Applications for the Osmosis Health Leadership Initiatve program are open! Today on the blog, Jennifer Chinchilla shares her application experience as well as the ins and outs of how to own your role as an OHLI.
The best advice I ever received as a budding premedical student was to only do things that I truly believed in and also aligned with the theme of my life. As a pre-med student, you’re bombarded with opportunities, but lack direction; it can be incredibly overwhelming.
From that point forward, I chose to volunteer, join organizations, and seek opportunities that aligned with the things that were important to me, and stopped worrying about the “premed checkboxes.”
As a medical student, I continued to follow this method, which led me to join Osmosis as an OHLI.
The Osmosis Healthcare Leadership Initiative application
To become an Osmosis Health Leadership Initiative member, I filled out a short application that consisted of about 6—7 short paragraphs. The whole thing took me a couple of hours to write and review.
There are a few prerequisites to consider before applying:
- Be a first or second-year healthcare student in good academic standing
- Be a current avid Osmosis Prime member
- Believe in the Osmosis Vision & Mission
→ Apply now to become an Osmosis Healthcare Leadership Initiative member..
Questions on the application ranged from “Why do you use Osmosis?” to “What do you think is the single best improvement we can make at Osmosis?” to “What most appeals to you about the Osmosis Mission, Vision, & Values?”
Three of the Osmosis values that stood out to me the most were: Start With the Heart, Spread Joy, and Have Each Other’s Backs.
As a Latina, my culture values family and collaboration immensely. Our communities and elders pour their collected wisdom into the younger generations, and work hard to get us ahead. In turn, we work harder so that we can give back to our communities and families after we’ve succeeded. Success and higher education is a community effort; as Latinx people, we wholeheartedly believe in the saying, “it takes a village.”
The fact that Osmosis values individuals that align with their mission, vision, and values made me want to become a part of the team even more.
In addition to the question prompts, a short video clip of yourself completes the application.
Owning your role as an OHLI
After about a month of submitting my application, I received the incredible news that I was now an OHLI. I was also super excited to find out that my fellow classmate would be a co-fellow with me. We introduced ourselves to the incoming class immediately and began planning.
The key to being a successful OHLI and a second-year medical student was to be highly organized. I made sure to do the following three things to ensure a successful year:
1. Plan ahead
At the beginning of the semester, Osmosis provides us with a monthly breakdown of our requirements. Requirements range from hosting events, filling out brief surveys, attending monthly online meetings and more.
Right when I would get the email I would begin inputting the information into my calendar or flag it to do it later that day. If I knew my event was going to be October 26, on October 27 I had a reminder to send out thank you cards and fill out my post-event survey.
The key to balancing a lot of moving parts is to be very organized from the beginning and plan ahead.
2. Collaborate
My co-fellow and I made sure to work together and support one another. If my November was going to be busy, she took the lead that month and I would take on a month when she was busy. We also worked with other organizations that had the same mission and hosted events together.
By collaborating with each other and other organizations, we were able to easily balance our program and school requirements.
3. Give the people what they want
As an OHLI, we’re responsible for showing our classmates the magic of learning by Osmosis, which means hosting product demos and tutorial sessions.
Before creating playlists, making how-to videos, or planning events, we made sure to ask our classmates what information they wanted to know about Osmosis. Showing our classmates what they wanted to see would also encourage them to explore Osmosis more on their own.
Self-Reflecting
One of my favorite moments in the OHLI program was when my co-fellow and I hosted a wellness event together at our school.
Right after our exams, we invited our classmates for morning coffee and donuts—all paid for by Osmosis. We had an incredible turnout, and you could feel the morale increase! Everyone was so thankful for Osmosis (and a little surprised that they would help us host an event for wellness).
Becoming an OHLI was easy for me because I was already acting like one. I was sharing how great Osmosis was with my peers before I even joined this program. Anytime I find something that really works for me, I share it with others. I’m not just talking about school-related things here—I love community and sharing with people. If I find a really cool coffee shop or an awesome backpack, I share the awesomeness with others!
Our school is very collaborative and we share our study techniques with each other, so we can all succeed together. When I discovered Osmosis, I told all of my friends to try it. I sat down with them and explained how to upload course notes and create a schedule.
This is the same culture that makes up the Osmosis DNA and why I decided to pursue this opportunity. I believed in them, and my values aligned with theirs: Start With the Heart, Spread Joy, and Have Each Other’s Backs.
I hope this encourages you to consider applying to the OHLI Program this year. Applications are now open year-round!
About Jennifer
Jennifer Chinchilla is a second-year medical student at Michigan State College of Human Medicine originally from San Francisco, CA, with Guatemalan roots aspiring to work in underserved communities. Jennifer enjoys writing poetry and doing spoken word when she’s not studying glomerulonephropathies for the umpteenth time or cuddling with her puppy, Frankie.
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