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Preston Ngo’s Blog Response v2.4.0

If there’s anything I’ve learned at Professional Development, it’s to learn how to sell myself and to broaden my list of contacts and resources. At my first PD, we were more focused on improving our communication skills. I remember in our small groups we had activities that helped us learn more about our social abilities.

With Anh, we explored the correct way to engage in workplace conversation and meeting new people at the workplace. In it, she had us read from a script with a normal professional attitude and tone. She even had me have a casual conversation with a “co-worker”, but improvised and without a script. While this may seem simple, it is very possible for communication to be the deciding factor between success and failure in college or in a job. Suppose I don’t get on good terms or get to know anybody from my workplace. In the future, when I need help, it will be much more difficult and more awkward to ask them for assistance. In the future, this is very important for me to be ready to meet a lot of new people at my new workplace. The ability to communicate is a good start if I want to advance my career as well, as knowing people who are higher up may be able to give you recommendations.

With Jessica Eischen, we observed how communication is important to reduce misunderstanding and create maximum efficiency in the workplace. In it, she had us communicate to another person to replicate what we drew based on the instructions our partner gave us. They could not, however, look at what we drew, so the success of both partners depended on the quality of their communication. Good replications were a result of good communication whereas people who were reluctant on sharing information resulted in bad replications that were offset from the original. In college, communication from one person to another can determine what is expected and the reaction to what is eventually produced. If a student tells a professor their schedule is clear the entire month, but does not make the final paper deadline due to his work schedule, that type of communication makes the student’s situation worse than if he told the truth in the first place. If a professor gives unclear instructions to an assignment, chances are students won’t even touch the assignment.

The final activity at PD1 was with Jessica Acolin who assigned us a product to advertise for thirty seconds. The customer’s desire to buy correlates with the seller’s ability to advertise the product. Effective sellers listed both positive form and function attributes to a product. Ineffective sellers did not do this. I made a comment how selling yourself was very much like selling a product. If people do not know your form and function, they cannot find reason to hire you or trust you. Only people to are able to advertise their abilities will attract employers looking for those abilities. In college, I was told that professors need reason to be proud of you, especially at UPenn. If I want professors to acknowledge that I exist, or an employer to hire me, I need to advertise my abilities and show them through my actions.

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Preston Ngo’s Blog Response v2.3.0

Talk about your feeling about the StrengthsQuest - whether you feel it’s accurate or not (if you don’t feel it’s accurate why?) Please make sure you list your 5 Signature Themes.

My results from the Strengths Quest poll last year were Empathy, Deliberation, Intellection, Strategy, and Belief. I think that the survey does an amazing job at extracting strengths from survey questions, which if I can recall had plenty of moral questions. It has already been a whole year—one year to grow and develop, yet I do not think my strengths have disappeared or been replaced at all. Interestingly, I realized that I was able to build upon each of my strengths whether it was in the workplace or at home.

Up until now, empathy has to be one of my most interesting and improved strengths out of the five. The online dictionary defines empathy as the ability to understand and share others feelings. To me, empathy is the gift of listening and ability to provide emotional support to loved ones. There have been several of my friends who have come to me with some of their problems—and knowing me as an empathetic person, have come to me first for my guidance. I have found my empathy strength to shine the brightest when talking to them, whether it is about friendships, bullying, or relationship issues. Some people have come to me sharing their darkest secrets, yet I feel comfortable talking with them about it because of my empathy. It is an amazing experience to help others emotionally using my strengths. It is even more rewarding to see them recover from their problems and see them smile afterward. I am blessed to be able to improve upon my own empathetic abilities and in turn, my empathy has been able to improve the lives of others even more.

