Thatyana's blog

Share a time when you effectively used networking to accomplish a goal OR talk about a time when you were interviewed for a position, and share what went well and what didn't.

What did you learn in today's workshop that you plan to implement in your job/school search?

A time when I was interviewed for a position was my college interview for University of Pennsylvania. I was interviewed by a current UPenn student at the Starbucks closest to my school. Whenever a dull moment in the conversation occurred (or I tried to think of something to say), I would take a sip of my coffee and then continue. What worked was that I would occasionally ask my interviewer a question so the entire conversation was not just about me. What did not go well was that the interview ended so soon. It was only about half an hour but I ran out of things to say so the interviewer said she felt the interview was over.

Write about how you can apply the concepts of financial literacy and decision making to a choice you are currently facing (for example, college, career, what to do over the weekend…). And any questions you have for Jess A. that may not have been covered at PD.

Since I am entering college in the fall, financial literacy will be very important to me. I will need to know how to open and manage a bank account, open a loan, have good credit to apply for future loans, and pay back all that student debt. College introduces someone to financial literacy since in high school I did not have to worry about anything since my parents paid for my supplies and education. In college I will probably also have to get a job to pay back the debt instead of acquiring a job and using the money on food or clothes for myself (although I will need to buy clothes for college if I outgrow my old clothes).

Throughout this program I have been trying to manage my money in the best way possible. At the start of this program I decided to buy my breakfast and lunch every day on Temple campus. After realizing I will be needing this money for college books, I decided to instead bring breakfast and lunch from home so I would not have to slowly drain my college funds.

Blog Prompt 4: Reflect upon what you’ve learned at Professional development series so far. Discuss how the skills that you’ve learned at Professional Development connect to each other and how they will help in preparing you for college/job. Why are strong, distinct resume and cover letter important in school/job search? Why is it important to create an honest, distinct and personal brand in your college/job application? What steps are you taking to improve your personal brand and social media presence?

I have learned many skills that will surely prepare me for both the work force and college. I have learned that first impressions are very important, especially in the form of a cover letter and resume. I learned that cover letters and resumes make a lasting impression on an employer, and how I choose to set up my resume makes a huge difference. For instance, if I am applying to college, I should make my education experience my top priority and place it at the top of my list. If I wanted to apply to a job, however, I should put my work experiences and maybe even volunteer services towards the top of my resume and that should catch my employer’s eye more. The cover letter is supposed to introduce the employer to my resume and explain to him/her why I should be hired. If I make both my cover letter and resume really professional, I will make a good first impression before I even meet the employer. This would put me at an advantage as opposed to those whose resumes and cover letters are not up to par. 

It is important to create an honest personal brand because since I am trying to showcase myself to get hired, my entire story should be the truth so I would not have to worry about “remembering what to say” if my employer asks about something I lied about. Furthermore, my employer has the right to demand references on any experiences I listed on my resume and call those references to validate my stories. I should be able to get hired all on my own without having to lie my way through. Otherwise, that would show the employer I am dishonest right from the start and give me a bad first impression. Distinct brands are good because it sets me apart from the rest of everyone else. Being distinct can prove to the employer that they should hire me because I may have the skills and qualifications necessary for that one specific position they might be looking for. 

Direction: Do not answer the following questions individually. Use them as guide for your blog post. Feel free to talk about your feeling about the StrengthsQuest - whether you feel it’s accurate or not (if you don’t feel it’s accurate why?) Please make sure you list your 5 Signature Themes. Which of your Signature Themes describe you best? Were you surprised by anything in the report? Did your opinions changed after the activities. What did you learn about yourself as a result of this activity. Were there some students who had themes that you could benefit from? In a work setting how can people with different Signature Themes successfully work together?

My Signature Themes bestowed upon me were Positivity, Input, Learner, Developer, and Restorative. I am gifted with an obsession of knowledge. Atherosclerosis will lose one day. Clogged arteries will be brought to justice. See look I am being positive right now. The accuracy of the Gallup report not only opened my eyes, but broadened my horizons. The opportunities that will be presented to me as a result of these strengths brings a manly tear to my eye. I will not stop until I fully realize and actualize my multitude of strengths. With my strengths, my weaknesses shall crumble.

