Caught in Between

Hello all,

Apologies for my lengthy absence from the world of blogging. Hope you have all been having a wonderful summer!

My blog disappearance can be wholly blamed on my own failure to understand the commitment of a full-time job. The learning curve was steep, and a few weeks into my internship, I felt I had to duck out of blogging for the sake of my own sanity and those forced to spend time with me. (For those of you just joining, I spent the summer as a Summer Business Analyst with McKinsey, a global consulting firm). I’d had jobs before, on and off campus, but nothing quite prepared me for the round-the-clock emails, travel, and strict deadlines.

During ten weeks of work, though, I adjusted–things went from impossible, to stressful, to just challenging. I learned everything from logistics (how do I get a new charger/better coffee/more sleep) to basic business survival skills (e.g. Excel modeling–my personal hell), and was able to serve two exciting clients during my summer. I traveled to DC, Philly, Boston and LA, met some of the most crazy accomplished people I’ve ever seen, and generally got my first real look at the wide world of adulthood.

me on my first day of school..work wasn't quite like this

I finished up this past Friday and am still in shock, but thrilled to report that I was extended a full-time offer to return after I graduate.  I haven’t accepted my offer yet, but I’m feeling pretty good about it. I learned so much in ten weeks that the chance to return for a full two years slightly boggles my mind. I’m sure I will learn things I didn’t even know I didn’t know. The one thing tugging at my heart is the chance to return to Africa after graduation, perhaps with the Fulbright program. The jury’s out for now, but it would be an amazing opportunity, and a great excuse to return to this place.

beautiful cape town

In the meantime, though, I have the slightly unreal luxury of an application-free senior year. On the plus side, this means much more time to explore Baltimore, take interesting classes, catch up with friends, and generally enjoy myself. On the downside, this may mean that senioritis sets in…now.

I’ll blog more in the next few weeks about the non-job related things that happened this summer, but I thought it only fair to explain why exactly I had gone AWOL on you all.

Here’s to a wonderful August, hoping the heat finally breaks, and a very happy 19th birthday to my sister, Suzi!

LB

P.s. photo at top courtesy of the New York Times.

Just hours after graduation, my brother and dad attempted to move everything I was ready to part ways with out of my apartment. I watched as my bed, my textbooks, and my photos – which I thought were essential to my identity – were loaded up into a moving truck. It’s times like these when I question materialism. Maybe simplicity is really the answer to many of the stresses in life.

My plan had been established for months: I was to be a member of the 4K for Cancer cross-country bike ride to San Francisco. Over 80 donors had donated to my rider fund. They wanted to see that I went on this trip. I would be riding for them and their dedications, many of them part of the Hopkins community: from Dr. Carl Taylor – the founder of the academic discipline of international health – to a recent graduate starting chemo.

In three days, following two days of orientation, I would dip my back wheel into the Inner Harbor and have the odd experience of biking out of college. I’d part ways with Baltimore – a city that day after day since 2007 had grown to become my home. I was biking away from home. This was the plan. I had known I wanted to do this trip for so long and, yet, I felt anything but ready.

I stood in my living room as my dad approached me with a box.

“Would you like your graduation present now?” he said.

I laughed. Couldn’t he tell that this was the last thing I needed? My brother had given me a large, sky blue duffel bag as my graduation present. That bag and its contents was all I would need for 70 days of biking and sleeping. And then that duffel bag would follow me to Vietnam for one or maybe two years. Over the past month, I had a compounded transition. Orientation for both Princeton in Asia – the fellowship program I got my job through – and 4K for Cancer. Both of which felt like college orientation all over again. In both we were told to go in with an open mind and pack less than you think you need to.

Reluctantly, I opened up the gift to find… a desk box. The old Gilman tower – which had already become a memory of my time at Hopkins – was prominently featured on the lid. My full name monogrammed underneath. Inside, there was an envelope, room for, well, desk objects, and a mirror on the inner lid. I laughed.

“Dad, I don’t think that is going to make the duffel bag cut. For one, I do not have a desk…,” I said.

This could be the last thing I needed in my life, I thought. I really didn’t have a desk – my dad, friend, and I had conveniently lost my desk moving between apartments in Baltimore in December. Enclosed in the envelope was a letter from my dad. Another thing I just couldn’t handle in my life. Over the last couple of days I had received one too many – I assumed, but had not had the courage to find out – thoughtfully written letters from friends and family. I was in denial that I was the first one of my group of friends to be leaving the Blue Jay nest. I had heard one too many “take a picture with me before I never see you again.” And, well, even my mother was asking when she would see me again and if she would ever get that one week vacation with me that she had hoped for years for.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror: the exhausted face of a college graduate who had finished a draft of her never ending thesis too recently, failed to say goodbye to the people, especially colleagues, who had made my Hopkins experience what it was, and who was still trying – but seemed to be failing –at being grateful for the immediate support my family was giving me to make sure my plan went, well, as planned.

I started writing this blog in a bedroom in Kansas. I was unsure what town I was exactly in and whose bedroom I was falling asleep in. I’m currently writing this blog from a church in Colorado. I cycled – or more like climbed – the highest continuously paved highway in the U.S yesterday. Right now life really is a highway, just like the Rascal Flatts song says it is.

Despite my cycling style – slow and steady – my life is moving fast: too fast to have keys to a bedroom or to care that I don’t have a computer for months.  And, well, I’ve been told my teammates that they like the way I pace on this literal highway of life. So, although I do question myself, maybe, for now, I should just keep peddling on.

My dad has reassured me that that box will be there for me when I reach that point in my life that my pace has slowed down. When I am ready to take mementos – the ones that are currently collecting dust in New Jersey – out of my desk box and reflect on my time at Hopkins. You know, when I’m ready to open and store those sealed envelopes from my support network.

I’ll admit that I already do reflect on my time at Hopkins. And that I know there will be plenty more reflection during those lonely times in Hanoi. A Hopkins lanyard that I bought freshman year is tangled on my front handlebar and I cycle with it each and every day. That lanyard will most likely end up in that desk box. Hopkins made me stronger.

Strong enough to build a path – mainly because of the opportunities offered and the people that I met –  that I don’t think I would have taken otherwise.  Freshman year did I ever think I’d be biking across the country? No. Doing research in the United States, Brazil, Switzerland, and Vietnam? Absolutely not. Did I ever think that I’d challenge myself to an environmental engineering class and a photography class? Definitely not. And what about voluntarily taking an extra semester to work with a history professor on a thesis? Surely not.