I remember when I got deliberation, intellection, and strategy last year. Today, I find it hilarious how cocky I was because of those strengths—I remember writing my blog picturing myself as a mastermind chess player, meticulously carrying out duties with my brain’s masterful strengths. As I was thinking this, I felt independent, so high on my own deluded intelligence that I thought I needed nobody. Never have I been so wrong. Now that I am going to college next fall, I expect that my tasks are becoming even more group oriented—whether it be recitations, labs, or study groups that require teamwork to succeed. Even in the future when I work, keeping to myself can leave me far behind the crowd. I find that depending solely on my own brainpower is neither smart nor strategic—and so to be smart and strategic, I must depend on the intellection, deliberation, and strategy of others as well. This does not mean I should forget about improving these strengths. What I mean is I should not allow myself to become arrogant because of these self-oriented strengths. Instead of being masked by delusional pride, like I was last year, I need to accept help when I need it most.

Last year, I said belief was highly attributed to my spiritual life as a Christian. I find that this is still true and has grown even stronger as time has gone by. The power to believe comes from morals that are engrained deep within a person’s heart. It is unshakeable even through the toughest times. Before I got to where I am today spiritually, I tested my belief in many things. For example, I tried and failed to believe in some of my friends. Some of them barely acknowledged I existed after middle school while others slowly grew distant. For the past year, my experience in putting my belief in certain things has mostly been unfruitful, except for my faith which has grown tremendously. I’ve learned that I can’t distribute my belief onto many things at once, such as many friends, many religions, or many worldviews, or else I would be a hypocrite. I guess I could say my belief strength has matured over the year. When I choose something to believe in, I don’t reserve some space in my heart for other things, but I’m sure I can do it with all my heart.

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Preston Ngo’s Blog Response v2.2.0

Describe the challenges and rewards of your worksite. What skills did you learn in PD#1, and how can you apply the skills explored in PD#1 to your life or work environment? Share a specific instance, whether from your current worksite, past work experience, or school, where the skill could be applied.

My challenges during my working period were few, and I have to thank my wonderful and resourceful mentors for that. The biggest challenges I had, I must admit, I have myself to blame for. On the first week, I was out on Wednesday and Thursday to get my non-drivers in order to get my passport, something I should have done a week prior. It tells you how big of a procrastinator I am. It goes to show that most of the challenges I face are caused by myself. The only way I can solve the challenges I cause myself is through self-improvement. For example, If I am to set a time aside for work away from miscellaneous errands, I need to deal with my errands ASAP first. People may not realize that they are their biggest obstacle.

Working hard has had its share of rewards—and sometimes it doesn’t. I was convinced that being in court was a very rewarding experience. It was my first time hearing so many interesting cases, but after the second and third time, cases became either repetitive or downright boring, and often the majority of the time would be attributed to waiting for both cases to be ready. Other than that, there’s no point on giving up. I look forward to be rewarded with interesting cases next time I am at work. Another reward I often overlook is the people I meet. Not only do I make more friends with whom I can learn from or laugh with, I can always come back to them in the future for help. Who knows? Those same people may appreciate me for my help around the office and offer me a job. Sometimes the biggest rewards are easily overlooked.

The ability to do work is a simple human task—but I honestly treat it as a valuable skill that not everybody can master. In order to master the ability to work, I look to improve work efficiency and work knowledge as I go along my everyday tasks. Yesterday, if I messed up a name on a stack of paperwork, my work knowledge will be changed to solve that problem the next time it comes around. A new task may take a long time to get accustomed to, but practice may allow me to improve my work efficiency, so that the next time I do the same task it will be much quicker. Although it seems simple, failure to adapt may leave an employee far behind.

Of course, I apply these skills everywhere I go—even away from work. When washing the dishes, I know to use the better detergent for the next time, and to use the dishwasher if I’m ever in a hurry. The point of adapting to a workplace’s demands is to increase the amount of work an employee can do, which consequently makes the employee stand out among the rest. I understand SYCEP is no place for competition, but I also understand that the working world outside of SYCEP can be harsh—where getting a job can boil down to just simple work efficiency and knowledge.

