Conclusion Post

It’s astonishing to me how fast these five months have passed. Part of the reason for that would be this study. Being the only sophomore conducting independent research has pushed me to be more accountable for my learning. Going from being in middle school to freshman year where everyone is looking out for you making sure that the transition is smooth, and now conducting my independent study has definitely pushed me. The entire purpose of me conducting this study was for me to learn about a topic I love that I could possibly pursue.

 For the majority of my project, I thought that I was expected to know how to do this by myself. This led to my mistake of not often posting on my website due to not knowing how to use the site. Next thing I knew I had a pile of information that I couldn’t show scattered among many docs and papers. This issue would have been much avoided if the very first day I asked Mr. Phu how to build the site. Feeling as if I had to hold my ground with this project, I was embarrassed to ask anyone for help. I didn’t want to make it seem as if I was incapable of conducting this project. 

While I made many mistakes along the way I am also extremely proud of some specific moments along my project. The primary is the connections this has allowed me to make. While I wasn’t able to have interviews with all of the doctors that I contacted, they were all very receptive to helping with my project. Many sent resources from their teachings, gave me other contacts to also reach out to, or just answered the question that I sent. While I had mostly talked to doctors from the Duke and UNC medical systems, a few from different states also responded. This was so important to me because I’ve always believed that how you primarily present yourself to others is how they will remember you. This project has given me a reason to reach out to these doctors and professors stating the connections.

Being at Durham Academy creates a bubble of extremely talented people. The issue is while we are here you always feel like you haven’t done enough. I’ve often noticed a lack of pride in one’s accomplishments because they feel that compared to another student, what they have done isn’t enough. Leaving this project I won’t compare what I’ve done to others.  Rather reflect on how much I’ve learned, who I’ve met, and how my passion for this subject has grown even more. While my project is now over, this will not be the end of my independent learning of medicine.