Goals and Learning

During my 2024-2025 Internship with Dr. Schelcht I wanted to make sure I got the most out of my experience here. Below are goals I have and how I am able to complete and expand on my goals and skills.

Internship Goals

Learning Goal #1: I want to get better at advocating and speaking up about a need, question, or anything. I tend to be shy or hesitant to ask about certain desires or needs in the workplace.
Relevance: My career goal is to be a physical therapist and for that I must be an effective communicator. I have found myself hesitating to ask questions, help and feedback because I like to try to figure things out on my own. However, this led me to progress slower and has inhibited me from learning new skills faster.
Action Plan: Tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities you'll do to meet this goal.

Imaging and microscope training
Loading on mice (Learning how to load sub maximally on the mice knees)
Histology training (Learning how to identify the ACL on the microscope slides)

Progress: I have learned how to accurately take histological images of our specimen basing it on my strong foundation of the anatomy. I now use my foundation of anatomical identification skills to understand landmarks and understand what I am looking at. I am grateful for how my colleagues and my supervisor have taken the time to train me and helping me understand. Taking time to ask questions and taking some independence on projects has helped me get to where I am now. I have definitely improved both my communication skills as well as critical thinking skills.

Learning Goal #2: I want to be able to collaborate and work with someone. I have always done independent work but my goal is to gain experience working with someone else on a project or assignment since at my other job I never got to work with someone.
Relevance: I want to be an effective collaborator and speaker. If I have an idea, question or thought I want to be able to say it and speak it out loud. I think to be a good collaborator one must be willing to have open discussions.
Action Plan: Tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities you'll do to meet this goal.

My 2nd semester project is collaborative and I can work with the other intern
With the other intern we can stain and do MRI imaging
Interacting with everyone on the project because everyone can finish each other’s parts if need be

Progress: As the semester went on now I have worked on staining with my colleague. It has helped me understand how to do procedures but also to see how each stage of our process helps the next person. For example, when I do imaging I do my best o clarify everything so when I am not there my colleague who continues where I left off in imaging they know where to start. I like leaving sticky notes for my colleagues especially if I see an image that I know won't produce accurate results I will write it down that way my colleague can work more efficiently because I have reduced the number of slides they have to go through.

Learning Goal #3: Another goal is finding a leadership position. I want to be able to take a lead on a project or assignment to test my management skills.
Relevance: I want to get better at leading or helping others. I need to be a good leader and coworker to see progress in projects, tasks, and other activities. As it relates to my career goal, physical therapists assign and lead the progress of patients and make the rehab programs.
Action Plan: Tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities you'll do to meet this goal.

We get to come up with our presentation idea!
I can specialize in a skill of my choosing! Depending on what I am good at e.g. slicing, imaging, staining...
If I am good at a certain thing, I can take the lead on it. Each intern can help each other out!

Progress: Since working with the other intern on our project idea it has been very insightful on how to go from creating aan idea to seeing it pan out. Leadership is knowing how to collaborate and knowing how to keep the boat steady and on course. I have found it to be rewarding seeing us exchange ideas from writing our abstracts to actually preparing for our presentations. I have come really far since the beginning. In the beginning I was unsure of how well I would do but as time has gone by I've experienced incredible experiences and wins. My supervisor let me go into the lab by myself to continue researching and imaging while everyone was gone. It felt rewarding to be given this responsibility

Learning

I am a lot more confident asking for help and communicating if I do not understand the instructions. Partly because my team and coworkers have been such an open and positive environment and partly because as I've gotten comfortable doing certain tasks like imaging, cropping, or analysis I know what the process should be and so if something comes up as abnormal I know to ask.

I also grew my critical thinking skills. For example, when I was cropping the ACL images I was well versed in the anatomy so when I realized the image was of a right ACL and not a left ACL (since Dr. Schlecht had only taught me using a left ACL) I was able to figure it out and realize using my knowledge of the anatomy and identifying structures that it was a right ACL. In the end I didn't have to go ask for help and was able to figure it out.

I have also grown my collaborative skills. Although working in the lab is mostly independent work we are still all part of the system. For example, when I was working on taking images of the ACL and I didn't finish I asked Dr. Schlecht if Hannah (the other intern) was coming in and he said yes. I suggested leaving a note with a list of all the ACLs that I had finished imaging that way she didn't have to go through the trouble of verifying which ones I had done and which ones I hadn't. This helped the process because if I help her I know it will help the system that we all work in.

Since the fall semester, I have grown more confident in being well versed about the ACL and the research I am doing. I now explain my research to friends and family and explain the findings in our research. I started learning how to slice the ACL onto slides and cutting through a mouse knee and now I have grown exponentially since I started. My anatomy identification are nearly perfected especially when I image and threshold.

Developing Skills

I need to improve my problem solving skills. Right now I do not have strong enough grasp on how to overcome certain problems solely on my own. For example, if the image that was taken is not clear enough I still need help trying to figure out what to do to fix it. I know the steps of what to do but it has taken me a while to realize the why behind what I am doing. For example, while using and taking measurements of the ACL I was told to set a scale to a certain number. It wasn't until I accidentally forgot to set it the next time I came in that Adam (coworker) explained to me why my numbers didn't make sense.

I would still like to continue working on my wet lab skills. I have only done staining once but I haven't had many opportunities to work on those yet. I would also like to work on my chemistry skills and calculations which come a bit harder to me.

How Does This Translate?

I remember when Dr. Schlecht was teaching me how to read the histological images of the ACL. He told me "Remember the ACL runs from the back of the femur to the front of the tibia." Identifying this structure and differentiating it from the surrounding ligaments is crucial for when I do imaging and isolation of the ACL. I do it so often at my internship site it has become second nature.

He also taught me how to look at the knee and identify all the other structures. The fat pad, the patellar ligament, femur, and tibia have a distinct shape and look that I now can readily differentiate between them all. Dr. Schlecht told me that the fat pad is easy to identify as it is "a triangle with distinct bubble feature" and the patellar ligament "always runs in front of the patella and in front of the fat pad". The tibia is flatter and wider and the femur is much more round.

I have learned so much about the anatomy of knee and much more about the actual mechanics of the knee. Dr. Schlecht showed me a model of a knee and explained the sliding and shifting of the bones when we bend our knee. It has been very helpful to visually see it, but now I understand it in a more complex and detailed way. This has been engrained in my head now and it has helped me in my Anatomy and Physiology class. It has translated on how I study for my kinesiology classes as well. Understanding the mechanics of the structures has helped me apply it to my everyday life.