December Blog

 December Service Hours: 8

Total Semester Service Hours: 15

    We finally finished the first semester and this is an extremely bittersweet moment for me. I am excited finals went well and I get to enjoy my Christmas break with family, but I am also sad that we are already halfway done with the program and won't see most of my classmates for a few weeks. However, I am extremely grateful for everything this semester has entailed. I would have never thought that I would be enjoying this program as much as I am. Our class finished up the semester with the GI and Neoplasia module, and I truly feel everything that I am learning is going to help me significantly in my future. 

For the month of December, I was able to participate in two separate events for community service. First, Megan and I participated in the Our Lady of the Lake Tiger 10K in Baton Rouge. We raised funds for this hospital and the associating Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center by participating in this race. It was an awesome experience to finish on the fifty-yard line inside Tiger Stadium! Secondly, I volunteered for the American Red Cross and helped present our Pillowcase Project to second grade children at a local school in Lafayette. This project is a preparedness education program that teaches children simple safety skills, household hazards, and basic coping skills. Upon completion, the children received a pillowcase in which they can draw on and create an emergency supply kit. I thoroughly enjoyed talking and playing with the young children, watching them draw all over their pillowcases. Making young children smile for such a simple gesture makes me filled with gratification. 

November Blog

 

November Service Hours: 2

Total Semester Service Hours: 7

The month of November was another rememberable month in the Tulane Masters of Pharmacology program. I was lucky to be able to participate in a class community service event this month. A group in our class created and customized Thanksgiving holiday cards for children at a local orphanage in New Orleans. Each of our cards was unique, aesthetic, and full of holiday spirit. I was even able to learn a new art technique, paper quilling, thanks to Uma! I am humbled to see our class come together cohesively for the greater good of others, especially in our local community. Hopefully, our Thanksgiving card creations made a child smile and joyful during this holiday season. The holiday season can be extremely difficult for some people, but by doing a minute task of kindness, this community service project filled my heart with gratitude. 

Regarding the master's program itself, this semester has been speeding by swiftly. With only two weeks left, I am excited for the Christmas break, but want to savor the moments I have with my classmates and the program. I am looking forward to learning more about the pharmacology for the gastrointestinal system as well as potential treatment options for patients with neoplasia. I want to receive the best grades possible and am determined to finish the first semester off strong! Overall, I have been extremely thankful for this program, especially for the professors and classmates I have been able to meet through this experience. 

October Blog

October Service Hours: 5

Total Semester Service Hours: 5

In the month of October, it felt amazing to return to a glimpse of normalcy. With mask mandates ending statewide, it was awesome to see all of my classmates faces finally. I am satisfied and impressed with how Tulane University has handled controlling the spread of COVID-19 and allowing students to return to our livelihoods with less restrictions. More importantly, I have started to make some strong friendships with my classmates. We have been enjoying the city of New Orleans and studying with each other, and I look forward to continue building friendships with everyone. With the cardiovascular module exam coming up soon, we will definitely motivate and rely on each other to receive the best grades possible.

I have been volunteering for the American Red Cross intermittently for the past two years. I started as a COVID-19 shelter associate, and gradually accepted higher volunteer positions within the organization. I became a member of the Disaster Action Team, and recently accepted the position of becoming an emergency response supervisor for disaster shelters. I have cherished my experiences volunteering for the American Red Cross. Their goal is to help prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies worldwide. The volunteers I have met from all around the nation have been so kind, and I have found it humbling that these people all have a common goal of helping others whenever a disaster occurs.

I was fortunate enough to have two of my classmates, Gianna and Megan, volunteer with me to assist in packing shelter kits that needed to replace those used for the Hurricane Ida response. This included constructing and organizing shelter binders, preparing client-intake paperwork, and adding necessary items to the shelter kits. In addition, we made Halloween goodie bags which consisted of candy, a toy, and a preparedness card for an upcoming event at the American Red Cross. This event included taking children who have been diagnosed with autism and other mental diseases trick-or-treating in a local Baton Rouge neighborhood. I always have a gratifying feeling in my heart knowing that I am giving back to my community, preparing for the next upcoming natural disaster, and making a young children's day with a simple gesture.

September Blog

Being a resident of Louisiana for the past fifteen years, hurricanes have been nothing new to me. My family and I, fortunately, knew how to prepare and completed our usual routine. We stocked up on gas, food, water, and pet food. However, Hurricane Ida and the repercussions for the entire region is an experience that I will never forget. This eerie hurricane felt different. It impacted our communities and myself in many unique ways compared to what I have experienced before. The week before the hurricane hit, many residents, including myself, decided to stay since the severity did not appear drastic. Yet, we were strongly mistaken. This hurricane was worse than what I expected. The closest experience that I could relate to Hurricane Ida was when I experienced my first hurricane as a child, Hurricane Katrina.

Throughout this experience, I learned that the state of Louisiana and our local communities are more resilient and unified than I expected. Being without any electricity, no internet, and no cellular service, we were blind to any outside communication. Hurricane Ida caused eight trees to collapse over our only road that allowed access into and out of our small neighborhood. The morning after, My Dad and I and several of my neighbors started the clean-up process. We chain sawed the fallen trees and removed the obstacles to allow cars to get by. Afterwards, we went from house to house and helped remove major trees and debris from neighbor's yards. Our family, friends, and neighbors had been so willing to spare supplies such as gas and water which were valued as gold during this time. This event helped me realize how generous, unselfish, and hardworking people can be in such a desperate time.

Additionally, our family decided to shelter two undergraduate freshmen from Tulane University during this hurricane. They had just moved into their dorms and had to rapidly evacuate within their first week of school. They were both from out of state and had never experienced a hurricane before. By hosting and caring for these two, I was able to understand the perspective from a non-local who has never witnessed how powerful and destructive a hurricane can be. They were in awe of the damage we woke up too. After bringing them back to campus to evacuate to Houston, they expressed infinite thanks and appreciation to my family. This filled me with immense gratitude. A genuine feeling was placed in my heart knowing that I could help reconcile family, friends, neighbors, and locals during a tragedy.

-Alex Hollander

September Service Hours: 0

Total Semester Hours: 0