G.O.A.L.S.

G.O.A.L.S- Freshman Year

  • Global Awareness: For myself global awareness means to learn about and learn from people who are different then me and to explore the world around me. While at Ohio State I hope to accomplish this by taking advantage of all the opportunities the school has to offer. In the next four years I would like to participate in an education abroad trip and get to live and learn in another country. This opportunity would really expanded my global awareness but giving me the chance to learn about another society’s culture and the people living there, while continuing my studying. Within my freshman year, I hope to explore the city of Columbus and the area around it. Since I have lived in the same area my entire life, I’m really intrigued by the city of Columbus and hope to discover both the similarities and differences between here and where I grew up.
  • Original Inquiry: Research is very important to me and because Ohio State has so many research opportunities I hope to be able to participate in it in in my later years at OSU. I am really interested in either conducting my own research on a topic within political science or working with a professor on his or her research.
  • Academic Enrichment: Academic enrichment is the core of any successful student’s collegiate education and this will be the same with my time spent at college. I have very ambitious, but reachable academic goals for my time at college. During my time at college I hope to double major in political science and Environmental policy, maintain a 3.6 gpa or higher, and take classes that will be challenging but enjoyable and prepare me for my future.
  • Leadership Development: While at Ohio State I hope to get involved with several student organizations on Campus to make my time at college more enjoyable and to develop leadership skills for the future. As of my freshman year I hope to get involved and participate in the Politics, Society, and Law Scholars program, College Democrats, and the Alexander Hamilton Society. In the future I would love to continue participating and earn leadership positions in these organizations or others.
  • Service Engagement: There are many ways to give back to the community while at Ohio State that I’m excited to take advantage of. For my freshman year I hope to get participate in Buckeyethon and help raise money for child cancer.

Field Trip Reflection

For the field trip to the Ohio Correctional Reception Center we got a tour of the facility and the ability to talk to several people who hold high ranking jobs within the prison. We started off the day signing in along with a dozen or so other people who had come for visiting hours. First, my group toured the juvenile and medical assistance buildings. Although we only saw two prisoners in the juvenile area, it was odd to think that everyone in there was younger then I am. While there, the people giving out tour explained how they’re trying to better implement technology into the prison such as allowing video calls with family members and giving every prisoner an Ipad like device that they can play games on and call people from. After this, we headed over to the reception and processing building. We were shown how they they process the prisoners and assign them to their home facilities and got to see people being brought into the prison for the first time. After this we toured the cell blocks of both the cadres, those whose home facility is the Reception Center, and the regular prisoners who are being processed. The feeling between these two could not have been more different. While in the cadres’ building we saw the dogs that they foster and overall the prisoners’ stuck to what they were doing and did not pay any attention to us. However, the regular cell block was much more crowded, to the point that the open floor space was covered in bunked beds in order to have enough for everyone, and we received a lot more stares. After this we were able to ask a few last minute questions and as we were leaving saw hundreds of prisoners come into the courtyard and headed to the cafeteria building for lunch.

To me this field trip was pretty eye opening. I was surprised to hear about their project to implement more technology into the prison system and the amount of rules and regulations that the prison itself must follow that are national or federal laws. It was also nice to see the dogs being fostered because as a dog person myself, I know how much a dog can help with depression and teaches responsibility. However, if I had to pick one thing that was the most significant to me, I would say it was seeing family members signing in for visiting hours. Most of the families in there had little children and it was truly sad to think about how those kids could possibly grow up without knowing their fathers or having them in there life. Going into this, I knew already that having someone in your family in prison was extremely hard but seeing in person really showed just how bad it is. Although I am sure that almost all of the people in that prison had done something that made them deserve to be there, the visitors proved that those people are also fathers, sons, and brothers.  

After this field trip I’ve learned to look at everything that is portrayed on TV about prisons with a grain of salt. In real life they are much more strictly run and helpful, with implementing technology and helping people get the their GE, then is shown in shows. This trip also showed me that when talking about prison, it’s extremely easy to forget that the people in there are also normal humans with families and jobs and homes and although them being locked up does not affect me directly, it is effecting someone.  Overall, I think I gained a deeper appreciation for what the correction officers at prisons and the actual prisoners go through and that its much more serious of an issue then what TV shows and movies portray.

About Me

Hi everyone, my name is Briana Jones! I grew up in Strongsville, Ohio, a suburb outside of Cleveland, and I am a first generation college student. Although my parents themselves never earned their bachelors degrees, they have always pushed me to do my best in school and make the most of every opportunity I am given.

Currently, I’m a first year undergrad student pursuing a major in political science.  I am also a part of the Politics, Society, and Law Scholars program in Ohio State University’s Honors & Scholars Center. Through several classes I took in high school I discovered my interest in not only politics, but also environmental policy and law. Hopefully my future career will  combine all of these aspects into one.

During my time at Ohio State I hope to get involved with several student organizations on campus and explore all of the opportunities that Ohio State and the city of Columbus have to offer.