Mukherjee 1

Isha Mukherjee

Mr. Speice

ISM I

16 December 2020

Looking back, to see how I can improve moving forwards

Assessment 10 - Self Reflection Assessment

Assessment

My mission for the year is t​o delve deeper into my field of interest, pediatric medicine, in

order to determine whether or not I am well-suited for the profession and which sub-field is best

for me. Using information from my research and the doctors I speak to, I would like to

understand the limitations that children around the world face regarding receiving adequate

healthcare and create a readily accessible product to help them. Parts of my mission were

achieved while others were not.

I successfully researched the various healthcare disparities around the world, but by

doing so I was unable to spend time learning more about pediatrics. That being said, I do not

consider this to be a bad thing because throughout the first semester I found that I had a greater

interest for global health compared to pediatrics. I still want to pursue a career in pediatrics, but I

did not think that it was a smart use of my time to spend this year learning about something that I

will eventually learn about in medical school. Therefore, I see this situation more so as being

proactive with my learning and needing to amend my mission statement rather than falling

through on a goal.
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Additionally, my mission statement spoke on my desire to create a product that can help

poor children in third world countries. This ties into a common issue I kept running into

throughout my original work, being over zealous. At the beginning of the year when it came time

to write a mission statement and come up with my original work proposal I over estimated my

capabilities. This became increasingly evident as the semester progressed and it was becoming

more and more difficult to find research that addressed topics that were of the depth that I needed

in order to effectively complete my original work. Especially because I was still getting used to

ISM and researching. I ended up using my assessments to conduct surface level research about

various healthcare programs and I used my extra time learning about economics in order to

calculate the deeper level information needed to effectively achieve the promises I made in my

original work proposal. Now that I have acknowledged my tendencies to overcommit I will be

more mindful about the goals I set and find a good balance between unrealistic and too easy. As I

initially mentioned, my mission statement mentioned creating a final product that aided children

in less developed countries. I was not able to accomplish this in the first semester because I was

still getting a lay of the land, but I think it is a good goal for next semester and my final project.

Speaking of my final project, I learned a lot this semester that will be vital for next

semester. For one, I will better manage my time. I made the mistake of allotting too much time

for research and assumed that the assembly portion of the project would not take much time.

This however was wrong. I learned last minute that there are many holes that do not become

evident until you start putting everything together. By the time I realized this the deadline was

fast approaching and I had to spend multiple hours a day filling in the gaps. I was able to meet

the deadline and submit a high quality project, but the last minute struggle could have been
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avoided with some proactive planning. Next semester I will spend much less time doing research

and have a clear plan about what I want the end product to look like from the beginning of the

semester.

In the first semester my final product was very research heavy. This was the safer option,

but I found it to be the more tedious option because it was an ongoing process of reading and

typing. I did not feel like I was taking full advantage of this class. In the upcoming semester I

want my final product to be more hands on like a tangible creation or a digital campaign to

spread awareness. When I submit the final project I can report on the results of the campaign

rather than regurgitating research. This will allow me to be more creative and be a better use of

my time and this class.

All things considered, I have seen a lot of growth this semester. I can write research

assessments, interview professionals, and conduct solo research in order to create an original

work project. All of which I did not know how to do at the beginning of the year.