Sure, I have my own biased advice that I think made my Hopkins experience what it was.This includes working on C-Level the day before a big assignment or test, making friends on M-Level, leaving a fraternity party if it’s not your scene, studying abroad, getting a job,  writing a thesis, volunteering in admissions. But, in all honestly, there is no specific advice I can give. Just go with it.

My brother left me on graduation day saying, “I’ll see you when I see you. And if I don’t see you soon, I’ll assume that you’re happy.” Hopkins made me ready for this goodbye. As strong as I can be. Without me knowing – “as by magic or sorcery” – I got through that metamorphosis I wrote about the summer before my freshman year.

And, with that, goodbye, Hopkins Interactive. I’ll see you when I see you (in a guest alumni blog that I already have in the works, perhaps). But, until then, I’ll be pacing on, even if it means the occasional covering in expired pancake mix.

I guess I should write about my internship, huh? :)

We’re 5 weeks in and I really don’t get how. Like I don’t understand how it has been possible for time to fly by SO QUICKLY. I really did just get there! Wow. Wowowowowowow. Hard to believe I will be finished in 3 measly weeks. If you couldn’t tell, I’m upset about this.

So this internship is thru Hopkins, namely thru the Center for Social Concern–Community Impact Internship Program. An anonymous donor (if you happen to be reading this blog very randomly, I’d just like to say THANK YOU so much for giving students like me who want to be in the community but weren’t quite sure how, this opportunity…words cannot express how grateful I am :)  ) gave 1.25 million dollars to the CSC for this program and for 5,000$ internships. I bit my lip, applied, and was accepted along with 24 other eager and socially-concerned students of all ages. Read more here: JHU Gazette Article

So, Martha’s Place. This is a transitional housing center for women seeking to overcome drug addiction and homelessness. Now, I can’t really tell you what compelled me to choose this area of social concern except for curiosity. The application allowed us to rank areas of interest–environmental issues, women, children and family issues, criminal justice, health policy, and education. I guess it was more process of elimination and the desire to try something new. I was VERY skeptical at first (why do we do that? Like why are we scared of trying new things?) but I am so glad I’m here now. I’d never really thought about drug addiction and homelessness beyond what those things superficially presented themselves as–sad situations that needed to be fixed. But, being here has made me see addiction in a different light, and it’s made me see the strength of willpower and desire.Here, addiction is seen as a disease that can be treated.

And of course, it’s all public healthy–but on the community side. Last summer, my amazing internship was health policy focused and all of the things we did affected urban areas in southwest Michigan. But there was no interaction with the community. This summer, I am deep in the community and seeing the ramifications of public health and health policy from a distance–so it’s cool seeing things from the opposite side.

This is Martha's Place...the women live in this house while they're in the program. The mural is kinda like the face of Martha's Place.

Women in the program have to have completed a 28-30 day detox treatment program before entering. So MP is more of a recovery place than a treatment facility, and focuses on making the women independent. How?

-Structure. The house has strict rules that many of these women aren’t used to. Keep in mind several never grew up in stable homes, so having a 6pm curfew, having to be told to do chores (that get checked daily), having to have your bags searched and receipts checked everytime you enter your own house, not being allowed to have a cell phone, having to have someone else manage your money for you…and much more…would be quite strange. Upon first glance this may seem harsh, but for people who never had to live by rules, it’s kind of necessary.

-Focus on job attainment. The women have to diligently search for jobs every day. Many have records, so this is hard, but not impossible. Martha’s Place sets them up with a job employment agency and works with the ladies on how to do job searches.

-Recovery and Restoration. Each day (except for weekends and holidays), the women have to attend 3 NA meetings as a part of their recovery. I actually went to one yesterday because one of the women was celebrating one year being clean and it was really something. Hearing her story about using drugs and being married to a drug dealer and doing all sorts of behavior she thought she would never do was just crazy. I loved her honesty and her willingness to remain clean, and I could see other people at the meeting were inspired. And of course, there were others who were just there, not really listening or getting anything from the meeting. But what I have been learning is that as long as they keep coming back, one day something may just click. That’s how it is most of the time–multiple failures before an addict finally gets tired of him/herself and finally decides to change–for good.

this is hanging in the hallway. i loved it so much it's my phone's wallpaper.

-Personal Enrichment. MP is under an umbrella organization called Newborn Holistic Ministries, so it has Christian foundations and the women are encouraged (though not forced) to embrace that. Whenever I am here, I see many of them reading Bibles and journaling, as well as writing letters. They can’t watch tv until 4pm so when they’re not cooking, job searching, or at NA meetings, they’re reading or writing usually.

-Therapy. The women meet with an addictions counselor weekly, as well as a therapist. They each also have a sponsor whom they can call when they are struggling and need someone really special to talk to. The sponsors are usually former addicts who are fully recovered.

dining room/sitting area where they hang out and have meetings

I spend much of my time in the house at the front desk, working on various projects, answering phones, getting the ladies their medications and watching them take it, answering questions, monitoring phone usage, checking groceries and receipts, and other things. The other half of my time is spent at the administrative office across the street, where I talk with my supervisor about what needs to be done.

Of course, women living together is always weird ‘cuz cattyness comes out. And it’s encouraged that those feelings be talked about rather than suppressed. It’s weird being an intern because I hear a lot of behind the scenes stuff on the administrative side after things happen, but I don’t see them happen in real time. I guess being an intern is just weird that way in general. Being in this kind of place (a nonprofit I should say), I am allowed to hear more than I would at another type of agency because of the small amount of staff and just because of the real atmosphere. People’s lives are trying to be transformed so I guess there’s no need to be weird and hush hush–what needs to be said and done needs to be said and done and fixed. And I love that.

I think I will write a part 2 with more personal feelings about my internship as the end nears. Stay tuned! :)

-Dominique

I’ve been spending my summer working for McKinsey, and most of the time I’ve been in D.C. Though slightly unexpected, this has given me the chance to catch up  with some other Hopkins kids and hear about what they’ve been doing this summer. Everyone seems to be doing something different and exciting.

