Ethical Decision Making

Ethical decision making has been at the forefront of not only my major, but also my career direction. It is most commonly known that science and philosophy are two separate identities. In the spring of 2010, I took Human Identity with Father Joensen who brought together a wide array of knowledge of several different disciplines including philosophy, but was also relative and connective to majors besides philosophy.

One of the stories in which we read about  has helped me to connect with patients on a more personal level at my internship, the cath lab doing cardiac research. The story unfolded its tale in a simple manner speaking of a husband who died and had given his heart to a donor. The wife longed to hear her husband’s heart beat and seeks closure and peace of mind. She seeks out  the recipient just to hear his heart beat. The class brought about different questions such as: Is the organ made of just organic material or does it have personal depths to it? Why would a wife travel great distances to hear just a heart beat? What was significant about that one heart beat? In the story, the wife says she knows her late husband by his heart beat. From a scientific point of view, the Atrioventricular and Semilunar values are just opening and closing causing a heart rate. From a philosophical point of view, the blood being pushed during these contractions of opening and closing the values is the blood that has sustained him in his life, it is the life within him.

El Salvador

I also, as a freshman, went to El Salvador to build latrines for people needing help. Although I was not familiar with traveling outside the US, I went because I felt that it was what I needed at that time in my life. I felt a strong calling to serve those people even if I was only gone a week. Those people were reaching out to me with open arms needing a source of light. If people can live off of another person, than why should we not be that person?

Service To Others

I  took part in Antioch last year as a candidate, and this year as a chapel team member. I feel that it is my duty to give back what has been given to me which is why I chose to become a team member of Antioch. We provide students with a weekend retreat of prayer, reflection, and connection to other members of the Loras community. Faith is an important part of my life and I do feel it is my responsibility to serve others through my own faith as well as connect with them spiritually.

                In the spring of 2011, I am going on a service trip to the Brother Darst Center to help aide in social justice and peace activities. It is important to me to be active in communities unknown to me, for I do not know where I will end up in life. Bodies are not permanent, and it is important to connect with as many people as possible knowing that territory does stay permanent. I enjoy peace and justice activities and it is pertinent that as a responsible contributor I take action in areas of interest and be fully alert of weaknesses and strengths in different communities.

Responsible Contributor

Being a responsible contributor applies to not only academic based work, but work in the community as well. In the spring of 2010, a few other students and I participated in brain awareness week in which we teach the Dubuque community important aspects of their brain ranging in age from 7-13 years of age (in years to come, we are hoping to expand to elderly adults as well). We then presented a poster at the Society for Neuroscience conference every fall. Not only are we educating our community, but we are networking with students from across the globe participating in the same event.

Active Learning

As a Biological Research major, I study different biological processes occurring in the body. Currently, I am in Sensation and Perception and we learned about the light transduction pathway. Rhodopsin, a protein affected in the beginning of the light transduction pathway splits into Opsin and Retinal. I am also in Biochem where we study the micro aspect of these proteins and enzymes. I am able to apply this material to different courses as well.

Because a lot of my classes overlap, it is important to integrate material fluently throughout the science courses I have taken.