Madeline's Blog

 I decided to sit in one of my classes and try to relax, sit still, and absorb everything around me in that moment. I was not able to focus and sit still for long because I felt that there was so much commotion going on around me involving the other students. When I was sitting still and focused, I noticed that the classroom can be loud when the professor is teaching something. I heard so many sniffling, on top of coughing, on top of keyboard typing, on top of papers flipping, on top of people moving around in their seats, etc. I noticed that there is so much going on involving noises that it was hard to give all of my attention to the professor.      I realized after doing this that I do the same thing in class. Lots of the times, us students are distracted by other homework or just not paying attention at all. I thought this must be so annoying to the professor who is trying to teach us about certain information. Sometimes it is very easy to get distracted in class...

One group that NDSU offers is a health concerns support group. I think this is a very interesting group that I did not know NDSU offered. This group focuses on students who have chronic illnesses which can make it hard to do activities every day in college. I did not know that NDSU offered this kind of group, but I think it can be very beneficial to people. Many people struggle with chronic illnesses and may feel alone. I think this group would be very helpful to find others that struggle with the same illnesses, and they can help each other work through them. Since chronic illnesses can make daily activities harder for some than others, I think it is important to connect with others who face the same struggles and learn new ways to do things.  I was recently diagnosed with chronic migraines which have made things super difficult for me to do. Since I am so sensitive to light and noise when I have a migraine, it makes it super hard for me to do my homework or even go to class and w...

One group that NDSU council members host is Pawsitive Relaxation. This group involves dogs as a way to manage and cope with stress, while also giving tips on ways to manage stress. This group stuck out to me right away because I love animals. I think that it is so fun and cool that NDSU provides this group and allows people to connect with animals. Dogs bring out the best in people and can help a person calm down. I think it would be interesting to know how many dogs there are during each therapy session and what kind of dogs they have.  Personally, this would be something that I would be interested in doing because of my love for animals. This would be a good way to decompress and step aside from the busy life I have. With work and school sometimes, it is hard to find time for yourself, but it is very important to make sure you do. Otherwise, if you do not set aside time to relieve some stress, you will end up getting burnt out. I think that the dogs would help me feel better beca...

 One health experience that I will never forget happened a little over a year ago. I was super sick and though that I may have strep throat. If that was the case, my mom wanted to get me into the doctor so I could get on antibiotics right away since I had an event that weekend. I remember that I was so weak because I couldn't eat or drink because nothing would stay down in my stomach. My dad offered to drive me to the clinic, but he could not go inside with me because this was when COVID was still a big concern. I remember we had to park outside and wait for nurses to come outside and get me. When they finally did, they were in huge suits protecting themselves in case I had COVID. When I finally got into a room, the nurse checked my vitals and asked me how I was feeling. I was feeling very faint, nauseous, and I had a sore throat. She told me that they were going to test me for COVID because it was spreading a lot, and she was going to test me for strep because that is what I thoug...

     This week I started my sophomore year at NDSU. I felt a lot more comfortable being familiar with the campus compared to my freshman year. I am taking more complicated and challenging classes this year because it is my last year on campus. I am going to apply to the sonography program this fall and then I will hear back from the program in the winter. I am going to prioritize some of my classes this semester because I need to get good grades in the challenging classes to maybe set me apart from other students who are taking the same classes. Since the sonography program here at NDSU is very competitive, I need to make sure that I am focusing on my academics and spending more time on the challenging ones so I can get a good grade in them. I am a little more nervous this year about my academics this year compared to my freshman year because the classes I am taking now are more oriented towards my specific major.      Although I am feeling a little more st...

     My name is Madeline, and I grew up in the small town of Ashby Minnesota. I am currently in my second year of college at NDSU, and my major is radiology. I chose to major in radiology because I want to work in the healthcare field, but I also do not want a super demanding job. I specifically want to specialize in sonography because I want to do imaging on pregnant women. I don't think that I would enjoy radiography as much as sonography because radiography is basically just taking the picture and then sending it off to be looked at by specialists. I want my job to be more hands on and involved which is also another reason why I chose to go the sonography route. The program at NDSU for sonography is very challenging and competitive because they only accept around 4-5 students each year for the internship. You also can only apply to the internship twice, so if you get denied twice, you have to pick another route to go. I am a very determined person, and I am going to do...