at that time.
The Big Move ✓
Whew, what a whirlwind! Since I last posted in June, so much has happened. Let me give you the rundown; I finished my gap year with AmeriCorps, packed up my apartment and moved home for a week, celebrated my little brother's graduation from high school, shipped my car, spent time with my family and boyfriend, packed (again *le sigh*) my life into two 50 pound bags + a carry on (which was SO hard), boarded my one way flight from NY to CA, moved into my new studio apartment, ANDDDD started the pre-matriculation for medical school. Needless to say, it's been a little crazy!
It has officially been a week since I moved in and it went surprisingly smoothly. I flew in by myself with everything and I was admittedly a little nervous. It's not everyday that you leave the only place you've ever called home for a new one across the country. My uber driver was super friendly and the staff at the apartment checked me in really quickly. I'm living in graduate student housing and it's fully furnished, which really took off some of the pressure of moving too.
First of all, I LOVE the apartment! Like I mentioned, I have a studio and it actually turned out to be bigger than I thought it would be. It looked like a little closet with a kitchen online, so I was really relieved! Since I'm so far away from family and friends, it was at the top of my list to make it homey and I got started on that immediately. I got a two cute little plants from Trader Joe's and stocked up on some affordable decorations at TJ Maxx and Target.
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| Living Room Area |
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| Jade Plant & Succulent |
More photos to come when I decorate the rest of the place! In the meantime, you can find more photos/deets about my new life in California on instagram or twitter.
Overall, I'm really starting to get settled here already! I'm just waiting on my car to get here so I can get the rest of my stuff out of the trunk (especially my memory foam mattress pad because this bed is um really not too comfortable >_<) and finish up this move for good. Other than that, the area is beautiful, there's so much food and shopping available in walking distance, and I'm seriously not getting over the fact that I live in a place where palm trees grow anytime soon.
As for pre-matriculation, it just started on Friday and it was so great to finally get to meet everyone. We will spend these next two weeks locking down some study skills, getting to know the curriculum and PBL, getting tips from 2nd and 3rd year classmates, and of course, bonding with eachother! It still hasn't really sunk in that I'm starting my medical school journey, but I am (pinch me)! The program will end with a white coat ceremony, and my whole family is coming to visit for a few days to be there. I'm so excited!
Well, that's all for now. I can already tell that things are going to pick up sooner rather than later, so my goal is to post here about every other week at minimum. If I ever fall behind, I'm always on instagram and twitter, so keep in touch with me there!
Have you ever made a really big move? Any tips on life in a new city/staving off homesickness? Comment below!