Artifact #1- OSU Graduation Tassel. This tassel has provided us with an expectation, and something to always look forward to. It serves as a constant reminder that we must continue to strive and keep up with the hard work we came here doing. It continues to remind us why we are here and what our true goal is; to get the education we need and a lifetime of amazing opportunities. I can equate this to a certain high school experience, which happens to be receiving a tassel, cords and stole for being one of the few people to graduate high school in the National Honor Society. When we received these objects, it was an ever constant reminder that we were there for a reason and it was do well in whatever we set our minds to, which happens to be our educations and academic lives.

Artifact #2- Honors and Scholars Pin/T-shirt. These two things are a constant reminder of the amazing institution we are lucky enough to be a part of here at OSU. We came in having high expectations of this program, and I can only continue to consider myself lucky to have the opportunities I have within ACES and more broadly within OSU community. Without this college, life would never be the same and the chances I have already gotten are amazing. I can only imagine what it will bring in the future. These things are also a reminder of the amazing friends and family I have made in my first year here at OSU while living with the ACES scholars.

Artifact #3- ACES Pillars Film Project. This project taught us how to work together and create a common goal and strive to achieve that goal. The project also taught us the importance of the four pillars of our scholars group; positive social change, advocacy, community and service. It really showed how these things applied to not only the specific things we are working to do, but also things that are global issues and things that most people do not even think of, such as adoption. It showed me why we have this group, and that is to create a common ground and work towards a common set of goals.\

ACES Mentor/Mentee Interview

Hello, my name is Kelsey Benassi, and I am a second year ACE who is participating in the ACES Mentorship Program. My mentee’s name is Hannah Meadows, who is a first year ACE, also deciding to participate in the mentorship program. Hannah is currently an undecided major, but she is looking into Early Childhood Education (which is also my major).

The first topic we talked about during our interview was academic, and we began with the question “What has been your most challenging course and why?”. Hannah talked about how she has been struggling the most with Calculus, although she took it in high school. She simply stated that because she has the class every day of the week, and typically has homework every single night, it is kind of a struggle with time management. This was something I also struggled with when first moving to OSU, so I believe that I can help her get through this with some study tips, and suggestions for things that worked for me in the past.

The second topic we discussed was involvement, and we began this talk with “How are you/how do you plan to be involved here at OSU?” She is also struggling with that because she wants to do something with children, and has not made any connections with people who could help her find this. I suggested a program that I know is run by a previous ACE, and said I would get her in contact with her. I know that the involvement fair at the beginning of the semester can be VERY overwhelming and it takes time to get to a point where you are comfortable reaching out to be involved, so that’s why I suggested maybe helping out getting her connected.

The third topic we talked about was ACES as a whole, starting with the question “What do you think is and/or will be difficult to handle in ACES?” This question also kind of goes with the above statement with involvement, because she is worried about getting all of her outside service hours together in time for the end of the semester. I simply explained that it takes time, and not to worry about it too much. She seemed satisfied and reassured by my saying that.

The fourth topic we discussed was career, and because I know that she is currently an undecided major, I simply asked her what she was thinking her future plans might be. She knows that she wants to stay close to Columbus, but her career path is still a little fuzzy at this point. She has said before that she is interested in being with children, and therefore looking at Early Childhood Education. So I simply said that there are lots of people who aren’t sure what they want, and I would strongly encourage looking into Early Childhood Education, and then went into explaining some aspects of the major. Being as our ACES advisor is also an advisor in the College of Education and Human Ecology, I told Hannah that it may be wise to talk with her and see what things she could look into.

The last topic was simply miscellaneous. I asked Hannah “What do you find surprising at OSU?”. She explained that one of the biggest things she noticed was that people really do not care what you do, and that people just let you do your own thing. This was also something that surprised me. Both coming from small towns, we can relate to being watched all the time, and everyone always knowing what is going on in your life. It is a surprisingly nice change coming here where no one actually cares. I just told her that if things ever get hard, and she thinks I can help with resources or simply someone to talk to, that she can always contact me or any second year ACE for that matter.

