The last two weeks have been relatively tame from a school and extracurricular standpoint. Last weekend, the Pinellas County Chiropractic Society Board had its annual board meeting/retreat. I was included this year as I am currently the Tri 10 Student Ambassador between NUHS and the PCCS – an official board position which is pretty cool. We spent the majority of a day discussing budget, fundraising options, and a series of events we hope to hold over the next year if COVID will allow. This was a great opportunity to meet some of the leaders of the field here in our community and see how organizations like this run behind the scenes. This experience on the board and seeing how all the docs work together to benefit chiropractic in Pinellas County, has reaffirmed my thoughts on continuing my involvement with local boards and the community as a graduated Doctor of Chiropractic.

Outside of the PCCS meeting, I have not been up to much over the last two weeks. I have Part 3 and PT board exams coming up this coming weekend, so I have been studying as much as possible. We held another beach cleanup to benefit the Gulfport Neighborhood Association and we always have a great showing to this event.

Something that has been usual over the last couple weeks has been all of my animal experiences lately. Last week, a company was hired to move my resident beehive that was in the wall directly across from my apartment stairs (haven’t used these stairs in MONTHS). It was interesting to see the bees respond to the guys in their bee suits and to watch the stragglers come back to the moved hive afterword.

During the beach cleanup we found not just one, but 6-8 horseshoe crabs that had buried themselves up on the beach. These are incredibly cool creatures that I haven’t seen very often so it was a nice treat. Also, at the beach, at my weekly run we were able to enjoy a spectacular sunset all while dodging giant jellyfish that had washed up on the beach (not the best night to run barefoot on my part).

And finally, just yesterday I went to our apartment grill to cook and found a young opossum trapped in the trashcan at my apartment. I took the little guy to the edge of the property and placed the can on its side. After a few minutes the little possum ran off into the woods which was a very satisfying feeling considering I had NO idea how to handle the entire situation. The Florida wildlife never ceases to amaze me.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me at addisonozakyol@student.nuhs.edu.