By: Annabel Skubon, Agronomy | Medina, OH
My first week at Ohio State ATI, I couldn’t remember a single person’s name. Every time I met someone new, they were introduced by their nickname. Coming from a graduating class of almost 700 students, I thought I was good at putting a name to a face after meeting a person only once. After coming to Ohio State ATI, I realized that you remember people because they left you with an impression worth remembering.
Ohio State ATI is an entirely different world, it incorporates the feeling of both the small-town and big-city America, all in a little village we call Applewood. The cliche saying of “don’t judge a book by its cover” has never been more true. My freshman year, I had three resident advisers, and if you would’ve asked me then I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that one of them would become my best friend. She had purple hair, and was the tiniest person with the biggest personality. The second week of school I finally talked to her in person at a school bonfire. I thought she was one of the strangest people I had ever met and I was nervous to even talk to her, until she tweeted at me and told me I was one of the funniest people she knew. I knew right then we were destined to be friends.
That is exactly how life works sometimes, one day you see someone acting goofy, and the next day you realize you have more in common than anyone you’ve ever met. Why judge someone when you can experience everything that makes them great instead? That purple headed RA has taught me more lessons here and in life than any class I could take.
Ohio State ATI will teach you to step out of your comfort zone. Whether that means breaking down and asking for help, only to find out you had more people there for you than you imagined, or realizing that sometimes people will hurt you, and it’s in those times you find your true strength. It’s not all about cow anatomy and crop health here, although this place will teach you to be the best in agriculture, this school gives you lessons in life. We might be a bunch of down home farm kids, but here, we get to view the world through a lens that maybe people will never understand. This small school in an Amish town will make you grow and become a better person, and you might just be knee deep in cow crap when it happens.