My roommate, Laura, decided to stay on campus and finish her scary senior design lab for engineering while working in Admissions and doing research. My friend Dani is working two jobs, at a lobbying organization in DC and at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Another friend, Megan, is working for JP Morgan in New York and living a fabulous life in the NYU dorms. I ran into girls from my sorority, Phi Mu, in DC as well–one was working for a senator, another for a PR firm. My boyfriend is an analyst at a private equity firm and he’s working with Students for Huntsman, part of Jon Huntsman’s campaign for president.

It’s been great to see what everyone’s been up to for the summer, and as a now rising senior, it’s interesting to think about what we all want to do when we graduate. Most of you are just beginning your college years though, not thinking about their end, so with that in mind I thought I could recommend a few relevant bucket list items for the last summer before college.

1. Do nothing, at least for a little bit. Re-learn how to spend an entire day without a to-do list, and remember that this might be the last summer for a while you can do that

2. Spend some time with your family and high school friends, get to know your home town a bit better before you leave.

3. Make some money. Babysit, mow lawns, waitress, get a real job if you feel so inclined. Having some spending money come September will be incredible helpful.

4. Do something you haven’t done before. Whether it’s checking a weird item off of your life bucket list (bungee jumping, going to another country, driving stick shift) or taking a class, learning a language, or working a job you’ve never thought of before, this is a great summer to do something different, and you might see something that changes your mind.

5. Spend a bit of time thinking about college, not in the scary to-do list way, but as a big picture. Do some research about on-campus activities. Shoot your advisor an email. Contact kids from your home town or high school who attend Hopkins. Think about what you want to get out of your freshman year.

I hope you’re all having a great summer, wherever you may be and whatever you may be doing. Happy June!

Lauren

Hello All, Happy May!

As I spoke to my parents last night for our now only semi-regular Sunday Skype sessions, my Dad pointed out that I had precisely three weeks until the first day of my very real summer job. As I was quietly freaking out, it occurred to me that I still hadn’t written about my job up here! What serendipitous timing, as I searched for a blog topic late on Sunday evening.

hey brown family! real life skype date

So, after many late nights, flashcards, romantic dates with “Case in Point,” and a few nail-biting days of interviews, I am thrilled to say I’ll be working for McKinsey & Company this summer.

The first few weeks of my semester were completely consumed with the job search. My iCal was transformed. My planner was scrawled with things like “midnight resume drop,” “superday” and “on-campus recruiting,” phrases entirely foreign to me before this semester. I made the bold step of purchasing an actual skirt suit (thank you, J.Crew) and investing in a pair of classy, rather than crazy, heels. I rewrote my resume, learned how to submit expenses, took the Acela Express. I hung out a lot in D.C.

After a particularly nerve-wracking round of interviews in the first week of March, I got perhaps the most exciting phone call of my life (bear with the drama, and understand that very few things are actually done via phone these days). At an entirely un-collegiate hour of Sunday morning, I got a call from the D.C. office informing me I’d been offered a position as a Summer Business Analyst. To be quite honest, I was shocked. So shocked, in fact, that I asked the lovely woman on the other end of the line if she was kidding. After reassuring me that she was not, in fact, joking, we chatted and I celebrated.

As amazing luck would have it, my parents were in town for the weekend. I frantically called them and they threw their own mini-celebration in the aisles of Home Depot (they were kindly picking up paint for my half-finished kitchen).

Since then I’ve been doing other new, real world things. Tax forms? Background checks? More sensible heels? Now that my start date is officially three weeks from today, it’s starting to feel a bit more real, and I can’t wait. I’m so excited to see what it’s like! I can’t wait to find out what projects I’ll be working on, meet the other interns, and spend the summer working at such a fabulous company.

While I’m on this note though, it’s important for me to recognize the amazing work everyone in the Career Center did to to help me get to this point. The On-Campus Recruiting events for other firms, the networking, alumni connections, and endless support were so helpful. The director of the Career Center, Mark Presnell, sat down with me on multiple occasions to help me review case interviews. He spoke with me about alums working at McKinsey and the other firms at which I was interviewing. He broadened my horizons about other companies and post-graduation options. I genuinely don’t think I would have received an offer without everyone else’s help, and I’m so appreciative for that.

Interviewing was an interesting experience.

Hopkins, at most financial firms, is not a “target school” (another new term I’ve learned). Despite this, Hopkins is widely respected and renowned. At every turn, I was asked how Hopkins might prepare me for a job at “X” firm. The more I thought about it, the easier this question became to answer.

Hopkins is an incredibly self-motivated place, it is a place that lets you be an independent learner, a place that makes you take responsibility for yourself. Hopkins is an amazing place to go to college, but it’s also an amazing place to have gone to college. In so many ways it not only gives you a great education, but prepares you for the real world. Hopkins teaches you not what to think but how to think, how to approach a problem, how to work hard.

These are the skills I’ll really need this summer and as I go into the real world next May. Despite the inevitable butterflies, I feel prepared and ready to work at McKinsey. I can’t wait.

Looking forward to business casual, to long hours, a short commute, and a fabulous experience!

-Lauren B.

“I don’t mean to sound like your parents, but do you have plans for next year?” Dean Conley, the Dean of Enrollment and Academic Services, asked me at my “Graduating Senior Exit Interview” today (an optional time scheduled for graduating seniors to meet with administration to discuss their time at Hopkins).

“Going to Vietnam…” I said.

* Pause *

Me talking to a monkey in Cambodia.

Over the past couple of weeks, these words have begun to just naturally roll off my tongue. From meeting parents at open houses to casual conversations with strangers in the elevator of my apartment, I have begun to perfect my speech. I realize that I have been ignoring writing about my job hunt in my blogs but now that plans are settling, the questions have begun to start flowing:

What are you doing next year?

I am going to Vietnam starting in August for at least a year. I received a grant through Princeton in Asia, a private non-profit founded in 1898 and affiliated with Princeton University, whose mission is to “promote the free interchange of the best ideals of in the civilizations of both East and West.” As a fellow, I have been placed with Population Services International (PSI) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Although Princeton in Asia has existed since 1898 and there were 165 fellows last year alone, this is the first year that this specific post exists. With a travel extensive position, I will be working with the region’s research teams to design anything from small qualitative studies to outlet audits looking at distribution strategies of health products. Projects that I may be researching include HIV, malaria, TB (my personal interest), reproductive health, and safe water in Laos, Burma, China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Why take this fellowship?

