personal statement

While studying in college, I visited this new restaurant in town called the Dialogue in the Dark. After signing up and storing my valuables in their locker, I met our blind tour guide. The idea behind the tour is to see how we use our other senses. He was not only able to navigate us through an obstacle-filled room with ease, he was able to safely take a group of us through all of it. We were taught to use our other senses through tasks and games. They ranged from us having to identify various vegetables by their shape and texture, to playing cricket by listening to the sound of the ball and even using a computer. This experience made me value my eyesight as I was put into their shoes. I realised my passion to treat children having eyesight issues, then they will be able to perform everyday tasks with ease.
I believe that children are the future of the world. Many children with learning disabilities tend to be very successful but they get pulled back due to their limitations. I want to make a difference by helping them out and sleep peacefully knowing that I made a difference. Even from a young age, there were several occasions at school where I had to manage and teach students from grades 1 to 5. This is another reason why I think Im a good fit for the program. There is no greater satisfaction than enabling individuals to improve the quality of their lives.
My interest in pursuing a master’s degree in speech and language therapy in medicine originated in college. I was a member of the National Service Scheme in college funded by the Government of India where I performed 60 hours of social service by doing several awareness campaigns, skill development programs, and community development projects. I worked in a campaign team for blood donation, encouraging individuals and teaching them the necessity of blood donation to save the lives of others. I stumbled upon the Ophthalmology Department at the SRM Medical School during one of our blood donation drives. I was fortunate enough to see my seniors working with children and they were making them do a couple of eye exercises like pencil pushups, brock string exercise, space fixator and dive bombing. This is when I decided to take up the Msc Orthoptics at xyz university.
I have a personality trait of always investigating the reasoning behind a concept and that is why I enjoy reading on science so much as it explains reasons and theories on things we come across in everyday situations. As part of my undergraduate degree, I covered several topics like Matrices and Calculus, Multiple Integrals and Differential Equations and Biostatistics courses. While studying, I used to help out my peers who were dyslexic or had other learning disabilities by tutoring them and getting them study materials. I was recognised for the outstanding performance in Creativity Challenge Activity conducted for the Soft Skills course. Also won the best project for demonstrating working model under the department of physics and Nanotechnology. I worked with my team members, discussed with them and came up with a unique project.
Upon graduation, I enrolled myself as a volunteer at the Rural Development Centre over a year. I volunteered for several awareness campaigns on environmental protection, rainwater harvesting, hygiene and sanitisation for children. As part of the Rural Education Program for students of grades 1 to 5, I carried out interactive sessions with focus on hands on activities and several workshops like poster making, best out of waste, art workshops, and book collection drives for children. I was also part of the Covid Relief Support Team where I attended 108 calls with 8 hours per day commitment.?I also participated in a summer school for Operations Research at Vrije University in Amsterdam where I was introduced to integer linear programming and optimization using Gurobi solver and Python which helped me excel in my ability to analyse a problem and think of a systematic way of solving it. I also completed a 4 week online course from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine ?Glaucoma: A Public Health Approach to Preventing Blindness. I also got the opportunity to work shadow a vision therapist in my area for a week. I was able to see firsthand how children and adults were made to do several eye exercises and tests like the worth four dot test for binocular single vision. Many patients were asked follow up questions about how they control their diabetes and told about their risk of developing diabetic retinopathy, cataract and glaucoma. I also completed a 4 weeks course from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on ?Glaucoma: A public health approach to preventing blindness.
In my spare time I have participated in a range of activities that also allow me to be involved with helping people. I used to volunteer to work in operations like Kerala Flood Relief in 2019?where I had to keep track on the quantity of clothes, medicines, food and other necessary items for first aid and survival. I had to talk to flood victims and console them. I have also helped with fundraising for Project ‘KEYtaab’ which aims at providing the underprivileged children from Shelter Homes. I also got the opportunity to?organise an online fund raising event as donation towards Distress Relief Fund (2020) of the state Kerala which was recognised by the Chief Minister of Kerala. On a more personal note, I am a highly enthusiastic musician; I play the guitar, Kalimba and keyboard. I have also worked alongside Grammy winner A. R. Rahman. I have found learning to play an instrument to be both an outlet for self-expression and a way of developing my skills of perseverance.?