G.O.A.L.S.

The University Honors & Scholars Center at The Ohio State University serves high-ability, motivated undergraduate students. While embracing diversity in both ideas and people, the Center fosters purposeful learning communities that enhance students’ academic and social experiences. The Center facilitates impactful, rigorous, and unique opportunities that further student success and involvement in our G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement.

G.O.A.L.S.

During my time at OSU, I hope to achieve the Honors and Scholars G.O.A.L.S. by participating in various activities that will hopefully intertwine to fulfill some of the categories simultaneously. For example, I would like to study abroad at some point during my education, whilst hopefully also incorporating research and/or service.

For Global Awareness, I am interested in studying abroad for at least a semester or a summer, hopefully around junior year. I know that Ohio State has many options centered around the possible paths for various majors, and so I would love to take advantage of that. Although I am currently an Economics major, I feel as though this will change to something more oriented towards International Business. Therefore, I am not entirely sure at the moment exactly which program I would like to take part in. I do know, however, that I would like to try to fulfill the Original Inquiry section of the G.O.A.L.S. through my study abroad experience, because I feel as though studying abroad and also being able to partake in original inquiry would make the experience that much more unique and inspiring to me as a student.

For the next part of the G.O.A.L.S., Academic Enrichment is essentially described as the idea that students in the Honors and Scholars program will go above and beyond in terms of requirements, and take classes that take them further than the bare minimum. Everyday, I find myself shocked at the sheer amount of options that OSU has to offer, and I find myself constantly wanting to take far more classes than I could ever have time for within my schedule. This quality, combined with the fact that I have sufficient skills to manage a course load that may be on the heavier side, will allow me to take multiple courses that surpass the minimum expectations.

The Leadership Development section of the G.O.A.L.S. is the only section in which I am currently unsure exactly how I would go about fulfilling the expectation. My hope is that my future experiences in student organizations or internship and work experiences will allow me to have a clearer idea of what I would like to do to augment my leadership skills, because they will definitely become even more important later in a post-college, professional setting.

The final section of the Honors and Scholars G.O.A.L.S., Service Engagement, is also something I would like to possibly fulfill during a study abroad experience, if at all possible. One of my largest regrets from high school is not participating in as much service as I would have liked, and so I hope that I have the opportunity to take part in some of OSU’s numerable experiences. Giving back to the community is incredibly important to me, and I feel an obligation to give back as much as I can through service. Again, this would optimally be done whilst at the main campus, and hopefully through a study abroad experience as well.