For my second explore Columbus outing with my mentees, I decided to grab breakfast and coffee with Kate and Lindsey at Buckeye Donuts! Scheduling a time that we could all meet was challenging with finals time right around the corner. Because we all have different majors, we had different exams that conflicted and times when we had to study. Thankfully, we were all free on Wednesday after reading day! Around 10 in the morning we all met up at Buckeye Donuts because it was a central location to us all and we couldn’t resist some donuts. I also wanted to visit the legendary donut shop again before leaving for the summer. Kate and Lindsey live in Smith-Steeb on south campus so I thought it would also be fun for them to explore a different area of campus.

Buckeye Donuts is an Ohio State favorite and has been in the same location since 1969. Walking in feels like stepping in a time machine with Beatles and Star Wars posters and an old school diner feeling. Buckeye Donuts has pretty much any food that you could possibly want. From gyros and mozzarella sticks, to breakfast sandwiches and donuts. Kate opted for the classic donut option whereas Lindsey and I ordered an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Surprisingly this was the first time Lindsey and i have tried their breakfast sandwiches! As soon as we placed our orders we took a seat at the counter in front of the kitchen in some cute red barstools. It only took a few minutes until our food was ready which was good because we were all very hungry, I even had to take a bite of my sandwich before I could snap a picture!

It was so nice to be able to catch up with Kate and Lindsey, since we have all been so busy we haven’t had the chance to catch up in a while. I learned they both will be returning home for the summer and working at their jobs to save money for next year. They also mentioned how they were both planning on going on vacation together to Chicago just for fun! Kate’s mom won free airplane tickets to anywhere and gave them to Kate and Lindsey. I immediately told them that they should use the tickets and go to Lollapalooza in August because I know we all love music festivals. We then started talking about the lineup and I learned a lot about their music tastes and how similar we all are! We then got to talking about all the trips we might go on and Kate’s family is also planning a cruise vacation!

We all then started talking about school and our classes. Kate was actually leaving that day to go home because she didn’t have any more finals until Monday. Lindsey is done with her finals on Friday. I asked them how they were feeling about next semester and if they were feeling good about coming back to Ohio State. Lindsey seemed concerned about her grades right now and especially next semester because of more difficult classes. I told her that everyone stresses about grades but as long as she tried and used her resources she would be more than ok! Kate was also worried about some of her classes but was able to pull off great grades and get super involved in Undergraduate Student Government! We then were comparing our schedules for next semester and I found out that Kate and I will be in the same accounting recitation! Lindsey has a very full schedule with a majority of her classes being art classes. We then started talking about how different moving off campus will be for me and Lindsey could also relate because she will be living in her sorority house next year which is also off campus. Kate will be living in Canfield which she was a little sad about because of the no air conditioning.

Overall, I would recommend Buckeye Donuts to anyone visiting Ohio State! It is a campus essential and the service there was very kind and welcoming. The atmosphere was very homey and welcoming and we felt alone in our own bubble, despite being surrounded by other students. The food was also very good and filling, and a bonus is that you can use Buck ID cash there! This was such a great place to meet up with Kate and Lindsey at the end of the year and I can’t wait to catch up with them in the fall!

I had the opportunity to sit down with my mentees Lindsey Bradley and Kate Dunne and talk about how they has been doing so far second semester! After first semester, students usually get the hang of things and find out how they work the best so Lindsey and I talked about how she is pretty comfortable with studying for her classes and finding ways to not procrastinate! Lindsey is a Studio Art major and I asked her how she manages her time with all of those artistic assignments. She told me she really tries to think ahead and plan her wording according to her schedule because if she plans it out, she’ll be less likely to be stressed about all of the assignments. Kate is a marketing major and is still trying to figure out how to balance her schoolwork with everything else she is involved in. She definitely has to prioritize what she has to get done when it comes to clubs and academics but she almost always will prioritize her academics and take a step back from the clubs that she is involved in.

Each semester everyone has that one class that is way more difficult than all the others. Kate is a business major so she is mainly in GE’s as well as a few business core classes. Her most difficult class this semester is CSE because the class is structured really ridiculously and the TA’s aren’t really helpful at all. We could relate on this a lot because I am also in CSE and am struggling a little bit as well. Lindsey’s most difficult class was actually one of her GE’s. He hardest class is Intro to African Literature because she has never been particularly good at english and she sometimes struggles to put her thoughts into words. But she had a positive attitude about it and said she was looking forward to the challenge!

