Daily Journal
Day 1: 6/3/19
Waited in the lobby of building one of Hondros College of Nursing for my employer, Angela Turner, RN, to pick me up. We exchanged greetings when she arrived and she led me to her office. She explained what she does here and what she had to do today. We had to prepare sim labs for the nursing students. This involved giving medical mannequins IVs, wigs, tracheal tubes, fake cuts with fake blood and gauze, cleaning them, and resetting them. When the class arrived, I was introduced to other faculty members and sat in on the class. I then sat in on Professor Turner as she voiced one of the medical mannequins in a SimLab. This is where nursing students interact with the mannequins as if they were real life patients. We finished the SimLab and continued the lecture until I had to leave. Total Worktime: 6 hours.
Day 3: 6/5/19
Today I arrived an hour early and around the same time as the professor. We went to her office and proceeded to prep the day's simulations for the nursing students. We dressed and redressed certain mannequins. We prepped their arms for IV labs. We then broke for lunch. I left an hour early as the professor had to go to a conference in Cincinnati. Total Worktime: 6 hours.
Day 5: 6/12/19
Today I arrived around 9. They did skill test checks for individual medical students. We set about prepping more sim labs and then inventoried the medical supply closet. I counted and opened a lot of packages. I sat in on a few lectures. Went home. Total Worktime: 6 hours.
Day 7: 6/14/19
Arrived 2 hours later than normal at 11 am. Sat in on a lecture and watch a special simulation. This simulation was longer than normal and covered the admission process and the birth of a child. They call the mannequin "SimMom". Basically I watched a mannequin give birth. Then I helped Professor Turner deliver stuff and clean the lab. Then I went home at 4. Total Worktime: 5 hours.
Day 9: 7/9/19
Arrived around 9 as usual. Prepped a mannequin for a simulation (this included adding a beanie, arm band, and IV pull. Also cleaning his nose from sticky gunk). Helped create fake labels and fixed errors with white out. Proceeded to fill up simulated packets with distilled water for future sims. Sat in on two lectures and one simulation. Total Worktime: 8:15 hours.
Day 11: 7/11/19
Arrived on time at noon. Supervisor was forty minutes late due to dead car battery. Re-assembled dry injectipads. Total Worktime: 8:15 hours
Day 2: 6/4/19
I arrived and headed straight for Professor Turner's office. We began prepping more mannequins for more SimLabs. A single nursing student arrived to make up missed classes. Professor Turner turned on an educational video for the student and I sat in on it for a while. I then continued helping Professor Turner. The rest of the class arrived and Professor Turner and I could not prep the mannequins while the students were there. We sat in on their lecture and then headed to another building to check her mailbox. We came back and then she graded papers while I say in on the lecture. We are lunch and then supervised students during an exam. Then we headed back and continued prepping mannequins until I had to leave. Total Worktime: 6 hours.
Day 4: 6/11/19
Today I arrived and headed straight for Professor Turner's office. We sat in on lectures and I helped her prep more mannequins. Today we made fake poop and put it into an adult diapers for a simulation. We were then interviewed by Hondros College media people. We got our pictures taken and prepped more mannequins. Then we broke for lunch. After lunch, I helped her with more simulations and sat in on lectures. Then I left. Total Worktime: 6 hours.
Day 6: 6/13/19
Arrived an hour later than normal. They did skill test checks for individual medical students. We went to the other building and looked in her mailbox and for a certain staff member. We prepped sim labs. Then we had lunch. I sat in a lecture afterwards. I watched a simulation lab. Went home. Total Worktime: 6 hours.
Day 8: 7/8/19
Arrived around 9 as usual. Printed papers, relabeled manilla folders, wrote on the whiteboard, got out supplies for a new class coming in later that day. Set out sharps containers for IV practice. Went home at three. Total Worktime: 6:15 hours.
Day 10: 7/10/19
Arrived ten minutes early at 10:50. Sat in on lecture. Stapled many handouts for nursing students. Sat in on lecture. Went to lunch. Came back, set up simulation. Unfolded/broke down cardboard boxes. Washed pocket nurse "injectipads" and "popped their pimples." Left at 7:15. Total Worktime: 8:15 hours
Clara Schulze
Digital Portfolio
Little Mistakes
A couple summers ago, I saw a video of a man playing on a piano in the middle of the street. Emaciated and covered in dirt, he looked like he had seen better days. But when I saw the way his fingers danced on that painted piano, he seemed like the happiest person alive. His melody, though riddled with little mistakes, was, in that moment, the prettiest thing I had ever heard. I wanted to hear the actual song. I wanted to know how the original singer played it. I did some digging, and found what I was searching for.
Flawless in every sense of the word, not a single error was detectable in the original song. Upon hearing it though, I was disappointed. For some unfathomable reason, I strongly disliked the singer’s voice. The piano in the song was not bubbly like the joyful piano coated in pretty pictures. It was so perfect that it felt impersonal. Even still, I remained obsessed with that man on the street and the beautiful tune he played.
The song was arduous for me to grasp. One hand was hard enough, but two hands at a time? The task
ahead of me seemed impossible. Nevertheless, piece by piece, I worked towards my goal. Every day, the keyboard was something I could pour myself into. I spent my every spare moment practicing away, trying to add new pieces and perfecting what I already knew.
The amount of people in my grade level when I was 10 years old was a grand total of 16. Since then I’ve always moved in small circles. When I was placed in a situation where friend groups had already been established, I clamped up. It was hard for me to be myself and join in conversations. I always had an innate fear of messing up or saying the wrong thing; I didn’t want to make a mistake. Ask any of my close friends, and they’ll say the exact opposite. They would say I’m one of the most flamboyant and vivacious personalities they’ve ever met - someone without a single fear. But that vibrant personality, that confidence, was only present when I was with the people I love. If those people were taken away, and I was left alone, I closed like a clamshell. I like to think of it as a fortress that was built to be protective, but instead became suffocating.
Way back when, before that fortress was constructed, I remember my mom always being behind the wheel. She has always been the kind of person who takes charge. Starting new projects and participating in groups without even being asked since before I was born, she has been my hero for a long time. She was what drove me. She gave me goals to work towards and pushed me to be great. The piano was the one thing she never told me to do. It was something that I worked at of my own accord without her assistance. When I finally gathered the courage to play my half-baked song for my family, she was astonished. She entered the sitting room to confirm it was my playing and not a recording. Seeing her approval at
something I did solo gave me a new kind of confidence that didn’t disappear when I was alone.
I don’t pretend that I’m an accomplished pianist. I’m self-taught, everything I know has come from the internet, and I only know how to play a few songs. Even when I play that man’s lovely melody, it’s riddled with little mistakes. But I think that my little mistakes are what make the song beautiful. My blunders show my effort, how much I’m trying, and how much I love the piano. The same can be said for my everyday life. I’m not a perfect person, my life is peppered with little mistakes, and despite what I was raised to believe, someone who is perfect is not beautiful. The confidence and joy that I am constantly gaining from the keyboard will eventually let me be my own motivator. I can finally drive my own life. I can take down that silly fortress that rose around my heart. I can be myself without fear of a mistake, because mistakes are not something to fear. Mistakes are what make me who I am.
College Application Essay