Returning from dearest Suisse, I was overwhelmed when I received an email from my academic advisor to consider highly competitive national scholarships and grants for my post-graduation plans. Don’t get me wrong, I was honored. But the idea of post-graduation plans just seemed somewhat nauseating. And the idea of developing a research project or putting together some applications that required eight recommendations was equally frightening. I really did debate if any of these grants were “for me” and by the end of this debating, I quickly managed to drive myself to get two applications together.

I found out that I was a finalist for both of them during the winter months. And, well, then it got tough. Princeton in Asia has many different types of placements, many are teaching posts, others are working for much smaller environmental non-profits for instance. But the PSI post was special for me: it was in my first choice country, with an organization that I had learned about in my coursework, and it would be doing work that I know would be productive.

I had a hunch that what happened was going to happen: I found out about the Princeton in Asia grant before the other grant and had to decide whether to take the job or not, and risk taking a “leap of faith.” Honestly, it was a good place to be in: having opportunities lined up before graduation day!

But I’m indecisive. And this felt so much harder than high school. I sought advice from my advisors, recent alums, family, and students (from my close friends to Vietnamese students). It was a harder decision for me than I thought it would be. I was literally questioning everything from the obvious (benefits and orientation dates) to comparing the average work schedule. I had anxiety attacks: Did I really want to be away from home for so long; did I want to spend Christmas in Hanoi? Why international public health? Why not an elementary school teacher? Why not a nice job in New York City? But the biggest problem was not being able to judge how my daily life is going to be before stepping foot into my new office; I definitely took the whole idea of being able to visit colleges as something for granted.

Uh… Vietnam?

Me in Cambodia in 2005.

Southeast Asia has played an important part of my upbringing since middle school. My non-profit work at a young age got me to Cambodia in 2005 to visit the landmine surviviors a group of us had fundraised for. Since freshman year, I have had some kind of desire to work in Southeast Asia. But I found it rather difficult to find research opportunities in this region or even just to take a course on the Vietnam War let alone a language course. But, sure enough, I have made it follow me. Any open subject academic paper, there I was writing about Cambodia. I was eventually told that the best way to continue this interest was to just go by myself. And, after taking a deep breath, that’s what I am doing!

What was your thought making process like? What got you to accept?

My computer background aka my inspiration.

I found out about this post the same day that regular decision Hopkins letters went out, which I felt symbolized something. Some may see this post for me as strange. I’m going to yet another continent to do research without knowledge of the language. But I think this post is the obvious decision for my career path. What ultimately made me decide was thinking about which opportunity I had at hand that would be less likely to get again and also which opportunity I would be more upset by if someone else was doing it. When I asked myself those questions, this post seemed to have won.

For my honors thesis, I’ve been interviewing tuberculosis experts. I have always enjoyed finding out and reading about how people got to their current career position. Rarely is it because of what they decided to double major in or where they went to school, it’s often about the opportunities they have seized and the people they have met from those. Come to think of it, I may have to take that last piece back since so many of the interviewees were Johns Hopkins alums.

Anyway, the best piece of advice I got was from Dr. Lee Reichman, the founding executive director of the Global Tuberculosis Institute at UMDNJ. Besides for advising more education, he told me to about getting his first job out of his Masters in Public Health. He said he was offered this job as Director of the Bureau of Tuberculosis of New York City. After that, he called 10-15 people that he knew in the tuberculosis community to ask them what they thought.

He said, “I really just wanted to tell them, ‘Oh look, I was offered this job, isn’t that exciting?’ And all of them said they were offered this job already and turned it down because it was impossible to do. And so, of course, that met my criteria: to do a job no one else thinks you can do. And, therefore, if you fail, nothing is lost…. And, so, if you want to make it in academic medicine, and this is what I always tell my students, you have to be smarter than everybody else or do something else no one else does….”

To me, and even my future supervisor, this post is one of those impossible posts that somehow I seem matched for. The task is to assist on research in a region that is so diverse within and across country divides. But in many ways, my Hopkins career path has built me up for this post and I am excited to just run with it.

How does it feel to have this planned out?

Honestly, I feel like a barbie doll these days. You’ve got studying Jess, working Jess, spring Jess, baking Jess, cycling Jess, and now Vietnam Jess.

Can I call you Hanoi Hannah?

Well, of course. Or as the beloved office I currently work at calls me: Jersey girl via San Francisco via Hanoi.

* End Pause *

“And don’t worry about asking,” I said to Dean Conley, “my dad asked me yesterday what I was planning to do come August 2012.”

I’ve been asked if I’m writing a thesis of a blog. The answer is yes.

Last weekend,  I attended a two-day Leadership Symposium put on by Johns Hopkins Development and Alumni Relations (the same Symposium that JHU_Mandy just wrote about). The idea was to get graduating seniors and young alumni to “reflect. connect. pursue.”

At the symposium we were told to draw a timeline of our four years at Hopkins.  The eventful timeline that I visualized  is made up of the people that I have met at Hopkins who I’ve connected with and who have given me much of the support that I’ll need when I pursue whatever it is that I do next year.

Who are these people? Last semester, I introduced you to Stephanie, Janine, Sharlene, Jackie, Michelle, Tashi, Jenna, Ayano, and Alexandra in the entry “A Party of Blue Jay Hens.” 9 female Hopkins alums who I connected with at Hopkins who inspired me at the time but that I now admire for what they are pursuing.

Why no men? Mainly because that blog entry was waiting for now. Without further ado,  I introduce you to the 9 most personally influential Hopkins men. In chronological order, because, well, this is my timeline:

2005: Matthew (New Jersey, Class of 2010, Public Health Studies)

I get asked about Matt every week.  To put it simply, we met when we were 16 and instantly became, to say the least, best of friends. Before we had met,  Johns Hopkins was conveniently on both of our college lists. When he got in in December 2005, I screamed in excitement in the halls of Tenafly High School. When I got in in December 2006, he screamed in excitement in Building A. Although over five years have passed and thousands of miles have been between us, he continues to be my biggest cheerleader.

Matt is a true example of the good worklife balance that is possible to have at Hopkins. As a person, he has the best work ethic of anyone I know. In high school and in college he never did schoolwork past mindnight. Where did that get him? London School of Economics. At Hopkins he became interested in health economics which brought him to LSE to pursue a masters in International Health Policy. His two specific interests are cost-effectiveness and China. I have a feeling this interest is going to stay with him as his program just placed him with a position at Double Helix Development, a health economics consulting firm that is looking to expand into China.

