OMSI Volunteer: Chemistry lab
What is the history of this organization? When and why was it established and to whom do they provide service?
1896: OMSI was a site of observing Oregon’s natural resources
•After Great Depression and WWII, moved to house that was later demolished
•City council agreed to lease land in Washington Park ($1 per year)
•On a summer day in 1957-400 volunteers helped build new OMSI
•By the 1980s OMSI had over 600,000 visitors per year!
•New leaders campaigning, 32 million dollars donated, PGE donated 18.5 acre-site
1896: OMSI was a site of observing Oregon’s natural resources
•After Great Depression and WWII, moved to house that was later demolished
•City council agreed to lease land in Washington Park ($1 per year)
•On a summer day in 1957-400 volunteers helped build new OMSI
•By the 1980s OMSI had over 600,000 visitors per year!
•New leaders campaigning, 32 million dollars donated, PGE donated 18.5 acre-site
What is your organization and/or project focus?
•OMSI's mission: Inspire curiosity through engaging science learning experiences, foster experimentation and the exchange of ideas, and stimulate informed action.
The impressive 219,000 sq. ft. facility for OMSI opened in 1992
•OMSI serves up to 1 million people through on and off site education programs
•It is known as one of the top US science centers
•OMSI's mission: Inspire curiosity through engaging science learning experiences, foster experimentation and the exchange of ideas, and stimulate informed action.
The impressive 219,000 sq. ft. facility for OMSI opened in 1992
•OMSI serves up to 1 million people through on and off site education programs
•It is known as one of the top US science centers
What is the underlying social context that makes this work important?
Encouraging childhood curiosity for the world around them is essential in my point of view. In this day and age, kids are buried in technology which is good in some ways, but in my opinion often is some that takes them away from using their own imagination. At OMSI, kids can explore science in a tangible way through different experiments and hands-on learning. OMSI is also a place where kids can simply play and run around at the Science Playground. Children are the future of the world so it is crucial that we encourage them to think and be interested in how the world works.
Encouraging childhood curiosity for the world around them is essential in my point of view. In this day and age, kids are buried in technology which is good in some ways, but in my opinion often is some that takes them away from using their own imagination. At OMSI, kids can explore science in a tangible way through different experiments and hands-on learning. OMSI is also a place where kids can simply play and run around at the Science Playground. Children are the future of the world so it is crucial that we encourage them to think and be interested in how the world works.
What led your heart to this work?
•I've always had a childhood curiosity for science
•Now that I almost have an undergraduate Bachelor's degree in science, I feel like I have the ability to be able to give back to the community and help be part of the organization that encouraged further interest in me to learn about science
•Now accepted to OHSU medical school I know I have a challenging road ahead that will occasionally feel overwhelming. OMSI is and will continue to be a good reminder to me as to when my enthusiasm for science started and how I should always remember where it originated (childhood)
•I've always had a childhood curiosity for science
•Now that I almost have an undergraduate Bachelor's degree in science, I feel like I have the ability to be able to give back to the community and help be part of the organization that encouraged further interest in me to learn about science
•Now accepted to OHSU medical school I know I have a challenging road ahead that will occasionally feel overwhelming. OMSI is and will continue to be a good reminder to me as to when my enthusiasm for science started and how I should always remember where it originated (childhood)
What is your plan to implement and effect change?
My plan is to implement change by using my increasing knowledge base of science to give back and encourage others to want to learn about science as well. I am doing this by being an enthusiastic and engaged volunteer at OMSI, answering questions that the kids may have, and explaining the experiments in an exciting way for them to walk out of OMSI wanting to learn more about the world around them. Even outside of OMSI, I hope to be able to inspire people to become educated and want to learn as well, especially those of the younger generations.
My plan is to implement change by using my increasing knowledge base of science to give back and encourage others to want to learn about science as well. I am doing this by being an enthusiastic and engaged volunteer at OMSI, answering questions that the kids may have, and explaining the experiments in an exciting way for them to walk out of OMSI wanting to learn more about the world around them. Even outside of OMSI, I hope to be able to inspire people to become educated and want to learn as well, especially those of the younger generations.
Reflect on the experience and its impact both on the community partner and yourself.
“Our work is to see what’s right in front of us and to step forward to claim it. And then to keep seeing, to keep paying attention, to stay with the hard places, the uncomfortable relationships, the unanswerable questions.” I find this quote in Walk Out Walk On to be very powerful. It often feels like the easy thing to do in a new or uncomfortable situation is to run away to a more familiar or comfortable place. I feel like this Capstone experience allowed me to finally walk on to OMSI to not only volunteer, like I have been hoping to do for quite a while, but to also notice things during my time volunteering that I may not have noticed otherwise. For example I paid more attention to the details of how OMSI is an effective agent for change in itself. It faced many changes until finally established and stable, including financial support issues. But the groups of dedicated people saw possibilities in it that other may not had seen at the time. Now OMSI is changing the lives of kids and even adults everyday by informing them about science in an exciting and curiosity-provoking light.
