Olivia's Blog

The Prairie Alliance group in the 1970s interested me because of their activism involved with Clinton Power Plant. As part of a research project freshman year, I counted and documented fish species living in Clinton Lake, which cools the nuclear reactors. This prompted me to further research how the people of Clinton and in other nearby towns recieved the news when a nuclear power plant was going to be built in their backyards.

By reading the Prairie Alliance archives, I learned that the Prairie Alliance group definitely was one of the most vocal student organizations against nuclear power during this time period. More information about the Prairie Alliance student organization can be found on the "Prairie Alliance" page of my website.

So far, this has been a really unique writing class. I like how it focuses on contemporary communication and developing writing skills not touched on in most other classes. I think the skills learned in this class are useful for anyone in the long term.

I find each assignment fun to complete. I like how we are allowed to express individuality in the assignments. My MCB classes greatly limit personal expression, so RHET 233 is an enjoyable break from the status quo.

I have been submitting my best work for all of the assignments. I am no coding/computer whiz, so some of the more complicated HTML formatting is beyond my skill level. (For example, I submit some projects as an image rather than putting the code for formatting into the actual HMTL.) Regardless, I think my webpage has a clean look to it and am proud of my submitted assignments.

Last week I accompanied my boyfriend to his medical school interview at Western Michigan Universtiy in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The interview was on Friday morning, and given near 4 hour drive, we headed up the night before and grabbed dinner at Latitude 42 in a small town about 20 minutes south of Kalamazoo:



We must have gone to this restaurant on a bad night, as the service was horrible. They brought our appetizers and beers out late, but it resulted in the staff feeling bad and taking the beer, appetizers, and dessert off of the bill, so it was worth the wait!

At his interview the following day, I hung out in the lobby of the WMich's medical school. The overall interview process took about 6 hrs, and I spent most of my time working on lab reports in front of the fireplace. He says he thinks the interview went well, and we both are very impressed by the school. It only opened a few years ago, so all of the facilities are new.

I recently began a new job working at indoor (and come spring, outdoor) garden centers. I manage a team of merchandisers, and together we work to take care of plants in 10 garden centers throughout east-central Illinois.

Being a student for the past three years (including summers), I’ve only worked part-time. Except for an unpaid internship I had two summers ago, this management position is my first full-time job. Previously, I worked as a caretaker in a nursing home, but did work a similar position a couple of years ago (the summer before I started college).

I find working in a garden again to be a refreshing change from the nursing home environment and a fun way to carry out the next 6 months before I go to medical school. The job’s hours are flexible enough so that I can work while still enrolled as a full-time student. I hope to save up some money because I know that I will not have time to work in medical school. Once the weather gets nice, I’m looking to spending my summer outside and in sunshine!

I am Olivia, a senior headed to medical school next year. I began my pre-medical journey at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois. I attended this school after graduating high school early, and I transferred to the University of Illinois with a year of credit hours completed. Once at the University of Illinois, I immersed myself in opportunities that I felt best prepared me for a career in medicine. I worked in two research groups on the UIUC campus, interned for Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, and received my nurse assistant certification; this certificate allows me to work as a nursing assistant at a senior living community in Urbana, as well as volunteer at mobile medical clinics in Appalachia.

Outside of academia, one of my biggest interests is cooking. I get inspiration from online food blogs and recipe catalogs, and then transform this inspiration into my own food creation. Most recently, I made a chicken and salsa verde soup:
I’m enrolled in RHET 233 because it seems like the most interesting class that fits my schedule and satisfies the medical school requirement for an English class. It is unique to see a class mostly centered around online contemporary writing, which is currently the most common way of exchanging information. I also thought it would be interesting to learn HTML, as I have never been exposed to any type of coding before this course.