Work immersion sounds stressful for senior high-school students.

Yet, as part of the K to 12 curriculum,

we science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) students were required to gain relevant
learning experiences through actual work. We were assigned to specific partner institution, business
organization or establishment parallel to our specializations in order to help us reinforce our knowledge
from classrooms and enhance our skills.

I thought working in your chosen field would be a lot more easier because you already have a
background on what you are going to do but everything that my mind expects is all wrong. Working in
the real field is like being an ignorant child, you have to adjust on the surrounding, the people around
you and everything.

After the training, I learned that OJT is not just a requirement to be completed

This experience was transforming for me for many reasons. I did not set any expectations for my
experience in the beginning because I was not completely sure what to expect. But, I ended up loving
every moment of my project from start to finish. I began this project knowing that I love to help people,
but not having an outlet for this passion. I ended this project with experience helping people as well as a
way to continue doing so in the future. I learned a lot about myself because the difference between
knowing what you want to do and actually doing is huge. Caring for another individual is much harder
than it seems , but is also incredibly rewarding in the end. Each step of my project gave me inside about
the medical world and about myself.

Seeing patient care from different perspectives gave me an inside look at what I would be doing daily
later in life. I assumed that this would be easy for me, but someimes it can be hard and sometimes it can
be very sad. Even though I thought I was strong and could handle seeing most everything, there are
things that can still affect me For example, during the clinical hours of my STNA training, I actually had to
work in a nursing home helping to feed, clothe, bathe, etc. the residents. This was hard because these
people used to be young like me and now they cannot do anything on their own. Upon reflection after
this clinical, I was sure that choosing healthcare was the right decision for me. I was passionate about
each resident I cared for and felt so successful after making them smile or knowing that I had done a
good job. I know that it is easy for people to go through the motions in this sort of job, so I knew that if I
didn’t enjoy what I was doing it would be just as easy for me to fall into this routine. But, it makes me
happy to help other people and I learned that this work is hard but very rewarding. I am also happy that I
completed this project because it has given me confidence in the path I have chosen which was
something I didn’t have before.

My STEP signature projected consisted of 3 parts and each contributed to my transformation over a one
month period in their own way. As I mentioned before, my STNA class had a big impact on my
transformation. I learned how to care for someone on the most personal level which is something I have
never done before. I was able to grow in my love for helping others and obtain a certification that will
allow me to work in the hospital and do it for a living which is a huge step in my journey to becoming a
physician’s assistant.

Job shadowing was another thing that impacted my transformation. I shadowed a physician’s assistant
at Beacon Orthopedics in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was able to observe during clinic hours and during
outpatient surgery. Clinical hours were great because I was able to actually see health care from the eyes
of a person that I aspire to be. I was able to observe bedside manner and how to communicate
successfully with a patient. I also got to see exactly what a PA does when assisting in an operating room
which is something I would enjoy doing during my career.

As a volunteer at Good Samaritan Hospital, I helped out in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
where premature babies are taken care of until they are healthy enough to go home with their parents.
Here, I was able to cuddle babies as well as participate in activities that made the families feel
comfortable and welcome in the unit. Cuddling is a technique used to calm babies that were exposed to
drugs and alcohol in the womb. The contact with another person calms them and helps as they go
through painful withdrawals from the drugs. This opened my eyes to a serious health problem in our
society and one that I would be interested in working with more in the future. Many babies are born
with neonatal abstinence syndrome

The transformation I made during my project is vital to my personal and professional goals of getting into
PA school and becoming a PA. This project created a confidence about my career path in me that I did
not have before. I gained shadow and volunteer hours that will help me get into graduate school. I made
connections with a PA who can write me recommendation letters in the future, which will also help me
in getting into graduate school. Also, my new certification will allow me to work in a hospital and gain the
patient care hours that are the most important necessity in my graduate school application. Overall, this
project has really increased my chances of one day achieving my dreams and I am very happy about
that! I feel much more prepared for the future after gaining real experience and giving myself the chance
to continue doing this for the next few years before I begin graduate school.