Sherman PRIDE

Boards Studying

It is amazing how one thought can ruin your feelings about the productivity for an entire weekend. I had cleaned the apartment. I had studied for my upcoming midterms. I had completed my tutoring for the week. I even got to enjoy an episode of Duck Dynasty. I was feeling accomplished. I thought maybe I should just go to bed to get an even better fresh start for the following week.

Then, I thought, ‘I didn’t look at any board review material in the past week and a half.’

I am slated for Part I of the NBCE boards in March and most quarters above 5^th are in the process of looking over past material relevant to the tests that determine one’s ability to obtain a chiropractic license. It will be a daunting task to be competing with all the other chiropractic students across the country to pass this onslaught of tests.

For the potential and lower quarter students reading this: The Part I board consists of six parts/tests taken on a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning on Sherman’s campus. I believe each of the six test has 110 questions covering topics such as biochemistry, spinal anatomy, pathology, physiology, etc. During the testing time there may not be any personal belongings in the examination area. Pencils and the test material are provided. Bathroom breaks are not allowed. It is an intense weekend. Hopefully all goes well and I can pass all parts on the first go at it.  

 

Halloween at Sherman

I have always liked Halloween. Probably because my mom always dressed up when I was a kid.

There have been several great customs on campus today. Including the Duck Dynasty clan. Miss United States dressed as Minnie Mouse. Army personal. Where's Waldo. Domo. And many others!!! Here are a few pics.

Melinda

Bagelfest Fall 13

As I have blogged in the past, one of my favorite traditions at Sherman College is Bagelfest. This is a time to get together as a whole Sherman community and enjoy bagels and discuss various upcoming and current topics. This event typically runs long and is jam packed with announcements of future events, celebrating our incoming quarter of interns at the health center, and welcoming our first quarter students.

Highlights from the event:

Dr. Cordero shared of his travels and the buzz out in the chiropractic community about the things going on at Sherman College.

We welcomed 2 new Case doctors at the health center that were desperately needed.

It is obvious from this event that Sherman students love their teachers. Several teachers reached milestone years of teaching at Sherman. This included Dr. Guangming Wu (5 yr), Ms. Carolyn Best (15 yr), Dr. Bob Irwin (15 yr), Dr. Ron Castellucci (15yr), and Dr. Cindy Gibbon (20 yr). Students clapped and cheered for their favorite teachers. Dr. Ron was also honored with standing ovations as he was voted faculty of the year. Mrs. Kristy Shepherd, admissions, was also honored with standing ovations as she was honored as staff member of the year.

Scholarships given by the financial aid office were awarded in addition to the coveted alumni association scholarship.

Dr. Seay pinned the incoming class of interns

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The incoming first quarter class was not  introduced. Typically, the first quarter would be introduced one at a time, and they would share basic information about themselves. Many of the lower quarter students (< 6 quarter) were disappointed and frustrated with this change. This time was a great opportunity to learn names and help the new quarter assimilate. It is safe to say I am never going to remember the incoming quarter’s names anymore. However, cutting out this process saved about an hour of time so I can understand the administrations choice to remove the practice.

 

 

 

 

A great start to the weekend!

This is a busy weekend for Sherman with events including IRAPS, Talk the Tic National Competition, Activate…Your future at Sherman College (an event for prospective students), and a Board of Trustees meeting. I have said this before but one of the best things about Sherman is our Board of Trustees. Today we kick started the weekend of with 2 presentations from board members Todd Picou and Dr. Christopher Kent. 

Mr. Picou is has an MBA and has founded a large business dealing with hospice care in SC. While he is not a chiropractor, he brings a unique prospective of business and health care in America to the board of trustees. One of my favorite statements from him today is that healthcare is broken and broke. The vast majority of the $2.7 TRILLION spent on healthcare is disease and crisis care. Dr. Kent gave us a great illustration today. 

Start counting. 

If you think of each second as one penny how long do you think it would take you to count to 1 million? 1 billion? 1 trillion? 

It would take you 11 days to count to 1 million. 

That is counting non-stop 24/7. 

To count to 1 billion would take 30 years. 

Guess take a wild guess as to how long it would take you to count to 1 Trillion. 

300 centuries! 

That is a long time and a lot of money! We cannot continue like this. We have to educate America and people have tothink and actively participate. 

This brings me to my last point of this blog post. We also had the opportunity to hear from the founder of Talk the Tic Dr. Erik Van Slooten. Talk the Tic is a nationwide competition for student to present their health talks. I had the opportunity to pick up 2 of the contestants tonight at the airport. I am grateful to Sherman for hosting this even so I can meet students from others school. I wish everyone the best of luck tomorrow. 

Yes, Grateful!

Yes, in Clinic there are a great number of procedures to master that form the “skeleton” of the process of chiropractic care. One must develop an awareness and sensitivity to the needs of patients and sort out the priorities in diagnosis. One must develop the skill of listening to what the patient is saying, and one must develop the skill that is in essence the delivery of the chiropractic adjustment. In fact, the learning process in clinic involves the integration so many skills…that it would take me quite some time to create a list worthy of what a chiropractic intern must master during his or her time in the Health Center. 

Yet, what is seen and judged from the patients’ perspective is simply the delivery of an adjustment. Perhaps it is even simpler than this. Perhaps all a patient may be aware of is whether or not they are “getting better.” And so, the delivery of care is what brings me to the point of this writing. 

For all the study, time and money that a chiropractic student puts into their learning there is one thing in the end that is most important. It’s not in the grades, nor in the honors, the reward for volunteer hours, how many patients we see, how quickly we “process” patients or how gracefully we handle the stresses and strains. It’s all really in the end product; it’s in our patient care.