That’s how my StrengthsQuest really made me sound like but I do not like that. I took this life altering test in the hopes of it defining my personality. What is the difference between them asking me question after question of the same meaning but different wording and me picking and choosing from the 30 something traits? I was defined as Input, which was described as someone who likes to collect things. The paragraph slightly suggested that I am a hoarder. “These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing?At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away”. This made me feel uneasy. Is this test really still as accurate as one year ago? Was it ever that accurate?

Describe the challenges and rewards of your worksite. What skills did you learn in PD#1, and how can you apply the skills explored in PD#1 to your life or work environment? Share a specific instance, whether from your current worksite, past work experience, or school, where the skill could be applied.

I have experienced many challenges and rewards in my worksite. Some challenges that have happened include keeping track of what I am doing when I am focused on something, keeping accountability, and understanding what I am doing since I am working in a lab. However, completing each activity that I need to do in the lab is a huge reward. For example, my mentor said that every year they count inventory of all chemicals, but inventory count has not been done since 2013. My two co-workers and I have counted most of the chemicals in our lab and our mentor was very proud of us.  Also, fulfilling a task that our mentor asks us to do brings us that much closer to completing his research project, which is finding the best diagnosis method for Atherosclerosis.

One skill I learned in Professional Development #1 was how to ask questions if I do not understand something, even if the questions are just to clarify. That activity where I had a partner and we had to describe our drawings to each other reflected a main issue I experience often in the lab. Another skill I learned was how to behave. Although I was not meeting any new people since the people I work with are the same from last year, I had to know how to act in the lab. For example, whenever I have to transfer chemicals by using a pipet, I need to have a steady hand. When I pipet, I cannot laugh or lose focus since otherwise I would either spill the chemical or place it in the wrong tube. I would also have to switch out from pipetting and let either Jimmy or our other co-worker Sarah pipet since pipetting for a long time makes my arm tired and shakier.

Another example of an applied skill is when my mentor would explain concepts to us, but there was so much knowledge to obtain that I would often get confused or forget something without asking my mentor to clarify. It is very important to understand these concepts since the main scientist we are working for sometimes pops in and asks us to explain everything to him to make sure we understand. It was very nerve wracking the first time the scientist asked us to explain concepts to him, but now I have learned that I will ask questions whenever I am confused.

"Introduce yourself, and prepare one question you want answered about work, career, workplace behavior, problems you anticipate.

Interview family members about workplace experiences. What problems have they faced, and what advice do they have for resolving it"

My name is Thatyana Morales. I am 18 years old and entering college at Temple University in the fall with a major in Computer Science. My workplace this summer is at Temple University in the Bioengineering lab working under Dr. Omar Fisher as a research assistant, mainly with his Ph.D. student Andrew Cheng. The project we are working on is developing a possible diagnosis method for Atherosclerosis by using tannins to combat oxidation in blood vessels where plaque build up occurs in order to track the amount of oxidation in that area to detect where there is plaque of a dangerous size so that it can be detected and successfully removed before it becomes fatal. This is not necessarily a treatment, but rather to diagnose this disease sooner. 

One question I want answered about is how do I get past the awkwardness of asking questions when it comes to something I do not understand. Rather than being a technician, Andrew explains to me, Jimmy, and his other research assistant Sarah, the experiment in its entirety complete with Bioengineering terms that are difficult to follow. He details the process to us using these terms and although he defines each of these terms, I still find it hard to wrap my mind around this immense database of knowledge that Andrew patiently lectures us on, and I find myself confused most of the time. He constantly asks if we understand what he is saying but I feel embarrassed to speak up, so I nod my head and wait for a visualization to help me understand the process. Fact is I am intrigued by this project and what I get to do (especially cell culture, since I did not have the opportunity to do it last year because of the minimum age requirement being 18 years). My main struggle is attempting to remember and understand all of this new information given to me these past few days. 

