I had the opportunity to volunteer my time at Ohio States Buckeyethon Dance Marathon this year. This organization focuses on raising money for pediatric cancer and specifically chooses kids to sponsor throughout the marathon. I learned about this very important organization through the various promotations on campus. As a volunteer, not only did I raise money for the cause, but I participated in a dance marathon where I stood up for 12 hours to support those who can’t. Through this service I learned about the impact that pediatric cancer has on the community and even myself. I learned that I too can make an impact by doing the smallest thing to support such a big foundation. This transitions to my leadership skills because doing the smallest task, although it may not seem like a big difference, builds character and shows dedication.

Because of service learning I am more aware of the little things that have the potential to make a big impact.

Pictured: Dunn Sports and Wellness Scholars, the orange team, participating at the dance marathon.

November 17, 2018

During the Dunn Sports and Wellness Day of Service, scholars were separated into a total of three groups. My group was placed to volunteer at the Dream Center located in Rock City Church for a total of 5 hours. The Dream Centers mission is to “provide hope to low-income families in the city of Columbus”. At the center we were given many tasks. The Dream Center was getting ready to prepare for their Thanksgiving dinner for the less fortunate. To help prepare for this we cleaned tables and chairs, sorted through donations, organized the kitchen, and created care packages. Once all this was completed at the church we then hit the streets, going door to door handing out flyers letting the local population know about the event taking place. As a result of this I learned how fortunate I am to not have to worry about where I am going or what I am eating on Thanksgiving. I also grew as a leader from this project by becoming more comfortable stepping out of my comfort zone and accomplish tasks that were not necessarily desirable by others or even me. For example, everyone in the group decided to split up to accomplish some of these tasks and I took on the task of cleaning the tables and chairs, one that many people did not want to do. I was also very flexible and just went wherever I was needed.

Because of service learning I am more willing to put the needs of others before my own.

Dream Centers Website:

http://columbusdreamcenter.org/

August 25, 2018

Through the Buckeye Community Commitment/Pay It Forward program, I volunteered a total of 5 hours at a local Columbus city school called Indianola Informal K-8. This day of service is put on by the student activities board at the Ohio State University. Its goal is to bring together Buckeyes to put on one of the largest days of service put on by a college campus, in hopes of bettering the Columbus area. At this grade school my service group was put to the task of cleaning up there garden. This included pulling weeds, spreading mulch and harvesting various produce. Through this experience I learned quite a lot. I learned that the such a small impact like pulling weeds can affect something as big as a child’s education; the little things can end up making the biggest impact. I also grew up in a very fortunate school district, so this service project really opened my eyes. It made me grow as leader because it gave me an understanding that people can come from very different backgrounds and as a leader you have to acknowledge this.

Because of service learning I am more aware of different cultural and social upbringings.

Today I took a personality test and I was truly surprised by what it told me. The name of the test was True Colors and basically after answering a few questions the test put you in one of the 4 colors: orange, gold, green and blue. The color I was said to be most like was green. The green color embodies people who are curious, knowledgeable, determined, rational and many other things. When I saw this result I was truly shocked because I had never really seen myself as any of these characteristics. In the past I had perceived myself as a person who was outgoing, organized, fun-loving and caring, which funny enough embodies all the other colors besides green. I tried to understand why I got this color instead of any of the others and it started to make a little more sense. I am someone who loves to learn and understand more about things that peak my interest, specially things in the science field. I am someone who find its slightly annoying when people don’t seem to be putting in effort to learn material. I am someone who loves to use my brain and quiz myself. All of these things and more helped me gage why I did get this color over orange, gold or blue. After making this discovery about myself I can now apply myself more effectively in group situations like my scholars program. I can use this to inspire people around me to want to learn more and maybe this can help their success as a student. My color was also a rare one, I was one of 3 people that got this color within my scholars group, so I can also use this to create diversity in a group setting and bring other aspects and personality traits into the group. Knowing these new things can help me better who I am as a person and also as a leader.

I have seen leadership in all sorts of place, but one example that comes to mind almost instantly is one of my assistant coaches on my high school soccer team. His name was Bradley Tripp, he wasn’t any ordinary coach, first off he was still a student and secondly he also had muscular distrophy and was disabled. Even though he faced many challenges in life he was still able to lead my highschool team to victory in a way no player on the team could. He led by holding every player on the team accountable. No matter what task our head coach gave us, he was always there to make sure everyone on the team was giving a 110% and nothing less. He also taught us perservereance. Bradley was always positive and a bright light to everyone he encountered, even though he was faced with things most people aren’t. This attitude he had towards life showed me and the rest of the team that no matter what challenges we faced during the season there was always light at the end of the tunnel as long as we pushed through and perservered. In my eyes, Bradley Tripp exemplified everything a leader should be, he was able to inspire a group of people in such a way that made them want to be better versions of themselves.

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation includes both a description of the artifact and a reflection on why it is important to you, what you learned, and what it means for your next steps.  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.]