End of the Year Reflection

This year has been very eventful and honestly very eye-opening. The class and the scholar program has impacted me exponentially for the better. I have formed new friendships and a new understanding on the problems brought to the environment from people and their actions. The class has led me to want to work in agriculture and find solutions to provide clean food and water for impoverished places. The information given to me about resumes and interviews has made me realized that I am not as prepared as I thought I was for life after college. I never really thought about how hard it might be to get a job and that rejection will occur often. I learned more about what my interest are, I really like reading science fiction book and I started getting into anime. I have been really learning more about my mental health and how to stay positive through this pandemic. I have really learned that I love to help others and make other people happy. I also learned that I love exploring new places and cultures. I think this year I feel like I have matured as a person and my perspective of some things has changed. I think my favorite memory from this past year has been going to Texas for my birthday. It was the start of the pandemic, so everything was not as bad as it is now and I was very happy and less stressed. I never really took time to treat myself so going to Houston really showed me how treating yourself can help your mental health. I also enjoyed meeting everybody in ENR Scholars at the beginning of the school year and getting to know them and what their interest are. Meeting my ENR floormates was great because they were my first friends here on campus and they made me feel more welcome. Next year I am looking forward to meeting new people and joining new organizations on campus. I am also looking forward to having in person classes and learning more about my future career. I also am looking forward to the events hosted by ENR Scholars because of the lack of events that happened this year. I want to be more involved on campus and attend events related to my major. I want to attend sports games and meet new people. I want to look for internships and jobs that will help me build my resume. I am just really excited about being able to do more next year and have more opportunities to open up.

March Reflection

This month I learned about how to properly manage money properly and how to save for emergency. They gave us information about credit cards and how to properly build your credit. I found it really interesting because we learned about things that will help us after graduation. I also learned how to properly set up my LinkedIn profile, I already had an account, but I was able to go and make it look way more professional. This month I learned that I really like learning about different places and cultures. I have always been interested but I have been getting really into more information dealing with cultures and languages and how it differs from America. I have been learning more about African countries and the tribes in each country. I have been really interested in Central and East African countries. Something that I have struggled with this month is balancing school, work, and social life. It has been really hard because this semester I have been hanging out with people when I did not last semester. Being motivated to go to work has been a real problem, I have been closing at my job and I get out really late. It’s has been hard trying to figure out how to make time for schoolwork and working. I think I might not work next year so I can have more time for school. This month I have achieved figuring out what I want to do in life and what will help me to achieve these goals after college. I might join the Peace Corps after college, but I have been really contemplating doing it because it will be such a big change. But life comes with big changes and to move forward you have to make choices that with bring you discomfort. I am just hoping for the best for my future and I am very excited.

Career Plan

The conditions that are required for this position are that you must be a U.S. citizen, you must have worldwide availability, you must be able to obtain and maintain a TS security clearance, you must be between 18 and 59 years old at time of application, and that males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with the Selective Service. Skills in Teamwork, Oral Communication, Written Communication, Cultural Awareness, and Agricultural Knowledge in Agricultural and Food Security. Qualifications for education and experience include a graduate degree with at least two years of relevant experience, which one year must be in a developing country context that is related to agricultural or rural development.

My plan to reach my goal is to either join a fellowship program presented by the company or find volunteer experience. These fellowships provide work experience and funding for graduate school. Having a fellowship could gain me access to a more secure job at USAID. I could also find volunteer experience related to agricultural development to further my chances of gaining the job. To fund my graduate programs I hope to either gain scholarships or maybe take out student loans. Also if I join the Peace Corps and I volunteer more than once I could apply for the Coverdell Fellowship Program that could also pay for my tuition. I am hoping to attend the University of Oregon for my graduate school. I am going to aim for a Master’s degree in International Development.