After interviewing my mother, she told me that first impressions are very important, and maintaining an attitude that is appropriate in a job setting is essential. Acknowledging that I do not know something and asking questions shows honesty to my boss and in turn he respects me. After all I am entering college with no knowledge of Bioengineering so it should be expected that I know nothing. A similar situation happened at my mother’s job when a close co-worker of hers did not know what she was doing with a new task but was afraid to ask questions. Asking questions shows my boss that I am interested and willing to learn. 

My first week at Temple was really fun. After being there again for a second summer to research, it feels really nice to return. Since Jimmy and I will be working with a different mentor on a different project (since our other mentors graduated/left to pursue other research), it will be at the same time a new experience. We will also be working with Sarah, another research assistant who just finished her first year at Temple as a Bioengineering major. Maybe after some time I can ask her advice on navigating through Temple since I will be attending in the fall. 

Love, 

"Discuss who and what positively influenced your SYCEP experience. Be as creative as you would like!"

Ahhh last week I think I am going to cry. Okay so actually I have a lot of people in mind that I wanted to mention. So many people have positively influenced my SYCEP experience so I feel like I must list (most of them):

I would like to acknowledge the program coordinators of SYCEP (JVL, Kimberly, Dennis) because they have kept me in good spirits since Day 1. JVL, I would like to mention, because he provided valuable information for the PDs every friday as well as tell funny stories so he didn't seem boring. Kimberly, because she is so down to earth and fun to talk to (and got me the job because she interviewed me). Last but not least, Dennis, for laughing at us when Brandon, Jimmy, and I say or do something silly. These three have helped me feel comfortable and involved with the program, since I was a little skeptical and shy from experiencing something like this for the first time. 

I wish to acknowledge the students/mentors at Temple as well. Megan, Jerry, Andrew, Peter, LL Cool J, Davinder, Papa Johns, Graham, Brook, and Charlie. When I first started working I felt like they would ask me to do menial labor like wash the dishes or other things they did not feel like doing. But when I started they took the time and effort to explain to the three of us what they were researching and answered all of our questions. I felt so involved when I did titrations, dialysis, purification, synthesis, etc. They made me feel at home and I will honestly miss everyone there when I leave. I had an amazing experience working in the Bioengineering Department, and it's not just the students. I had fun learning new concepts and I also appreciate Bioengineering way more than when I first started. 

I also appreciate Temple University itself. Okay maybe because PDs every friday at the same building make it so convenient, but that's not all. It is beautiful and I enjoyed strolling through the campus meeting new people. It is also great because I also get to knock off college searching at Temple. After work or during lunch I would look up something new about Temple that I didn't know before. I will definitely apply to Temple this fall. Another great thing is that working in a lab is not only cool to me but it's cool to other people, meaning I have a better chance of getting another job within the field than someone who has not had this amazing experience. 

"Discuss how you can develop your StrengthsQuest strengths, within and outside your work site. Your response should contain a minimum of 4 paragraphs."

According to the StrengthsQuest site, my strengths are as follows: Positivity, Input, Learner, Developer, and Restorative. Positivity is self-explanatory, meaning I think on the bright side and smile a lot. Input means I love collecting, whether it is knowledgable information or items and knickknacks while traveling. Learner means I find joy and pleasure in learning new concepts and ideas as well as studying and absorbing information and mastering a skill. Developer means I see potential in every individual and try and bring it out in each of them. Last but not least, I am Restorative, which means I love finding solutions to current problems. These five are labeled as my Signature Themes, which can be developed in and out of my work-site environment in a number of ways. 

