Katherine Hill's DePauw Blog

Hello!! I'm so excited to blog about my experiences at DePauw University and share with you a bit of what student life is like here. 

I'm a senior Biology major and Sociology minor from Carmel, IN.  Aside from my academic courses, I also am a Science Research Fellow (SRF), one of DePauw's Honors and Fellows programs.  This program has accented my academic studies at DePauw and I have loved being part of it!!

In my spare time, I work as an EMT (my freshman year Winter Term course) for Putnam County Operation Life.  For this job, I work on an ambulance, both caring for patients and driving the ambulance!! This experience has reaffirmed my desires to pursue a career in clinical medicine where I can interact with patients, their families, and other medical professionals on a daily basis.

In addition to SRF, and working as an EMT, I'm very involved in my sorority on campus.  Currently, I'm a recruitment guide for the first year students, so I disaffiliate from my chapter to serve as a mentor for first years going through recruitment.  Therefore, I can't reveal my chapter affiliation yet-stay tuned for bid day in February when I can reaffiliate!

I hope you have gotten to know me a little bit better!  Feel free to ask questions, I love talking to people about my experiences at DePauw!!

DePauw is known for their off campus experiences.  About 60% of students spend either a semester, a summer, or a Winter Term abroad.  DePauw's unique Winter Term experiences have allowed me to travel for three years during the 3 week period between Winter Break and the beginning of second semester.  This January, I traveled to Ecuador where I spent almost two weeks doing one of the Winter Term In Service projects.  These courses are based around service and have different focuses depending on student interest.  As someone interested in the medical field, spending two weeks with the Timmy Foundation setting up medical clinics along the Amazon Basin and providing medical care with doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals sounded like an amazing experience!

There were about 15 students on our trip with two faculty members, one Chemistry professor and a Sociology professor.  When we got to Quito, Ecuador, we met up with many of the medical professionals who came from all over the country (one was even a DePauw grad)!! One of my favorite memories was talking with these health care providers and hearing their stories.  I got some great perspective on different health care fields and why medical service is so important to many of them. 

Personally, I have never done a service trip with DePauw before, so this was an entirely new experience.  It was very grounding-the basic medical care most of us take fore granted was blatantly obvious as we treated patients for malnutrition caused by parasites.  Albendazole, an anti parasitic medication was our most popular medication.  Even the pharmacists said they never have to prescribe this in the US, but we all became very familiar with it in Ecuador. 

Each day at clinic, DePauw students would split up and do different jobs.  We all worked at some point in the pharmacy, at check in, patient history, lab, vitals, fluoride, and doctor scribing.  It was such a neat procedure to come into a schoolhouse or community meeting room with nothing and in 20 minutes, we would have an entire pharmacy, vitals station, lab station, check in station and doctor exam rooms set up and ready to go.  Recently, Timmy started using a computer system so we even had generators to help us get internet to make patient records easy to keep track of from visit to visit. 

This Winter Term experience was definitely influential for me because I reaffirmed my interest in the medical field and I cannot wait to get my Masters of Physician Assistant Studies so I can come back to Ecuador or go someplace else and do more medical service work.  DePauw's partnership with Timmy is a great way for students to get involved in something beyond campus and I am so appreciative of the opportunity to be part of an organization that does such amazing work!

Check out this video about the Timmy Foundation made by some of the students who traveled with me!

If you could travel anywhere to do service work, where would you go and what would you want to do??

Without a doubt, it's a crazy time of year for all DePauw students.  We are wrapping up the semester, so not only are finals just around the corner, but it seems as if every class has extra assignments that are all due....right now.  At a time when academics can stretch us to our limits, small acts of kindness such as the creation of the DePauw Compliments Facebook Group can really make a difference.  Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/DepauwCompliments

Basically, anyone can anonymously submit compliments to another student, faculty or staff member and they will be posted on the group page.  It made my day to see this group created and embraced in the support of our DePauw community!  This group really demonstrates the essence of student life here at DePauw. 

Who would you recognize on a page such as DePauw Compliments?? 

This past Sunday provided a wonderful opportunity for students and community members.  The School of Music brought the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to DePauw for an amazing performance featuring Milos Karadaglic, a classical guitar player.  He played beautifully and I enjoyed the mix of classical guitar with a traditional orchestra.  That was something I hadn't heard before.  The tickets were free for students, and Kresge Auditorium was packed!

After the ISO finished their performance, the audience applauded so enthusiastically for so long that they even gave an encore performance!  The best part is that the ISO is coming back to DePauw again second semester...I cant' wait!

I love being a College of Liberal Arts (CLA) student at DePauw because while I am not actually part of the School of Music (SOM), I can enjoy the concerts and events such as these frequently!  The music school provides over 150 concerts and performances a year, so there is always something to watch!  

November is an important month for any DePauw fan because of the Monon football game.  This athletic event is the last football game of our season where we play Wabash College.  The winner of this esteemed challenge receives the Monon Bell, a large bell that used to sit on top of a train, painted half gold for DePauw and half red for Wabash until the following year's game.  This tradition has been going on since 1890 and is one of the oldest college athletic traditions.  Check out this video which highlights the history of the Bell!

