Retrospective Reflection

Creating the 31-Day Wellness Calendar presented in Artifact 2 helped me grow professionally and personally. I was able to practice the nutrition, physical activity, and mindfulness goals that I added to each day, allowing myself to improve my mental and physical health. I was also able to practice making realistic goals that allow people to slowly work towards their goals (exactly what I will be doing as a life coach).

Working as a mock personal trainer throughout the Spring 2024 semester in my Performance and Teaching of Cardiovascular and Resistance Training course, I was able to practice my exercise programming skills. With the guidance of my professor, I learned how to make an appropriate exercise program for a beginner and how to properly progress my clients.  I even gained skills in changing programs to better match the client's progress and needs, because changes will need to be made in real life. I was able to apply the material I was learning in class to practice the skills I will be needing to use as a life coach.

During the Spring 2023 semester of my Translating Nutrition from Theory to Practice Course, I created a class cookbook. I used what I learned in class and my creativity to make a tangible project that will be used in future course sections. Creating this cookbook was so fun and reassured me that I would also like to focus on the nutritional needs of clients as a life coach in the future. I learned how to take recipes and put together a book of meals that my classmates would enjoy. Although this does not directly translate into my life coaching career, it does still apply. I learned what my classmates liked and gave them a book of meal options that were relatively healthy overall (as I will be doing as a life coach with clients).

Almost every honors contract I have completed has required me to do some sort of research, but my Capstone Seminar in Psychology has required me to do the most. For my capstone, my group and I are creating a program that will help nurses build overall wellness. In order to create this program, we have had to research programs that combat the issues we are hoping to solve in our program. Once we found them, we took what we wanted out of them to create our own program. We are now moving on to the steps of reaching out to program directors to ask for their materials and research to find open materials to use. On top of doing all of this research, we are writing a proposal for our program so that someone can implement it in their own facility.

Without the Honors College Study Abroad stipend, I would have never been able to travel to the Dominican Republic with the Psychology department. During this Study Abroad experience, I had the opportunity to:

•  Build a bottle house for a family who did not have shelter

• Participate in a medical brigade for those living in the Haitian bateys without access to medical care

• Tour private and public mental health facilities

• Tour and learn about rehabilitation centers

• Learn about the Dominican culture

• Make incredible memories

This opportunity helped me grow in so many ways. I learned so much about addiction and health care in the Dominican Republic and how it compares to the United States. I also learned how blessed I am to have a house with running water, a constant supply of food, and access to doctors and medicine whenever I am sick. Finally, I was given the opportunity to help so many people I would have never even had the chance to meet had it not been for this Study Abroad experience.

I have had many opportunities for service throughout my college career. One opportunity that has really helped me grow professionally. I have had the opportunity to interact with the course material in a new and more in-depth way. I have had the opportunity to test my understanding of Psychology of Lifespan Development by grading students' work and answering any questions they may have. This opportunity allowed me to learn how to rephrase information differently so that different students can understand it. I was also able to grow a better relationship with Dr. Kroupa as I was able to work side by side with her.

I spent the 2025 spring break working as a consultant for The Patterson Foundation for a course at the Lilly School of Philanthropy. This course allowed me to gain hands-on experience by applying the philanthropic theories I had learned in past courses. I also spent the week networking with people from The Patterson Foundation, making memories, volunteering, and consulting the Women’s Resource Center. This trip opened my eyes to the many different ways that I can work to make the world a better place. I helped in a Pop-Up Laundry Day, in which we went to a laundry mat and paid for people's laundry as well as talked to people within the community. I went to site visits and multiple workshops to learn how to lead community conversations for collaboration, how to consult, and how to blog.

In my professional writing skills course, I learned how to effectively communicate through different forms of writing, such as emails, essays, proposals, and newsletters. Although communication through writing is an extremely important skill, I thought that this course would be the perfect one for an honors contract. For my honors contract, I learned how to communicate effectively in interviews and while presenting. For this honors contract, I interviewed professional life coaches, nutritionists, dietitians, personal trainers, and motivational interviewers. After interviewing all of them, I created a presentation to inform my professor about each person and what I learned about each career field. This contract helped me to learn how to ask the right questions, effectively listen, and present information to others in a concise way.

In my Principles of Resistance Training and Conditioning, I had the opportunity to complete an honors contract that tested my problem-solving ability.  For my honors contract, I designed an exercise facility from scratch. To design this facility, I had to follow the guidelines for equipment placement, equipment materials, and safety guidelines. I also had to research to find the correct equipment with their prices so that I could make a budget sheet. Finally, I had to draw out the facility with the placement of all the equipment and sections. Trying to get all of my equipment to fit in the facility I had drawn out correctly took a lot of problem-solving and moving things around. I also had to think through the layout of the locker rooms, allowing for handicap spaces and enough lockers. Although this contract used a lot of problem-solving, I really enjoyed designing the facility because one day I hope to open my own gym.

In the Spring of 2024, I had the opportunity to take the Applied Wellness Coaching and Motivational Interviewing course as an independent study. This allowed me more freedom during the course and a better connection with my professor. Throughout the course, I was given the task of finding a volunteer client to practice life coaching. Luckily, one of my Aunts' friends signed up and we worked together for the whole semester. I learned how to help her make attainable goals, helped her come up with new recipes, and even had the opportunity to help her learn different meditations because she ended up being diagnosed with heart disease as we were working together. Being taught this course as an independent study allowed me to work with my professor to learn more about material that was useful to my clients. Overall, this entire experience allowed me to gain knowledge and experience I will use as a life coach and solidified my desire to become a life coach so that I can help others!