Fun at ACPHS (other than studying ; )

The more that I think about it, the more I realize that my whole world has changed since coming to college. I'm an entirely different person, which is scary and exciting all at the same time. ACPHS has presented me with so many opportunities that have allowed me to grow and realize the kind of person I am and want to be.

All throughout high school, I volunteered at my local hospital. All of my friends always thought it was terrible to volunteer, unless they had to, because I mean you weren't getting paid to work (not that I really worked too hard, I mean working a gift shop-not too difficult). I volunteered, not because it was easy, but because I loved the feeling I got from volunteering and helping others. When I came to college, I stopped volunteering in order to concentrate more on school work. As a requirement for my program, I have to complete 1000 "healthcare patient" hours. Last summer I worked in a pharmacy to get some hours, but with my schedule this semester, I figured I could pick something up during the day, especially something that I once loved so much. I decided to begin volunteering at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany (it's literally right down the road, ACPHS is right in the middle of a huge medical community, so the possibilities are really endless.) At this point I'm working on getting all my paperwork, records, and physicals together, but I am so pumped to begin volunteering. I'll be working on patient floors, helping discharge patients and any other tasks that need to be done. Because I'm a student and ACPHS is so reputable, the hospital is overly willing to let me see/help with all kinds of cool patient related activities, in order to expose me to everything that they can. I'm so pumped to dive right into volunteering and get back to something I love.

In addition to volunteering, I also participate with the Dance team. We dance during the halftime shows of the Men's home basketball games. Tuesday is our last game : ( and then we start to really get into preparing for our spring show, which should be lots of fun. I also am a peer mentor to first year students. Adjusting to college is difficult at first (it definitely was for me) but having a huge safety net of people here at ACPHS to help you with that adjustment (including myself) helps a million.

In addition, ACPHS is always offering a plethora of activities for the students. Bingo is really popular (probably because the prizes are ammmaaazzing, usually an Ipod touch, GPS, and tons of gift cards, among other things). Pre-release movies are shown every Friday. Bus trips to awesome places like Boston, NYC, Burlington, and Lake Placid are always happening. And for only $5-10, how can you resist? This Wednesday, ACPHS is hosting The Newlywed Game, that you can play with your roommate, your friends, or your significant other, for gift cards and other great prizes (great for Valentine's Day being just around the corner!) And amongst all this, I still had time to chill out, eat nachos, and watch the Super Bowl last night. See being a college student isn't that hard : )

Back to studying for Biochem!

-Emily