By taking in all the information necessary to understanding the concepts in Bioengineering I am developing both my Input and Learner skills. Knowing the difference between monomer and polymer, knowing what the process is in polymerization and emulsion, and knowing where to dispose certain wastes strengthens my knowledge so that I am more aware of the conversations the scientists have while discussing protocol (key word there, just means procedure). Also, my co-workers and I have to work on a presentation for our mentor Monday to showcase our knowledge of the information at hand. Using the scientific article her boss wrote 5 years ago, we must analyze the article and present it in a 10 minute powerpoint. Believe me when I say that that article was dense to read. I mean denseeeeeeee. It is like a kindergardener trying to read about Politics. Now you have a glimpse of how lost I felt. It was just so many terms I did not know. I found myself defining every other word, and even the same word multiple times as they appeared throughout the article. It is all cool though, because once I retain this information, it will stay permanently in my mind like the Learner and Inputer that I am! (Inputer? I don't know) See? I am being positive about all of this! ^_^

Now for Developer. I already see potential in my co-workers, even though they know about this stuff as much as I do (give or take a whole AP Biology course *coughBRANDONcough*). Coming from an academically competitive school, I expect Brandon and Jimmy to be as thrown into the subject as I am, as interested as I am, and as determined about it as I am. I constantly ask questions about what a certain cation does or how the reaction is supposed to work or things like that. I do ask questions. General, specific, or random, I ask them. I ask those questions because I know my co-workers aren't clueless about the matter. They know information I don't and vice versa. It is like we depend on each other to get through the vast subject that is Bioengineering. 

As for Restorative, that may be a bit more challenging to discuss because of my work-site. Any problem or challenge is automatically handled by my mentor since we are still in the early stages of lab work. We barely know solutions and mixtures, much less the problems (you saw my pun? Problem as in a challenge and a solution as in the answer to a problem but also a mixture...never mind). But once we learn the basics of what we're doing, eventually we will soon have to face our own little dilemmas. For some reason I do find it exciting; these people will eventually trust me, Brandon, and Jimmy to solve a problem the scientists themselves will also be working on. I would have to quickly throw in my Learner and Input skills to use my knowledge to figure out the solution to the problem (see there we go again with my silly puns). Like I mentioned earlier, in the near-future I will soon be able to put my Restorative skills to the test. 

I am extremely satisfied with knowing the results of my StrengthsQuest because those skills are key to mastering the art of Bioengineering. 

Since I do not have a snazzy picture to conclude this blog post (which might cost me my Outstanding Blog Post of the Week title for this week :P ), instead I will throw in a Biology pun (which you will have to look up to know the meaning in case your knowledge of Biology is a little fuzzy). 

Here goes: 

"Talk about how you keep yourself accountable especially when you are continuing to adapt to your work site. Your response should be at least 4 paragraphs in length."

Since I work as a researcher in a chemical lab at Temple, accountability is very important. Since I and my co-workers work alongside other scientists and students, we have to make sure to stay responsible and organized or else we will encounter events like we did today. Honestly, accountability is fun because in my work environment being responsible helps to get things done faster and no one gets paranoid :)

Today, we were doing some titrations. Not one, or two, not even three. Four. We did four titrations all before lunch. So we had to keep track of four little beakers floating around the lab because the required steps all took place at different parts in the lab. Our mentor did one and we did two. For some reason she believed there was a fourth one floating around and so we spent like 10 minutes looking for a beaker that did not exist because we were not keeping track of how many beakers we had floating around. Eventually we concluded that we had only done three titrations and had to start a fourth. But see? We were getting paranoid because we were not paying close attention. 

Another incident today was when Brandon was pipetting repeatedly (transferring water from one beaker to another) and he lost count. It is really funny because the other students who are working towards their PhDs or Master's knew how to single-handedly pipet multiple times without losing track, while us amateurs had to have one person pipet and keep count, and the other two keep count as well. Jimmy and I were busy doing other work and lo and behold Brandon lost count. It was funny, really. Our mentor Megan just looked at the beaker and tried to determine how many times he pipetted. Although it was comical we were pretty afraid that we would have to start over (following protocol takes a lot of steps). 

