LETTER OF APPLICATION

Natalie Hillerson
Haggett Hall
42625
Seattle, Washington 98195-0042
Cell: 952.607.6916
Email: nhiller@uw.edu

May 17, 2014

Jenny Halpin and Peter Freeman
Odegaard Writing & Research Center
Room 121, Odegaard Undergraduate Library
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Dear Ms. Halpin and Mr. Freeman,

I am a freshman undergraduate interested in the position of a tutor in the Odegaard
Writing and Research Center for the 2014-2015 school year and beyond. I have always been
an avid reader and writer, and consequently, I have developed an interest in looking at other
students workmany of my high school classmates would regularly look to me for advice
regarding their English papers or college application essays. I would spend extensive
amounts of time reading their work and talking to them about their strengths, and what I
considered to be areas for improvement, consisting mostly of argument strengthening and
clarity issues. Likewise, I have a keen eye for grammatical and other structural errors. I would
be absolutely thrilled to be able to continue this passion of sorts at the Odegaard Writing and
Research Center.
Throughout my four years in high school, I was a member of my schools Speech
Team, and a captain for the last two years. This activity enhanced my communication and
writing skills because it required me to synthesize and revise my own writing, as well as
communicate information effectively to an audience. As a captain, I looked at my team
members speeches and gave constructive feedback for their improvement as orators and
writers.
During my senior year in high school, I tutored a freshman in French. We met once a
week and she guided the sessions, letting me know her concerns about the course material
and homework. We would then go through her notes, textbook, or homework, and I would
clarify any confusion she had about the subject, as well as offer study tips and mnemonics to
aid her understanding of the language and to promote future success on tests. I believe my
experience as a French tutor gives me a good understanding of how to listen effectively to
any worries and offer feedback accordingly.
I am currently in training to be a Peer Educator for the incoming Honors class this
coming fall, and I believe that this is also a testament to my assets as an effective
communicator and, to a further extent, teacher. I am enthralled by the idea of informing other
students about the opportunities to be found at UW and in the Honors Program, and I am
excited to guide them this autumn. I feel that this experience would influence, as well as
LETTER OF APPLICATION
complement, a tutoring position, in that I would be giving back in two capacities: helping
improve the writing skills of my peers, and helping new students find their way at the
University, setting both groups up for future success. Both of these opportunities require
efficient communication skills, of which, through my previous and current experiences, I have
a strong grasp.

I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for your consideration!

Sincerely,

Natalie Hillerson
CURRICULUM VITAE

NATALI E HI LLERSON


EDUCATI ON
Rosemount High School Rosemount, Minnesota
Graduated: June 2013, 4.00 GPA

University of Washington Seattle, Washington
Interdisciplinary Honors Program, 3.77 GPA
Biochemistry B.S., Anthropology minor
Expected graduation: June 2017

SKI LLS / ATTRI BUTES
- Displays leadership qualities, is responsible and accountable
- Strong oral and verbal skills, comfortable giving presentations
- Experience with teaching and tutoring
- Working knowledge of French, limited knowledge of German
- Understanding of Microsoft Office, Photoshop, ChemDraw

WORK EXPERI ENCE
Lancer Catering at the Minnesota Zoo Apple Valley, Minnesota
June 2013 September 2013
- Worked in customer service as a barista, bartender, food preparer, and cashier
- Interacted professionally with customers to make their experience as positive as
possible

ACTI VI TI ES / LEADERSHI P
Speech Team Member and Captain
Member: September 2009 May 2013, Captain: September 2011 May 2013
- Captain for the Rosemount High School speech team, coached students and
organized team-building exercises and events
- Developed strong communication skills by writing speeches and presenting
them to an audience clearly and effectively

French Tutor
September 2012 June 2013
- Tutored a student in beginner level French during the 2012-2013 school year
- Met once a week for about an hour to discuss concerns with the course material,
do practice worksheets, go over notes, or practice speaking the language
cell: 952.607.6916
email: nhiller@uw.edu

CURRICULUM VITAE

Planned Parenthood Votes at UW
October 2013 Present
- Dedicated to increasing awareness about reproductive health and creating
legislation to help all students feel safe about their bodies and health on campus
- Current projects include legislation on trans* student housing accommodations,
mandatory sexual assault reporting, and universal bathroom installment

Honors Peer Educator Program
April 2014 Present
- Selected to be a Peer Educator for the incoming Honors class in Fall 2014, will
teach a class of around 15 students and organize/create lesson plans
- Gave feedback to fellow Peer Educators on their lesson plans and practice
teaching exercises

VOLUNTEERI NG
Dakota County Library System
June 2006 June 2013
- Organized events for children and teenagers through the library
- Founding member of the Teen Advisory Group, a project dedicated to
increasing young adult interest in the library and in reading
- Shelved and sorted books, movies, and CDs