I am pleased to help be a part of such an organization. Hopefully I can continue to volunteer for much more time to come, so I can keep on causing effective change in this manner. But the busy medical school life may not allow me continue with this specific way of giving back for long. No matter where my journey takes me, I am determined to dedicating myself to causing positive change wherever I go, even though now I may not know exactly what lays ahead of me in medical school.
Thoughts like these over the past few days have provoked some emotions in me that I have not really felt before. I am at the brink of a new and significant chapter in my life. In less than a couple of weeks I will be done with my years at Portland State University and will be headed to OHSU for medical school. This is something that I have been preparing for consciously for years, and also without being aware, readying myself for my whole life. But suddenly the fact that I am actually at this point is a bit frightening. I know that over the next four years I will be facing hardships that will force me to grow into a more mature and strong person, which is exciting. At the same time though, that means I will lose parts of my current self in the process, which I do not really know how to feel about. After these first four years I will be 25, and by the time I finish the long schooling process I will be in my late 20s. The amount of time that I have now to spend with friends and loved ones will decrease greatly for a while; this means I will have to get used to being on power mode without having as much social relaxation to unwind. In a way I will be a different person when I come out of this, which is both thrilling and slightly overwhelming.
But after reflecting over these feelings for a while, I remembered that this will be the process that will gift me with the power to create the change that I have been yearning and striving to be able to make in the community for so long. This change will hopefully not only be in the local community, but also globally, maybe even in my home country of Afghanistan someday. Tackling the challenges that I will be faced with will better prepare me to be in a position to help improve the quality of life of human beings while learning about myself and science on a daily basis. What better privilege than this exists on the planet?
One of my favorite things about this class was the fact that we were able to choose our own projects. We have such a beautiful mix of interests in our class, and hearing the unique stories of everyone else caused me to step back and analyze my own goals from many different angles. The discussions in the class will be some of the most valuable things that I will take away with me. Learning about where we all plan to go with what we have was just another reminder for me that humans have a natural desire for wanting to spread goodness. The way we go about it can range from spreading awareness about issues that matter, to empowering others with our knowledge, to volunteering at a local museum. I am further inspired to enthusiastically take my own path to causing effective change in the world as I walk on to my future.
“Our work is to see what’s right in front of us and to step forward to claim it. And then to keep seeing, to keep paying attention, to stay with the hard places, the uncomfortable relationships, the unanswerable questions.” I find this quote in Walk Out Walk On to be very powerful. It often feels like the easy thing to do in a new or uncomfortable situation is to run away to a more familiar or comfortable place. I feel like this Capstone experience allowed me to finally walk on to OMSI to not only volunteer, like I have been hoping to do for quite a while, but to also notice things during my time volunteering that I may not have noticed otherwise. For example I paid more attention to the details of how OMSI is an effective agent for change in itself. It faced many changes until finally established and stable, including financial support issues. But the groups of dedicated people saw possibilities in it that other may not had seen at the time. Now OMSI is changing the lives of kids and even adults everyday by informing them about science in an exciting and curiosity-provoking light.
I am pleased to help be a part of such an organization. Hopefully I can continue to volunteer for much more time to come, so I can keep on causing effective change in this manner. But the busy medical school life may not allow me continue with this specific way of giving back for long. No matter where my journey takes me, I am determined to dedicating myself to causing positive change wherever I go, even though now I may not know exactly what lays ahead of me in medical school.
Thoughts like these over the past few days have provoked some emotions in me that I have not really felt before. I am at the brink of a new and significant chapter in my life. In less than a couple of weeks I will be done with my years at Portland State University and will be headed to OHSU for medical school. This is something that I have been preparing for consciously for years, and also without being aware, readying myself for my whole life. But suddenly the fact that I am actually at this point is a bit frightening. I know that over the next four years I will be facing hardships that will force me to grow into a more mature and strong person, which is exciting. At the same time though, that means I will lose parts of my current self in the process, which I do not really know how to feel about. After these first four years I will be 25, and by the time I finish the long schooling process I will be in my late 20s. The amount of time that I have now to spend with friends and loved ones will decrease greatly for a while; this means I will have to get used to being on power mode without having as much social relaxation to unwind. In a way I will be a different person when I come out of this, which is both thrilling and slightly overwhelming.
But after reflecting over these feelings for a while, I remembered that this will be the process that will gift me with the power to create the change that I have been yearning and striving to be able to make in the community for so long. This change will hopefully not only be in the local community, but also globally, maybe even in my home country of Afghanistan someday. Tackling the challenges that I will be faced with will better prepare me to be in a position to help improve the quality of life of human beings while learning about myself and science on a daily basis. What better privilege than this exists on the planet?
One of my favorite things about this class was the fact that we were able to choose our own projects. We have such a beautiful mix of interests in our class, and hearing the unique stories of everyone else caused me to step back and analyze my own goals from many different angles. The discussions in the class will be some of the most valuable things that I will take away with me. Learning about where we all plan to go with what we have was just another reminder for me that humans have a natural desire for wanting to spread goodness. The way we go about it can range from spreading awareness about issues that matter, to empowering others with our knowledge, to volunteering at a local museum. I am further inspired to enthusiastically take my own path to causing effective change in the world as I walk on to my future.