This weekend, I was the most Yale student I could be and dived into my extracurricular activities with grace. When I’m not in class or with my friends, I am most likely taking part in one of Yale’s many, many non-academic activities. For me, they are also non-athletic but I stop by the gym every once in a while… just not this particular weekend.
Thursday:
Every Thursday I end my day by meeting with the Yale Public Health Coalition to discuss public health, of course. However, we are mainly a group of health-oriented people hanging out and planning events to find other health-oriented students. National Public Health Week is in April, and we start planning for this in January since we anticipate back-to-back events for five days straight. This was our first meeting of the semester and I left feeling inspired by our upcoming workshops, speaker panels, and potential Tiktok street interviews. Look ahead to what events we host in April and my subsequent reflection!
Friday:
My Friday started with a brisk walk to the Med School campus in the rain. I tried to catch a shuttle but I was a few seconds too late and instead saw the shuttle drive right past me. It’s quite haunting to be walking in the same direction as the shuttle, trailing behind it for five blocks, one longer than the last. Anyway, I was meeting with the Principal Investigator of a lab I am interested in joining (now officially on board!). Getting to discuss biomedical engineering research that is also centered around global health met all my interests and I’m excited to get to conduct my research through them!
After my meeting and Friday afternoon class (boooo), I had an interview with the co-presidents of Sube regarding a board position. Sube is Yale’s Latinx Pre-Professional student group, and my involvement with them in the past has not been all that substantial but now I want to become the pre-professional of everyone’s dreams. When you come to Yale, you find yourself wanting to be part of 100 amazing different clubs. Now, I am actually involved in only a handful of clubs but remain on the email list of 100+ organizations. Sube, however, was looking for new people for their board to support the organization’s needs for the year and I felt particularly suited to a role and their mission. I had a casual interview to see if I would be a good fit (spoiler alert from the future: I am on the board!). I enjoyed talking to other students equally passionate about their club and look forward to board bonding events and meeting other Latine students!
Saturday:
Saturday morning also started with a brisk walk, but this time it was much shorter as I just had to find my way to William L. Harkness Hall, a mere three-minute walk from my dorm. I was meeting with the 2024 Masthead for the Yale Scientific Magazine. The day began with all ~30 masthead members playing a Kahoot centered around our fun facts; I did not win… but I enjoyed playing Kahoot for the first time in literal years. I have moved up in the world from solely an arts contributor to The Arts Editor and met the production team I will be working with this year. We discussed our visions for the magazine and also had to decide on the color palette for the upcoming edition. I did not know people could be so passionate about a color palette, but let it be known that a lot of thought, deliberation, and tears formed the 97.1 edition’s color scheme, and it is proudly a call to spring and summer. We were then all out on the town for lunch, collectively taking up the restaurant’s entire sitting space.
Sunday:
I do actually have to do homework at some point, and Sunday was the day to lock in and prepare for the week. My only extracurricular activity today was going to Donut Crazy for lunch instead of eating in the dining hall. I love their donuts, but I was craving their mango smoothie–I love anything mango flavored. I spent Sunday catching up on emails, working on this blog (extracurricular inception!), and completing homework in good company. Good company all weekend long!
