First Year In Review

 This year, I learned a lot about what it means to be a global citizen scholar. Having completed just one year in the University Honors Program, I came in with no prior knowledge of the term. However, I learned very quickly how important it is to formulate your own definition of what it means to be a global citizen scholar and how important it is to both the honors program and life in general to be a positive version of the term yourself. 

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At the beginning of the year while in my Gateway to Honors class, I defined a global citizen scholar as someone who was worldly, valuable to the community, and studious. However, after going through the class and diving deeper into what the definition means to us personally, my perception of the term changed. I now define a global citizen scholar as someone who uses their experiences to understand their place in the world and is active in the community and seeks change within it. I still agree to an extent with my initial definition, but I think the current definition I have is deeper, more personal, and can be more easily achieved by anyone. 

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I believe that I am closer now to emulating a true global citizen scholar than I was when I first entered the program earlier this year.  I volunteered at the Good Samaritan Hospital throughout the year, where I primarily helped out in the Nutrition department. There, I learned a lot about the inner workings of the hospital and specifically the cafeteria, the incredible level of service that food service workers give to patients of the hospital, and how to personally help my own patients or clients in the future if I chose to go the foodservice route as a dietitian. This experience helped me become a better citizen and learn a lot about the "behind-the-scenes" of a busy hospital cafeteria, especially when it comes to the employees. To me, food service workers are the ultimate global citizen scholars, with emphasis on the citizen!

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This experience also helped me gain more knowledge on the "scholar" aspect since I became more involved in my area of study and had a lot of hands-on experience with a specific specialty that would be available to me in the future. A scholar, to me, is someone who has a lot of knowledge on a specific topic or something that they are passionate about. Every day, I learn more about the world of nutrition through my classes and real-life experience, helping me become a better scholar. 

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In terms of becoming a better GLOBAL citizen scholar, working in a hospital setting allowed me to meet a lot of people from many different backgrounds. In the time I spent in the kitchen helping dietitians and food service workers, I learned more about the employees and why they choose to come to the kitchen every day. Specifically, the manager of the department said that she particularly enjoys working in the cafeteria of the hospital because it's a very fast-paced, important, and rewarding experience. I learned a lot about her personal life as well as the lives of the patients she says she serves regularly. Many of the patients are long-term geriatric care patients and she told me about how often their grandkids come to visit and how some are in the hospital today for injuries they sustained fighting in the Korean and Vietnam wars. I feel like learning about people and the members of your community aid in becoming more aware, and therefore a better person in the global sense. 

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Overall, I feel as though I've made progress in emulating what it means to be a global citizen scholar. Throughout my experience volunteering, I've learned a lot about my future career as well and how a dietitian's role plays in the food service setting. I want to continue to evolve and become a better person that is kind, understanding, helpful to the community, and an expert on the subject I am most passionate about; nutrition.