Hakuna Matata: My real life Lion King adventure through a different kind of study abroad

            If you’re anything like me, the thought of a study abroad has crossed your mind at least once. Sometimes, though, they’re not always feasible. Maybe you don’t want to spend an entire semester in a foreign country. Maybe it’s a money thing. Or, maybe your major just won’t give you the wiggle room you need to spend time somewhere else. Whatever the reason might be, fear not! There are many other ways to see the world without taking an entire semester to do so.

My name is Kaylyn Hannon and I’m a senior in biomedical engineering. Before I even came to college, I toyed with the idea of studying abroad. I want to see the world, and I’ve always thought it would be so cool to spend a semester somewhere that I’ve only ever dreamed of seeing. Unfortunately, a study abroad was out of the question for me for a couple of reasons. One, when I came to college, I was waaaaaaay to scared to spend that much time somewhere that wasn’t relatively close to home. Two, by the time I got the courage to go anywhere, I was locked into the cycle that is the biomedical engineering curriculum. The department only offers classes once a year, so I couldn’t really get off track. That’s when I decided to seriously consider HESE and Mashavu.

My own WEPO mentor was the one who told me about Mashavu. She loved traveling (she also went to France when she was in school and is now working for GKN in England) and was so excited when she started the class. I thought it was really interesting, and I kept it in the back of my mind until the time came to sign up for the class. This was an opportunity that seemed perfect for me—it was a combination of both helping others and seeing the world.

Let me give you some background on HESE/Mashavu. HESE stands for Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship and is run by Khanjan Mehta. It’s a combination of engineering specifically geared toward developing countries and building business models to go with the products. HESE is broken up into different parts. There’s Mashvu, the Greenhouse Initiative, Zima Pizza, and a team of med students who work through Hershey Medical. Mashavu is made up primarily of junior and senior bioengineers, but there are a few people in different majors. Any engineering major (or non-engineering major actually) can join HESE—depending on what you’re studying, you go with the group that fits your skill set. As a junior bioengineer, I was part of Mashavu. Mashavu is Swahili for “chubby cheeks,” which is a sign of good health in the Kenyan culture. In Kenya, there are certain members of the community who volunteer their time, receive an informal training, and advise members of the community on health issues. Mashavu is a telemedicine system that takes these Community Health Workers and turns them into paid Mashavu Health Workers. We as Penn State students work on helping healthcare workers there by designing low cost devices or new techniques to make screening for diseases easier. This semester, I worked on a test strip to screen for urinary tract infections that can be printed using a standard inkjet printer. The concept is so cool and allows us to make test strips for $0.02. Most Kenyans only live on a few dollars a day, so it’s important to keep these devices as cheap as possible. We spent the regular semester doing a lot of technical work. Chemical research and validation, working on a business model, and compiling data are just a few of the many things we did in the spring. Once the semester was over, we had the opportunity to do field research. This research was a half credit class and lasted two and a half weeks. This trip was actually my first time leaving the country and it was definitely an experience, I can tell you that. Mashavu is based out of Nyeri County, which is about three hours outside of Nairobi. It was a beautiful area, very lush and green. The people there were all so wonderful and appreciative, and working with them was an absolute joy. I loved every second of it.

 

So what did we do on the ground? Well, a lot of time was taken up by CHW trainings. Since we all spent the semester working on devices that deal with certain diseases, we learned a lot about said diseases ourselves. Plus, these people are only educated at a very basic level. We traveled to six different dispensaries all over the county (sometimes we were as far as three hours away) and taught the CHWs about UTIs, diabetes, and skin infections. We also interviewed them about their work in the community, how they currently deal with the problems, and got their opinion on our test strip. My group went around the community as well and talked to potential patients and hospitals/clinics. The point of fieldwork in this context is to gather information we wouldn’t otherwise have access to, like the opinion of our customer. We can’t just pick up the phone and talk to 30 rural Kenyans. It’s not feasible. This trip gave us insight as to whether our idea was feasible for our chosen market or not.

