Big Lake Native Plant Trail Restoration Project

Monthly Community Service Hours Completed: November: 3 hours

Cumulative Fall Semester Service Hours Completed : 13.5 hours

Today I had the opportunity to volunteer at New Orleans City Park Conservancy Group by working on the Big Lake Native Plant Trail Restoration Project. The weather could not have been more beautiful and there did not seem to be a single cloud in the sky. I learned so much from the Volunteer Coordinators who had over 25+ years of collective experience in working with native plants. We worked in the small marshlands to remove some of the invasive species of plants that were hindering the native plants from growing healthily. Some of these invasive species included Peruvian Skullcap, Chamberbitters, nonlocal Dayweed, and a mysterious hybrid of some type of intrusive grass. This mysterious grass is also non-flowering which makes its identification even more difficult. With removing these invasive plants, it allows local plant such as the aquatic Milkweed and the Obedient plant to grow naturally. The Obedient plant is named as such because no matter which way you arrange the flowers of the plant, it will keep its flowers in the same exact spot you left them! Apparently this is the only plant in the world that will do this and it was fascinating to see in person. I also saw a lot of people setting up for the Beignet Fest that is scheduled to take place in City Park tomorrow, so I may have to go check that out since it is so close to my house.

The Pharmacology program has been challenging and we only have a few weeks before the semester ends. I will keep working hard and I hope that I can keep my grades up so that I can achieve the goal of getting a 4.0 this semester just like I set out to do at the beginning of the academic year! This winter break is much needed and I can't wait to get some time to spend with family. Wish me luck for these last few exams and see you next semester!

P.S. Dr. Clarkson, if you see this, Dr. Scott Davis who worked with Tulane SOM in the Department of Pediatrics for over 40 years says hi! He was a fellow volunteer that I had the pleasure of meeting today!

Ghost in the Oaks

Monthly Community Service Hours Completed: October : 9 hours

Cumulative Fall Semester Service Hours Completed : 10.5 hours

                    

    Ghost in the Oaks is a seasonal family-friendly fundraiser that takes place in the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park located within New Orleans City Park. The festivities include a pumpkin patch, decorate your own trick-or-treat bag, hot dog roasting station, and trick-or-treating all throughout the Storyland portion of the amusment parks. Patrons also have access to unlimited rides on all of the attractions. Some of the rides that most patrons seemed to enjoy were the Scrambler, Fun Slide, Coney Tower, and the Rockin' Tug. 

               

    My responsibilities included handing out the blank trick-or-treat bags to the children and helping them decorate their respective bags with the arts & crafts supplies. It was amusing getting to see all of the fun costumes that people dressed up in. One family was dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland and the person dressed up as the Red Queen kept going around shouting "Off with his head!" It reminded me of the mnemonic we are using to remember the symptoms associated with anticholinergic poisoning:

Mad as a Hatter
Blind as a Bat
Dry as a Bone
Hot as Hell
Red as a Beet
Full as a Flask

    Overall, it was a very fun experience and a new way for me to enjoy New Orleans City Park.

    With respect to the Pharmacology program, all of my focus right now is continuing to learn more in the lab and preparing for the upcoming Principles of Pharmacology and Medical Pharmacology exams next week on the Autonomic Nervous System. Wish me luck!

Anesthesiology Residents Cooking Class

Monthly Community Service Hours Completed: October : 4 hours

Cumulative Fall Semester Service Hours Completed : 5.5 hours

                       

This time around, I got to volunteer with Tulane University School of Medicine Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine. The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine offers cooking classes for the community to learn various recipes ideal for children, for patients who may be looking to lower their blood sugar level, and those easy on the wallet just to name a few.  The student population for this particular class was Tulane's own Anesthesiology Residents taught by Chef Heather Nace who is a Registered Dietician. 

The class began with a classroom portion that covered topics such as the nine-point scoring system and the Mediterranean diet. Next, Chef Heather covered how important incorporating fiber content into the diet is. She compared energy dense food versus nutrient dense foods, and how sometimes a food item can be both. One interesting point she made was that if you keep a well-stocked pantry, you can focus a shopping trip to simply the perimeter of the grocery store paying particular attention to the produce, proteins, and dairy sections. 