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Preston Ngo's Blog Response v2.1.0

Introduce yourself, and prepare one question you want answered about work, career, workplace behavior, problems you anticipate. Interview family members about workplace experiences. What problems have they faced, and what advice do they have for resolving it?

My name is Preston. I am eighteen years old and have recently graduated from J. R. Masterman High School. I will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in August.

I have always wanted a job that I could enjoy. However, for the billions of people that seek just that, I believe an enjoyable job can be very hard to find let alone succeed in. It is even harder to find a pleasurable job that makes a lot of money. I want to be a doctor in the future, but I wondered if I would be happy doing it. I’ve always thought that as a doctor I would be fulfilling my goal to have a high salary. Isn’t that what people look for in a job? To be able to sustain a respectable lifestyle, raise a wife and kids, and though that generate happiness? Perhaps, this constant drive for happiness is what drives people to the very brink of misery. Happiness can be bought with money—for a short while, but who knows when that short while will last? I don’t just look for money in a job. I look for joy that lasts a lifetime. Of course, what I didn’t realize was that happiness is defined not just by money, but by a spectrum of factors.

I then took a step back to look at my parents and the legacy they have been building ever since their escape from Vietnam. Faced with culture shock, a language barrier, and even racism, I am amazed at how they managed to acquire English as a second language and graduate college with master’s degrees. I then observed my own life and the obstacles I would face. I imagined my hardships wouldn’t be nearly as terrible as those my parents endured. I have learned many lessons from their tenacity coming to America as immigrants, but now that I am the second generation of Vietnamese Americans, I feel I have a responsibility to continue my parents’ sacrifices—very much like relaying the torch. Happiness is what all people strive for, and we can do the most enigmatic things to achieve it. I know people who can’t experience the rush of happiness unless they skydive out of a plane. However, if the fictitious nothin’-but-happiness and stress-free kind of job is what I want—whether it be a life of professional gaming or poker playing or even a starving artist—I often face my parent’s sacrifices and ask myself, did my parents really climb into a boat and drift to America so I could settle for something so low?

My question was simple: What do you look for in a job if you could only pick one, money or happiness? I set out to interview my mother about her views on happiness in the workplace. She responded, “If you love your job, you never have to work a day in your life”. My mother emphasized how one’s job was crucial to one’s life. Knowing my mother, she is a very happy and bubbly person, never failing to make conversation and people smile. So, when she told me not to worry about money or success but instead focus on having a joyful life, I could feel her happy lifestyle resonating with her own words—and so I knew they were good words to live by.

My father disagrees that one’s career should be all about money. He tells me to have a combination of the two: “You have to balance it out”, he says. He recounts many of his family members who became artists, but quickly became poor and looking for work. He says “that line of work is very egocentric, only focusing on what the artist wants, and not what others need. Ideally, a job must be enjoyable. Every job requires responsibility, so responsibility is a must for every person. To have a balance, take each obstacle as an opportunity, and your job will be more enjoyable.

I learn from my mother the importance of happiness in a job. From my father, I learn the omnipresence of responsibility that comes with the pursuit of happiness. I now understand why my mother is always happy and my father so serious—their jobs have a direct effect on how they view life. I find it funny, since they are both teachers, but their differences in how they view their careers show how opaque the idea of true happiness in a job can be. There really is no solution to an enjoyable stress-free job that pays well. As the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch. So the best I can do is to take my parents’ advice—to take each obstacle as a blessing and to stay on top of my responsibilities. Over these next five weeks, I hope I can work with my parents’ advice in mind.

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Preston Ngo's Blog Response v5.0

Discuss in at least four paragraphs on how you will use your worksite experience to pursue your future academic, professional, and personal endeavors.