             It wasn’t all work and no play! On the way to Nyeri from Nairobi (we had to fly into Nairobi), we stopped at an elephant orphanage and saw the CUTEST baby elephants. We also stopped at a giraffe sanctuary and I got to kiss a giraffe. That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. They had food pellets there and if you put them between your lips, the giraffes would lick them right out of your mouth. (Fun fact: did you know giraffe saliva is used as an anti-septic? Well, now you know!) We also went on a two-day safari in Samburu National Reserve. It was about four hours north of where we were staying, as well as in a different hemisphere. Aka I got to stand on the equator. The safari was AMAZING. We saw lion cubs, elephants, wart hogs, and all kinds of antelope looking creatures. We had a campfire and slept in tents that night, which was definitely an experience. Mashavu is partnered with a group called the Children and Youth Empowerment Center (CYEC) and they take kids off the streets to give them a better chance at life. They allow us to use their facilities and they also provide us with translators. When we weren’t working, we would go to the CYEC and play soccer, usually Kenya vs. USA. We would also play with the nursery school kids when they were on a break. They loved touching the “mzungus” (white people) and playing with us.

It wasn’t your traditional study abroad, but it was still the experience of a lifetime. The trip was roughly $3,000, and that includes airfare, vaccinations and malaria pills, things I needed to pack, the money I owed to Penn State to go, the tuition I had to pay (since it is a class), and food. Kenya is cheap. I only spent $270 USD there. That gave me roughly 24,000 Kenyan Shillings. ANYWAY, the point is that it’s not expensive (relatively speaking) and I got to go to freaking Africa. Mashavu is a great way to travel, get hands on experience, and impact the lives of real people. Who wouldn’t want that?!

Kaylyn Hannon is a senior in Biomedical Engineering, and she is the Lead Rover for WEPO '14!

5 Tips to Survive Freshman Year

Freshmen year is hard for so many reasons. It may seem a little scary right now, but I promise, you’ll make it through in one piece! The first semester was the hardest for me. That probably sounds a little weird since all you take first semester are pre-requisite classes (chem, calc, etc.). Major classes won’t even start until your fourth or fifth semester. However, even though your classes get harder, you get smarter. You know what kind of studying works best for you, how to juggle classes, clubs, sleeping/eating, and a social life, and what you have to do to be successful. I narrowed the list of things I wish I had known going into freshmen year down to five important points. Here’s what you need to know!

5. It’s okay to not know.

Not knowing what you want to do with your life isn’t the best feeling, but it’s not they end of the world! This is the time to change your mind. Don’t know what kind of engineer you want to be? That’s fine! Switch around.  It seems scary when your future has no definitive direction, but it will the farther you get into your classes. The first year of engineering is almost the same for everyone, so you have plenty of time. If you try one and decide you don’t like it, pick a new one. You aren’t actually in your major until your fourth semester (after spring break), so you can switch right up until the last minute. In fact, I know someone who switched about three weeks into her fourth semester. If you need to switch, do it.  Talk to an advisor. Talk to someone in your current and prospective majors. Find out what you’ll be happy doing. Happiness is what’s most important!

So moral of the stoty is it’s okay if you’re unsure. It may seem scary, but you don’t need to know everything the second you walk in the door. You have so much time. Use it wisely.

4. You’re going to fail. But that’s perfectly fine.

That probably sounded a little harsh, but it’s true. No, you’re not going to fail out of college. Exams, on the other hand are a different story. Yeah, it sucks. Yeah, it makes you sick in your stomach the first time it happens. But you know what? You recover (I swear, I’m living proof!). You’re probably sitting there thinking, yeah right, that’s not going to happen to me! However, I promise you, it will happen. When it happened, it hit me like a brick wall. I panicked about my grades, I thought I was going to fail the class, and I was a nervous wreck.  And then I moved on.

So, what do you do when you fail? First, relax. Talk to someone who will make you feel better. Sleep on it. Once you’ve cleared your head, look at your past exam grades (if it’s the first exam, it’s time to buckle down and hit the books). If you’ve done pretty well on the last one or two, you should be fine. If not, talk to your professor. He or she will give you some good advice about how to study for the next exam and tell you if recovery is possible.  Worst comes to worst, you have to drop the class (which really isn’t that big of a deal). The final step is to move on. It happened. Dwelling won’t do you any good!

This is coming from someone has failed two count ‘em two finals. On the flip side, I’ve never failed a class. I swear. You really can recover!

3. Professors are people, too!

Okay, time to be honest. I STILL have a hard time talking to some of my professors. Approaching someone who has a master’s degree in this and a PhD in that and a second PhD in something else is terrifying. However, professors are still people. If you have a question, GO TO OFFICE HOURS. They get paid to answer your questions! Not only will your professors get to know you and see that you’re actually trying to learn the material, but you get to know some pretty cool people that you wouldn’t otherwise get to talk to.

