Pre
3rd-quarter journal
Well,
another quarter down. I am probably going to say this after every quarter when I
write these blogs, but “Time Really Flies.” Not a lot has changed between first
and second quarter. The classes and material were definitely harder this time
around. However, by the end of the first quarter, you learn the ropes and how
to study in order to be successful. Second quarter is one of the two heaviest
quarters in the Sherman College curriculum, as we logged in 396 total hours in
a span of one quarter in classes and labs. The following is the list of classes
that my classmates and I completed right before Christmas.
- Anatomy
II with Lab (9 hours per week course)
- Microbiology
I
- Biochemistry
II
- History
of Chiropractic
- Philosophy
II
- Spinal
Biodynamics I
- Toggle/Palpation
II
Throughout chiropractic school, there
are different moods and feelings that cross your mind on a daily basis. The
days seem sooo long, but the weeks go by extremely fast, if that makes any
sense at all. Throughout most of the days, you feel like you are just
constantly going through the motions as the professors spit out as much
information as they possibly can in the allotted time. However, on the other
side of things, I feel like I grow a little more and become more confident each
and every day. The students kind of get bogged down with all of the book work
and constant late nights studying. But, when we have our technique class and
work with the spine and listen to visiting speakers; it puts everything in
perspective and reminds us why we are here in the first place, to help as many
people that God will allow us to.
My favorite part of school has been the experience of being with my classmates.
Sherman College prides themselves on the small class sizes. We started in July
with a total of 15 students in our class. Heading into this quarter, we have 12
in our class. The other three left for various reasons such as transferring to
another school, grades, and transportation problems.
However, as I explained the busy
schedule above, we are in class basically from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm everyday of
the week. Then, we have to go home and study and prepare for the next day of 8
hours of lecture material. By being with each other over 30 hours per week, we
have become a very close family. Everyone gets along and we have a great time
outside of class together on the weekends. Every other week, we meet at one of
our classmates’ house for Taco Thursdays. Everyone brings a certain food item
or ingredient, the women cook the meal and the guys play with the dogs. Then,
we all eat together and either watch a movie or just hang out and talk with one
another away from the confinement of a classroom. We constantly have to depend on each other and
be held accountable for the heavy course load. We all work together in trying
to help everyone succeed. Unlike medical school, we are not competing for any
spots. In medical or law school, you want to beat out the guy sitting next to
you so you can get the top residency or get the big law firm promotion. However,
in chiropractic, we for the most part all have the same motive in helping
people be healthy and well by correcting problems to the nervous system. Why
not help the guy sitting next to you if their main intention is to help make
this world a better and healthier place?
During the school-wide 11:00
breaks, there are club days. Numerous clubs are offered by students and faculty
to help bring certain interests of students together during the breaks. On
Mondays, I have been a member of the palpation club where students fine-tune
their palpation skills under the supervision of faculty and upper-quarter
students already in the health clinic. On Tuesdays, I participate in the Upper
Cervical Club where we have many speakers come in and give their testimonies on
how Upper Cervical Care changed their lives. We also discuss the philosophy and
science of the upper cervical subluxation, and go over certain setups for
different techniques. On Fridays, I recently accepted the position as the new
Secretary/Co-Vice President for the Christian Chiropractic Club for the 2011
school year. Every Friday morning, we either have a guest speaker come in and
give a testimony or talk about a Christian topic that can either relate to
Chiropractic or not. We also do bible studies, prayer groups, and other
functions that involve the entire school such as the school-wide cookout to
welcome the new students every quarter. It’s just a great club to have
fellowship and be with other Christian chiropractic students who share the same
faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
I also was really busy this past
quarter as I enjoyed playing on the Sherman Men’s Softball Team. We compete in
an open league with a lot of competitive teams. This was a very fun experience.
As I mentioned above, you spend 30 plus hours in the same classroom with the
same 12 people every day of the week. Therefore, it’s somewhat difficult to get
to know the other students in the lower and higher quarters. By playing on the
softball team, I built many great relationships with several of the higher
quarter students, the majority of them already being in clinic. The advice they
give you about the program, board exams, their individual techniques, and the
clinic experience itself are phenomenal. We started out real slow, and ended
the season 4-8 overall. We got put in the County’s Lower Division Tournament
(which is kind of like a consolation tournament or a bowl game for teams that
did not have that great of a year). There, we caught on fire. We won 3 straight
games in a convincing fashion and advanced to the championship game. We
dominated in the final game out and finished the year with a 4 game winning
streak and won the tournament. The league gave us a trophy that is almost
taller than me, and it has been displayed in one of the student lounges in the
school since. It was a great time, and a fun excuse to get away from studying
every once in a while. Here is a picture of us after one of our games having a good time.
So, that’s what is new with me for
this last quarter. There really isn’t much free time during the weeks. You wake
up before the sun is up, and you get home an hour before the sun sets. You’ll
do a workout, or have a softball game twice a week and that’s basically it.
Every other night, you’re constantly studying for the next quiz or the next
exam in what seems like a never-ending cycle. However, on the weekends it is
what you make of it. Some of the students don’t do any studying over the
weekend and just take time to themselves and recuperate from the long week.
Many students take the weekend to study what they have learned all week. I
believe with chiropractic school, it’s not really how much you do during the week;
I believe the difference in grades are really reflected on how you spend your
weekends. There’s simply not enough time in the week to learn and master all of
the material.
Time sure does fly. In everything
we do, that second-hand seems to just go faster as we age. I can’t wait until
the end of this quarter to update everyone as my journey through chiropractic
school continues.
God Bless,
Josh
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