I also this would like to join more organizations on campus to improve my skills and understanding of other cultural ideas. Taking classes that are related to my interest of what I want to do after college will also help me be more prepared for jobs that are similar to this one. Staying focused in college and keeping my grade and GPA up will also bring more interest to my applications. Ohio Stat also has many resources to become connected to peers and educators that could recommend me for jobs or provide me with job opportunities and internships. Gaining experience in college could speed up the process of being financially stable and will help me finish my career goals. Although this plan is very specific for what I attend to do, I will apply for more programs, schools and jobs because I know that rejection is inevitable and should be accepted. Having multiple plans will have you more prepared for the future and your career.

January Reflection

Although the semester has just begun, I have been enjoying ENR Seminar. I learned more about the causes of climate change and how we are able to start to change what is happening. We talked more about Nuclear power and how changing to this being our main power source will be great environmentally.Although I do not think this is the greatest solution, many of my classmates have given great examples that show a more positive outlook on the subject. The debate we had during the first class was very interesting and people gave great answers even when they were debating on sides they did not agree with. Being about to debate about certain climate change laws showed me how hard it is to try to change the world for the better. We are not able to cut out all the problems that have been caused without changing the way we live drastically. I have no problem with doing so but majority of the world or country will not agree with the challenges we would have to face to save our planet.Something I have learned about myself is that I love to hear other people’s opinions and being informed by others on subjects that I am not that aware of. I have struggled with trying to answer questions because sometimes I think my answers are inadequate because of my lack of knowledge. I am trying to be more open about my confusion or I even try to give an answer, but I try to be a little vague. This month I have achieved new friendships and I have learned more about my classmates and how they think. I love hearing how excited they get when they talk about situations that they are passionate about. I am more excited about this semester than I thought I would be.

Semester Reflection

My college experience has been a little wild these past couple months. It has mostly been challenging emotionally and mentally. Coronavirus has made my freshman year different then mostly every other class. I am still having trouble adapting to student life and my social life because of isolation and the difficulty of learning online. Although it has been getting better, I feel like I am going to have to adapt again next semester or next year. I know I could do better in school, but online classes make it harder, especially when you are switching school settings. I hope I get the hang of it by next semester. At the moment I really am not enjoying my college experience or Ohio State. The only thing I have enjoyed is being away from home and the drama present there. I do not enjoy my classes this semester because I am learning things that I don’t like, I don’t understand, or it is just boring. I have made friends but not many, and I am not sure I can really call them friends. I have enjoyed my job as a Vegetable Production Assistant at Waterman, it has been very calming and I am loving that I can help the community. Next semester I am taking classes that I think I am going to like and I am very excited about learning about my future career. This semester has not really felt like I am actually starting my life but I feel like next semester will. Ohio State was not my first choice for school but I really hope I can enjoy the campus and the experiences way more next semester. I have achieved a better understanding on how people view me and how I can change as a person. I have never really cared about how other’s see me, but I feel like if I can change my behavior then I can better myself as a person. I do feel like I am growing up and learning new things about others and myself and I am happy that I am. I also have achieved more information on what I want to do with my life. Although there are some gaps and holes in what career I want and how I am going to get there, I believe in the next couple years I will have it figured out. It is scary and exciting at the same time having to grow up and be independent, I have considered myself to be for a long time, but I haven’t really realized how much more I would have to do all by myself. My goal for the spring semester is to pass all my classes and enjoy my time being in college. I hope to gain new friendships and join new communities while staying connected to God. Another goal I have is to be able to gain the money to study abroad in Paris in the summer and that hopefully, the pandemic will allow it by dying down or go away.

