G.O.A.L.S.

As an honors student at The Ohio State University, there are five G.O.A.L.S that will shape my experience and path during my education.  The first of these G.O.A.L.S would be Global Awareness as represented by the G. I plan to achieve this goal in a few ways, such as studying abroad as well as getting in touch with the numerous activities facilitating diversity at OSU. While studies abroad may be a few years off, I have started my path into global awareness from learning more about other cultures from my interactions with students from all over in my first year courses. This firsthand experience has already helped me to appreciate more diversity while also introducing me to many cultures I may not have known anything about prior to coming to Ohio State.

The second goal of my education is represented by the letter O, meaning Original Inquiry. This would develop my ability to provide new ideas and work on ongoing projects to supplement my learning and benefit the overall academic community. Currently my experiences in original inquiry are very limited as a first year, but this goal is probably the one I value most. Part of my potential career path involves going into research and to gain the skills I would need to do this I plan on looking into some of the research opportunities offered here in my sophomore or junior year.

Third comes A, which represents Academic Enrichment. The general idea of this goal is to challenge myself, learning from rigorous courses as well as seeking further learning opportunities outside of the classroom. Right now to focus on my academic enrichment I am enrolled in a few honors courses to challenge myself in the classroom, a trend that will continue for the four years ahead of me. I have also started looking for academic clubs to learn more about topics I am interested in. As of right now I haven’t joined any but once I am completely adjusted to the coursework and life at Ohio State I will most certainly become more involved to enrich my learning further.

Next there is the L of G.O.A.L.S, which stands for Leadership Development. This is an essential thing to work on as leadership is key for being able to organize future projects and head endeavors in research once entering the workforce. Currently the only leading I have experience with is heading discussion and brainstorming in study groups and in class discussions between my peers, but otherwise I have no formal leadership activities at the moment. When I am placed in a situation where I am leading my peers I tend not lead to sternly leaving plenty of room for others to present ideas to solutions while loosely guiding their thinking processes. I believe it’s important to be able to let everyone have some involvement in leading, as to be able to gain from multiple points of view rather than one stern viewpoint. These skills will be vital to build as a person aiming to do research as I must be able to bring new ideas to the table and lead the efforts to find the answers to the questions that need to be answered.

The final piece of G.O.A.L.S is the S, standing for Service Engagement. I have a fair share of service engagement, as I often find myself working on many projects in my neighborhood back home, as well as a few organized events such as a beach clean up on Lake Erie I participated in. The beach clean up was an eye-opening experience to the issue of how wasteful and polluting our society is to many environments. I plan to continue my involvement in activities such as this on campus once I fully adjust to life down here. I have seen many clubs that provide service opportunities in the community as well as those that promote  environmental awareness. I will definitely be very active in these groups later on this year and for years to come while at university.