Gene Luen Yang's Level Up

“I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life.” (Leo Tolstoy’s “Family Happiness”).

H.H Holmes was born into a wealthy family in New Hampshire. His real name was Herman Webster Mudgett. He was very privileged growing up. His mother was a schoolteacher was a “very cold and distant individual who used religion as a daily guide for parenting” (Read, 2004). His parents would abuse him physically and mentally. His father was alcoholic and he had disciplinary strategies for Holmes to listen like food deprivation, and using kerosene rags to quiet him when Holmes cried. He was incredibly bright and intelligent. He was a loner in school. He never developed real meaningful relationships and was bullied in school. He was the outsider of many things. He had a fascination with performing surgeries on animals. He had a “fascination with skeletons and soon became obsessed with death.”

I knew that I wanted to be a doctor since early high school. Experience in a hospital and clinic setting, both personal and professional, have given me many reasons to pursue medicine. Through these viewpoints, I have gained an understanding of patient hardships like financial and travel issues, the grief associated with loss, and the trust that accompanies putting yourself or a loved one into the hands of physicians. These experiences have built empathy and compassion in me that is necessary in medicine.

Every hero who goes on the journey to complete the mission follows a similar path. This path, according to Joseph Campbell, has twelve steps. The play, The Golden Fleece Part I by Zachary Hamby follows these twelve steps of the hero’s journey.

Aaron Sedrick is a senior at Joplin High School. He has made it his goal to graduate in the top 10% of his class with Honors. This ambitious goal is only a reflection of his dedication that permeates through the rest of his life, from waking up every morning at 5:20 am to get ready for LDS Seminary, to taking some of the most difficult courses his school offers. He attributes his ambition and dedication to his father, who started medical school just as he began kindergarten. This gave him the unique perspective of watching someone much older than him go through similar experiences and then succeed.

After a three-hour bus ride, surrounded by strangers, I arrived at Camp Pendleton. As I stepped off the bus immediately trapped by three drill instructors screaming in my face, I knew I had made a grave mistake. My experiences at Camp Pendleton’s Devil Pups were some of the most challenging, yet rewarding life skills I have encountered. Upon arrival, I felt as though I didn’t belong, lacking the discipline, purpose, and physical strength that many of my peers had. However, Devil Pups taught me the value of perseverance and, as a result, has contributed to my transformation into the person I am today.

The farther life goes on, there is an increase in life threatening sicknesses, and its affecting the growth of the population. There are many pathways one could chose that are joyful and exciting this one on the other hand is gloomy sometimes even depressing. However, it pushes you beyond a person’s limits and may have the opportunity to impact people.

The physician should look upon the patient as a besieged city and try to rescue him with every means that art and science place at his command (Alexander of Tralles). My decision to enter internal medicine as the next part of my venue responds to several driving forces. Besides deciphering the wonders of the human body, I know how important is to deal with the prevention, diseases detection, and treatment of adult illnesses. Many disease might undergo undifferentiated which requires additional research and more complex health assessments. Moreover, patients managed by internists are often more seriously ill or present multi-systemic disease processes.

Have you ever experienced the rush of adrenaline or exhilarated pressure that challenges you? During the week of August 2nd through August 8th, I had the opportunity to shadow doctors at medical camps in Matamoros. Mexico. Also during this time, I was struggling between my career choices for college. On August 6th, I was observing Dr. Joby, an emergency room doctor. Every patient he observed he moved with swiftness and elegance and challenged me by giving me small tasks on getting to know the patients and observing the little things when providing care. This event resulted in me deciding in becoming a family practice physician. I decided upon this because I want to experience the connections Dr. Joby has with all of his patients and the constant

