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| Orientation in the Hafter Center |
I wanted to come to Salus University since I was 14
years old with a dream of becoming an optometrist. With eight years of anticipation
and diligent preparation, orientation week began. It took a solid hour just to
choose an outfit for the first day. Even though orientation started at 8:30 am,
I, along with numerous others, arrived before 7:30 am. We waited in our cars
anxiously for someone to get out and walk in first. As we walked in,
I could feel the excitement and nervousness in the air.
What should have been an hour wait, felt like mere minutes.
Students poured into the Hafter Center dressed professionally and ready to
become graduate students of a heath profession. Dr. Michael H. Mittelman,
President of Salus University, greeted us and offered inspirational
advice on becoming great healthcare professionals. He stressed empathy, which I
found to be a very insightful tip that I hadn’t previously considered.
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Dave & Buster's in the
Plymouth Meeting Mall |
Orientation week was full of resources meant to aid us in
our preparation for our respective fields. This included a resource fair full
of clinics, banks, information on The Eye Institute, Learning Resource Center,
and military programs. We had a session on financial planning that opened my
eyes into the world of investing and reminded us to still live like students
the first few years out of school. We were also introduced to budgeting apps
and debt calculators. I found the session on cultural awareness to be very
interesting and insightful. Coming from a rural town in Pennsylvania, I was not
used to much diversity, while Philadelphia is rich in other cultures. This
session went over how to be sensitive to patients and intuitive to the various
cultures one encounters when working in the healthcare field.
While it was nice to spend our days in orientation, it was wonderful
having the after-orientation events. These included trivia and a trip to Dave
and Busters. I was quite worried for trivia, as it was entitled, “Pop Culture
Trivia” and I know very little to nothing about this topic. All and all my
team didn’t do too shabby. It was a great way to interact
with our classmates and make some new friends. Dave and Busters was a great
time too -- their Dance Dance Revolution machine was far harder than we had
anticipated but we made it out alive. Just as my card ran out, I miraculously
hit 1,000 tickets. It was a nice end to a long day!
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President Mittelman speaking at
theWhite Coat ceremony |
While orientation week was exciting, I was itching to start
classes. But first, we had the White Coat Ceremony. This year it was held
in the Kimmel Center in Center City, Philadelphia. This was the first time I had
taken a subway into Philadelphia, but alas, I made it unscathed. The venue was absolutely
beautiful, with glass windows surrounding us and wood paneling coating the
theater. The ceremony was very inspirational as it welcomed us into the world of
health professionalism. With our white coats on, we recited in unison the Oath
to Professionalism. It felt like a graduation in a sense, like we were ready to
take on the world. In reality, we are just getting started to take on the challenges of graduate school. It was a great way to begin our new journey!
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White Coat Ceremony
at the Kimmel Center |
~ Sabrina is a first-year optometry student at Salus University
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