My mentee, Hannah, and I sort of put this off until the very last minute so we decided to go ahead and go to the Short North just past OSU campus in Columbus. Neither of us had been there a whole lot in the time we had been here due to being super busy with college classes, jobs, and adjustments to college. When we began walking to the Short North we realized that it was actually really, really cold so I suggested taking the bus. Hannah looked at me in a very worried face and said “I have never taken the bus and I do not really know how”. And seeing as how I took the bus every day last year for my FEEP placement, I knew a lot of the bus system so we also decided to explore that a little bit. This process kept us warm longer, opposed to walking around the Short North/downtown Columbus for a long amount of time. We got on the bus right past campus, on 10^th, and took the bus to the Short North. We went inside a few shops and tried on some crazy clothes, and then talked about our classes that we are currently in, and the situations for next semester. We talked about our roommate situations, and why we chose what our majors are. While we were talking of roommates, an older lady approached us and said that roommates do not get better unless they are your close friends.

While we were there we discussed lots of different things and saw different things that we do not normally get to see while always on OSU campus. We came to the harsh realization that what we see at OSU is not always a strong representation of what Columbus is really like as a whole. We saw different types of restaurants; like Mexican, Italian, steakhouses, Greek, and even some Indian. It made us realize that not only is Columbus diverse in population but also in cultures as well. After we got on the bus and began exploring, we noticed that we saw areas that were very upbeat and high-energy, young and up-and-coming, but we also saw lots of areas that were run-down, old, and frankly kind of sketchy. We saw business men and women that worked in the big companies in downtown, but we also saw people who had no homes. We noticed kids that rode the bus from the very first stop until the very last stop. We went all the way to Reynoldsburg on one bus, which is one of the very last stops on that bus line, and there were kids every where. When asked what they were up to, they would all say that they had no place to go because their parents were working and they could not afford child care so the kids were simply left to fend for themselves after school every single day. On the way back, we stopped again in the Short North to simply sight see and talk about the things we had just seen, and how it correlates to our major (Early Childhood Education).

Overall, this exploration of Columbus helped us both to see why we are studying what we are studying. And that is because we want to see what the cultures and ideas of Columbus look like outside of our normal grasp of things while at OSU. As we were both from small towns about two hours north or south of Columbus, Columbus was a big change for the both of us, and the adjustment was hard from country to city. I believe that this project gave her the chance to explore and feel more comfortable in the city that she is such a small part of. It took me a long time to come to this realization, and I hope that she came to it quicker than I did because of my mentorship and this exploration trip as well. If someone else wanted to see Columbus the way that we did, I would so recommend doing something similar to what we did, and taking a single bus line from start to finish, and maybe even making some stops in between so you could experience the different areas more in depth, that we were only seeing and hearing. To me, it is just like getting in the car and going on a road trip to nowhere, it helps you see the beauty of things without even meaning to. It helps you realize the culture and differences of certain areas, even without an area that is considered to be the same area. Hannah and I both had a lot of fun exploring Columbus together, and I really hope she got as much out of it as I did.

During our second semester of the ACES Mentor/Mentee program, I performed my interview with my mentee, Hannah Meadows. We have gotten to know each other over the past two semesters, so this interview came as more of a conversation rather than an interview. It was very nice. Hannah has decided to pursue the major that we discussed back in the fall, and this made an easy connection between the two of us, because it happens to be the same as mine.

The first thing we discussed in depth was a field placement that she is currently doing, called FEEP, or First Education Experience Program. I also performed this field placement, as it is a prerequisite for our major. It requires you to go out into a classroom in Columbus and gives you the chance to know if you really want to pursue the Early Childhood Education major, and eventually become an educator. As it turns out, she is placed at the same school that I was just a year ago. We discussed the pros and cons of the placement, being that it requires a very long bus ride, and a rather lengthy walk after riding the bus. But the children in the school are very intelligent, and well-behaved for students that are considered to be low-income. She was able to talk through some of the rough times she has had with her placement, and also the amazing experiences she has had. This led to our discussion of how amazing Ohio State is, and the opportunities it gives us in our future careers. This eventually led to our next discussion topic of how she is enjoying living on campus, and just how her experience with OSU is panning out compared to her expectations.

