Academic Enrichment

I just finished my sophomore year of college majoring in Pharmaceutical Sciences, minoring in Business, and pursuing a Pre-Dental track. While my major may indicate that I want to go to pharmacy school, I have always had an natural passion and excitement for dentistry. I find the pharmacy field very interesting and mentally stimulating; I love learning about how different molecules in drugs effect different parts of the human body, and how those molecular interactions relate to the symptoms and effects that are observed externally. Dentistry involves a lot of pharmaceuticals because Dentists have prescriber status, which means that they can prescribe medication to patients, without having the limitations that other professions may have. An understanding of the different effects that different drugs have on someone as well as correct dosage amount and drug to drug interactions is crucial to practicing good dentistry, and these are the reasons that I have chosen the Pharmaceutical Sciences major. I chose the Business minor with the hope of gaining a good amount of knowledge on how to run a good business, or at least understand the components that go into doing so. I want to have this knowledge because it is my dream one day to have my own dental practice, for which I will be the owner and need to know how to optimally run the business.

Global Awareness

I started volunteering through a program at Ohio State this year called the T.O.P.S. (Transition Options Post Secondary) Program at Ohio State. The program gives me the opportunity to volunteer with students who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, and work with them in academic and social settings to help them to become more comfortable, confident, and independent in those settings. I think that this experience really helped me to develop an appreciation for diversity, and how important it is to accept and accommodate everyone’s differences. Volunteering through this program helped me to gain an appreciation for all that I have in life, but the importance in acknowledging and adapting to the differences that others may have in comparison to myself. It was an eye-opening experience; I became a better listener, a better leader, a better student, and a better friend. I was able to have the privilege of getting to know many of the T.O.P.S. students, and from interacting with them often and learning more about them, I was blown away by all of the strengths that each and every one of them have, and how much each of them can offer to this world. I was challenged by being put in situations that I have never been in before, and surrounded by a community that I hadn’t been exposed to before. This helped me to develop a global perspective by gaining a much better understanding of people within this community, and how rewarding it is to be a friend and a mentor to these students.

Freshman Year

My  freshman year was so much better than I could have ever hoped for. I learned a lot from all of the classes I took throughout the year, and while all of them were more challenging than I thought they would be, the challenge allowed me to set goals for myself in each of the classes. I think that this ultimately made my learning more productive and successful. Additionally, I was amazed at all of the opportunities that Ohio State had to offer, especially to freshmen. I had the opportunity to sit on so many professional and undergraduate student panels, and I loved every single one of them because I was able to get real, primary advice from students who have been through what I was going through, and the obstacles that I would inevitably encounter in the future. Health Sciences Scholars was my favorite group that I was involved in on campus, and allowed me to meet some of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure to know in my life. To be able to live in a community with like-minded individuals who had similar interests, goals, and ambitions allowed me to thrive and become the best version of myself this school year. I was able to get a lot of help from my peers and learn from all of them as well. Additionally, HSS offered me many opportunities that allowed me to network and become involved in other things on campus. I appreciated the weekly “HSS Digest” because that news article gave great information about various events on campus, a lot of which I went out of my comfort zone, took advantage of, and benefited greatly from. HSS was the common factor in all of the great things about my freshman year!

GOALS

During this year I engaged in several different service opportunities that were available through Health Sciences Scholars or other organizations on campus. During the first semester, I participated in the first Service Sunday that was at the Martin Janis Community Center, and did other miscellaneous volunteering events such as a Blood Drive Event through Med-Life and volunteered as a timer at a swim meet that was a day long event. During second semester, I went on a Southeast Ohio Learning Trip through the College of Pharmacy. We had the opportunity to volunteer at several places around Athens including United Campus Ministries and the Southeast Ohio Foodbank.

At the beginning of April I went to the Student National Dental Association Impressions Day at the College of Dentistry at Ohio State. During this day I had the opportunity to talk to several dental students of various years and asked them all about dental school, the admissions process, preparing for dental school, etc. I received a lot of advice and insight from these students. A third year student mentioned the importance of things outside of school, such as volunteering or engaging in activities that are hobbies and make a person unique. He mentioned that everyone has great grades, and that everyone has an important position in some club on their campus, but that the thing that allowed him to be accepted into Ohio State’s Dental School was the involvement and passion that he had for a club that was completely unrelated to dentistry. Additionally, a second year student gave the advice to ensure to take the DAT (Dental Admissions Test) during junior year of college, and to specifically prepare for the vision portions of the DAT by practicing in practice testing books. The biggest thing that I took away from talking to these students is to ensure that I find something that I am passionate about and stick to it, even if it has nothing to do with academics or the medical field, and to make sure that I demonstrate that dedication and passion in the admissions process.

About Me

My name is Marissa Pannett, and I am a freshman at The Ohio State University. I am from Hilliard, Ohio, so I have grown up around Columbus for my entire life. I am majoring in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a pre-dentistry track. Ever since middle school, I have had a strong desire to pursue a profession in the medical field, because I love hands on learning and challenging myself. I want to enter a field that I know will give me the opportunity to grow each and every day, and will also allow me to help people, because that is something that I have always been passionate about doing. My goal is to one day, own my own practice as a dentist or orthodontist. I decided to come to Ohio State because of the several unique opportunities that I felt it would give me. In the summer before my junior year in high school, I attended a one week summer camp called “Pills, Potions, and Poisons” at OSU. This camp was put on by the College of Pharmacy, and there were also students who helped the camp to run smoothly who were in the Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS) program. I really enjoyed all of the fascinating labs that we got to do, like putting fruit flies to sleep, and the information we were, taught such as how drugs travel and target sites throughout the body. At the end of the week, we were introduced to the BSPS program, during which we were told that this undergraduate program would be suiting for any type of graduate school pertaining to the health field. I got really excited about this program and honestly had my heart set on going to OSU and applying for this program since then. I just didn’t feel like any program at other colleges I visited were quite like the BSPS program. On top of this, I was introduced to the Health Sciences Scholars program, which i felt like would be perfect for me because I had always been passionate about going into medicine, but wasn’t 100% sure which exact profession. I felt like the combination of the BSPS program and the HSS program at Ohio State would give me the experience and exposure I would need to not only be successful in my undergraduate years, but prepare me to discover and excel in the career that I choose.

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]