I want to become a doctor in the future, so I chose the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center with Dr. Giang Nguyen, the director of Penn Family Medicine. I hoped that the experience that I would be getting out of it would reflect my desire to become a doctor, but what I got was slightly different. Truth be told, I wanted to work alongside a doctor with patients. My previous program, Future Docs at Jefferson, got me hyped about patient care. I could tell Penn was my first choice because I wanted to practice what I learned in Future Docs. Unfortunately, the first week and a half that I spent at Penn was nothing but paperwork. While Jennifer and I were extremely with efficient with it (to the extent where even messy Darcy McDonald ran out of things for us to organize), we still wondered when we were going to get the experience we wanted.

“I want to be a doctor”. This statement is very stereotypical of the Vietnamese people. That’s because becoming a successful is almost expected of us by our parents. They expect the second generation of immigrants to bear the fruits of their efforts by excelling in school, but conversely, I believe I've been living in the dark by their philosophy. As I moved into middle school, school was no longer fun and games, but it was a competitive race against everyone else around me, even my own friends. Only a select few would achieve ultimate success and wealth. The goal, according to my father (who never failed to remind me every day for 4 years), was to “not let my friends steal all the good grades”, so that I would rise above everyone else. Retrospectively, my father made middle school seem like a real life hunger games. If I wasn't the best, then those were stronger would steal my dreams and I would become homeless somehow.

So for the longest time, I asked myself, "if I am to become a doctor, how come I don't want to be one"? If I was more forced than encouraged, then how was I going to enjoy my career in the future? I knew it was an Asian parent's dream, but I personally felt no motivation. Their motives weren't necessarily bad; I just needed a little motivation to figure out what my parents were getting me into. Luckily, my work experience allowed me to find how satisfying and awesome being a doctor was.

My work experience is extremely valuable to me. Not only does it look good on my resume, but it also provided me with a great experience for the future when I work in a family doctor’s office. In addition, there were so many skills that my partner and I learned that are crucial for patient care. I learned how to work with patients and tend to their needs through patient greeting. We filled refill and referral forms for patients and even made care gap phone calls to remind diabetic patients to get their tests done.

Working at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center helped clarify the mechanics of how doctors and nurses work in conjunction. The first week is always difficult: one feels out of place, still learning the routine of work and generally feeling lost. However, after five weeks of work, I feel like a piece of the puzzle here at Penn. In the clockwork of Family Medicine, I am glad that I am able to pinpoint each gear and cog that I help make function within it. After hours each day filling out referral sheets or greeting patients, as little as the task may be, I swell with pride knowing I helped somebody get better. I can carry my experience at the Presbyterian Medical Center along with me to my future endeavors: the mission to help others.

Overall, the experience helped motivate me to become a doctor even more. Had it not been for this program, I would have merely wanted to become a doctor to satisfy my parents (sad but true). However, now that I feel comfortable in a family-care environment, I am confident in my ability as a doctor in the future. It felt good to work in a patient care facility during my time here, and eventually, it might just become my passion when I get older.

#SYCEP2014

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Preston Ngo's Blog Response v4.0

Describe your dream job and why. Provide a minimum of four paragraphs in your response

Sorry this is long (among other things). Thank you for reading!

I have a dilemma. I want to be able to help people, but I hate fame, I loathe wealth, and I detest power. It doesn’t matter how I help others, but all that matters is if I can get something out of them. Ideally, I would like to be a doctor as well, but recently I have been torn between religion and faith. For example, when I cure a patient, I don’t want to receive praise. No, I’ve been taught that the praise goes to God and God alone. Also, while the prospect of becoming rich is tempting, I’ve been taught that I must put God first. These are some of the things I personally have been thinking about. Some of you may ask, “Well, I don’t see what the big deal is. What’s so hard about being a Christian doctor?” Well growing up, my parents always advocated for success. The verdict was always: you’re going to be a doctor, a scientist, or an engineer. The reason why? Those professions made a lot of money. My parents wanted me to buy them a yacht when we grew up or something. Success was all about money for me growing up. However, money in the church was an entirely different topic. “Blessed are the poor”. ”Whoever has money has never money enough”. “Keep your lives free from the love of money”. Being rich, to my surprise, was actually stigmatized! With money out of the question, everything I’ve ever been taught about the benefits of being a doctor was destroyed. However, through time, I was able to find my possible calling and my dream job.

