Evaluations

Evaluation from Parent (Personal evaluation)

I have seen Saheba grow in maturity and become more confident and mature in her interactions since she returned from this trip. She appears to have developed an understanding that in the end, at a basic level, whatever the cultural background human needs (and therefore challenges, aspirations, failures and accomplishments) are very similar. She has made an effort to connect with people by adjusting and looking at the world through their eyes – trying to speak local language more fluently, eating in the “hole in the wall” places where locals eat, travelling in 3-wheeler scooters, etc are all examples of this.

Saheba had an opportunity to travel to multiple cities and got to see and experience both south and north Indian culture and food. She realized that India is a very diverse country – while in north she could speak the local language, south was as foreign to her as for anyone visitng from outside India.

Evaluation from Sandra (Community member evaluation)

Saheba has gained important research skills such as conducting a topic literature review, coding interviews, data analysis and report writing. She has become more aware about central public health issues in India and other developing countries.

Further, she has gained important communication/presentation skills after working on a team and learning how to deliver and contribute one part of the entire report.

She has also learned how to become more independent by operating in a different professional setting. Even though she had no experience in qualitative research initially, she learned quickly from her mistakes to improve her work.

Evaluation from Madalina (Faculty evaluation)

After this experience, Saheba should now connect all of her experiences to figure out what she should pursue next. She has done research/has background in engineering, women’s health, and international service—how do we connect all these areas together? When drafting an application for the Wagoner fellowship, she should be able to articulate why she has pursued opportunities in these different areas, and what connects them together. She should personally reflect on her motivation so that she can plan out a project or path to act on it.

Self-evaluation

After reading my evaluations, I realize that they all speak to different aspects of my experience. The evaluation from my father suggests that I have gotten a better understanding about Indian culture, by practicing my Hindi, trying out different types of food, and travelling using local transportation. I also feel that I’ve become more aware about life in India—and also that there are some similarities with life in America. People have the similar values and beliefs—they protect family, are respectful of deadlines and of each other, and work together efficiently to solve a problem. At the same time, I realize that India has unique public health challenges, like other developing countries, that affect the poor that I do not interact with on a daily basis. For example, the lack of access to healthcare and inefficient screening/vaccination programs in India cause many of the poor to get diagnosed in time for cervical cancer. Because people are born in those situations, the inefficient system prevents them from getting proper care. And I’ve learned that I want to help solve that problem: ineffective healthcare access and public health programs.

Further, I feel that I’ve improved my writing/editing/data analysis skills and have learned how different research projects and directions can be taken once a previous project wraps up—how I can build off of other people’s work, and weave their ideas and results with mine to implement a solution to a problem.

I also do not think I will be as anxious or scared when navigating a foreign country. I recognize that simply trying to talk to people around me and taking appropriate precautions will help me stay safe while exploring a new culture.

After speaking with Madalina, I realized that I need to consolidate all of my experiences in engineering design, medicine, health policy, women’s health, and volunteering to truly understand how to connect all of these interests together. I’ve also realized that I have done a lot of research but would also like to learn to apply that research and see that change firsthand. For example, the results from the research through Loewenstern will help the government and other public health organizations develop better cervical cancer prevention programs. But I would like to be involved in the process of implementing that solution. I now want to further build on this experience to design a technology that will improve healthcare access for the poor in a low-resource setting. But I realize that I need to build collaborations and speak to people with expertise to develop a research proposal and carry this through. Follow Madalina’s recommendations, I plan to speak with my research mentors and search online to develop an appropriate plan for the research proposal.

I agree with all these evaluations because this experience has taught me about culture, leadership, communication, humanity, service, and impactful research. But I also realize that I need to find a new opportunity where I can apply this experience and also my other technical skills so that I can be more useful when trying to develop solutions to problems.