2007: Mohammad (New Jersey (at heart), Class of 2011, Public Health Studies)

Mohammad and me playing chess in Geneva.

I consider Mohammad my soulfriend. Coming into Hopkins, I knew there was this guy named Mohammad that I had to meet.

In middle school and high school, my main extra-curricular was volunteering with a student-driven non-profit, Global Care Unlimited.  Still, my biggest accomplishment in life is probably to have graduated middle school having been a part of raising $30,000 to demine a village in Bosnia. Six miles away from me this guy Mohammad was in the local papers for having created The Peace Project, a successful attempt to raise funds for war-ravaged communities. On top of all of this, Mohammad and I shared a mutual friend who had told me beforehand that Mohammad was coming to Hopkins and that I had to meet him.

Orientation week came along, and there Mohammad and I were sitting next to each other in Conversations With the Earth (yes, that’s a class). We exchanged names and instantly realized who each other were. After his freshman year, he biked across country as part of 4K for Cancer (yes, he inspired me to do it this summer). Last year, he took a semester off to work with FIFA on their Football for Hope movement. Next year, having received a Mitchell Scholarship, he will begin pursuing a master’s degree in development practice, a new program funded by the MacArthur Foundation and offered by University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin in partnership with the National University of Rwanda (yes, I had to look that up).

Mohammad is an example of how Hopkins students, if they’re willing to put the time and effort into it, have a vast array of opportunities at their fingertips waiting to be seized. But to me Mohammad is less the guy who loves social development and is more the guy who makes me a birthday crown, surprise visits me in Geneva, and complains and gossips with me.

2007: Mike (Massachusetts, Class of 2011, Anthropology)

It was a crisp fall day when I met Mike for the first time. He was sitting on a park bench… Ha. Anyway, Mike is currently sitting next to me in the library. Although, I can’t see his screen he is probably reading a newspaper article in Arabic or editing someone else’s grant  or writing his thesis related to his work at Charm City Clinic – a non-profit aimed to close East Baltimore’s health care gap. There is a good chance that he’ll stay up tonight reading Indiana Jones or watching a French movie. Come 9 am, he may knocking on the door of a patient who is receiving care from the Clinic he’s devoted his life to.

Mike is an example of how even a Hopkins pre-med student can fall in love with Baltimore while pursuing their interests. Next year, Mike dreams of living in Chad and becoming fluent in Arabic. I wish that all premeds were as socially concerned as Mike is. He idolizes Bruce Springsteen and Paul Farmer. And, well, given his singing abilities last night and his current diagnosis of my bug bites, he’s well on his way to become a combination of both.

2008: Dr. Bob Lawrence (School of Public Health Faculty, Department of Environmental Health Sciences)

Last blog, I wrote about just how awesome my job is at Center for a Livable Future. Well, that job wouldn’t be possible without its director, Dr. Lawerence.  I sent Dr. Lawrence an email at the beginning of sophomore year. Before I knew it, I was in his office discussing landmines.  I’m truly overwhelmed by him. In 2009 he received the American Public Health Association’s most prestigious award. How couldn’t he? Prior to his days at Center for Livable Future, he became the founding director of the Division of Primary Care at Harvard. He worked at the Rockefeller Doundation. He co-founded Physicians for Human Rights.

Dr. Lawrence is an example of how Hopkins students can find role models within the University’s faculty. I know Dr. Lawrence less as a professor with all of these accomplishments, and more as a professor who bikes to work, donates to my 4K for Cancer ride, and invites me to look at his baby pictures at a holiday party at his house.

2008: Dr. Lou Galambos (School of Arts and Sciences Faculty, Department of History)

Dr. Galambos is a beloved faculty member of the public health studies program. He has been at Hopkins since 1971. His path to Hopkins is an interesting one that includes engineering and the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, it is Dr. Galambos’s connections that secured me funding twice to do work abroad. He came to Hopkins with an ambitious project. For three decades, he edited the last 16 of the 21 volumes of The Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, he actually is known as a big-picture historian studying multinational corporates and big government. Because of this interest, he co-teaches the course Global Public Health Since WWII; easily one of my favorite courses at Hopkins. It taught me to question people’s intentions in public health and to look at historical events that have shaped the framework that we have today.

For me, Dr. Galambos is an example of how academia is supposed to work. He is my thesis advisor. Why? Because his course changed my perspective on global health, and led me to do research, which then led to his support. I wish that every student at Hopkins was able to have similar research experiences. Although, I admire him as a professor and as an advisor, I think of him as the professor who calls me JK, sends me emails from family vacation in Puerto Rico, and wears a Cat in the Hat tie and a lizard watch.

2009: Dr. Jonathan Golub (School of Public Health Faculty, Department of Epidemiology)

Dr. Golub is an example of how a Hopkins faculty, with a little bit of support, can pass down passions rather effortlessly. Dr. Golub’s focus is on the epidemiology of tuberculosis. Having the itch to go abroad during my sophomore year, I met with Dr. Golub. I left the meeting with his confidence that I could go abroad and make a difference on one of the studies he was co-authoring. Dr. Golub inspires me because of his ability to face MDs with a PhD.

As I continue to write and interview MDs on their thoughts on the history of tuberculosis funding for my thesis, I realize that this interest (that I hope to continue after college), would not have been possible without him.

2009: Michael (Minnesota, Class of 2010, International Studies)

Michael embarrassing me at Jackie's birthday.

I met Michael at a table on M-Level with JHU_Jackie. Jackie introduced us by saying that I had been in Brazil the summer before. Michael, who is fluent in Portuguese yet hasn’t been to Brazil, started up a conversation. And, well, he didn’t exile me for doing research in Brazil despite having little knowledge of Portuguese. Instead, well, he started embarrassing me, inviting me over for tea, and watching Glee with me. Our conversations haven’t stopped. And if there’s one thing that can cheer me up it’s Michael dancing to the song Tightrope (which is exactly what he did this weekend).

Michael is an example of why Hopkins students should study on M-Level. On M-Level he was able to not only meet me but he was able to develop the broadest base of knowledge of anyone I know. Yes, he’s a German major who is fluent in Portuguese and who came to Hopkins enrolled in Kiswahili. He studied abroad in Botswana, wrote an honors thesis & devoted his Woodrow Wilson research project to Thomas Mann, while still managing to write for the Twin Cities Daily Planet on how Minnesota Fun is just down the road.