Now that I am able to see the end product of all our work in school, I can easily say, “Yes, I am grateful” for where I am. I can now witness the benefits that chiropractic care creates when the power is “turned on!” It’s an amazing thing to witness and it makes all the hard work worthwhile!

Enjoy the glorious autumn weather! (image source)

 

President's Assembly: Dr. Rauch

On Wednesday, Dr. Bradley Rauch spoke at the President’s assembly. He is a very successful chiropractor who has helped start chiropractic clinics in 29 states and 4 countries. He is also very passionate about chiropractic missions. He has worked in countries like Haiti, Dominican Republic, Russia, Croatia, and Italy. Throughout his life experiences he has seen chiropractic care help so many people. Dr. Rauch stated, “We have opportunity to change people’s lives.” This can be done by “reconnect[ing] people with innate intelligence.” He believes that if you “tell the story with love in your heart… it just works.”

That was the major message of the assembly. It doesn’t matter who or where, only love in your heart and an understanding of the power of the adjustment.

Dr. Rauch also gave some advice on starting a practice. He stated that students need to choose a community to love and start a practice there. He told a story of another chiropractic college having a board in their office of alumni affairs of the “no go” zones because the area is too densely populated with chiropractors. He said that was nonsense. He believed that if you go into the community and differentiate yourself by telling the story you can get started and serve a crazy amount of people.

Dr. Rauch also emphasized the need to do “the work” as student so we don’t lose our fire for chiropractic. The work for him was: mission trips, Dynamic Essentials, New Beginnings, technique seminars, mentorship programs, personal development, and podcasts.

All in all, Dr. Rauch was captivating to listen to and really fired me up about going out into the field (despite it being a more than 2 years away). I hope President Cordero can continue to bring in great speakers to empower Sherman students to have a clear understanding of how to succeed.

 

Business Success Curriculum

This week I had the opportunity to be a part of a pilot group for the start of Sherman's Business Success Curriculum. The program is designed to help prepare students for the current realities of being in practice as a chiropractor in today's healthcare market. I believe one of the most attractive aspects to many people looking into chiropractic college is that you can be your own boss. However, to do this you must know how to run a business. Yes you can hire people to help, but you have to do more then just check spines and adjust all day. Sherman is not only teaching students how to be chiropractors, but successful chiropractors. I am very excited to be a part of this new program. 

On Thursday of this week all of 5th and 6th quarter spent today with Dr. Dean DePice, founder of TLC.  Some of the topics we discussed included:

• Creating a vision for what our practice will look like
• Starting a storyboard to help us visualize and focus on our future practice
• How to introduce ourselves to a community where we want to open a new practice
• How to present research facts in 10-30 seconds. 
• Much more...

After the seminar I feel more enthusiastic about my goals, and ready to buckle down and finish the next couple of quarters of basic science classes so I can pass boards and enter clinic. As the first group we really did not know what to expect, but I think the day exceeded my expectations, and I encourage
future participants to get excited about the opportunities to come at Sherman. 

Food and Drink Policy

Sherman has a blanket policy that food is not allowed in class unless approved by the teacher, and that non-alcoholic beverages must be in sealed containers. (It makes me laugh that we have to clarify non-alcoholic.)

In most of our classrooms we have 6 foot folding tables, with 2-3 people to a table which is more than enough room for each person to have a drink on the desk with their notes. However, in Dr. Duke's class we have individual desks in rows. If the person in front of you leans back they can easily bump your drink and knock it over.

One of my classmates had a problem with his drink being spilled 3 times last week. Today he came to class and someone had prepared!

Just wanted to share the fun times from Dr. Duke's classroom.

Gait Runway Project

 

 

 

 

Is this a zombie apocalypse? Despite AMC’s Walking Dead being on my mind, this is just a picture from Neuropathophysiology. In this class, students learn about disorders of the nervous system and how these disorders affect the physiology of the body.

 

 

 

One such example is the study of gait (the stride or walk of an individual). As a teaching aid, the class was divided up into 7 groups to do a project runway. Gaits from hemiplegic (which may result from a stroke and affect one side of the body) to an ataxic gait (one seen from drinking too much alcohol) were demonstrated as best as possible by myself and other classmates. It was a fun class period and I am glad Dr. York uses such teaching methods to enhance the learning of an otherwise dry topic.

I believe that this style of learning is one example of why Sherman College is so great. There is a fair share of lecture during a given class period, but there is a heavily practical/get-up-and-do-it mentality to the material.

Howl at the Moon

The first week of class is the perfect time to get away. I believe last quarter I went white water rafting around this time. This quarter, I ended up at Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar in Charlotte.

The event was put together by Melinda. She had won the event almost six months ago, but wanted to maximize the number of Sherman students willing to attend by waiting for a non-boards quarter. It was a smart decision since the Howl at the Moon allowed for a party of 100 people to get in to the bar for free and enjoy party specific specials.

I had fun at the event. A good number of Sherman students came out early to enjoy the buffet style dinner from 5-7; however, the party really started around 9 pm when the 5^th quarter crew showed up. It was a lot of fun listening to some of our favorite tunes as requested by the 5 very talented musicians playing for us. We were rocking out to hits like Don’t Stop Believing, Bohemian Rhapsody, Jeremiah was a Bull Frog, and more.

I was amazed how a musician would be looking up the words to a song while asking one of their fellow band mates to just switch instruments “real quick” while they learn the song. This whole process would only take about one minute. It was cool to watch and made the whole experience even more enjoyable.  

As a group, we also had some fun with the phrase of the night which was posted behind the band… PS. Wade is my Hero.