Brittany BeachProject YES! Staff Intern

Reflection Essay: Mentor Project

When I started this project, I knew what I wanted to do. I have been certain

about being a doctor for most of my life. I became even more certain when I babysat

child with a Congenital Heart Defect. The first time I ever babysat him, it was scary

experience. But, I knew that kids like him were worth the schooling and money.

From this moment on, I wanted to be a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. I wanted to

shadow a doctor at a hospital for my project, but I knew that would be hard to do

with a doctor’s schedule. I contacted hospitals in my university’s area and was lucky

to have found a nurse that would allow me to shadow her on the pediatric in patient

floor. Then, a couple of days before I started my project, I emailed her to make sure

thing were okay to continue for paperwork and etc. She informed me that she could

no longer allow me to shadow her. I was upset and worried this project would not

ever get picked up.

I decided to try to volunteer at the hospital and to trust God would help me

figure the rest out. The project was a mess and I was seriously worried. I was

volunteering at the hospital and I was in my third year of college at a brand- new

university 1,500 miles away from home. I got involved in an organization for

PreMed students called Alpha Epsilon Delta or AED. I had a great semester with

them and stopped the search for a mentor. I was volunteering just about every week

with Habitat for Humanity or a 5K run for the various hospitals around the

university. But, one day in November I realized that I needed a mentor to help me fill

out the paperwork so I called my mom and told her what was going on. I told my

mom, how I wish I had someone like Mrs. Kari, our next-door neighbor and my

Brittany BeachProject YES! Staff Intern

Reflection Essay: Mentor Project

mom’s friend. My mom said, why not ask her? Turns out, it was the best thing I ever

did. I had the easiest time with my project after finding Kari as my mentor. The

project did not go how I wanted it to go in the beginning, but it was definitely a

project that I learned a lot from.

My first semester, I shadowed a state renowned facial plastic surgeon in

surgery at his practice in Orange Beach, AL. I loved every moment of this shadowing

experience. I saw Dr. McCollough interact with patients in their post surgery visits.

He showed a group of us, his plastic surgery clinic. It was also at this time, we later

watched a surgery he was performing, where we asked questions and met his other

physicians. It was my first-time shadowing and was all made possible by my

participation in AED. In conjunction with AED, I was also volunteering my time at

the Children & Women’s Hospital, working the Treehouse. The Treehouse is a place

for younger kids comes to play games, play with toys, and let out some of the energy.

I will occasional see parents come and get movies for their child as we house an

extensive movie area from A-Z. The hospital I volunteer at, doesn’t only have a

Treehouse, they have a Class Act. ClassAct is for older kids in school or kids who like

to do art projects. They are the creative people; I have worked in ClassAct a couple

of times. It is a busy room.

Through my first semester, I was seriously depressed but the only thing that

kept me going were my monthly trips to a yellow ribbon event. I had friends and a

family that were so supporting. I didn’t do to well on my grades, but this second

semester, has been very redeeming. I momentarily changed my major to Leisure

Brittany BeachProject YES! Staff Intern

Reflection Essay: Mentor Project

Studies with a concentration in Therapeutic Recreation; because of my first

semester’s final grades and because of the volunteering work I was doing at the

hospital with my Child Life Specialists. I didn’t want to change my major in the

beginning, but maybe I was meant to do something else. So, I gathered information

from my mentor and we looked. I met with a career counselor and I knew that I

really wanted to go back to PreMed after I did, so I did.

I got a car and have been able to do even more shadowing lately. I was able to

shadow a pediatric cardiologist. A field I considered entering. The experience was

so incredible that I knew this doctor life was for me. I was allowed to meet the

doctor’s resident who allowed me to listen to a child’s heart. I got to hear the

difference between an infant and a teenager heartbeat. I got to hear a murmur in a

child’s heart, as well as, learn to read an echo of a child’s heart.

As far as school goes, second semester has been tough, but the grades are

better. I definitely struggled that first semester and if I could do this project

differently, I would but I definitely would not change the amazing people I did it

with. I want to thank my mentor, Kari Laudenslager, the incredible Project YES!

Interns who gave me advice, and lastly, the kids I met during my time at the hospital.

I am so happy to be a Project YES! Staff Intern. I may not be returning to YES, but

these moments and experiences will always be with me.