April Blog

April Community Service Hours: 14 Hours

Total Hours: 26 Hours 

This month was another busy month where I did a lot of volunteering. To start off, I helped pack hygiene kits filled with toothbrushes, wipes and socks for individuals in need. One of our classmates, Jody, came up with idea and we made about 100 hygiene kits in total. This was a great volunteering activity where I got to spend some time with my classmates while also giving back to the community. Additionally, this month Tulane had their Boys In STEM program similar to the one I volunteered at last month. I was very excited to be back as we had several new activities for the kids this year. Although this event takes place on a Saturday, I went to help out a couple of days before the event started. Similar to last time, there were a lot of tasks like setting out signs and making the group bags for the kids. I spent majority of my time on making more bags for the kids and then organized the classrooms for where the students would be sitting. During the morning of the event, I came in a little bit earlier than usual to help get the students checked-in. I primarily helped with the school check-ins which had a lot more students than last time. Coming in earlier ensured that everyone was in their group before the main activities began. Once everyone was settled in, I shifted my focus to making the ending presentation. I went to majority of the groups capturing photos of the activities and the kids in action. The kids really enjoy this presentation with all of their photos, so I made sure to make good slides. Like last time this took a while and I spent majority of the day working on the presentation. Towards the end, I checked up on group leaders and other volunteers to make sure everything was running smoothly. It was once again a successful event and is something I hope to keep volunteering at in the future. 

As far as coursework, we finished our program this month with our last exam in our Cellular Control Mechanism class. Looking back we went through a lot of material, but it felt a lot more manageable than last semester. I had my last presentations this month and they went really well. My public speaking skills have improved a lot since the beginning of the year. I am a little sad that we are done with classes and I won't see my classmates as much. However, I will keep in touch with everyone and with all of our professors. The year went by really fast, but it was a challenging and rewarding one where I grew more than I could have imagined.

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