I want to be the Good Samaritan who helps the weak to their feet, but ever since I was a child I’ve been taught that the world is a place too cruel to help. I was taught that change was futile, that world peace was impossible. My parents fear communism like the plague—the very nightmare that stripped them of their dear lives in Vietnam. Consequently, perhaps, most Vietnamese parents live in fear for their children’s safety. I definitely felt this way when my mother begged me not to go outside out of fear that I might be molded by the evils of society even as I was turning 17. People say I should count my blessings for such caring parents, but I tally the restrictions that come with them and I can’t. I lived in constant fear and as a consequence, I barred myself within four white walls, my computer the only orifice to reality and the outside world. They say I have freedom and privilege, when ironically my privileges are the very things that make me feel imprisoned.

So for the longest time ever, I’ve wanted to escape as far as possible. Not only do I want to become a doctor, but I want to help others in Vietnam. I feel my parent’s pain to leave their lives in Vietnam, but instead of cowering, I want to take action. I clung to safety as a child, but now I’m willing to help the Vietnamese despite the risks. And while I complain about privilege, I am reminded of orphans in Vietnam who do the same thing, except theirs doesn’t exist. I want to give them hope, not ignore them like countless others have. And in the same way, I want to instill purpose in their lives through their lives through the church, possibly through missionary work.

I remember one day in the car as I sat next to my mom, she told me, “It would be my dream to open up a school in Vietnam”. While I thought about this, I realized that many children in Vietnam may not have access to an education. The same would have been true with shelter, food, water, and medical resources. It was from that moment when I got the brilliant idea. I dreamt that I was going to support my mother in her school, yet at the same time become a doctor in Vietnam helping those without medical access. Perhaps we could create a refuge for orphans, providing both education and treatment for them. The thought of helping others in Vietnam made me feel good, yet there I was, only 8 years old. Now that I’ve pledged myself to that mission, I have no intent to stop. I haven’t told my mother this idea yet, so think I’ll make it a surprise for the future.

However, thinking about the conditions of my dream job, I imagine becoming a famous doctor who cures thousands out of his heart would be much like a celebrity, almost like Mother Theresa. That is why though my journey, I hope that I am not blinded by magnanimity and pride. I want to have a clear vision of my goal. I hope that I am not deluded by shouts of praise and admiration. Likewise, I would never want to be praised like a god, like so many. Not even Jonas Salk, the man who gave the cure for polio away for free, could deny a speck of fame in exchange for his medical discovery. The biggest fallacy in medical care today, in my perspective, is the pursuit of money. I have cousins that hop from job to job, depending on which one pays more, and they end up moving several times each day. They willingly sacrifice family and religion to pursue money and fame, which in the long run is terribly self-centered.

Not me. I strive to be the exception that cares about the underprivileged, not the one who treats only those who can pay the bill. I would like to visit and learn more about rural Vietnam one day. Their lives are nothing like ours. Vietnam’s poorest rural citizens are generally landless and have very little opportunity for employment. They are crippled by poverty, lacking access to legal assistance, and rights as well. With a poor natural resource base, the Vietnamese are more prone to bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever. Regarding children, it is known for parents to sell their children for money. Many girls make it into the sex slave industry. Rural hospitals and doctors are nowhere near modern standards.

It is my dream job to change Vietnam and I hope it becomes a reality.

