Culminating Blog Reflection

I never thought this day would actually come! I can finally say I'm ALMOST done with senior project. I'm almost there!

Honestly, this whole experience was stressful. From the very start, I just couldn't wait for this project to be over. I never intended on doing dentistry in the first place. I really wanted to do something along pediatrics, preferably, pediatric nursing. Due to liability issues and time constraints, I realized I couldn't find a mentor on time. I had to do a lot of critical thinking when looking for a mentor. Finally, I decided I had to turn to my parents for help and ask them to find me whoever was willing to let me job shadow them. Fortunately, my parents were able to convince their friend, Dr. Yamat to let me job shadow at her office. I was really sad at first because like I said, I really wanted to pediatric nursing but I just told myself I had to deal with it because it was better than nothing. A lot of communication was involved primarily because I had to communicate with my mentor in order for me to understand dentistry. Just watching what she does is obviously not enough. I had to ask her a lot of questions about her profession. It really made me step out of my comfort zone. Collaborating with my mentor as well was also done because we had to figure out when I was going to come in and observe. Both of our schedules were really different. Most days I was available were days she was not and days she was were days I was not. Moreover, since there are a lot of other students job shadowing her in the office, she really didn't want it to become crowded so we had to set up a time schedule. Creativity was used as well because I had to be creative in how to try to understand dentistry. There are many technical terms in this profession and I had to find ways in which I can understand the language. I also had to find good ways in communicating with the patients. Some were really interested in learning about this project and others were there just to do business which made situations awkward.

This capstone project made me realize the increase of responsibility I need in order for me to make my way around the adult world. Being an adult is tough! Trying to balance school, church, and my mentor hours was really challenging for me. This resulted in me not being able to do as many hours as I hoped I would do. Moreover, I also realized how much liability adults have on them and how easy it is for one to get in trouble if they don't handle the situation. Also, the fact that I had to step out of my comfort zone to talk to strangers did improve my social skills. I'm still a shy person but when I'm in situations where I just HAVE to talk to people, I will. I'm happy this project helped me with my social skills. It made me a not-so-much of an awkward person anymore! Intellectually, this project made me more away of my oral hygiene habits. I'm glad I was able to learn more about the proper way in maintaining good oral hygiene.

Like I mentioned before some of the challenges I encountered was really trying to balance everything out. I had personal obligations I had to fulfill so trying to get in as many hours with my mentor seemed impossible. I also had to give up a lot of social events that went on just so I can work on this project, especially when it came to writing the research paper. Writing the research paper was not much of an issue for me, but trying to find time and motivation to write it was a big challenge. Senioritis really got to me during this last semester and it just got to the point where I really didn't care about what I got on the paper. I really needed to figure out how to manage my time wisely. I eventually figured it out because I'm here now! Another challenge I faced was trying to step out of my comfort zone. Like I mentioned before, I'm a pretty shy person and I usually don't like asking questions, especially when I know someone is really busy. But I really needed to ask questions since I wouldn't learn anything if I didn't. I also forced myself to talk to the patients so I can build friendly relationships with them.

Overall, this project was a really good experience and it really gave me a lot of insight to the adult world. It was a very stressful journey but I'm really glad I did it and I know for a fact that I'm going to use what I learned in the near future.