Black Bean Veggie Burgers, Hummus Sandwiches, 

and Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

Next, the students got to practice making an assortment of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even some snack/dessert recipes to go along with it in various teams. My duties and responsibilities including assisting with the cooking, bringing items to the different cooking teams, bringing dirty dishes to the sink, washing dishes, and clean-up in general at the conclusion of the class. A nice perk to the volunteer work was that we all got to try some of the food produced by the different cooking teams. Some of my favorite items prepared by the students were the Black Bean Veggie Burgers, Balsamic Marinated Mushrooms, and the Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies. Everything I tried was pretty yummy and I look forward to the time I get to volunteer with the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine next month!

Overall, the Pharmacology program has been going well. I got to perform microdissection of a murine lymph node and then image the tissue using immunofluorescence staining under confocal microscopy which was incredibly exciting! The lecture content can be a bit challenging at times, but I think that is because it is just the first time I am being exposed to it. For instance, I used to work in an Emergency Department at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Southside Chicago, Illinois, and I have seen a lot of EKGs before as it was my role to document the recordings. However, this is the first time I am learning about what the different leads, waves, and intervals mean. Nevertheless, I am enjoying learning about all of these new topics and will keep on working hard to reach my goals. 

SPROUT NOLA

Monthly Community Service Hours Completed: September - 1.5 hours

Cumulative Fall Semester Service Hours Completed : 1.5 hours

Sprout Nola is a community-based farming area that helps gardeners, people who love plants, and locals enthusiastic about fostering a strong sense of community gain more skill in growing their own crops all the while equipping our community with a local and fresh food source. Today, I had the privilege of volunteering at their farm located at 300 North Broad Street at their “Volunteer for Veggies” event that they hold every Thursday afternoon from 4-5:30 pm.

We helped to clear the leftover root systems from the last crops and made way for planting new crops that favor the milder months ahead: beets, collard greens, mustard greens, and broccoli. We didn’t just plant vegetables, but we also had the pleasure of planting various flowering plants in between the vegetable crops in order to promote visits from our buzzing pollinator friends. The flowers that we planted included red, white, and pink Snapdragons as well as Dianthus flowers. We also had various community members come harvest some plants ripe for the picking that included okra, shishito peppers, tabasco peppers, and wormwood that was going to get turned into absinthe.

  Young Tabasco Peppers

                                 

                                              Rocket Pink Snapdragons

An aspect I really enjoyed was seeing the different crops growing in the community gardens. I keep my own garden at home, and it was a great feeling knowing that my kale, broccoli, beets, Thai bird chilies, lemongrass, basil plants, and chocolate mint plants were all doing just as well as the ones I saw in the community gardens. As one of the added bonuses, I even got to take a few mustard greens home to plant in my home garden! Another bonus was that each volunteer was awarded tokens equivalent to about $8 that could be spent at the Crescent City Farmer’s Market which is just within walking distance of SPROUT NOLA. This is a farmer’s market that my partner and I frequent often on Saturday mornings and even occasionally we bring our dog, Jubilee. It was just an extra sweet cherry on top to have another reason to go back to our favorite local farmer’s market.  

                                   

                                  My hard-earned tokens in my dirty hands (:

                                   

    Look at how massive this okra was! (Again, don't mind the dirty hands.)

I definitely will be back to check in on the growing crops and see what other plants can grow throughout all of the seasons here in beautiful New Orleans. 

Thus far, the Pharmacology program has had the core of my attention with good reason. It can be challenging at times and I have taken on an additional responsibility by getting involved in Dr. Castorena-Gonzalez's lab. But I have been doing well so far and I hope that I can continue these patterns. My goal is to have a 4.0 GPA in this program as I know students before me have done. If I stay true to my course, I know I can accomplish this goal with the help of my professors, classmates, and all of the Pharmacology Department!