This year, I spent a few months raising money “for the kids” through Buckeyethon. Buckeyethon is an annual fundraising event where students raise money being treated in the Hematology/Oncology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. More information can be found at https://buckeyethon.osu.edu/. I raised a total of $280 to reach the minimum in order to be able to attend the Buckeyethon 12 hour dance-a-thon. This experience was one to remember, and was really inspirational. I spent 12 hours on my feet, with my best friends, dancing and participating in other activities with children from the hospital. Meeting the children was one of the best parts of the entire experience, because you see first hand how your donation and volunteering will benefit them. This year, Buckeyethon raised a total of $1,704,184.19 that will go towards finding a cure for pediatric cancer, and helping children everywhere. From this experience, I learned more about my passion for volunteering and making others happy. I learned that I want to do more opportunities like Buckeyethon, where I am able to really improve someone’s quality of life, especially children. Because of this service learning, I am more motivated to be a leader and help other people. Seeing the happiness in the children when they see all the students dressed up in colors who are there simply to support the kids is a unique feelings.

For the Fall Semester, I participated in two volunteer opportunities for a total of 10 volunteer hours. The first service was the 2018 Columbus Marathon on Sunday October 21, and I volunteered at the race for 6 hours. The Columbus Marathon is a popular annual race dedicated to the children at Nationwide Childrens Hospital, and fighting childhood cancer. This opportunity is also annual for DSWS, which runs a water stop every year. More information about the Columbus Marathon can be found Here.

At this event, DSWS provided service by setting up the tables, cups, and signs at the water stop. Also, we wrote encouraging phrases with chalk on the road for the runners. We filled many cups with water and Gatorade, as well as handed these out to the runners while encouraging them as they ran. I enjoyed this experience and overall the energy of the marathon. Despite the poor weather, our water stop was very enthusiastic and interacting with the runners, who were just as enthusiastic, made the experience very positive. It was my first time at a marathon, and I loved it so much that I am thinking about running next years race. This experienced helped me as a leader because it showed me that even though a lot of aspects of serving others in an event like this may be poor, such as the cold rain and many cups falling over in the wind, the joy that comes between people when you are helping and encouraging them is worth it. It helped me to realize that staying positive as a leader is important, and the final result of serving others is always worth it in the end. Because of service learning I am happier to stand in the rain to put a smile on someone’s face.

The second experience was the Ohio State Vs. Denison and Akron Swim Meet on November 2nd, which was a total of 4 service hours. I was provided this experience through DSWS, and found this experience through the weekly email, where I then emailed the coordinators to volunteer. The swim meet was in the McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion, and this was also my first time attending a swim meet. At the meet, I provided service by timing and recording every race and swimmer in Lane One, and also pressing the button to mark when the swimmer touched the wall. I also liked this experience because I have always enjoyed swimming, and it was interesting to watch the Ohio State Swim Team in action. Through this service, I learned that I enjoy being around swimming and am considering volunteering at another Swim Meet, or even swimming recreationally. This experience also helped me to build endurance and stay focused to the task at hand, because it was important to be precise for every start and stop time, and required a lot of focus to get the timing accurate for each race, even when it became repetitive. Because of service learning I am more able to complete the simpler repetitive tasks, which are often the most crucial. 

The True Colors personality test helped me to see the qualities of myself that stand out, and also helped me see which qualities I lack. Being more aware of my main qualities will help me to use these qualities in leadership settings and group projects. Out of the four colors, my highest result was orange. This color contains the qualities of spontaneity, open-mindedness, and courageousness. I can bring these qualities in groups and teams by using my ability to express myself, come up with new ideas, and try new things. In this experience I also realized that I lack the qualities of planning, as I often do things out of impulse and don’t necessarily have an ordered, structured plan to my days and weeks. When working on a group, this awareness will help me to not take on a role of, for example, planning, listening, or organizing. Though I do tend to stay organized by writing out assignments and important projects on my calendar, I do not thrive in organizing in a group setting, and someone of the color gold would probably be more successful in this task then I would be. I can use also use this awareness to surround myself when working in a group with people that thrive in the qualities that I do not, so the group will be well rounded and inclusive of all ideas and responsibilities. For example, if I chose a group all like myself, it would likely just be ideas thrown all over the place, little organization and planning, and overall struggle. If I chose a group that included the other colors, it would be well rounded with spontaneity, planning, rational thinking, conceptual ideas, inspiration and empathy. Having all of the personalities in a group is important for the group to be successful in their work and projects, and I am know aware of the qualities I can bring to a group to be helpful and progress in the assignment.

Leadership to me is taking charge when a group or team is feeling lost or off track, and guiding everyone in the direction they are supposed to be in. One example of when I have seen this is during the DSWS Volleyball Tournament during Welcome Week. When my family was playing and not doing the best, and everyone was starting to become flustered and, as a result, not playing to their best ability, some of our players, especially the parents, did a good job of encouraging everyone and keeping the team together. This is leadership to me because if we didn’t have these people to bring positivity and strength to us, we wouldn’t have been able to play our best due to the negative thoughts being so overwhelming and discouraging. Also, without these leaders we wouldn’t have had direction, or been able to develop a strategy to improve our plays in other games. I believe that this was the reason our team was able to improve as the tournament went on, and was able to place into the top four final teams.