Breanna Davis: 2/14/14
This Jan Plan, 2014, I was given the opportunity to take an Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology class with Dr. Thom Klepach. I have always loved Anatomy and Physiology and I hope to be a medical doctor some day, so it seemed necessary to take a class about the human body in College. Going in to the class, I had expected that I would be in class for around 3 hours, 4 days a week. I also expected that I would do really well on the quizzes and tests because I did very well in Anatomy and Physiology in High School. However, I did not expect what actually happened, which was to be pushed to my limits, learn about myself when under stress, and learn how to present a case-study.
I am a student-athlete at Colby and a student-worker. This allows for less time in my day that can be spent freely as I choose. I am a sophomore, so I have learned how to keep a healthy lifestyle and balance all my commitments in the past year. However, this January was something I haven’t quite experienced yet. In the Anatomy and Physiology class at Colby, I learned so much more than the names of the body and how the systems of the body work. I learned how to communicate with my boss, my coach, and my teacher in ways I haven’t yet done.
Our hockey schedule switches away games to home games each year. Last year, we had only one weekend away during Jan Plan, Connecticut College. This year, of the four JanPlan weekends, we had three away games, Trinity, Amherst, and Williams. We didn’t get back before 12 on any of those Saturdays because it was snowing every night when we came back. The one weekend home was our Alumni Weekend, which ended up being just as time consuming as an away trip. Some people would say, “Why put yourself through that?” My answer would be because we love our team and the sport. We aren’t quite ready to give up competing at a high level.
Having multiple commitments makes it hard to prevent them from ever overlapping. If you miss practice, you won’t get as much playing time. If you miss school, your grade will go down. If you miss work, you don’t make money. I managed to only miss work 3 times and practice once because of class. I realized that being a student-athlete may make things more complicated and may take away from the classroom, but I realized in this class that learning how to balance many commitments and keep my stress levels down will be a very important skill in Medical School.
Because I found a balance, I was able to go on the trip to Boston to see the Body World Museum, take a tour of MaineGeneral by 3rd year Medical Students, and present a case on Strokes in young adults to Doctors. With just those field trips, I would have felt like my Month of January was a success. For me, those trips helped me learn more about Medical School, anatomy, and presenting to a crowd than sitting in a lecture could. The lecture is necessary to get knowledge, but I believe the real learning is done by trying, practicing, touching, and taking what is learned in lecture to real life situations. The reason why I would recommend this class to anyone, even though it did put me in over my head, is because of the field trips and projects we did. This class did a great job teaching beyond the classroom.
My coach came to our group’s presentation and learned about Ischemic Strokes in Young Adults. The other day when she sent me an article about a professional hockey player, age 28, that had a recent stroke, I realized that my grand rounds talk had made a difference. Our group’s main focus was to raise awareness of strokes in young adults because they have increased in recent years. In the article, the hockey player happened to say almost the exact same thing. He listed symptoms, as we did, and said to get checked immediately instead of trying to stick it out. I felt accomplished that I made my coach aware enough to notice the news. It was fascinating to see that something I had created in “class” could be so important and relevant to today.
As a whole, the class affected me in a positive way and taught me important knowledge, taught me useful life skills, and it allowed me to create connections with people I may work with in the future.