*among other things=my other blog posts

#SYECP2014

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Preston Ngo's Blog Response v3.0

Discuss how you can develop your StrengthsQuest strengths, within and outside your work site. Your response should contain a minimum of 4 paragraphs

When I received my results back from the StrengthsQuest survey, I realized that while Intellection, Belief, Strategy, Deliberative and Empathy were indeed strengths of mine, that there remained potential for me to improve. Not everybody is perfect, and so although we may believe that we excel in our strengths, that even out strengths may have shortcomings. I learned that outside of my worksite, I rarely got the chance to fully show and express my strengths, but I also lacked the ability to employ my strengths as often as I would have liked to when working in my workplace.

Intellection is by far the easiest to develop. As a Masterman student, I’m expected to be smart. The school has a tremendous emphasis on academics, and so growing up a Masterman student, I naturally love to learn and think. Outside of the workplace, however, there is very little that can feed my absorbent mind, so I put much of my time into video games. Because I am aware that this is a massive waste of my time, I strive to find other sources of mental ‘nourishment’ that are more beneficial toward developing my intellection. The SYCEP is a fantastic program that allows me to do just that. I love the introspective mindset that I get in the workplace. The StrengthsQuest describes it as a “mental hum” and a “slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives”. This is very true of me, however, I find myself thinking so much about what I’m doing to the extent that I lose confidence in what I’m doing. Thus, I try to develop my intellection by reducing my introspection and developing more confidence in what my mind conceives.

The way that I interpret Belief is belief in one’s religion. People have different ways of developing their faith. Personally, I enjoy going to religion camps, church, and reading religious text in order to develop my faith. However, if I loose faith and stop doing all of these things, my belief consequently becomes obsolete. In order to truly develop my faith, I must live according to my faith and input action. Similarly, I can apply this method to belief outside of the workplace and even outside of the church. I hold responsibility high ethics very dear to me, but nobody will truly know if I don’t act upon my beliefs. It’s easy to say that I support feeding the hungry in Vietnam; I’m sure everyone shares the same beliefs. However, it takes an entirely different belief mindset to act upon one’s beliefs. I want to be the one that actually travels across seas and provides medical aid to impoverished Vietnamese so that I can actually stay in accordance with my beliefs. Conversely, the workplace is no place to practice religion, but one can use their work to support their beliefs. Working in non-profit organizations and doing volunteer work is an excellent way to develop one’s beliefs in high ethics. For example, I care about empowering Vietnamese people, therefore I volunteered for BPSOS last year.

  I believe that Empathy is a trait that can never be developed alone, and when I say this I mean it takes effort from two people to increase empathy. Those who are not empathetic are retracted from the world, selfish toward their own emotions, and they rarely think about the emotions of others. They encase themselves in a shell; and the only way to help them develop empathy is to show them empathy as well. I definitely would like to develop empathy in the workplace, but it is extremely difficult to express my concern toward others when others care less about how I feel. Outside of the workplace, however, empathy may come in the form of sympathy, generosity, or even pity. These are false forms of empathy, but often take place when dropping a dollar into a homeless person’s hat. What we must do to instead express true empathy is to take the next step from giving money to the homeless. We must take the time to hear their story, to acknowledge their problems, and to feel their pain alongside them. I certainly do feel pity for orphans in Vietnam, but in order to develop my empathy, I must take the next step and go across seas to help them, so that I may help them while walking in their shoes.

  I often embrace my Deliberative strength as I do my everyday tasks; I balance taking risks with avoiding risks, and thoroughly assess my situations individually. However, this has always been a stigma of mine, very much like a bodily mark that makes others avoid me. No longer am I excited about the next party, but people will know that I cling to safety at home. My deliberative mindset often conflicts with my social life, for example, I would justify my refusal to go to a late gathering with my fear of being murdered by a stranger. My worst deliberative trait last year had been rather saddening: being too cautious about my friends that I ended up losing them all. Outside of the workplace, my ability to deliberate has never been a favorite of mine and has been more of an obstacle. Accordingly, I wish not develop it, but to stray away from it and become confident in my actions. However, deliberativeness has been a vital tool to use in the workplace, where the distinction between good and bad risks can be crucial. However, deliberativeness is not a trait of mine that I would like to improve. As I said earlier, deliberation often makes me lose confidence, and I would love to instead dive into tasks independently without asking for a second opinion. I thank my parents for raising me to think before I act, but now that I am thrust into an environment that demands independent action and thinking, I feel as if my deliberative “weakness” has left me helpless.