Here’s another reason:  I got my first real job because of office hours. I went to a lot of office hours for my math last spring semester of freshmen year and my professor and I would talk about different things occasionally. One day I mentioned to her that I love math and was (at the time) considering getting a math minor. The next time I saw her, she asked me if I wanted to grade for her. That was the best decision ever. Seriously, I get paid to set my own hours and look at some homework. It’s a great job and I make a little cash on the side.  Now who wouldn’t love that?

Bottom line, talk to your professors. They know what they’re talking about. Your  professors will be more than willing to help you. Take advantage of that!

2. Plan everything, then double check yourself.

As soon as you walk in the door, you have to keep on top of your commitments! From assignments and projects to club meetings, you’re going to be so busy you won’t have any idea what you need to do when. Keep a planner. Now, if you’re an over-achiever like me, you can color code it. I make sure each class has it’s own color, and then everything else (like WEP, SWE, appointments, etc.) gets a different color as well. That may be a little over the top for you and that’s fine. Plus, a planner keeps you from overbooking yourself. If your friend asks to get lunch, you know whether or not you’re free! I tend to also put really important stuff in my phone and set alerts. If you have a project that’s worth 50% of your grade due in two weeks, you’re going to want to remember that. Plan, check, and then check again. I can’t stress how important that is!

1. When in doubt, just call your mom. 

So, we’re all big kids now. It’s time to be independent. We have to get our own food, do our own laundry, clean up after ourselves… It’s a big adjustment for some people. However, just because you’re out on your own now doesn’t mean you can’t call home. Sometimes, the best stress relief is just calling home and seeing what’s going on. You’ll find out really soon that Penn State is it’s own little bubble. It’s really easy to get wrapped up in your classes and forget that there really is life outside of Penn State. Call home and see how your family is. I legitimately call my mom everyday. Sometimes you need the comfort of home, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The most important tip I can give you is to just breathe and enjoy your freshmen year. It’s going to be stressful, but you’re going to have more fun than you thought possible. It goes by quickly, so make sure you do it right!

Kaylyn Hannon is a junior in Bio-Medical Engineering and a Mentor for WEPO'13!

The Importance of Office Hours

Going to college and coming to the realization that I really was on my own was rough. I come from a small town and graduated in a class of about 250 people (I know, to some of you that may seem huge while to others it seems insignificant). I had teachers who I grew close to and felt completely comfortable approaching if I had questions or needed advice. Needless to say, sitting in lecture halls of 400+ people with professors who all have doctorates was more than scary—it was flat out terrifying. I’m sure you’ve heard that college professors aren’t like high school teachers and that they could care less about how you’re doing in class, but this isn’t always true! Professors are people, too; if you’re nice to them, they’ll be nice back.

You’re going to hear it right from the start: GO TO OFFICE HOURS. Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ll know that admitting defeat and asking for help isn’t always the easiest thing to do. That in itself is a whole other challenge. I’m not going to lie, Engineering is not the easiest major, and you’re going to need help sometimes. And that is 100% okay. Ask any upperclassmen woman engineer and I can guarantee she’ll tell you she asked for help at some point.

There’s another challenge you may have to overcome before you set foot in a prof’s office—facing the fear of talking to the professor. When I first came to Penn State, I was petrified to approach my professors; it’s really intimidating to talk to someone who teaches a class of hundreds and has a PhD and uses words you’ve never heard and blah blah blah, you get my point. I didn’t go to any of my professors’ office hours my first semester and I can’t tell you how much I regret it. (Hindsight is 20/20, I know.)

I didn’t start going to office hours until after my first Math 141 exam. I was so nervous about series and sequences and the second exam, so I started to go to my math professor’s office hours twice a week, every week. (If you haven’t heard the horror stories about Math 141 and the second exam, you will soon.) I pretty much built those hours into my schedule and went religiously. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I took those steps. Not only did I do really well in a class most people say is one of the most difficult, but I also was offered a job because I saw my professor so frequently! I mentioned to her once that I loved math and I wanted to minor in it, and a week later she asked me if I would be her grader this coming school year. I now have a job that pays more than minimum wage and has flexible hours, and I didn’t have to apply or go through an interview, all because of office hours.

I know it’s scary, and I know that admitting defeat and asking for help isn’t always the easiest thing to do. I still have yet to approach a professor who teaches a lecture, but I’m working on it. Trust me, office hours really do help. Don’t wait like I did!

Kaylyn Hannon is a sophomore in Bioengineering. She is a rover for WEPO 2012.