At breakfast during my two-week study trip to Ireland, a man found out I was from Atlanta, Georgia. Unexpectedly, he told me that I did not sound like a black southerner. He then demonstrated in a southern accent: “Hey man, ain’t y’all ready?” In that moment, I explained to him that not all southerners sound the same, nor do all African-Americans sound the same. Films do not represent Americans, yet some, though not all people outside the U.S, still use the stereotypes within films to do so. Due to the media’s portrayal of Americans, this is how some in the world see me as a black southerner. Likewise, I may also view Spain differently because of Spanish Cinema’s portrayal of their society. I am willing to have conversations about misunderstood

On March 27, 2015, Facebook and Twitter were inundated with the message, “Daundre Barnaby, An Olympic Sprinter from Weaver [High School] Drowns.” When I first read this, I was heartbroken. I desperately wanted it to be a mistake. Daundre was my role model. On the track, we trained daily together, and I learned to believe in myself, work hard and enjoy life. The attributes that I admired the most and have tried to apply to my own life show themselves as unwavering honesty, a strong work ethic, and a love of family and community. But as the story stated, Daundre was swept out to sea by a strong current and I was overcome by grief and was consumed with anger, frustration, and remorse. The abrupt, untimely end of my friend’s life caused me to reexamine

In student essay three, Dennis Zevely wrote about a conversation he had with his father. Dennis was stuck in a rut and had no idea how he could change his situation. Constantly exhausted, he was working a full time, dead end job that he hated. His father told him about how happy he was to have had his wife, children, and house. His only regret was not having finished school. This inspired Dennis to go back to college and earn his degree to get out of his rut. I can relate to this. Prior to this class, I did not attend school for two years. Completely lost, I have been working multiple dead end jobs looking for my future career. I turned back to school after giving up on many different leads.

Not a single person in my family is involved in medicine. Nor do they enjoy being anywhere near the doctor’s office or a hospital so naturally, I had no exposure to medicine till my high school years except for being a fan of medical television such as Grey’s Anatomy and House. During this time, I became privy to a different side of medicine and health care. Shadowing doctors and volunteering in a hospital, I was fascinated by the unique language that separated the hospital from the world outside. Nurses soothing hysterical patients and families, surgical interns grappling for the best surgeries, doctors sniffing out drug-seeking patients- things you wouldn’t learn in med school in your textbooks. Part of this new language seemed cold and detached to me- just what my mother despised. For example, at times patients would be identified by their conditions rather than their names. The hypothetical patient in room 342 was called “mitral valve replacement” rather than “Lara” or “the mother of two”. In other cases, I saw interns being left to perform CPR on a car accident victim who was gone before he even reached the hospital.

This is a letter of strong support for my professor and mentor, Dr. Hasan Deniz for the GPSA outstanding mentor award. I believe that he is the best instructor I have ever had. Because of his tremendous commitment to my learning, and my fellow students as well, I believe that he is by far the best choice for this prestigious award. Dr. Deniz’s dedication to his students’ is legendary on campus. He is an outstanding leader and he shows tireless efforts in addressing and raising awareness about mentoring. But what is also staggering is how the efforts of one person, one particular person, can truly make a difference in a student’s life. Dr. Deniz has provided support in multiple ways,

Mentor is an experienced person in a company or educational institution who trains and counsels new employees or students(Oxford English Dictionary).Mentor help to promote personal and professional growth in an individual by sharing the knowledge and insights that they learned through the years.A mentor often has two primary functions,the career-related function which enhance the mentee’s professional performance and development as a coach and the psychosocial function which establishes the mentor as a role model and support system for the mentee. Mentor also has responsibility to serve as the role model,cheerleader or advocate.As kaye observes,mentors support mentees in the risk taking is crucial to their growth.Because their position could directly effect on individuals growth,mentor require some specific skills such as empathizing and ability to ask question.Empathizing or Strong rapport results in effective communication and a mentee open and willing to take the steps needed to effect change in their performance and development.Moreover mentor has also responsible for providing constructive feedback as a teacher or coach.Although effective mentor should manage various roles,they should not interfere with mentee’s