We then got to talking about how their first semester in ACES went and they both agreed that they were glad they joined. They both emphasized how much it opened them up to new service opportunities. They were both very please with how easy Pete made it to reach the required 20 hours.

After first semester both Kate and Lindsey are still in their same major as first semester. We had previously discussed their career goals, which we all remembered each others goals during the spring mentorship retreat. Both of their career goals hadn’t changed much. Kate is still very much enjoying marketing and the business school and still wishes to be a CEO of a company. Lindsey at first just knew she possibly wanted to do something with graphic design but she after first semester she realized she has become more confident in her plan because of how interesting her art classes are and how driven she is in them.

My favorite part of first semester was meeting a bunch of new friends and adjusting to life on my own and I wanted to know what their favorite memory was too! Lindsey started off by saying that she knows how corny this sounds but her favorite memory was becoming so close with Kate as her roommate. They are both in ACES and do a lot together and tell each other everything and she’s really thankful to have found that. Kate also said that she is super thankful for Lindsey and she really enjoyed going to the welcome week concert together and seeing Miguel.

I had a really good time catching up with Kate and Lindsey and even got to chat with Lindsey about the sorority she just joined and how she is adjusting! We brainstormed some fun places that we could go for our second explore Columbus which I am very excited to go on!

One of my favorite spots, and an all time favorite of many Ohio State students, is Condado Tacos. When I was thinking of where I wanted to bring my mentees to introduce them to the city of Columbus, Condado seemed like a perfect fit. My mentees, Kate Dunne and Lindsey Bradley, seemed very excited to go because it meant an escape from campus food, which towards the end of the semester can get very repetitive. I brought them to the Short North location because they had never been there and I also wanted to show them the COTA and help them get used to taking it down High Street.  We went with one other ACES mentor/mentee group and all hopped on the COTA together from Smith-Steeb and began the trip down to Condado. The conversation started flowing very effortlessly. Lindsey began telling me about how she is signed up for formal recruitment this spring and how she was getting nervous about the whole process. I am glad that I am in a sorority so that I can help guide her through the process and tell her my own personal experience and tips. She seemed very excited to rush and I explained to her how long the days can get and how to keep an open mind throughout the whole process. We also talked about clothing and how fun but also stressful it is to look for recruitment outfits.

Before we knew it we were at Condado and sitting at a table for six. At Condado you get to build your own tacos so we instantly got to work picking out fun toppings and talking about what queso we were going to get. The only bad part of our trip was that our waiter failed to notice that we were sitting in their section and we ended up waiting ten to fifteen minutes to even be helped. We were entertained while we were waiting because they were streaming the Ohio State and Northwestern game on a big screen right by us. It was so fun to be all together and cheering on the buckeyes at the same time. We talking about the Michigan game and how we were all at the game for the whole time to watch us win and to sing Carmen, Ohio at the very end. Even though it took a long time to place our order, we were able to talk the whole time we were waiting. I asked Kate and Lindsey about their finals coming up. Kate has been very busy this semester with all of the activities she is involved with but told me that her finals aren’t looking too bad. She has a few but doesn’t think they will be that difficult. Lindsey on the other hand told me how her art finals were going to take her a lot of time to finish and that she was worried about that. I told them that finals can be scary but as long as you put in your best you will be able to come out on the other side better than before.

Once our food came we all instantly reached for our phones and took a picture of our beautiful tacos. The conversation stopped momentarily so we could eat our food. When we were finished eating I told them about all of the cool shops that were located near us and some cool thrift stores that they should visit sometime. Then in order to get back to Smith-Steeb we had to figure out when the next COTA was coming and we tried to plan it accordingly because while we were eating it started to downpour. I showed them how to easily track the buses on the Google maps app which helped them realize that the COTA isn’t so complicated after all. We all hopped back on the COTA and said our goodbyes. Overall, I had a ton of fun taking my mentees down to the Short North. I got to check in on how their semesters went and how they were feeling overall. It seemed like they were both in a good spot and they were looking forward to next semester. We discussed what their schedules were looking like for next semester and they are both excited for their classes.

I would definitely recommend Condado Tacos to a friend because it’s a fun environment to hang out in and they have many different food options. I hope that I can return here with my mentees at some point during the year to check up on them again.

