New Students

I have noticed many new faces on campus these past few months. New students enter in the fall and winter term every year and with that comes many new stressed souls. During the first week of this term, a new student fainted in gross anatomy lab. The fire department and paramedics came and wheeled the young man out of the lab and into an ambulance. This event brought back memories of my friend Andy who had a similar experience in the first term, minus the ambulance ride. The intensity of starting a new program like this is beyond simply moving for a new job or relocating for a change of scenery. Add in removing the skin of a dead person and you have a recipe for an ambulance ride.

It is weird to look around at all the new faces on campus and recall the old memories and feelings I had when I entered the program. Not knowing anyone and trying to settle in was challenging to say the least. I often wonder if they know what they are getting themselves into and what led them to choose chiropractic as a career move.

The first year is, in my opinion, the hardest. You are inundated with a huge pile of notes and no coping skills. The material isn't that applicable to practicing chiropractic and the schedule drains your energy. I am glad I stayed until I finished the basic sciences because now we are in the chiropractic coursework which is motivating me to study hard and become a DC. I see the reasoning for the first year or so of class time. It prepares you for the tremendous demand they put on you later on throughout the curriculum. I don't know if I could keep up today if I didn't endure the first 5 quarters. My endurance and coping skill has improved.

To tie it all together, as we are currently, is motivating. I know that all the coursework being taken this term is applicable to practicing chiropractic. For instance, in neuroanatomy we learned the pain pathways for the limbs and the sensory pathways in order to pass exams etc. Now, we are applying this knowledge (relearning it) in order to do neurological exams on each other. Using the information obtained earlier in neuroanatomy is now allowing us to understand what it means to test sharp versus dull sensation, vibration or soft touch. We are checking for abnormalities - interruptions in the flow of information from environment to the CNS. In conjunction to this, we are diving into how chiropractic can restore the pathways or maintain them and when it is not useful.

I am enjoying our muscle testing course too. In gross anatomy, we had to memorize the bones, muscles, innervations and other structures to merely pass exams. Now, we are integrating movement into the picture and mastering anatomy through comparing antagonists to agonists. The extremity adjusting class also forces us to recall the bones and soft tissue structures in the foot, ankle, knee, elbow, shoulder, wrist and hands. We are learning anatomy on an new scale, one that guides us to understand movement and abnormal movement. I love it! This is why I chose to come to WSCC in the beginning. I wish some of this information was provided at the start of the program beyond simply sitting through lectures and cramming for exams. Regardless, I am here and I am enjoying the process on all levels.

All for now.