Over the past two years at Ohio State, I have tried my best to fully immerse myself in the global culture that this school provides to its students. Coming from a high school that was severely lacking in diversity, I have become increasingly aware of different cultures, traditions, ideas, and beliefs during my time here. In addition to gaining global awareness through my interactions with faculty, peers, and friends, I have also tried to take advantage of the numerous courses that revolve around world issues and cultural studies. For example, one of my favorite classes that I have ever taken was an international studies course on terrorism. In this class, we discussed different terrorist groups that have formed over the past 50 years and the effect they have had on different regions of the world. Many of the issues presented in this class were topics that I had never even heard of before, proving that this course really opened my eyes to numerous struggles that people all around the globe endure on a daily basis. In addition to just this class, I am planning to take other courses focusing on global studies during the rest of my time here. Specifically, I am planning to take a German class that studies the Holocaust through film as well as a class that focuses on the history of modern Europe. I am very excited for both of these courses, as I believe that increasing global awareness is an essential part of being a well-rounded and knowledgeable citizen.
During my time at Ohio State, I have taken several science courses that have had a laboratory component to them. Though the experiments performed were always guided by a manual or by an instructor, working in any laboratory setting requires students to creatively think for themselves and utilize their problem-solving skills. Moreover, these fundamental courses have prepared me so that I am now ready to conduct my first individual research project. This summer, I will be working in a molecular pharmacology lab at the University of Pittsburgh. As an undergraduate student researcher, I will be working under my assigned faculty advisor to create an independent research project that I will then showcase to my peers at the end of the summer. I am so excited for this experience, and I am hoping that after this summer, I will be able to continue my undergraduate research career here on campus by working under the direction of one of Ohio State’s world-renowned faculty members.
As an honors student here at Ohio State, my academics are one of the most important aspects of my life. I have always been one to love learning, and this passion of mine has led me to choose an academically rigorous curriculum here on campus. Specifically, I am a Chemistry major with an intent on someday going to graduate school to get my doctorate. While courses required for my major are definitely challenging and have at times made me make sacrifices in other parts of my life, I am proud to say that I have thus-far succeeded in all of my in-class endeavors. The academic success that I have had up to this point has made me extremely confident in my abilities, and I am now certain that I will be able to meet the intellectual expectations of any career that I choose. While I am not certain of exactly what I want to do when I am older, I know that it will revolve around my love for academia in some way.
As someone who has always had a passion for education, this year I finally had the opportunity to be on the other side of the classroom as a teaching assistant. For the past two semesters, I have had both the privilege and responsibility of being an instructor for a chemistry lab. Every week, I led a classroom of approximately 25 students through an experiment, hosted office hours to provide students that were struggling with time to ask me questions, and attended a staff meeting where we discussed the best ways to lead students through their general chemistry course. This experience has definitely been time-consuming and at times very challenging, yet I would venture to say this has been one of the greatest endeavors in my undergraduate career. As a teaching assistant over the past year, I have developed as a person in more ways than I thought possible. No longer am I scared of public speaking, and I am now extremely confident in both my problem-solving abilities and ability to communicate difficult information effectively. In addition to this amazing leadership development experience, I also took on the role of Academic Chair for my sorority this past year. In this position, I am in charge of making sure all the members of my chapter meet our academic standards by providing them with study resources and incentives. More importantly, when members of my sorority fail to meet our academic requirements, it is my responsibility to meet with them and come up with a plan to get them back on track.
Over the past two years here, I have been involved in many service-oriented experiences. Most importantly, I am proud of my philanthropic work that I have participated in through my sorority. My sorority focuses on instilling confidence within all members of our society, and in order to help turn this goal into reality, we do a lot of hands-on work with two different organizations. To begin, four times each semester, we host Girl Scout events where girls between the ages of 6-10 come to our chapter house to participate in a fun activity. I love volunteering my time to participate in these events, as we focus on instilling confidence within each of the young girls. In addition to Girl Scouts of America, my sorority also does a lot of philanthropic work with Prevent Child Abuse America. Every March, we host our annual Slapshot tournament, which is an ice hockey tournament in which all proceeds go to organizations that work to reconcile the effects of child abuse. Being a part of this event is such an amazing experience, as it is a fun way to give back to the community. For my next two years here, I plan to continue to participate in these two events, and hopefully even increase the responsibility of my role within them.