Week 9

On Monday, my group presented our PowerPoint and brochure on upper respiratory infections (URI's). We tried to make our brochure as attractive as possible without filling it up with complicated wording so as to appeal to the general populace. Even I refuse to read a brochure that is full of minuscule text. We defined URI and explained some of the symptoms, transmission, treatment, and prevention. We did not even mention the specific names of the causative agents of the various URI's, but we did say whether the 3 diseases we focused on (common cold, flu, mold allergies) were caused by bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Our PowerPoint was for the class, so we were able to add a few more details to the presentation. Since we were the last group to go, we only had 5 minutes to present, but it worked out fine. We let Sophia do most of the speaking since she is the best speaker out of all of us, so the rest of us made up for it by doing more of the work in putting together the brochure and PowerPoint. Overall, we were brief but succinct, and I feel like we did a good job.

This is my last blog, but I will continue to volunteer at SJC as long as I can. Although I was skeptical at first, this project turned out to be a great success, and I'm glad it was a requirement for this class. It introduced me to places that I would not think to volunteer at otherwise, and I love helping out at SJC. Hopefully, the brochures will educate the people about the diseases we researched so that the community will have a better understanding of how to care for themselves.

Week 8

After skipping 2 weeks in a row, I was finally able to volunteer at the clinic. Our group had dwindled down to only other person, and Sam really had nothing planned for us to do. Finally, she came up with 2 tasks for us to accomplish. First, we had a pile of brochures that had accidentally printed on only one side, and we had to figure out how to print on the other side by trying out different trays of the printer and positioning the paper in various ways. Next, we had to cut out remembrance cards of the clinic using decorative scissors. Since they only had one pair of scissors, I did the majority of the cutting while my partner took care of the brochures. Once we finished printing, we learned how to print on both sides simultaneously for future reference. We even took it a step further and began folding the brochures into trifolds. We worked incessantly, but we were unable to complete our assignments. However, it was still an enjoyable experience because the work was simple, and I had a good conversation with my volunteer buddy.

In other news, my group completed our brochure about upper respiratory infections, which we will be presenting on Monday.