Rosemount Middle School Speech Team Coach
January 2013 April 2013
- Helped create a program in which members of the high school Speech Team
coached the middle school Speech Team
- Gave students feedback on their speeches and helped organize schedules for
practice times

PUBLI CATI ONS
Poems in Journals and Small Presses:
The Night after I Told You I Loved You, Bricolage Literary and Visual Arts Journal:
Issue 32, forthcoming

AWARDS
- Placed on the University of Washington Deans List, Autumn 2013, Winter 2014
- Invited to join the UW Mortar Board Honor Society, Winter 2014
- Invited to join Golden Key International Honour Society, Spring 2014
- Invited to join Phi Sigma Theta National Honor Society, Spring 2014
WRITING SAMPLE AND REFLECTION
This writing sample is an excerpt from a longer Illness Narrative, assigned
through my Medical Anthropology and Global Health class. I conducted an interview
with someone who had experience with health problems, and connected the personal
statement to other texts I had read in class, synthesizing an argument around a larger
issue in the American healthcare system. This was one of my first experiences writing at
a college level, as well as writing a paper of this genre: a social science-oriented paper
as opposed to the literary analysis I was almost exclusively exposed to in high school.
As a result, this paper broadened my horizons as a writer and illustrated my ability to
write across disciplinesa skill I was unaware I possessed. Through writing this
narrative, I also gained experience with the revision process. I sought feedback from
my TA, and she offered suggestions to improve the clarity of my papermost of which
were not concerned with content, but with organizational issues. This task came as a
challenge to me, because I had never had experience with restructuring a ten-page
essay so extensively. Now after this revision is complete, I believe I am a stronger writer
because of this challenge I tackledI am now equipped with a wider set of tools and
skills to approach a piece of writing, so in the future I can revise and edit to the best of
my ability.
In this excerpt, I discuss how one doctors experiences exemplify the
increasingly strained doctor-patient relationship in modern healthcare.




















