Abigail Walker
My Honors Experiences
As a member of the Honors College here at IUI, I will take several courses that are either honors by structure or create a project for another course that makes it worthy of honors credit.
Introduction to Exercise Science Honors Contract
My first honors experience was doing a contract in my P212 course. I did 10 hours of job shadowing and created a reflection and presentation on my experience.
This project allowed me to solidify that I want to go into physical therapy and I even got a job at the clinic because of it. I get to continue to learn about the inner workings of being a physical therapist, while learning about insurance, modalities, and skills like multitasking and leadership.
Volunteer Opportunities
Being in the Honors College means that I also am obligated to do a certain number of volunteer hours yearly. So far, I've volunteered to set up the Momentum Indy bike race, help at the Motor Activity Clinic, and teach at GOAL University. All of these experiences have helped me to develop my teamwork and leadership skills, along with allowing me to see some of the aspects of my career outside of a clinical setting while contributing to my community.
H200
In the spring of my freshman year, I took H200, which is an introduction to the Honors College and college itself. I've learned about skills that I should have as a student and skills that I will take with me into my future. One learning experience that stood out to me was examining the biases that may be especially relevant to an honors student, like an outcome bias or a projection bias. I learned that there are many ways to overcome any biases, once one is self-aware. We were also able to have two panels, to learn about engaged learning opportunities and ways to handle the stresses associated with being an honors student.
BIOL-K101
For the spring semester of my first year, I did an honors contract in introduction to biology. The concept was to build a model that demonstrated cellular processes such as glycolysis, the electron transport chain, and protein synthesis. Along with my model I wrote out an explanation of the function of each organelle and a description of the processes. It was a really challenging project for me as it required some creativity and a lot of modification, but I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses from doing it.
KINE-P200
I did this honors contract in the fall semester of my second year in a class called Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. For this project I decided to do an extra data collection and analysis using a force plate. We had participants jump from three positions. The first was a squat jump, the second starting from a 90 degree angle squat, and the third starting from a rock bottom squat. We analyzed the data and related it to optimum length of the muscles. This data has a lot of practical applications, and I really enjoyed doing this project. It was more challenging for me than the other projects in this course because I didn't have a rubric to follow, but that helped me to explore more of the possibilities and applications of this data, which was really interesting.
KINE-P409
This class was about the physiology of exercise, and my project was to explore a performance enhancer of my choice. I chose blood flow restriction because it was something I had seen in physical therapy and found very interesting. One of the most difficult aspects of this project was reading through the many meta-analyses to find the right information to share in a twenty-minute presentation. There was a lot of information in every article I looked at, and deciding what to include and how to present it was challenging. I developed my ability to read scientific articles and gather information from them. I also improved my communication skills by determining how to best relay information from many sources. I really enjoyed doing this research and feel much more confident in my ability to do so now.
Group Project
In H200, we did a group project that focused on examining all the different types of biases, many of which I had never heard of before. We explored our own biases, as honors students and as people as a whole. My group presented on the outcome bias, which in simple terms is evaluating the quality of a decision based on the result of it. This bias is especially relevant to honors students, myself included, when related to study habits and test taking. Learning all these new types of biases has helped me to become more self aware, and as a group allowed us to discover resources to help with overcoming these.
Honors Panels
During the semester in H200, we were able to have two panels. One was more focused on student life and mental health with mostly student panelists, and the other was focused on engaged learning with more panelists from the administrative side of IUPUI. Both of these experiences revealed a lot about the opportunities within IUPUI and the techniques to manage the time and stresses relating to being a student. Being able to ask questions to people with more experience in engaged learning helped me to reflect on the opportunities that I most want to become involved in, and asking questions of the students allowed me to more deeply consider what I would be able to do with my time here. Both panels have allowed me to better understand the many opportunities I have as an honors student, and how to take advantage of them with my time in undergraduate school.
I Am Statement:
I am a dedicated learner with ambition to help people in my future career and current job. I am a resilient person who tries to be the best and kindest version of myself despite any obstacles. I am a friend who is consistent, empathetic, and always willing to help.
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I Want to Become:
I want to become a successful and involved undergraduate student and then a graduate student in physical therapy school. I want to become a healthcare worker with the ability to help people heal themselves and make a difference in others' lives. I want to be a kind, intelligent, and a strong person, who values family, friends, and myself and is able to make a positive impact on those around me.
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While writing these statements I reflected on the aspects of myself and others that I value. I thought about where I could see myself in ten years, and how different I would be then. These statements summarize who I am today, and who I want to be in the future, both personally and academically/professionally. My experiences have helped to make me who I am today, and the things that I am experiencing now are shaping me into who I want to become. I am intentionally working towards the experiences that will allow me to achieve my goals, and being the best version of myself that I can be on the way.
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