SEBS Skills in the Wild
We’ll publish other posts in the future about all the “soft skills” we learned at SEBS, but today, I want to recount a handful of times I used the technical skills I learned at SEBS after graduation. While in SEBS, I did all four years of Biomedical Sciences, two years of Engineering, and I’m currently a Biochemistry major and pre-med. ☺️
In class
Biomed classes and Physical Science covered a lot of ground, and as a result, I was well prepared for my college classes like general chemistry and genetics. Stoichiometry? Not a problem. Molecular orbitals? Just think about Mrs. Walter’s balloons. Punnett squares and the classic sickle cell anemia? Level: expert.
In lab
Remember the gazillion times we did gel electrophoresis in biomed classes? I did it a few times in biology lab, and even more in my summer research under a biochemistry professor. I was so much more comfortable handling micropipettes than my peers, which helped immensely. When we used microscopes, I was also plenty comfortable finding and focusing on the desired subject.
In [friends’] classes
Last year, my roommate was struggling with her Engineering Graphics assignment. The assignment was to transfer printed part sketches to Solidworks. You know, like what you do in Intro to Engineering Design and CADD 2 (with Inventor). I was able to help her out, and was thrilled to find I remembered quite a bit of CADD from almost five years before!
In the clinic
This one is funny. Last year (pre-pandemic), I started volunteering at a local health clinic. My first day, my supervising nurse had me shadow the medical assistants taking patient history and vitals. My second day, she handed me a stethoscope and pulse-oximeter and told me to get to it. Y’all. She didn’t teach me how to find blood pressures. Fortunately, we learned how in biomed.
I love these tangible examples of using things I learned in SEBS even after leaving. It makes me so grateful and giddy that I had those opportunities!
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Written by Holly Lakin on Jan 18, 2021