WRITING SAMPLE AND REFLECTION
A Young Doctor
As Dr. Hillerson began to interact with patients and play a direct role in their healing, he
developed a particular way to greet them and make them feel comfortable in his presence. When
first meeting with a patient, Dr. Hillersons approach to greeting the patient is outlined here:
I always shake their hand and make an introduction I acknowledge and introduce
myself to the other people in the room, which is usually family. I try to sit down, so Im
not talking down to them. Should circumstances permit, I try to get to know a little
about them, let them know that I realize theyre a person, and not just a problem that has
to be dealt with.
This approach is reminiscent of A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor, in
which John Berger and Jean Mohr describe the life of Dr. John Sassall and his relationship with
his patients. This relationship, much like the relationship Dr. Hillerson is trying to establish, is
defined by a much more humanistic approach to medicine: getting to know the patients and
treating them like humans instead of objects to be tinkered with and subsequently fixed. It is
these qualities that led Berger to describe Dr. Sassall as a good doctor, a good listener, easy
to talk to, and understanding (62-63). These qualities similarly resonate with Dr. Hillerson.
After greeting the patient, Dr. Hillerson then goes about planning a course of treatment by first
obtaining a narrative, asking a very broad question like what brought you here today? until
sufficient knowledge is gathered about the patients situation. However, this is not the only
approach a doctor can take when dealing with patients. Dr. Hillerson claims that he has come in
contact with doctors who forget that theyre talking to a human being and just want to deal with
the problem. When asked how this affects the way they interact with patients, he stated that
he believes that
WRITING SAMPLE AND REFLECTION
patients put a lot of faith in physicians it takes a lot of time, and a lot of energy, and a
lot of vulnerability to go to someone with a problem and ask for help, and some
physicians look at that as an opportunity to obtain dominance
Doctors matching Dr. Hillersons description are sprinkled throughout hospitals around
the country, and they contribute to the growing adversarial relationship between doctors and their
patients. Ivan Illichs critique on healthcare in his book, Medical Nemesis, explains this well:
health care has become a commodity, something one pays for rather than something one does.
Healthcare has veered away from a deeply internalized structure of beingsomething one
does with passion and purpose, and instead is turning into a marketplace for treatment,
considering the value of human life as a negotiable good in todays capitalistic society.
This unfeeling definition is at the core of the budding antagonistic relationship between
doctors and patients, and is introduced through the case of the hospitals in McAllen, Texas
home of one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country according to Dr. Atul
Gawande in his 2009 article featured in The New Yorker. The article goes into great depth about
the intricacies of McAllens hospital system and how the astronomical costs of healthcare at
these hospitals does not necessarily correlate to care of exceptional quality. In fact, a lot of the
cost stems from doctors running a plethora of tests to diagnose a patient in order to cover their
bases, protecting themselves from malpractice suitssomething the doctors in McAllen readily
admitted to. This overuse of medical care indirectly causes a rift between the patients and their
doctorsthe doctors dont want to be sued for being unable to diagnose someone, so they rack
up the costs of the extra procedures to ensure that theres no way the patient can claim something
more could have been done. This entire process degrades the trust that patients have in their
doctors ability to make sound and thoughtful decisions regarding their health, and to a certain
WRITING SAMPLE AND REFLECTION
extent, their wallet. As a result, patients become more suspicious of their doctors treatment
suggestions (in most cases, the reasoning behind these procedures is not explained and leaves the
patient in the dark, adding to their vulnerability), and this may increase the chances that they
would sue their physician and the cycle continues.
Through the interview process, Dr. Hillerson shared several anecdotes in which the
doctor-patient relationship was put under direct duress or conflictand while not quite as
extreme as a malpractice suit, they still are indicators of the growing lack of faith between
doctors and their patients. The first anecdote is a very simple, very abundant one. Dr. Hillerson
describes what he calls a classic example of differing expectations of doctors and patients:
[S]omeone comes in with a cough, or some sort of upper respiratory illness, and wants
antibiotics but when its just a virus, which it most commonly is, there isnt an antiviral
treatment, and antibiotics can actually have an adverse effect so we try to minimize our
use of antibiotics. And a lot of patients get pissed when they dont get antibiotics,
because if its viral all we can say is, Fluids and rest and cough drops and control the
symptoms theres nothing we can do to really cure this, so theyre like Well, why did
I even come to the doctor if youre not going to do anything for me?
He went on to describe a recent survey documenting how a substantial amount of
physicians would prescribe an antibiotic to a patient who had a viral infection, just so their
patients would be satisfied, which in turn contributed to the reimbursement from Medicare the
doctors receive. This example further proves that the doctor-patient relationship is becoming
strained, as doctors only look at patients as a way to improve their ratings and increase their
income, and ignore what is best for themgoing so far as to administer a medication that causes
more harm to the patients in the long run, such as in the example of antibiotics. This sequence of
WRITING SAMPLE AND REFLECTION
events is encapsulated by Illichs idea of clinical and social iatrogenesisiatrogenesis defined as
unintentional harm that is a direct result of seeking medical care. This case is both an example of
clinical iatrogenesis, as a patients health is compromised (Dr. Hillerson describes this bluntly as
giving people a bunch of side effects, like diarrhea), and social iatrogenesis, because people
come into the doctors office expecting a quick cure and they ignore their bodys natural healing
response as treatment itself.
The last anecdote Dr. Hillerson relayed was one that was particularly eye opening to him
because the patient refused live-saving treatment because of her religious beliefs. In this
instance, the patient was bleeding in her stomach, and she needed transfusion to make up for the
huge loss of blood. However, she refused to get a blood transfusion because it went against her
beliefs as a Jehovahs Witness. The doctors tried everything else they could in order to get her
blood levels to return to normaland in this process they discovered that she had cancer. Dr.
Hillerson describes this entire situation as a multi-disciplinary approach in that [they] had to get
hematology, oncology, gastroenterology, [and] pathology involved in order to help this woman
who for the most part, declined treatment. These different doctors had varying ranges of
responsessome were more understanding of her reasoning, while others tried to be blunt,
telling her she would die if she didnt get the transfusion, though she remained firm in her
refusal. The patient then went to another hospital for cancer treatment, and Dr. Hillerson had no
other information regarding the outcome of her time in the hospital and in his care.
This example mirrors Ronald Niezens examination of the James Bay Cree culture titled
Healing and Conversion: Medical Evangelism in James Bay Cree Society, in which their
traditional ways of healing contradicted modern ways of healing, and as a result there was a
discrepancy in the care that was receivedmaking the Cree people uncomfortable and out of
WRITING SAMPLE AND REFLECTION
place in the modern hospitals. This discomfort, found in both the Jehovahs Witness case and the
Cree society, contribute to the increasing disjoint between patients and doctors. While this
particular example of disjoint does not stem from a distrust of doctors, as discussed earlier, it
does arise from a difference in views about the best way to get treatment or be healed. Some
doctors, as Dr. Hillerson pointed out, do not understand the traditional, sometimes religious,
basis for patients misgivings, and likewise, some patients do not understand modern medicine if
they have only been exposed to their traditional healing ways for their whole life. This lack of
understanding between the two roles leads to a lack of proper care and a strained relationship
as is expected between any two people who dont fully understand each other, and is exacerbated
when the two groups do not make any effort to try seeing things from a different perspective.