Over the course of my second year at Ohio State, I completed my HSS major service project. I volunteered at two hospitals in Columbus each week throughout the year. This year, I volunteered at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Wexner Medical Center. At the Wexner, I volunteered on the women and infants postpartum floor. Here, I helped the unit coordinator with various tasks around the floor and nursery. I enjoyed this position because I was able to be involved in a hospital environment and observe the day to day occurrences on this floor. I hope to work in a hospital someday, so any interaction with the normal activities is helpful and interesting to me. I worked along side the nurses and was able to also gain a lot of valuable life advice. At Nationwide, I volunteered on the general medicine floor. Here, I was able to have a lot more patient interaction. I was able to play with children who did not have parents with them and hold babies that also didn’t have parents with them at the time. This was a great experience because I had very hands on interaction with the patients and I found this very helpful as I want to work with children as a physician’s assistant one day. Overall, my service project was a very well rounded hospital service experience. At the Wexner, I was able to help with the small tasks that keep a unit running. At Nationwide, I was able to help with patients and do my best to make a difference in their days spent in the hospital. I enjoyed this year and hope to continue volunteering in the future.

This semester I went on a Buck-I-Serv trip during spring break. On this trip I met a lot of other girls from Ohio State, I performed a lot of community service, and I was able to sight see in New York City for the week. This was an overall great experience for so many reasons. I worked with children at local schools in the Bronx, delivered food to home bound elderly, painted a homeless shelter and packed pencil bags to donate to teachers in need. I felt like I really had an impact on those living in poverty in New York City. I was able to visit the Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the 9/11 memorial, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and much more. I am so glad I went on this trip because I was able to gain many life experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I was most impacted by the children in the charter schools. They were so excited to go to college and they were only in elementary school. They gave me hope and inspired me to truly appreciate everything that has been given to me in my life, especially my education.

One day during my break between classes, the Buckeye Dairy Club was hosting an event on the oval. I stopped to check it out and was able to milk a cow. The girls in the club taught us a little bit about the process of milking cows and were very passionate about dairy production. I was able to milk the cow which was something I’ve never done before!

When visiting New York City, I tried food that I have never tried before. My Buck-I-Serv trip visited Chelsea Market one day and there was a sushi shop inside.I am a very picky eater but decided that since I was in a new city, I would try some new foods. I ate sushi made with black rice, fish, and vegetables. I ended up liking it a lot. This was a fun experience for me because I was learning a lot about myself on this trip and trying new foods with my new friends was a very enjoyable for me.

Eat Go Do Project

Over the course of the second semester I am required to go out in the Columbus community and: eat something I’ve never eaten before, go somewhere I’ve never gone before, and do something I’ve never done before. This project will benefit me in many ways especially by encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone and explore all the wonderful opportunities around me here on Columbus.

Eat

I plan on going to a new restaurant in Short North sometime this spring and trying a new dish

Go

I plan on going to the Columbus Zoo sometime soon

Do

I plan on going to Hocking Hills in March and camping in the spring