Alumni Interview

For this project, I interviewed Andrew Wilk. Andrew was a former ENR Scholar who majored in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. He is currently a Master’s student working for Dr. Bill Peterman at the Ohio State University, investigating the effects of wildlife on the salamander community distributions in the Southern Appalachians. Andrew provided me with plenty of information on Forestry and Wildlife and how to maneuver through college successfully. Andrew provided with some interesting student organizations that I believe I would be interested in like, Student Chapter of Forest and Wildlife Society and the Forestry Forum. He also gave me some ideas of what classes to take that would like. He told me that Introduction to Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife and Soil Science are very essential to understanding more about the major and what this career leads to after college. He enjoyed the course Stream Ecology while he attended the Ohio State University for his bachelor’s degree. He also advised me to make sure I try to find an undergraduate internship because it will open many doors for me after graduation. He also said that if I gain connection, I might be able to use these people as references or someone who can help me find a job. I really enjoyed the advice to not accept unpaid internships, they are good but it is better to get paid for the work you have done. He gave me some advice that I believe I will take very personally, and that was to own up to mistakes and ask how to fix them. I consider myself a stubborn sometimes and independent for everything. But, we are young and new to many situations as we grow so it is always best to learn from your mistakes and keep them with you. He gave me some tips on how to prepare myself for an interview, I have been interviewed many times but not anything as serious as something I would like to be doing for the rest of my life.He gave four importants tips and those include: 1. Know your resume, they are going to be asking you questions about yourself and you should be able to answer them quickly. 2. Know the questions you are going to ask them, asking questions shows that you are interested. 3. Know what you are interviewing for, do not just go in there and wing it because you do not want to get yourself into something you are not prepared for. 4. Know what they do, this ties into Tip 3 but make sure when they ask you questions that you are capable of answering them. That is what my interview with Andrew consisted of, I really did enjoy his company and his advice. I will be keep everything he said in mind and apply it to my future. Thank you Andrew.

October Reflection

This month of ENR 1150 has impacted me a great deal. I learned more information about recycling that was very helpful to me. I thought I knew a great deal about what to recycle and how to properly go about doing it, but it seems that I was very uninformed. I learned that a lot of items aren’t recyclable in certain states and cities and that it varies for each one. It also makes it kind of heartbreaking because these cities do not have that any resources to recycle certain items and that leads to a lot of recyclables being thrown into a landfill. This month I also learned more about survival than I thought I did, they did not tell us these things in high school and growing up in the city does not put you in the situations where you will need it. I thought I knew a lot about what to do if you’re in a sticky situation involving your car or someone else’s car but driving school only teaches you so much. We were learning about how to use a compass this month and even though I understood some of what my instructor was telling me, I still struggled figuring out how to properly use it. I am not familiar with directions like North and South and even when he told us how to distinguish the directions I still couldn’t understand. I think I just need to read more about it and it will come easier to me. This month I achieved a better understanding on how to read a map and the different kind of maps that are prevalent. I also achieved better comprehension of longitude and latitude. I did not know what all of the numbers stood for and when I found out, I was so impressed and excited. This has been the best month so far in this class and I am excited to see what November brings me.

September Reflection

Something I learned in ENR Seminar this month was about how the campus has impacted and contributed to the environment. I never thought about the amount of energy it takes to run a university and how much we contribute to pollution. I also see the university trying to flatten the curve of pollution by using solar power, making many single-use items compostable, and providing greenhouses and farms to the students and the staff. This month I learned that I wanted to focus my career on development, specifically environmental development. After having conversations in class and researching what is going on in poverty stricken and low-income communities, I realized that there are people that care but not enough and I would like to change these living situations. These communities are the highest contributors and the highest amount impacted by climate change because they do not have the resources to change the way they live. If big businesses are not going to change then we have to find ways to make it happen. This month I struggled with trying to work my ePortfolio, I have been having difficulty since the very beginning. I am still trying to get used to my Macbook and I am also bad at understanding instructions, especially since they are online and hard to comprehend. My avatar would not publish when I tried multiple times and even now, my Artifact post was missing and I was very confused on where it had went. But you have to struggle before you succeed and at the end of the semester I think I will understand this platform more. This month I have achieved new campus resources and gained new social communities through ENR Seminar. This class has provided me with so much information and new experiences and I am very thankful for it. I really enjoy this class and look forward to the following months.

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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]