A Welcome note from the SOTA President

CONGRATULATIONS!!! As the SOTA President I want to welcome all of our new colleagues to CSUDH. The steps you have made in becoming future Occupational Therapists will no doubt be the best decisions you have ever made. I want to encourage all of you to utilize as many resources as possible. Professors and Cohort 4 members are ready and willing to help in any way they can to see that you all succeed in the program. I know all of you will achieve great things here. Once again congratulations and welcome.

Cody Moore

SOTA President

The Occupational Therapy Student Survival Guide

When I recall how I felt after the OT student orientation, I have 3 words for it: exhausted, overwhelmed, and confused. So I asked some of the students from Cohort 4 to provide some tips on how to survive in the OT world you just got yourself into!


1. Going to office hours is very helpful. Especially if you have very specific questions! Sometimes it gets too confusing if you try to put it in an email.

2. Getting work done ahead of time is helpful. More time for fun! (and more time to rush an assignment if you forgot one of them…)

3. In the beginning of each semester gather all syllabi for each class and record in your planner (preferably one that has both monthly and weekly calendar displays) all assignments, papers, and group projects do for the semester. By having this blueprint, you'll be able to manage your time to complete assignments. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

4. No need to buy a fancy calendar! You can print out the calendar (Weekly or Monthly) for free at the Computer Lab using Microsoft Publisher. Then cut and paste from the syllabus and you’re all set! (Mac users have it too.)

5. Try to assemble a list of all the books needed for the semester prior to going to the bookstore to provide ease of buying the books needed in as less trips as possible.

6. Ask the previous cohort if they have any books to sell. It’s usually cheaper and no shipping charge!

7. Have an APA cheat sheet. You will always need it for citing sources and references. The most commonly used are: Citing journals with 1 or more authors and books with one or more authors.

8. Pack a healthy lunch and enough snacks for a day of classes. It will help you save money and keep your energy up for the day. If you forget snacks, use the OT snack shop because it's WAY cheaper than the campus stores.

9. Build rapport with your classmates and pay attention to your peers work ethics and styles, as you will eventually work with everyone in your sections.

10. When having a choice in working with people, choose wisely; especially when deciding your research groups, as you will be working with those people for the remainder of the program.

11. Take advantage of the student health services (free flu shots, paps, etc.) since a fee is included upon registration.

12. Prevent backache and space issues by investing in a rolley backpack.

13. Having a laptop is not necessary but highly convenient.

14. Find a reliable buddy to stay up-to-date with assignment deadlines and tests dates.

15. Most articles that you may need for written projects are available online. Study how the online library database works and remember which journal database has been most helpful to you.

16. Make use of your $7 free printing at the computer lab at Welch Hall (that’s about 140 free prints!)

17. The library computer lab also allows you to print 20 more pages.

18. Have a good way of keeping files. Most people use a flash drive but be careful not to lose it! Or have a back-up in your email just in case you forget to unplug it from the computer.

19. Parking is usually free the first week of class during Fall and Spring semester but NOT Summer! You have to buy a permit immediately for Summer semester.

20. Find a carpool buddy! It saves you gas and you get to drive on the carpool lane (especially if you need to get on the 110…)

21. Get your act together early in the semester! Refine your strategies and techniques in completing assignments and projects and how to study for the test because once your first semester ends, you always start the next semester immediately.

Spring 2009 Calendar of Events

Occupational Therapy Calendar

January 12- February 18- AOTA Student Delegate Votation
( Link: http://www.aota.org/Governance/Elections.aspx )

January 21- OTAC ProQuest Database Training (open to everyone for a fee)

January 23-24- The Alert Program for Self-Regulation Conference at San Francisco, CA

March 6- Spring Symposium: “Emerging Non-Traditional Areas of Occupational Therapy”

April 4-5- OTAC Spring Fling- A Continuing Education Conference at San Diego, CA

April 23-26- AOTA Conference at Houston, TX


CSUDH Academic Calendar

January 19- Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday: Campus Closed

February 16- President’s Day Holiday: No classes; Campus open

March 30- April 4- Spring Recess; Includes Cesar Chavez Holiday

May 21- Graduate Commencement

May 25- Memorial Day: Campus Closed

May 27- Final grades due

Congratulations!

I would like to congratulate Marilyn Masunaka-Noriega, MA, OTR/L, who was given the Fieldwork Educator Award at the 2008 OTAC President's Award Dinner. Marilyn currently teaches Interactive reasoning, Interventions I, Case Seminar II Pediatrics and supervises fieldwork I Adolescents to name a few.

An eventful year for SOTA

By: Cody Moore, SOTA President

I would like to extend a special thank you to Jeanette and all of the volunteers and donators that helped with this semester’s SOTA Yard Sale that we held last October 25, 2008. This event was a huge success due to your gracious donations and the time that you sacrificed to see this through. I had a great time with all of you throughout the day at Jeanette’s house. We were able to raise over $400 that will be used to fund OT month at CSUDH as well as sending our student representatives to next years AOTA conference in Houston, Texas. Once again I want to thank all that helped with this event.