On a more serious note, Michael is an example of how Hopkins students should stick with their interests when looking for jobs. Michael currently works for NED (the National Endowment for Democracy) in the District as a program assistant for their East and Southern Africa unit. I can’t even tell you how tightly my fingers were crossed that this position would work out for him.

2009: Wolfgang (Berlin, Class of 2011, Computer Science)

Wolfgang and me at the Rally to Restore Sanity in DC.

And, well, once you meet one awesome people, you meet another one. Thanks to Michael and his crazy connections from his broad base of knowledge, I met Wolfgang on M-Level. It was there that he stole my diet soda, coded, and told us the stories behind his wristbands. But I really met him, in the true sense of the word friend, in New York City this past summer where we were both interning. Our friendship started off rather dizzying (literally and figuratively). But despite that, he’s broadened my horizons – by simply being the person that he is – more than anyone I know.

Wolfgang is an example of a Hopkins student who treats their education as a gift. Wolfgang’s story is a story of someone who worked hard and planned his life out so that he could eventually get the education in the United States that he wanted (without sacrificing fun). During an interview in January I was asked, ‘What annoys you about people?’ My answer was people that don’t value the education that they’ve been given and also, in some cases, earned. I wish that every Hopkins student had the mindset that Wolfgang has and appreciated quality higher education in in the United States (despite the annoying professors, classmates, and stress that that education gives all of us). After graduation, Wolfgang’s solution-oriented mind will be back to good use with Bloomberg L.P. in New York City.

2011: Wall-E (Baltimore, Class of 2011, Geography – yup, it’s a major at Hopkins)

Wall-E and I admiring a Maryland farm together.

Wall-E, short for Waltraud (obviously), is the name of my bike. My relationship with Wall-E is an example of why every Hopkins student could benefit by having a bike. After just a couple weeks of riding, I can say with certainty that Wall-E has shown me more of Maryland than any one item or person. I’m hoping our friendship builds quickly since for 70 days this summer he’ll be my physical support.

*********

And of course my dad provides messages with additional support.

My dad for a while tried selling me on our state university. Given both of my parents got quality educations at state universities. I eventually convinced him that despite the price tag, the state university – because of its size and academics – wasn’t for me. I now realize that I should’ve mentioned student body in my argument. I think it says something that I’ve never met any college friends of my dad nor my mom.

Parents oftentimes want their children to have less life struggle than they did. It’s of course hard to visualize how me college experience would have been different if I had attended a different school. What I do know is that many people always say that the best thing about Hopkins is the people. I second that. And not just people, but I hope as you can tell from my personal touch, how naturally they’ve come into my life at Hopkins. I know for a fact that I would not have met these 9 (ok, well, actually 8 ) influences in my life if it hadn’t been for Hopkins. And I don’t think I would have met similar individuals if I had stayed in New Jersey. Who knows what life struggles are in store for me, but I’m sure they will be less of a struggle than they could be with this support.

(Sidenote – The title of this blog comes from the male symbol which represents the shield and spear of Mars)

Seriously. Maybe it’s because I’ve decided to take Microeconomics for the fun of it. I stare at graphs representing wheat and corn production (today we expanded to…cheese!). And I’m reminded why I just couldn’t be an economist: because of the pessimistic social sciences outlook that comes with the field in comparison to the optimistic outlook to the public health one that I’ve cherished.

The Production Possiblities Frontier/Curve - http://www.emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/0010370303004.png

Confused? Take the first lesson of economics: the Production-Possibility Curve. It’s basically a curve that shows the different rates of production of two goods (say, wheat and corn). The thing that bothers me is that there is a maximum. Yes, I’m annoyed by points on a curve. Annoyed that there is, as the professor says, a God-given maximum amount of corn and wheat that can be produced.

Basically, finite resources annoy me.

Frustrated by this, my mind starts racing. Does this mean that there is a maximum amount of valentines that can be produced? According to that economic outlook apparently there is. Fortunately, that number must be pretty high. Although the definition of a valentine these days is fairly loose. According to the trustworthy broken like citation on Wikipedia, if we narrow it to just cards, we’re already producing 190 million valentines  each year in the US.

***

Where am I going with this? You see I, the senior at Hopkins, have something in common with most of the seniors in high school reading this. The chances of us facing rejection (or already having faced rejection) not once but multiple times, based purely on probability, is quite high. Rejection seems inherent with life planning, and thus of being a senior. And for good reason. I hate to admit that the economic outlook may be right. Maybe I should just state it: there is a finite amount of spaces in the Hopkins Class of 2015.

This is scary especially for students that who have a history of being successful and enjoy challenging themselves, like many of you reading this I’m sure are. I can’t deny that being accepted had become a way of life for me prior to entering college. I just expected that I would get into the programs and positions that I found myself into. And having applied early decision to Hopkins, even though I didn’t expect to be accepted, I still didn’t have to face regular decision rejection.

Even scarier, is the real world: there is sometimes just one job opening with an organization, just one honor being given out, and just a small number of grants that can be awarded (yuck, financial limitations). And, unfortunately, in the real world rejection often comes first. As in, it may take lots of rejection before the puzzle pieces (of life?) fall in place.

Depressing? Not exactly. Having already faced rejection more than once this school year, I know that I’m prepared more than ever for the terrible inherent part of life. Maybe it’s maturity. But as I continue to listen to teen pop, I’d deny that theory. What I do know that my senior year mindset is better than my 5^th grade mindset after having just found out that I didn’t make the 5^th grade traveling basketball team.

***

So, with that, I’ll share with you my mindset/advice in hopes that you too will be prepared for whatever life has in store for you:

My friend Mohammad and me at my birthday party.

1. Appreciation.

My Grandma Lynn writes the best cards. This year’s birthday card was all about how she had a feeling that this birthday was going to be a memorable one simply because of how much I had to appreciate from my friends to my school which has given me, as she puts it, a deepened concern for the world and confidence. She is totally right. I am so appreciative of what I do have and of just where the support has gotten me to be able to apply to competitive opportunities. Surrounding myself with good friends to keep me upbeat is the biggest blessing in my life.