For several weeks prior to the Monon game, student life revolves around the healthy rivalry between DePauw and Wabash.  For a small liberal arts college, this rivalry is comparable to a Big 10 school!  The swimming, ultimate frisbee team, and rugby teams all have Monon competitions, a showdown of each particular sport against Wabash for a year's worth of bragging rights. 

Unfortunately, DePauw lost the game this year, and the bell will remain at Wabash until next November when it can return to its rightful home...DePauw!!

For any science major at DePauw, a large portion of our academic course load comes from the time we spend in lab.  Most of our main classes have a once weekly, three hour lab attached to them where we gain some experience and improve experimental technique.   

The benefits of a small liberal arts college can be easily observed in the science lab setting.  Not only is our course professor in the lab with us, but he/she walks around and answers questions and guides a student's troubleshooting when processes don't go as planned.  Our professors know our names and enjoy helping us through any problems we have. 

This week in my Chem 240 or Biomolecules course, our weekly lab involved testing for different carbohydrates (sugars).  This lab was interesting because each lab partner pair brought in materials to test.  We had everything from cereals, popcorn, and bread to Halloween candy.  After deciding which tests to run and what sugars we wanted to test for, my lab partner and I decided to test three different cereals for monosaccharides, reducing sugars, and ketohexoses. 

Here's our result for the Benedict's Assay which shows that we have several reducing sugars in our samples!

After performing the tests, my lab partner and I wrote our lab report....Just another day in Chem lab!!

As students, we are reminded of DePauw's academically challenging environment especially during weeks like this.  Midterms have kept almost all of us busy for the past two weeks, so at this point, we're all looking forward to our full week-long fall break!! 

While we have been studying and writing papers constantly this week, there have also been some amazing study break opportunities to take advantage of.  

Last weekend was one of the athletic hallmarks of the school year.  For the Old Gold Football game, many alums come back to see DePauw and interact with current students.  It was also Dad's day at my sorority, so my dad came down to watch the game with me!

  Another student life favorite event happened last night.  The Greek God and Goddess competition is a dance competition between all of the fraternity and sorority houses.  The level of effort put into routines ranges from several hours of practice to several weeks of practice and all of the houses show off their routines in the Lily Gym.  Kappa Alpha Theta won for the sororities, and here's their winning routine if you want to check it out! 

Last night was also one of the Guest Artist Performances hosted by DePauw's School of Music.  Voces8, a British acapella group, sang in Kresge!  Not only did they perform for students, faculty, and Greencastle residents, but they also worked with the music students throughout the day and hosted a master class.  During their performance, they took a break from their planned pieces and called up the DePauw Chamber Singers to perform a piece for the entire audience.  It's opportunities like these that make me appreciate my small liberal arts college environment where as a science major, I can still enjoy the incredible events hosted by other departments, or in this case, the School of Music. 

An important part of my student life on DePauw's campus is my involvement in the Catholic Student Association (CSA).  I love St. Paul's, the Catholic church within walking distance of campus. Fr. Darvin is so student-focused and he does a lot for the college students when we're here!  His first homily of the year always says something along the lines of, "When you guys are at DePauw, this IS your home church." 

The exec board members of CSA do an amazing job of planning events such as Fr. Darv's at Marv's (lunch at Marvins with Father), laser tag, student Mass in Meharry Hall once a month (on DePauw's campus), monthly student Mass at St. Paul's followed by dinner, and many other events.  Tonight was our monthly student Mass at St. Paul's followed by a home-cooked meal.  The ham, mashed potatoes, vegetables, bread, pasta salad, and a full table of desserts filled our poor college student bellies after a great Mass.

Students do all of the readings, Eucharist ministering, and the singing (cantor, pianist and choir) is led by School of Music students.  Overall, it's a great time to spend in worship with fellow student Catholics. 

On Wednesday, I had the amazing opportunity to meet and speak with Dr. Mansukh Wani, one of the co-discoverers of Taxol, a crucial anti-cancer drug.  This special event was hosted by the Biochemistry department and Dr. Wani gave a lecture to anyone interested in the afternoon.  I was lucky enough to hear Dr. Wani speak three times on Wednesday: once in my Cancer Biology class, at his open lecture, and again in the evening at my Science Research Fellows Seminar.  The best part is, these experiences are not unusual at a liberal arts school like DePauw!

Dr. Wani is an incredible man.  In his mid 80s, he still travels and speaks about his days working with Dr. Monroe Wall and the years they spent in the lab synthesizing the anti-cancer drugs Taxol and Camptothecin.  He even showed us pictures of him and his coworkers from the 70s!  The opportunity to not only listen to Dr. Wani, but also ask questions about his life, scientific research, and advice is one of my favorite things about DePauw's academics.  The learning extends beyond the classroom and as students, we have the ability to meet, speak with, and question professionals in a variety of disciplines. 

After his lecture, Dr. Wani took pictures with some of us (celebrity status) and even passed out his business cards telling us to contact him if we were interested in doing medicinal chemical research-he had contacts he could set us up with.  Can you say networking?!? 

It was a great lecture, and all of us took away pieces of the advice he gave including, "Never give up...if I had, Taxol wouldn't exist," and "Do something you love, not what your parents want you to do, or what society wants you to do."