Justine Marin

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Old Dominion University’s LeADERS program is a pathway connecting undergraduate ODU students to enriching courses and real world learning experiences in the areas of: Leadership, Academic Internship, Diversity, Entrepreneurship, Research, or Service Learning, resulting in a competitive edge in their chosen careers. This LeADERS ePortfolio shares how my experiences in the areas of Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Research as well as in my extra-curricular experiences have supported my academic, professional, and personal development.

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• Why did you join LeADERS?

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I joined the LeADERS program because it serves for me as a basis of well-roundedness of my college experience. Because it challenges the student to delve into courses and experiences that enhances a variety of the most important skills required in the real world as well as to reflect on these experiences, and I believe that successful completion of the program would ensure that I would be properly equipped to tackle different situations and problems that I encounter in all aspects of my life.

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• What significant challenges did you encounter throughout your LeADERS courses and related experiences? How did you overcome these challenges?

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One major challenge I had in completing my LeADERS courses would be the time management. With my very busy schedule consisting of rigorous classes, extra-curricular activities, research work, etc., it was difficult to complete tasks punctually when deadlines would come after another. I overcame this by learning how to schedule my tasks in a way that works with my work style. I realized how important it is to establish my priorities and to constantly have the end goal in mind. I have also learned how to build productive habits and eliminate the ones that do not contribute to my growth.

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• What significant successes did you have during your LeADERS courses and related experiences? What contributed to your successes?

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Through the Leadership experience, I was able to learn and identify the most relevant skills to take the lead positions in formulating creative solutions to the ever-changing world's most pressing issues. I have successfully become more confident in approaching and investigating into these matters because I became more knowledgeable of what type of thinking produces those solutions.

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My Entrepreneurship course, on the other hand, has enabled me to get exposure to the entire process of producing something original, from the stage where the idea is only imagined to one where the tangible products are developed. I have learned the requirements for a carrying out the necessary subtasks in a properly managed and scheduled manner. I have also improved my teamwork and intercommunication skills because it involved group work.

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Finally, in my Research course I was successful in learning how to be more comfortable with switching gears as the course was part of a different field of study from my major. I gained a more upbound view of the two fields, giving me a perspective on how they supplement each other.

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I was able to have these successes through dedication, commitment, and keeping goals.

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• How do you see all of your specific LeADERS experiences connecting to one another?

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I have come to realize that not only do the skills in these areas enhance each other, but they also depend on each other, and thus it is important for one to possess all of these skills. For example in my experiences, the Leadership Lecture Series taught me the importance of staying up to date to the most current state of technology and being aware of what is needed by the world at that moment, but these skills would be also essential parts of Entrepreneurship skills as being an entrepreneur involves identifying the needs of the customer to be able to design the appropriate product.

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Similarly, my project in my Entrepreneurship course was about doing calculations that would provide clinical indices for cardiovascular diseases, which is essentially learning about an existing gap in the currently available materials and designing a solution to address that gap. This is also the core of Research skills as knowledge can only be furthered by being aware of what information and ideas are and are not existing. Both also require understanding of the current world and consistently being up to date as in Leadership skills.

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The proper data collection and analysis I conducted in my Research course would also be important components of both Leadership and Entrepreneurship skills as data will always be necessarily utilized in team management and mastering product economics.

 

I recognize that all of these skills are also applicable to experiences outside the LeADERS program, such as my undergraduate research about ice-templated ceramics as well as my international water distribution/sanitation project with Engineers Without Borders. For both of these cases, all of the aforementioned skills of team work, constantly being up to date with the body of knowledge, and awareness of the need of the people, are vital for their successful execution and further improvement in the future.

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• What are your professional, personal, and/or educational goals after graduation?

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As of now, I plan on continuing onto graduate school to pursue a Master's degree in biomedical engineering. This will serve as the stage where I become more specialized in my field given my mechanical engineering background. After finishing graduate school, my plan is to go into the workforce to practice in this profession and apply the knowledge I gained. I hope to get a job where I get to develop sustainable and advanced biocompatible materials and/or design more dexterous prosthetic devices.

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• How have experiences within LeADERS prepared you to achieve your goals after graduation? Use specific examples.

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The field that I hope to be a member of is biomedical engineering, which is naturally an interdisciplinary field, and thus it is important to be a well-rounded and highly skilled individual to be competitive. The experiences within LeADERS have prepared me to achieve this future goal in that through those I was able to develop many vital skills. For example, working in a team effectively is important as the engineering work requires professional opinions of experts from different fields, and I have learned this from my Entrepreneurship and Research courses. Another example is the importance of recognizing the needs of the patient, and I have learned from my Entrepreneurship course something parallel to this where we address the problem in a situation. Moreover, to design technology used by people involves a great understanding of the most current state of technology and economy, as well as being adaptable to the constant changes, and I have learned this from my Leadership experience.

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