2. Rant.

Rejection can lead to some pretty ugly emotions. Feelings of jealousy. Feelings of self-worthlessness. Feelings of regret. Suddenly, every single question in an interview or every single part of an application comes rushing back. Sure, there are ways to approve from your mistakes but it’s also important to not get too nitpicky about potential faults. What’s my best cure to make sure my emotions don’t get out of control? Find an outlet to rant.

JHU_Lauren C and me frolicking and being ourselves.

3. Be yourself.

I’m definitely made this mistake before and it makes rejection hurt that much more. It’s really important to make sure that I’m doing activities that I enjoy and planning out my life for myself. It’s important to be unique in an applicant pool. Too often I’ve found myself stuck trying to shape myself into the person that I think the selection committee is looking for.

4. Matchmaker.

This is definitely another trap that I’ve fallen into. It’s important to remember that positions (and university’s) play a game of matchmaking. Having watched seniors go through the job hunt before, I’ve noticed how acceptances come when the position truly matches one’s interests and passion. Because of this, sometimes I find it good to see a rejection as an indication of a bad match.

5.  Oh, Life.

But sometimes the position seems to have been too perfect for me to be seen as a bad match. And in those cases, I think about fate. I will definitely say that I’m a believer in fate. There are some things that cannot be controlled. Sometimes it’s hard to understand why things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to. I hate to be cliché but everything happens for a reason. Rejection from one school could lead to accepting an awesome place at say, Johns Hopkins! Or rejection could lead to challenging yourself even more.

6. Safety.

Thinking through my options has definitely helped me. In high school, knowing that I had safety schools that I would be happy going to made me OK with the thought of facing rejection from my reach schools. Now, as I prepare for the real world, knowing that there are internships available or Hopkins jobs to consider in case I don’t get my top choices has helped me cope with rejection.

7. Optimism.

Telling my friends who have graduated and haven’t found a full-time position to stay optimistic is hard. The best way to stay optimistic I find is remembering that it only takes one chance encounter or one job application to get accepted.

And, with that, I am prepared for senior spring. To not be afraid to apply for an opportunity, because, well, what’s the worst that could happen? Rejection. And, well, even in a finate world, I think I can handle that one.

Firstly, congratulations to the newly admitted members of the class of 2015!

I must apologize for my lack of blogging. I think I’m not the only one to admit that the end of the semester seems to fill up with an unmanageable workload that somehow becomes manageable. Just a day after my last final, I relied on friends (and their Zipcar driving, recycling, storage, and plant-sitting abilities) to make sure I was completely moved out of my apartment.

Why? Um, well, because my life would just not be nearly as exciting if I stayed put in the same room for longer than 4 months. Actually, that’s a lie. I’m a bit tired of living in piles. The truth is that I originally was going to graduate a semester early but decided that a Hopkins education was just too valuable to cut short.

And, well, now, I’m currently headed on a plane with my dad to Guadalajara, Mexico to visit my grandma who I haven’t seen in at least four years. The speed of my life, at 21 years of age, is already uncomfortably fast and about the only thing I’ve been able to plan ahead of time for is Christmas shopping. Where am I going with this?

There’s no denying that, at this perceived rate of time, I’ll be a college graduate before I know it. So, faced with uncertainty ahead, what is keeping me from having an anxiety attack?

Well, this past semester I had the chance to spend time with a few of my favorite female Hopkins graduates. Suddenly the answer became clear. It’s… them – those that were just recently in my shoes and managed to get through this life transition. Not just to get through it, but to succeed.

I introduce to you a few of those inspirational hens making up the party of Blue Jays  (Did you know all female birds are called hens? And that a group of Blue Jays is called a party or a band?! Proof: http://www.birdnature.com/groupnames.html)

Why just females? Well, partially because if I highlighted the male graduates, I would need a much longer flight to write this blog. But, also, because it wasn’t until 1970 that women were even able to step foot on the beloved Homewood campus as undergraduates. Due to this male advantage, the alumni sex ratio is not exactly even, so it’s important to highlight successful female alums.

Steph (center) and Janine (right) – two public health studies graduates -

Where are they now? Less than a year since graduating, Steph is now at Columbia pursuing a Masters in Public Health and Janine is at Harvard Med. Whether they know it or not, I’ve  looked up to these two since I stepped foot on campus.

I met Steph as a pre-frosh and she has continued to energize me. She kept herself busy at Hopkins and seemed to play and run nearly every club and intramural sport out there while still playing in the orchestra, working at student life, and cooking as if she had a family to feed. Throughout all of this, she inspired me to take beautiful notes in epidemiology and even helped design the my JH portal that so many of you newly admitted students will simply take for granted.

Janine is well…Janine. I wish everyone when they thought of pre-med at Hopkins could picture Janine. I met her through Public Health Student Forum. In fact, I can thank her for being appointed as freshman representative.  She managed to race in cycling, become an environmental advocate on campus (which I believed led to her dressing up as a polar bear), and take off an entire semester to pursue tuberculosis epidemiology research in Morocco. Although she *only* made the third team of USA Today’s 2010 All USA Academic Team, she is definitely first team quality in my book.

Sharlene – a  ’09 public health studies graduate

Where is she now? At Google. (Now you see why it’s so hard for me to answer the – “what can a public health graduate do with a degree?” question) Residential Advisors (RAs) are meant to serve as role models for their residents. I don’t know if they do for everyone, but they definitely did for me. Sharlene was my RA as a freshman. Although I would automatically be spending time with her since she was co-president of Public Health Student Forum, I had no idea that an RA would want to make room to spend even more time with her residents but Sharlene definitely did. She would eat breakfast and study with me. She too would find time during college to run away… to the World Health Organization! Although she’s always had dreams to become a doctor (and has already decided to eventually attend University of Maryland),she is currently working at Google on the AdSense team. That’s right she’s in…advertising!

JHU_Jackie (far left) - a ’10 philosophy graduate and JHU_Michelle (second from the right) - an ’08 neuroscience graduate  - In this picture, I imagine we’re all being entertained by one of JHU_Daniel’s stories.

Ever wonder what happens to those crazy students that answer your questions at open houses or write those blogs? Well, they’ve all done some awesome things. I’ve been able to see two of my favorites Student Admissions Advisory Board alums this semester.