Ah right that too. Here's my third experience with the importance of accountability. At the very end when we finished our titrations, we had to clean the dishes. For a scientist, cleaning dishes is not a simple 2 step process. For us, it takes about 6 or 7 steps to fully clean a beaker (and since there are usually so many, we do all of them at the same time). So the steps are as follows: we use acetone (stuff used in nail polish remover) to remove any marker labels made on the beakers. Then, we rinse the beakers with regular tap water, followed by using some special beaker detergent, and then more rinsing with regular tap water. After that we have to spray the beakers with Ethanol, and then rinse it AGAIN with DISTILLED WATER this time (mind you, different from the tap water). Lastly, we are supposed to rinse the beakers ONCE AGAIN with DDH2O which is basically ionized distilled water I believe (mind you, different from the regular tap water and the distilled water. Three different kinds of water). That is a lot to remember and take in, especially since we have to remember to leave the Ethanol bottle lid slightly ajar so that the Ethanol does not evaporate. Especially since we have to turn the lever for the distilled water at a 45 degree angle. Especially since we'd have to be wary of the DDH2O since it does run out and is expensive to refill if it drops too low. And this is all just for washing the dishes. 

So accountability is important in my job. In fact, required. If one thing slips up, it is important that you admit your mistake like Brandon did when he pipetted. But this is all good for me because this is all part of being a researcher at Temple. I have to learn to be responsible and admit my mistakes if I make any. That is probably 50% of the things I need to adapt to in a work environment like that. Gladly I have most of it down packed. 

“Describe the challenges, obstacles, and rewards of beginning work as a new employee of your work-site. How important is adaptability in transitioning into your work-site? Your response should be at least 4 paragraphs in length.”

I started work at Temple's College of Engineering in the Bioengineering Department with Jimmy and Brandon under the care of Megan Tabler our mentor, who is under the care of Dr. Omar Fisher. To be honest I came into this job knowing little about Biology or Chemistry or researching in those fields. I took Chemistry in 10th grade and Biology in 9th and I just finished 11th grade, so some of the terms the (scientists/doctors?) mentioned were terms I kinda recognized but could not remember their meanings or significances. 

That was one major challenge when starting the job. I thought I would be given a list of things to do (which, I learned in lab terms, is called "Protocol"), but it is much more than that. With every (scientist/doctor?) I met, he/she explained to us in detail what project he/she was working on while using many of the terms I was not familiar with. Although the basic concepts were very interesting, the details and terms and specific concepts confused me. Hydrogels? DEAEM? PEG? I probably misspelled that second term there. It was not bad and I was not bored. It was just so much information to take in at once. Brandon, one of the ones working with me shown in the picture, told me during lunch break that he took AP Bio, and I was able to tell. He conversed with the (scientists/doctors?) in almost everything they talked about. Good thing he was there because my head was still spinning. Oh and about the (scientist/doctor?) thing I keep bringing up: Megan and her coworkers work in the Bioengineering Department. I feel like that sounds like they would be scientists. But the projects they work on and their stylish lab coats seem like they are doctors to me (and many of them will be, since many of them are aiming for their Ph.D.). 

As for adaptability, adapting goes a long way in transitioning. Since I am going from a non-medical person to working in a lab environment with bioengineering jargons and whatnot, I have to learn to speak like them (or at least, know what they are talking about), and follow protocol and lab procedures. The life of a scientist in the Bioengineering Department is a whole new world, a world I am not familiar with. Adapting is very important, since the research requires knowledge and understanding. I hope I can learn to fit in and take in all the information. 

All challenges aside, I really enjoyed my first day. Yes, these obstacles I just listed make it seem like I would hate it, but really I do not. What is rewarding is the fact that I have the chance to enhance my knowledge on a field I know nothing about. For a long time my future major was Engineering Undecided (until recently when it changed to Computer Science), so that just means I like anything and everything that has to do with engineering. Honestly, medical related engineering was towards the bottom of that list. The field is beautiful and everything, but I feel like I am more of a robotics type of person, or like a Software Engineer. But who knows? I might go back into Engineering Undecided. But anyway, back to what I was saying, I liked how I saw that taking Bio in 9th and Chem in 10th really paid off (and paying attention in that class would have paid off more) because at least I recognized the terms they mentioned. I know I will learn what everything means soon enough, which is why I am really excited for this job. 

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