Many thanks to everyone who came out to the CSUDH/USC student mixer at the USC Lifestyle Redesign House. A special thanks to Avry Umali for collaborating with USC to put this together. A new relationship was formed between many of the OT students at USC that I hope will continue to flourish throughout the years to come. We hope to extend this event, along with several to come to USC. Right now SOTA is working with Rebuilding Together and is in talks with fellow USC students to work on a lifestyle redesign project during the month of April.

A closer look: The SOTA Snack Shop

by: Jeanette Young

Running the SOTA snack shop was a fairly simple job. The most challenging thing was trying to get items that everyone would enjoy. The easiest way to do this was to pass around a blank sheet of paper for suggestions. The difficult part was narrowing the selections to the few items that were purchased for the snack shop. Our best selling item was snickers bars. We also went through water and diet coke quite quickly. I was always hesitant to purchase perishables that were requested for fear that they would go to waste, so although requested, I never purchased fruit or yogurt for the snack shop. The two most difficult things about running the snack shop were getting people to recycle their bottles & cans and rolling all the loose change. I suppose I could have handed it over to the treasurer, but I preferred using that money to purchase more snacks for our snack shop. I would recommend someone who has a membership to Costco and someone who goes to Costco on a regular basis to take over the snack shop duties. The snack shop is run on the honor system; meaning that we trust that when something is taken from the snack shop money is placed in the money box. I also feel that it would have been helpful to post a list of the items along with their prices, but I never got around to doing that. I enjoyed providing the snacks for everyone especially because I love feeding people and I love to eat!

Discovering Occupational Therapy

By: Anna Magnuson

When I graduated from college in 2003, I had a degree in art and no idea what I was going to do next. It didn’t take long to cross “professional artist” off of my list of career options. I realized that I wanted a job where I could help people. After a few mind-numbing minimum wage jobs I realized I wanted a career where I could make money, take vacations, and find meaning in my work. I took a job as a direct care worker in a group home for “troubled” (foster care, probation, pregnant) teen girls with the idea that I might eventually become a therapist or a social worker. I met enough people in these professions to learn that the work is not always very rewarding and you don’t get many vacations. It was my mother who added a third career option to my consideration list. She is a teacher and she told me that if she had to start her career over again she would become an occupational therapist because there are so many job opportunities and the pay is pretty great. She said the job looked fun too. I decided that if I could handle the anatomy and physiology prerequisites then I would go for it. As you can see, I made it. I am really excited that I have found a profession where I can use my creativity, help people make positive changes in their lives, and maybe even do a little traveling.

What is Pi Theta Epsilon?

by: Wendy Butler

Pi Theta Epsilon (PTE) is a specialized honor society for occupational therapy students and alumni. PTE recognizes and encourages scholastic excellence of occupational therapy students.

Pi Theta Epsilon (PTE) Mission:
o To contribute to the advancement of the field of occupational therapy through scholarly activities.
o To provide a vehicle for students enrolled in accredited programs in OT to exchange information and to collaborate regarding scholarly activities.

Eligibility Requirements:
o Election of new members shall include those who have demonstrated superior scholarship.

o Those who are eligible:
o shall rank not lower than the highest 35% of their class in scholarship
o shall have a GPA of at least 3.5 on a scale of 4.0 since entering the occupational therapy program
o Be nominated by faculty

Why join PTE?
o It’s an honor to be chosen with only one opportunity to join
o Leadership opportunities
o Interact with faculty on a professional level
o Opportunity to organize events that promote research while networking with OT graduate students from USC
o Professional society with professional benefits
o Enriches your graduate experience

PTE Officers:

President: Wendy Butler

Vice President: Whitney Frumen

Secretary: Erin Kupka

Treasurer: Stephanie Wong

Public Relations: Kate Chiverton

Upcoming Event:

2nd Annual Spring symposium “Emerging/Non-Traditional Areas of Occupational Therapy”
hosted by Pi Theta Epsilon Friday, March 6th 1:00- 4:30pm

Pi Theta Epsilon will be hosting the 2nd Annual Spring symposium at Loker Student Union on March 6th from 1:00-4:30 pm. The event will host speakers that explore “Emerging/Non-Traditional Areas of Occupational Therapy” providing both incoming Cohort 5 and Cohort 4 exposure to additional areas of practice that occupational therapists can thrive in.

Pi Theta Epsilon’s goal is to inspire occupational therapy students, to interact professionally with potential employers and faculty as well as to increase awareness of occupational therapy as a career at California State University Dominguez Hills. Pi Theta Epsilon intends to contact the faculty of undergraduate majors such as psychology, sociology and recreational therapy soliciting their assistance to promote the event. We hope to encourage their attendance of the event which will alert them to occupational therapy as a post-graduate degree and life long career. In addition, Pi Theta Epsilon will extend an invitation to the University of California Occupational Therapy department to further increase collaboration and communication between the programs.

Pi Theta Epsilon is currently in the process of securing speakers to discuss their experience in an “Emerging/Non-Traditional Area of Occupational Therapy” that they currently practice in.

Pi Theta Epsilon trusts that Cohort 4 &5 finds the symposium a valuable experience to their professional development and hopes to see everyone there!!