Although I enjoy my time at Hopkins, I always get excited for summer because it means I get to go back home. I stayed busy working, shadowing, and TA-ing, but I also made sure to keep a balanced schedule and incorporate fun things into my break. I had a super exciting summer, and I’m so excited to share it with you guys!
Working
Working took up most of my time because I had two jobs, but I liked them both. My first job was a basketball camp coach for kindergarten through eighth grade. It was exhausting but also rewarding to see the kids improve each week. We played so many games, did lots of drills, and gave out prizes and shirts on the last day of camp. I even met two deaf kids and talked to them about American Sign Language (ASL) and their experiences being deaf.
My other job was working in a hospital as a patient care assistant (PCA). This was a great way to get a taste of the medical field. I drew blood and inserted an IV for the first time. I chaperoned a procedure and interacted with nearly twenty patients every day. At times when the hospital wasn’t busy, I was able to chat with the nurses and doctors, which helped me learn about medical school, admissions, and life as a doctor. I even signed with a deaf man who asked me for directions! I was unprepared for 12-hour shifts, but I quickly got used to them and every day was different from the one before.
Celebrated my birthday & played tennis
Summer can’t be complete without my birthday, but I’m using the word “celebrated” loosely here since Hurricane Beryl hit Houston the day before I turned twenty. Our city lost power for days, and the temperature in our house was in the nineties. Luckily, we had a small generator, so we were still able to get cake and ice cream. We cut the cake in the dark and ate fast because it immediately started to melt. Thankfully we got power back a few days later. Although it wasn’t perfect timing, it still felt like a birthday miracle.
This summer, my family randomly got into tennis. I’m not sure how it started, but toward the end of summer we started playing every day and sometimes twice a day. You’d expect us to be good with all that practice, but we’re pretty bad. We always joke around while we play and sometimes make bets on our games. My dad got a bunch of sweat bands, which we all playfully bullied him for. We even made up our own singles tennis tournament to see who the champion was. With one side of the court getting sun in our eyes, there were a lot of upsets. My dad won, I got second, my mom third, and my sister fourth. We’ll definitely be playing a rematch.
Shadowing and TA-ing
When I wasn’t working, I was shadowing doctors and TA-ing for introduction to psychology. I was lucky that a couple of different doctors let me follow them. I got the opportunity to follow one through a family friend’s recommendation. Another was because my sister asked her doctor for me, and the last was because a doctor dropped her sons off at basketball camp when I just happened to be doing check-in that day. Everyone was extremely nice and answered every single one of my questions. I met an oral surgeon, anesthesiologist, allergist, and intern at a pediatric neurology clinic. On my first day with the oral surgeon, I almost passed out. The dental assistants moved me to another room, got me some water, and told me it happens to everyone. I also signed with a girl who took some ASL back in high school, which was really cool!
Since introductory psychology was online for the summer, I was able to TA the course even though I was in Texas. My main role was to hold weekly Zoom activities to go in-depth with some of the concepts and generally get students excited about psychology. I met so many new people and got a better understanding of some of the concepts of psychology. During my last Zoom call of the course, I got my time zones mixed up and almost missed my meeting. I was about to go to sleep when a student emailed me asking if we were still meeting. I immediately hopped out of bed and apologized to everyone, and they were all understanding. It was definitely a funny way to end the class!
Joy ride
I was also able to spend some time at Joy Ride, a therapeutic horsemanship center for children and adults with disabilities. I’ve been volunteering there since my sophomore year of high school, so I always make sure to come back when I can. Every day there is like a roller coaster of fun. This time, we made cream sodas, did an art project, and played a game with water guns outside. Everyone ended the day with a box of Cracker Jack that one of the students brought for the class. I always have a blast at Joy Ride!
Traveled to Las Vegas, Kansas, and College Station
The best part of my summer was easily getting to travel to a few different places. The first place I went to was Las Vegas with my dad and boyfriend. We stayed with my grandparents and fixed up our old house so we could rent it out. I was really glad I got to see my grandparents, old house, and all the places I used to go when I lived there. Since my boyfriend had never been to Las Vegas before, we did some touristy things and got a bunch of souvenirs. Our favorite part was easily the Tournament of Kings, where you’re assigned a country to root for (ours was Hungary) and eat dinner with your hands while you watch a jousting match.
During the Fourth of July, I went with my mom and dad to Kansas. We visited my sister and helped her move back home while she works for a year before law school. She surprised my mom and me with a little celebration since both of our birthdays are in July. It definitely made up for my Beryl birthday. My sister also took us to a spot that supposedly had good fireworks displays, and it lived up to the expectation. We all agreed it was the best show we’d ever seen, even beating Flavor Flav’s illegal fireworks we used to watch in Vegas.
Right before I left for Hopkins, I went to College Station, Texas, to visit my boyfriend and see another friend from high school. It was so great getting to catch up with everyone before I came back to school. My boyfriend and I also went to Aggieland Safari, which is a drive-thru zoo where the animals come right up to your car. We saw zebras, ostriches, deer, and so much more. We also got to feed giraffes, goats, and parakeets. None of the animals were scary except the ostriches; one pecked my phone right out of my hand! It started pouring rain right as we left, and we ended up having to run barefoot to the car, so we didn’t ruin our shoes with mud. We were soaked, but it was a hilarious ending to a perfect summer.
Overall, I got a lot of practice balancing different responsibilities and following my interests. Although I was working, it never felt like it because I enjoyed everything I was doing. I feel like all these experiences reaffirmed my goals and will help me in the future. This was definitely the best summer I’ve ever had!