  I am a Strategic thinker. While I may not be able to formulate brilliant plans instantaneously, I do attribute many a dodged bullet in and out of the workplace to my strategic skill. I loved to play in chess tournaments in elementary, middle, and for my freshman year in high school. I remember the only way to improve chess strategy and analytical skill was to 1) play chess with pros and 2) learn all of the chess openings. My chess instructor, Mr. Shutt, kept an entire shelf filled with nothing but chess books that explained openings, endgames, and strategies. I imagine I would have to read each and every single one to develop my strategy to ‘Gary Kasparov’ perfection. Likewise, this is how I treat and develop everyday problem solving: my strategy can only develop by 1) solving problems no matter how difficult and 2) learn new ways to improve in efficiency. Even in the workplace, I remember Dr. Giang Nguyen encouraging us to find new and efficient ways to solve problems. I tried developing a new strategy by using various software programs to cut the work and eliminating the long route. Using his advice, a task that would have taken three hours only took thirty minutes, and so I realized the sheer importance of developing strategy.

  These are my strengths and how I feel about developing them. Thank you for reading!

-Preston

  #SYCEP2014

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Describe the challenges, obstacles, and rewards of beginning work as a new employee of your work-site. How important is adaptability in transitioning into your work-site?

As I sat waiting in the car of my mother’s minivan, which was sluggishly rolling through thick University traffic, I took yet...

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Preston Ngo's Blog Response v2.0

"Talk about how you keep yourself accountable especially when you are continuing to adapt to your work site. Your response should be at least 4 paragraphs in length."

For the first week of my work at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, I came into the workplace with a dreadful sense of fear. I was afraid primarily of failure and not being valued as an employee. Being accountable was a difficult task for me, especially since I believed that most of my job success would have depended on outside factors. I wanted to take control over how well I did in Dr. Giang’s office, but I had a habit of letting others dictate my future and success. It wasn’t my work experience, but others were conducting it for me. I was not taking control over 100 percent of my own responsibilities and neither was I confident in myself ability-wise. However, as I entered my second work week with a mentality of responsibility, I came to realize that accountability did not depend on others, but solely on me. I knew that if I was to be accountable for my own success in the workplace, I was going to have to take full control over my responsibilities and assert my power over my actions.  

If I wanted to become accountable for my success, I was going to first be accountable with myself. It is important, first and foremost, to be truthful in everything I do and to be accountable for my own actions. I knew responsibility was one of the main key factors to becoming accountable as an employee. Truth be told, I always believed that my successes and failures depended on the circumstances around me. I developed a habit, that whenever I faced failures, I blamed them on my circumstances and on others. However, it is absolutely crucial to take responsibility for one’s failures. In order to be accountable, I need to be trusted in the workplace as a person who is able to take responsibility over my own commitments. Although my choice to procrastinate on the PPD’s led to me starting medical-related tasks later, I chose to take full blame for my choices. This sense of “personal accountability” was what helped boost my accountability for my actions, so that I could take full responsibility over my actions instead of averting to blame onto somebody else.

Concerning responsibility, one of the biggest issues for me was my ability to claim responsibility through thick and thin. It is always easy to claim responsibility for when things go the easy way, however accountability depends on the individual’s willingness to be held accountable for when events turn sour. I remember the director of residency for the medical center, Ms. Darcy Ward, when she asked us to run an errand over ten blocks away. Despite the scorching heat outside, I knew that being accountable meant claiming responsibility even when circumstances weren’t the best. I could have easily declined the request, but I wanted to assert power over my responsibility as an employee. I believe each person has the ability to claim full responsibility, but doesn’t necessarily want to. Some would rather ration their responsibility, thus letting others manage their careers for them. This is why it is important to recognize my power over my own responsibility, so that others may know that I am accountable.