My second mentee is Lindsey Bradley. Lindsey and Kate are both roommates so it has been really fun to see how close they are getting and how they are both adjusting to college. Lindsey is from Cleveland, Ohio and actually knows one of my friends in my sorority! Lindsey is majoring in Studio Art which is a very interesting major. She has always been good at art and has never really seen herself majoring in anything else. She did art all throughout high school and she was very good at it! I could relate to her on this because I did a lot of designing for my schools yearbook and we talked a lot about my theme and all the different techniques that I used.

Lindsey has been looking into what clubs she can get involved with and I told her that its never too late to join a club and even pointed out a few that I know of. Lindsey is looking into different art clubs to meet more people in her major. This past week I actually saw Lindsey and her friends at the Greek Meet and found out that they were interested in rushing! I told Lindsey that she can always ask me any questions she has about Greek Life and I can help her find out which sorority is right for her!

In high school, Lindsey was involved in “Take Action” which is an after school program where she helped kids with their homework. She also did a lot of volunteering in her community. Lindsey said that she wanted to join ACES because she wanted to keep up with volunteering in college and ACES had everything that she was interested in ranging from children to education. Lindsey was also concerned with meeting her service hours each semester and I told her that through my sorority I actually had a lot of opportunities for service hours that has helped me a lot!

After graduation, Lindsey doesn’t exactly know what she wants to do with her degree yet. She knows someone in her family that was an intern at a cool graphic design agency and she said that that has always sounded like something that she would be interested in! During her time here at Ohio State, Lindsey is working on being as outgoing as she can be and being more social.

I am looking forward to helping Lindsey find her passion here at Ohio State and can’t wait to see her transition at the end of the year!

My first mentee is Kate Dunne. Kate is from Cincinnati, Ohio and we went to high school only 2o minutes apart! Kate and I didn’t realize until we met up but I am really good friends with her cousin that went to my high school. Kate is majoring in Marketing and Logistics, I am thinking about changing my major to Business so second semester I can definitely help her out with some of her classes. Kate decided on her major because she participated in DECA in high school which lead her towards marketing. DECA is a program that encourages the development of business and leadership skills.  She actually decided to chose logistics while she attended an information session about it here on campus. She said that not a lot of people know about logistics and it’s actually a growing field.

Kate has already gotten involved on campus! She is a member of the Undergraduate Student Government and she is on the student affairs committee. This has helped her meet a ton of people and she even attended her first date party this past week! Kate is also in He for She which is a gender equality club on campus. Kate was also very involved in her high school. She was a student ambassador, in a student athletic leadership team, and she also participated in soccer, track, and basketball.

To help her continue her involvement at Ohio State, Kate wanted to participate in ACES. She really wanted to keep volunteering on campus and thought that ACES would be a perfect fit. Once she got accepted into the program she toured the dorm and fell in love even more. Kate is looking forward to meeting more friends through ACES and finding an organization she is passionate about. However, she is worried about meeting her service requirements each semester. I already told her that I have a few organizations and events that I get involved with to get my hours and that she can always come with me to these events.

After college, Kate doesn’t exactly know what she wants to do yet. I told her that thats completely ok! As a first semester freshman it may seem like you are running out of time to decide your life when in reality you have all the time in the world. She definitely knows that she wants to do something with business, perhaps even be a CEO of a marketing firm. She is considering going to grad school and it has always been a dream of hers to go to NYU for grad school.

After talking to Kate I am super excited to help her throughout the semester and I look forward to seeing all of her success!

This year the annual NSSLHA conference was held right here at Ohio State and I was able to attend with a few of my classmates! We were welcomed by Brutus and had a long, enjoyable morning of informational sessions about professionalism and working with others. I was able to meet a lot of new people from different schools and different grade levels. After we all ate lunch together we attended break-out sessions that were very helpful. The first one that I attended was a panel of graduate students discussing how they applied and they gave us tips and tricks on asking for recommendation letters, setting yourself apart, and getting good grades. The second session I got to attend was about professionalism on social media and how to set yourself apart from others. My last session was about using service dogs to aid with patients and we even got to interact with some service dogs! At the end of the conference I learned a lot about the field of speech pathology and how to better present myself throughout my years here at Ohio State.

(photo from OSU NSSHLA facebook page)