This past Thursday on October 25th,I attended the IA Mini-Involvement Fair that took place outside of Smith-Steeb. Representatives from several organizations that in some way, shape, or form related to international affairs set up booths in order to spread the missions and ideas of their organizations, as well as to garner interest within like-minded students. Although I had heard of some these organizations I had never really, to my knowledge, interacted with a member of them. All in all I found the members of the organizations to be very engaging and generally passionate about their clubs; however, I naturally found myself more interested in some clubs than I did in others.
One of the clubs I was particularly interested in was Project Nicaragua. This club was built around the idea of supporting female laborers in Nicaragua through mission trips, but mainly through selling the bags made by the workers in Nicaragua. The bags retail here in the US for roughly 25 dollars and all of the profits go back to the workers. The reason this is worthwhile for the workers is that 25 dollars is equivalent to the wage they make in 2 weeks. Hearing this I was immediately interested in the organization due to their unique model, but also because of the fantastic work they do for disadvantaged workers. They mentioned how their “business” E-Board member was graduating soon and would love for a Fisher Student to take the reigns. I’ll admit that the position interests me and I have reached out for more information regarding the position. Overall, I found this organization to be one of the more interesting and unique organizations at the fair because of its philanthropic nature, coupled with a fun and exciting mission.
The Second organization that I talked with was the Anthropology Department. As many people other people have I also took Anthropology 2200. As a whole a found the class to be mildly interesting, there were some topics that were more interesting than others. My professor specialized in forensic anthropology so her class and the topics she covered were those that were more in her realm of study. This meant that she addressed more topics concerning how and when certain subjects died, and the different ways their bodies could be preserved. One such topic was “Bog Bodies,” these fossils were those of subjects that had died in incredibly moist environments, such as a bog or swamp, and were than sank into the ground removing themselves from oxygen. The mixture of water and lack of oxygen meant that the bodies were perfectly preserved from a superficial standpoint. This means that their faces and outward appearance were completely clear, but their internal organs had deteriorated. With information like this I was able to bond with the members of the Anthropological department and was actually able to understand some of the concepts they were talking about. For example, they brought several molds of our human ancestors and I was able to answer some their questions regarding the differences in the skulls. Our ancestors had different tooth shapes, skull sizes, bone structure, and bone configurations. I actually found these students to be the most passionate about their club, when they spoke about the topics they discussed their whole faces lit up. In a time where many college students struggle with accepting their major it was so refreshing to see a student who loved what they were studying. I would also like to note that they had the SPOOKIEST table and definitely received my support based on this characteristic alone.
I would like to note that out of the many events IA holds this was one of the most inclusive events in terms of majors and interests. Although many IA members are involved in majors such as International Studies, a large portion of the IA second year members have majors that lie outside of this field, and several that lie outside of the school of Arts and Sciences entirely. While I understand that the scholars program is named “International Affairs Scholars” I believe it would be incredibly beneficial for Second Year IA members to hear about professional opportunities and career development that lie outside of the realm of international studies and the humanities. Now obviously this is coming from a Business major such as myself, but I can’t help but feel that many of the second year meetings aren’t well suited for my career and goals. While I still maintain an interest in international events and culture, I believe it would be beneficial if for the mandatory second-year meetings we brought in speakers relevant to other majors that in some way, shape, or form were still connected to International Affairs, One such example of this is Abbott Nutrition. Abbott Nutrition is a company that supports the healthcare industry in America but is also active in markets across the globe and through this involvement helps to develop healthcare in the third world. Furthermore, due to the nature of the company it has a demand for a large range of majors including those in international studies, but also those in business for their corporate sector and a wide array of science majors for their research and development department. Finally, the company undertakes a fascinating rotational program which, as it suggests, rotates their members through different departments and locations. The program consists of two year stints with locations all across the United States, but due to the nature of the company, and also locations across the globe including the Netherlands, England, Taiwan, New Zealand, and many others. Because of the the different markets they are involved in, the employees they hire, and their unique and enriching international program I believe Abbott Nutrition, and companies like it, would help to support the development of IA members outside of International Studies and majors similar to it. I believe this adjustment will be incredibly beneficial in the future given the changing major demographics of the IA scholars program itself, and will help to improve enthusiasm and participation regarding our Wednesday meetings.
Overall, I found the event to be a very fun way to interact with other Ohio State Students and learn more about clubs that I might otherwise have never known existed.