This semester, I decided to join Ohio Staters, Inc. which has been one of the best decisions I have made as an Ohio State student. The organization is incredible, my fellow Staters are better than I could have even imagined and I am so thankful that I went through the application process. For my third artifact, I decided I wanted to talk about Tandi the chicken. Over the last few weeks, my co-chair and I in Staters began working on a project to thank the OSU Police Department at an event on March 22nd. Our time limit has been very tight, and combined with school work and a huge spring break inbetween it definitely has not been easy. Tandi the chicken is awarded each week to a new person that Staters thinks deserves to be recognized for any reason. The week before spring break I was happy and so humbled to accept Tandi! I could not believe they thought my work on this event was enough to be recognized in front of everyone, and I was so honored. She may look funny, but she means a lot to me! I am so thankful that I decided to join this organization and I cannot wait to pass Tandi to someone else.

This past weekend, my parents came to visit and we visited the Mount Leadership parent reception. My parents are the biggest part of my life and have a huge impact on my success here at Ohio State, so I was really looking forward to being able to show them the work I have been doing with Mount. They met some of my closest friends, saw quite a few pictures of me doing what I love in Mount, and purchased two bowls Mounties made to raise money for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. Overall, it was a really great reception and I still so happy they were able to take time out of their weekend to visit me. Post reception my parents and I got to explore downtown Columbus a little while it was still nice out, and have a great dinner together before they had to drive two hours back home. We unfortunately did not take any pictures this day, so I am featuring a picture of them at my high school graduation. Without them, I would not be where I am today as a student!

My artifact is an event Mount volunteered for this past weekend: Smith Farms. Dedicating most of my Saturday to helping put on a fall festival was a great way to show my goals and achievements here at Ohio State so far. I felt like so far this year we haven’t really done a lot of service, but Saturday felt really rewarding. Although it was a long day, it was an amazing experience and I hope to do it again next year. Taking the whole day to come off campus and meet tons and tons of people really reminded me of the service I did in high school and my desire to continue that drive through college. I can’t wait until my service career takes off here at Ohio State and I am so excited that Mount is helping me get involved.