As I said above, we next talked about how she took her expectations of OSU, and turned them into what exactly she was looking for at OSU. She came in with high expectations, and she expressed that her expectations were met, and went much further than even she realized. When she came in, she was nervous of living in a dorm, and sharing a room with someone but she has said that Smith- Steeb has turned out to be really great for her and the other people who live there. I remember Smith Steeb being the place I met all of my friends, and without it, I could not have had the life-long friends I now have, and she expressed a similar feeling. She plans to stay in Smith-Steeb next year, if that is at all possible. She has said that she struggled with the transition from high school classes to college classes, just because of the difficulty of classes at OSU, but she also said that she adapted to them. This led to us discussing classes she has taken, and different professors that we clicked with or maybe did not get along with as well. She said that it was nice to have someone who was taking or had taken similar classes, because you can get good advice on how to handle certain classes. I also told her that if she struggles, she can always call me, because I have probably done most of the classes she is currently taking.

Next we talked about how she thought ACES was going as a whole. She stated that she enjoys getting to live with a group of people, and this provides them a chance to make the OSU family just a little smaller, and yet even smaller because they get to live with the first years. She has stated that the events can be time-consuming, but she knows that they pay off mentally in the end. I asked her if she had been considering applying to be on the LC, but she did not express any interest in this, which I said was okay because I never actually wanted to either. We then talked of some of our favorite events that we have been able to do, and maybe some of the ones we were not quite as much fans of. We talked about how ACES is a great program and we are all lucky to be a part of it.

Lastly, we stuck with the same question from last semester, “Do you find anything about OSU surprising?” And this was very similar to her answer from last semester. She was surprised at how well she fits in, and how easy it is to adapt to being at OSU. She expressed that she was shocked that campus does not seem near as big as it did when we first began here, and how she did not have any trouble finding friends who can be there for her during hard times. She was also surprised at how much she enjoyed being away from home, and how she has adapted to not constantly talking and being with her family. She was also surprised at how easy it was to find a good job on campus that was close to home, and that she can pretty much do anything she wants, whenever she wants.

This was a great experience, and I am personally glad I got the chance to build this friendship with a fellow, first-year ACE. Thank you ACES for giving me the amazing opportunities that you do, and for giving us a way to make OSU just a little bit smaller each day.

For our second Explore Columbus event, we visited Italian Village. I borrowed a friend’s car, so we did not have to worry about any restrictions except parking which was kind of a struggle. During this visit, we decided to look up various landmarks and things on the internet because both of us realized we did not have any real idea of what was worth seeing while we were there. Through this search, we found things like St. John the Baptist Italian Catholic Church, which I was really interested in seeing because I grew up Catholic and I was raised Italian as well (which pushed our incentive to go to Italian Village in the first place). Then, we saw the Italian Village Park which was absolutely beautiful! We really enjoyed getting to be outside and enjoy the sunshine, as it was a beautiful and warm day the day that we went. While we were there, we decided we were hungry so we went to the most known restaurant The Market, which was delicious; it was kind of like Italian Street Food (kind of like Piada).

Similar to our last adventure, we were privileged enough to see different cultures and the way they work, that may have been different from what we see in our normal lives at Ohio State. We saw old Italian architecture that I had never experienced before, but Hannah said that there was something similar to this near where she grew up, and so Italian Village was a little less new to her. It was a great way to study a culture that I aspire to learn more about every single day. Also, it gave Hannah and I a chance to talk about our own cultures, and how we know very little about our heritage and our ancestors. Which if you think about this, is a little bit sad, and we talked about how we really wanted to change that in the future.

This opportunity was a good relax from our stressful end of the year schedule, with exams and final papers. It also gave me a good chance to talk with her and see what her feelings are about next year in ACES, and where she plans to live, and really just how her first year went at OSU. I was pleased to hear that she has really enjoyed her time here at OSU, and that she is intending to continue with the Early Childhood Education major in the years to come. This mentor/mentee program was a great addition to ACES and it truly gave me a chance to see the future of ACES after I complete the program. Thank you Laura for being a mentor to all of us the past two years, you will be greatly missed!