Personal Reflection Essay: Personal Experiences

I entered college with a bucket list. Only some people can participate in undergraduate school, and I’ve always heard to make the most of it. Following this advice, I added goals like work on campus, connect with others, study abroad, and learn a new language to my list. I crossed off the first when I was hired at the Auraria Library Café. I have worked as a barista for six years, and a year and a half of those I was able to share the joy of a warm cup of coffee with many students on campus. My job totally matched my bubbly personality, and I made numerous friends because of it.

I was fascinated my first semester at MSU Denver, taking classes like Holistic Health and Stress & Sleep. These classes taught me primarily to focus on healing myself. Health has many dynamics, so I can choose what I’m interested in. After taking more core classes, I learned I had an interest in women and pregnancy. This is when I felt inspired to financially invest in myself to become a birth doula. I contacted Ann Pollack and Penny Lyon, two certified birth doula trainers, who were thrilled to include me in their training June of 2016.

Since I was just entering the birthing sector, I joined a program called Prenatal Plus that matched in-need mothers with volunteer doulas. Through this program, I attended the birth of a young MSU Denver student, a four-time mother with a hearing impairment, and a woman whose baby was up for an open adoption. I volunteered my time to lead prenatal meetings where we