The first one up is Jackie. In college, she inspired me by simply being able to write philosophy papers. If that’s not enough, she is one of the best, and most dependable, study buddies I will ever have. Where is she now? Well, currently she’s on a train from CT back to our lovely nation’s capital. How do I know that? Well, we tend to talk a lot. Although, she can envision herself attending law school, she currently is working on all things social media for the No Labels movement. Let’s just say that when terms like “hyper-partisanship” are no longer used in our newspapers, I know that Jackie will have been a part of it.

And then there’s Michelle. As a freshman, I was a student with Michelle in Intro to Fiction and Poetry. I thought of her as an intimidating senior – one that I thought might break our curve (later I found out there was no curve in this class)  and wasn’t afraid of being a few minutes late to class. I highly doubt back then that I could’ve imagined regularly talking to her for the next three years. As a freshman, I admired her as a Wilson fellow taking on epilepsy research while also finding the time to act in many productions. I’m positive I wasn’t the only one admiring her; she would go on to earn a spot on the JHU Board of Trustees as young trustee. What’s she up to? She works for a small company known as glassCanopy, where she helps with marketing Silicon Valley startup companies.

Tashi (far right) – a ’10 history graduate

I’ve been so lucky that Tashi decided to stay in Baltimore this year.  This past semester, she has opened her door to her (and even her mother’s) delicious cooking more than once. She is one of the most giving and caring people that I know. Don’t believe me? She ended up having to go to the emergency room three times for a series of rabies shots all thanks to rescuing a terrified cat.  I doubt she would have believed me if I told her that, in less than a year, she would be employed as a research program assistant at Johns Hopkins Department of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. But sure enough, that’s where she is: researching (and working directly) with youth.

Well, I could keep going on and on, especially if I include alums overseas. Don’t believe me?

- There’s Jenna, a ’10 chemical and biomolecular engineering, graduate who is now in Saudi Arabia at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology getting a masters.

- And Ayano, a ’10 public health studies graduate  in Taiwan for a year as part of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program.

- Speaking of Ayano, her childhood friend, Alexandra, is a ’10 international studies graduate who is now a Peace Corps health volunteer in Cambodia.

And I can’t even say they are the only Hopkins graduates that I know on Fulbright and Peace Corps programs…. See I really can keep going and going, but I think you see the point.

Jessica – a ’11 (let’s hope!) public health studies graduate wearing her Christmas best

Well, I currently do not feel like a college graduate nor do I have any idea what continent I’ll be on next year. Yet, I find reassurance in knowing that the above alums this time back in their senior year didn’t know where they would be now.

To the high school students out there, this blog hopefully gives you the same reassurance that it has given me. The most important thing for me to do when I get worried about the future is to look forward. And when I just can’t seem to imagine the future, I look to those friends (or even just acquaintances) who are recent graduates. So whether you have  just been denied (or even accepted) from your top choice school, the most important thing to remember is that your hard work will pay off.

One of the exciting things about internships is that you can put theory into practice…meaning that I’ve been experiencing a lot of what I learned in my Health Policy and Management class..yay!

So part of this internship involves weekly site visits to other interns’ places, so we can be exposed to the different types of entities at work in health policy reform. Two that really stuck out to me were our visits to a free primary care center, and to a hospice headquarters, both in Detroit.  I named this entry “Working Day and Night” because these types of entities are always working to ensure that areas of care that are often neglected–primary care and end of life care–have a presence among disparate populations. There are always unknown, behind the scenes organizations working day and night to try to address our broken healthcare system, and they deserve some major kudos for that.

Mercy Primary Care Center services the uninsured on the east side of Detroit–and it offers services that help eliminate disparities among the underserved population when it comes to healthcare. It offers primary care (i.e. check ups), transportation, diagnostic services, medications, health education, and mental health counseling.

Mercy Primary Care Center...sorry the picture is so small

For FREE. All for free. When they told us this, I was in awe. There are not many places like this…and if there were more safety net providers like this, then people without insurance could receive care they otherwise would not get.  I just found this amazing. They showed us a video of patients at Mercy, and they all concluded that without this clinic, they would not be getting primary care and medications…at all. The clinic doesn’t do specialty services, but they will work with specialists to provide the care patients need as best as they can.

Imagine not being able to go to the doctor when you were in pain or sick, because you know you won’t be able to afford the $150 visit. Imagine having a job where you made more than the federal poverty line, so not low enough to qualify for Medicaid, but you make not enough to purchase your own insurance. What do you do?

This is why places like Mercy Primary Care Center are so important. They provide that extra support for the uninsured that they would otherwise not get. The center is also cool because it focuses on primary care. That’s an area we struggle with in our healthcare system, because people don’t work with their primary care docs enough. They don’t follow up or come in for regular checkups or get help with coordinating specialty care for a certain issue. The patients here can come once, or continue coming here, and not have to pay anything. Amazing!!

Visual description of a safety net

The other site visit I mentioned was to Hospice of Michigan. I definitely left here with a greater understanding of what hospice is and why it is so important.

I didn’t really know what a hospice was until last year, and even then I thought it was just a place where people accepted that they were terminally ill and they just prepared to die.

Hospices aren’t well known in our culture because Americans want this unattainable imortality. Consequently, we’re more likely to try everything in the book to combat disease and to try to create a miracle. But the CEO of Hospice of Michigan believes that Americans should be more accepting of death if it looks like a patient is terminally ill. And that their last days should not be spent in hospitals getting cut open and poked and radiated and tested…rather, they should be at home with family, taking medications that try to decrease their pain as much as possible but otherwise, enjoying their final times with their families.

Many don’t like the idea of hospice because it looks like the patient is just “giving up.”  But others see hospice as a means of accepting reality and trying to make the best out of a patient’s last days. When a patient is in hospice, doctors, nurses and social workers come to the patient’s home to talk with them , comfort them and give them medications…so it’s not really a place where people GO to die, literally.

If hospices were used more, then the amount of money used to implement last ditch efforts in an attempt to save a terminally ill patient’s life would decrease…arguably, the patient would also be happier and more comfortable in their last days. It’s a touchy subject that many Americans are not comfortable with, because of the American “never give up”  ideal.

So yea….two examples of non-hospital healthcare settings that are always working day and night to ensure that good care is given to those who need and seek it. I hope this entry was news to you, and that you learned from it!

My next blog will be a farewell to my internship/musings about my summer type thing, so stay tuned!

-Dominique