Sophomore Year GOALS
Global Awareness
As someone who hopes to be a global citizen the rest of my life, attending Ohio State has been a great step in that direction. I was able to study abroad my very first semester through the London Honors program. While abroad, I got to explore a new country and a world city on my own while connecting with talented, intelligent, and diverse fellow honors students and professors. I saw fireworks over the River Thames for New Years, toured Shakespeare’s globe theatre, and ate delicious street food. During this time, I became more confident in traveling alone and in my desire to do so. I loved London so much, I will be returning to London for a Maymester study abroad program.
While on campus, my Global Awareness is increased in a few ways. First, I live in the international dorm Morrill Tower, where one of my own roommates and friend, Hayden, is from South Korea. Two of my other roommates are either majoring or minoring in Chinese, and the experiences they share from learning a second language, studying the culture, and even traveling to China has given me a greater understanding than I ever would have without then.
Original Inquiry
As an English major, research wasn’t something that I thought I would be involved in during my time at Ohio State, even though it was something I was interested in pursuing. That quickly changed however when I spoke to individuals that participated in research. Through my OSU survey course when I was an exploration major, I did an interview with one of my mentors from the student organization H2O Church, Brittany Trang. She was a double major in Chemistry and English and was pursuing a senior research thesis in both areas. My second year, when I began the English major as a concentration in Writing, Rhetoric, and Literacy, I took ENG 3379, which is an introduction to the concentration. Through the careful guidance of Dr. Kay Halasek, I was able to understand that the writing and literacy habits of others is a worthy and diverse field of study. Now that I am a literature concentration, I study works of literature and evaluate them through methods such as New Criticism, Feminist Critique, and Ecological Criticism in ENG 3398. Although I don’t know if an extended research project is something I’ll have time to pursue on campus, I am more open to the idea of independent study and feel confident that I could pursue it at any point in my learning career.
Academic Enrichment
I believe that my Honors Contract demonstrates my commitment to learning more about my passions while doing so in a challenging environment. With a strong balance of honors classes and upper-level coursework, I believe that I will leave Ohio State with the skills directly applicable to any career I chose and the tools to pursue life-long learning. Although I am still very undecided in my future aspirations, I have big dreams. Some days, I feel confident in my desire to move to New York and try my hand in publishing, where I would hope to be a part of the creation of stories through either editing, managing, or marketing. By taking the course Intro to Literary Publishing this semester, I have been exploring that option further. Other moments, my involvement in Undergraduate Student Government and my love for learning fosters a desire to continue in the realm of academia and pursue a graduate program in higher education. I am also considering law school, as I am currently taking a course in Literature and the Law, where I would hope to study Intellectual Property Copy-write Law. Finally, I have a passion for the visual and performing arts, including music. If I could be an advocate for these programs either through private lobbying or with a nonprofit, I would feel like I am following my passions while impacting others in a positive manner.
Thankfully, the English major, along with my two minors, teach skills that directly translate to any of these experiences, which is why I specifically chose to pursue them. English helps me to be a clear, evocative writer with great knowledge of how to relate to individuals and address different audiences. The business minor gives me the tools to analytically understand different companies and markets, as well as basic accounting, finance, and marketing skills that will be successful in nearly any other career. Finally, throughout my life I hope to be an advocate for improvement in my community, the keys to which are practically taught in a public policy minor.
Leadership Development
My main campus involvements include being a University Ambassador, Athletic Host, member of Undergraduate Student Government, H2O church, and Women’s Glee Club, as well as participating in BuckeyeThon by being a Team Member and modeling in the fall Fashion Show. Each of these involvements allows me to interact with diverse student groups on campus and pursue my many hobbies, passions, and goals.
My two jobs of Ambassador and Host are both through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. They both give me the opportunity to connect with potential students and be an advocate for Ohio State. I also help in the training of new members which allows me to give constructive feedback and inspires me to continually improve my own tours. These jobs have also made me a better advocate for myself. When having to interact with large groups, often made up adults that are older than myself, it has given me the confidence to approach professors when I need help and feel comfortable building professional relationships with them.
In Undergraduate Student Government I have served in multiple roles, all of which allow me to improve the student experience at Ohio State while interacting with administrators. This year as a deputy director, I oversaw a small group of committee representatives. It was crucial for me to be encouraging and help develop their projects and passions for the organization, while also progressing in my own work. Being involved in H2O Church has helped me stay mentally and spiritually well during my time as a student, and has provided me with a strong understanding of my own values and beliefs. I also served as a small group leader this year, during which I helped plan weekly meetings and met up with women in my small group throughout the week to build deep relationships and provide mentorship. Finally, in Women’s Glee Club, I get to continue one of my passions from high school, choral singing, while also being a member of the communications committee. Here, I practice professional communication through weekly emails, as well as helped publish, write, and design our biyearly newsletter, The Medley.
As I mentioned earlier, I don’t yet know what my future career will be, but I do know the student organizations I’m involved in at Ohio State are giving me diverse professional and creative experiences that I will be able to highlight and build upon in any future profession.
Service Engagement
Because of my involvement in other activities on campus the only regular service organization I participate in is H2O’s Community Engagement. This occurs once a month and is an opportunity for our church to give back to the Columbus community which has grown and supported us so much. Some of our partners include She Has a Name, The Bridge, The Five Thousand, the Miracle Garden, and Stowe Missions. However, I do think involvement in USG is a service to Ohio State students. The work we do is often thankless, as many organization’s and individual’s work is, but the joy I get from students appreciating our hard work, such as reusable to-go boxes, bike share programs, or extended café hours during finals- even if they don’t know that our advocacy helped these initiatives- makes the hard work worth it.