My freshman year of college served to help me solidify my interests and learn where I want to dedicate my time in the future. Unlike many of my peers, I was lucky enough to find a major that I am passionate about and hit the ground running right from the start. That major is International Studies, with a focus in Development Studies. Ask any of my friends what my passion is, and they will unquestionably tell you it’s Development Studies. I know I’ve found something I’m passionate about because I’m on the edge of my seat in all my classes and I talk about it constantly, to the point that it’s become something of a joke between my friends.
I thought that since I knew what I wanted to do, it would be easy to find clubs and other activities to get involved with that would align with my interests. However, the sheer number of possibilities available at Ohio State made this more difficult than I’d imagined. I dabbled in a few different internationally-focused clubs first semester before finding my place a bit more during second semester. Next year I look forward to solidifying my place in my current clubs and reaching out to a few more activities in my area of interest, including beginning to do research. I also joined one activity outside of my area of interest, the OSU Collegiate Winds concert band. I participated in band throughout high school and though it was never my number one interest, it provided me an activity that brought me away from all my other work to do something that was also challenging, but in a completely different way. I wasn’t planning to continue with band in college, but after first semester I realized that, much to my surprise, I really missed it, so I’m glad that I joined band this semester, and it has been a great experience.
Another thing I worked on a lot this year was the Eminence class service project. We started off the year discussing different current events to get ideas and bonding as a class to make us a stronger team. We even went on a retreat in the fall, which was a really fun experience that helped me get to know everyone better. After that we broke into two groups, one focused on infant mortality and one focused on technological literacy. We intended to join together and focus on one project, but by the end of the year we realized we were so passionate about both that we decided to keep working on them both. I am part of the technological literacy group, and next year I really look forward to finishing the organizing stage of our project and moving on to the action stage where we will start implementing our project at Star House.
I am extremely excited for summer, but not just because I get to have time off school. This summer I will be traveling to Iquitos, Peru, with Nourish International, a club that I joined during the second semester of this year. I, and a group of six other students, will be working for four weeks at an NGO called Project Amazonas that works on various development projects in Amazon communities. While we are down there, we will be working on replanting tree seedlings, building a clinic, teaching water safety in the elementary school, instituting a composting initiative and potentially beginning a hydroponics project. For many people this would just be a fun reason to travel and see a new part of the world, but for me it will be an exploration of future career possibilities in my field, since working at an NGO is one of the possibilities I am looking at post-graduation. It’s going to be a lot of experience and a completely new experience for me, since despite all my passion for Development Studies, I have not yet been to a developing countries. I think this project will give me valuable experience in my future field and will inspire me even more going into next year.