Another crucial factor to accountability is empowerment: laying claim to my own responsibility, taking risks outside of my comfort zone, and making myself know to others. I knew that accountability depended on what others though about me, but I didn’t know how to gain their emotions. Instead, I went with the flow, not taking any personal risks: It was natural of me as a human being, to take the easiest way through work, despite this being unhealthy toward my accountability. There are some people in the workplace who take the easy route in life, but expect to be praised for their work. However, I found that is absolutely important to take risks and step out of the comfort zone, so that I could take power over the results that I wanted. I remember during my first week, that one of my biggest flaws was taking the easy way out. However, I would never get the praise that I wanted, as an employee, to feel accountable in the workspace. I came to realize that I received the most thanks when I stepped outside of my comfort zone to go the extra mile, to help one more person, or to take full responsibility over my actions. Once I had the power over what I wanted to achieve and what risks I was willing to take to get what I want, I knew I had accountability in the workplace.

#SYCEP2014

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Preston Ngo's Blog Response

Describe the challenges, obstacles, and rewards of beginning work as a new employee of your work-site. How important is adaptability in transitioning into your work-site?

As I sat waiting in the car of my mother’s minivan, which was sluggishly rolling through thick University traffic, I took yet another dismal look at the clock and groaned, “It’s 9:02, mom. I’ll be late for my first day of work!”. Being late for my first day of work was indeed my most stressful moment that summer, and I could tell there were going to be many challenges to come. Thrust into an entirely new environment, we as high school students are destined to face challenges and obstacles that we could not possibly be prepared for. Needing a second step PPD, both my partner and I were not able to get Identification cards in order to delve into more medical field related tasks. Of course, I was nervous the entire time and I was afraid my experience was going to turn into an absolute disaster, but I can say that I am enjoying my experience now as an intern at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

I feel blessed to be placed into SYCEP. I feel that it is one of the greatest work-ready programs available. In addition, I feel grateful to be working under Dr. Giang, who is such an esteemed and experienced doctor. Under the Penn Asian Health Initiative, he has helped in various clinics and health fairs to help people in need of healthcare. As the director of Penn Family Care, he manages a collective health body of over 12,000 patients. Although my first endeavors in the work-space will always have its challenges, I end the day knowing that Dr. Giang is generous enough to train my to become a future public health leader.

I believe that with each challenge, there is an opportunity to reap knowledge. I am glad that SYCEP allows students to have a full experience in the work space so that we can make the mistakes before they matter later on. With each difficult task, we develop efficiency and quality in work. Even if we may be late to work, SYCEP is a very forgivable program toward its interns. As a high school student who knew almost nothing about work life, I am glad to be in SYCEP in order to hone my skills and create the needed transition into the work space.

Transition is extremely crucial for high school students. Students who do not have the opportunity to work first-hand and face the challenges and responsibilities that come with it may be confused when they leave college to find a job. 

For me, I thank SYCEP for offering the opportunity for me to have this transition. The resources were provided, but I was still surprised how difficult it was to adapt to the workplace. Firstly, I was very nervous, which I can assume is natural before beginners can adapt. Secondly, I didn’t come prepared with knowledge, like a med student entering residency. I was required to learn on the job. With all these challenges and obstacles preventing the employee from doing a good job, it is crucial to adapt before one can successfully transition.

I was able to adapt to my work space, thankfully, to the friendliness and generosity of the staff. Thanks to Marlo Moore and Darcy MacDonald, a secretary and director of residency, respectively, they made us feel at home in the office and offered help when we needed it. Hopefully, I hope to overcome my obstacle of inexperience through my exciting journey working at Penn Medicine.

-Preston Ngo

#sycep2014