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My Mentorship Experience

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My first-year mentee was Sarah Ramsey, a middle childhood education major. Sarah is originally from Columbus, more specifically the Dublin area located about twenty minutes from campus. We both share the love of dogs and other animals and were able to bond over that throughout the year. Additionally, we both value friendships and family, but focus on school and are not interested in being out late. Similarly, we both chose Ohio State for financial reasons but have enjoyed our time here and plan on continuing.

We have not had much time together outside of talking about Advocates for Community and Education Scholars. From what we have learned about each other, we are both very engaged in our communities and want to make a difference in the world– her through teaching and me through work in the criminal justice system. One of the entertaining differences between us is our height. I am a whopping six foot one and Sarah is barely five feet tall which can be funny when we are sitting down for a while, forget our height difference, then stand up. Outside of that, I have not been able to identify very many differences other than our overall personalities. I am more extroverted while Sarah is introverted and tends to keep to herself.

In our experiences together I have watched Sarah grow tremendously. Academically, I have watched her become more successful in her classes and actually enjoy what she is doing rather than just doing classes that are recommended and scheduled for her. She has also made closer connections and friends and felt more connected to the Ohio State community. As a leader, I believe I have grown to better understand the challenges my leaders/bosses/mentors encounter while trying to balance their own lives and jobs while also supporting me. When life got in the way, it was easy to prioritize things that seem important to me but I also learned how to best support Sarah while getting my stuff done. Mentoring was something that I have not officially done but have adopted to younger members in groups that I have been a part of. Officially having the title has been a bit odd but after some adjustment, I think I have grown into the role and learned how to support those around me.

From being a mentor I have learned how to work better in a team setting and identify when those around me are struggling. This skill has been extremely beneficial in my job as a resident advisor in Park-Stradley Hall. This program has pushed me to be a better communicator and leader and I am thankful for the experience it has given me. It has helped me better adjust my method of communicating as well as learning how to not be overbearing towards new people that may not be as outgoing as me. It has also helped me systematically arrange tasks that I need to complete while still supporting my mentor and residence life staff.

I believe I was able to help Sarah in regards to suggesting new places to eat and study around campus. In our time together we have gone to Espress-OH in the Ohio Union, to Winston’s Food Truck and Lucky’s Market in Clintonville, and just went to different ACES events throughout the year. Since everything was primarily closed around campus for dine-in last year, I have had a very different experience than Sarah has had during our first year at Ohio State. We have discovered together good places to go around campus as well as shared our places to avoid. I think our time together has helped us both learn more about our campus and be more engaged in the ACES program.

The mentorship program has given me many benefits throughout my time as a mentee as well as a mentor. We have helped each other grow and my mentor during my first year was a great resource for me. Although Sarah and I did not have the same major, I hope that I was still able to help her when she needed words of encouragement or just general support. The program overall helps first-year members connect with someone at Ohio State even though they already have a resident advisor, peer mentor, and academic advisors to do the same. Sometimes the program can seem a bit excessive when you have all of these groups working together, trying to schedule meetings with you, and settling into Ohio State and finding your place. Overall, I believe the mentorship program is beneficial as long as you have someone that can understand that everyone has prior commitments and prioritizes things differently.

Me and Sarah at the ACES social event, tie-dying!

Spring Semester Interview

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For the spring semester, we conducted our interview simultaneously with our first explore Columbus outing. While we went to Winston’s food truck for coffee and waffles, we also got to talk about our experiences and time in the Advocates for Community and Education Scholars program. We also spoke about our general well-being and our experiences at Ohio State and what we want for our future. Sarah is a middle childhood education major and she is in her first year. While I am not very familiar with the program, she helped me gain knowledge about the process and what her classes are like.

As we started the actual interview, we first discussed her major and how she was enjoying it. Sarah is part of the First Education Experience Program (FEEP) which helps her explore education as a career path and the benefits that could come. She works with a school district in the area and she loves the program. When asked if she enjoyed her major, she replied she really likes it and FEEP is the main part of that. Sarah has no interest in switching majors which is almost uncommon now, but I am so happy that she found something that she enjoys.

We started talking about involvement which can be a lot for some people, especially me, that feel like they have to be involved with everything. I am a part of 4 Paws for Ability at Ohio State and I have talked with Sarah about this program a lot she is interested in joining in future semesters which I think could be really cool! Sarah also loves Esports and wanted to join the team at Ohio State, but they only allowed people to join once a semester and that time had already passed. She indicated that she wants to be a part of the club next year as ACES is the only club/program that she is a part of at this time.

Being a part of a scholars group during COVID has been hard, but we have adjusted fairly well in my opinion. For me, even though we still lived together, there were a lot of scholars that stayed home and we did not have the opportunity to meet until this year. Unlike me, Sarah was able to live with all of the ACES in Smith-Steeb. I asked her how she liked it and if she had any recommendations for changing and she said she would like to see more programs put on in the dorm for ACES. As a resident advisor myself, I told her how hard it can be planning for something like that especially if the RA is not a part of the program even though theirs is this year. Not everyone on the fifth floor is part of ACES so that also makes it more difficult when planning events. Another suggestion she has was to try and be more involved and have more meetups. Although there were a lot of opportunities this semester, sometimes it never feels like enough or they all fall on the wrong dates or times and people are unable to go.

The next part of our interview focused on exploring future career paths. I asked Sarah if she had the chance to explore her career with a job or internship and she helped me learn more about the FEEP program which is field experience, and a course, where she actually gets hands-on experience in the classroom. She has not looked further than this yet as she is only a first year, but she says she is planning to in the future.

Me & Sarah at Game Night
Me and Sarah at the ACES social event, game night!

Looking back on her first year, we talked about some of the fun times and memories that we have made at Ohio State. I shared with her how I had made friends through being an RA and working with OSU 4 Paws. When I asked her about her favorite memory, she said she had celebrated her friend’s birthday. Their birthday was a time for them to forget about classes, focus on each other, and just make fun memories the entire night which really stuck with her.

From our experiences together and what she has told me I hope I can help her throughout her ACES experience and college if she would need me. I will use this information to check in and ensure she is continuing along with her goals and doing everything she needs to reach her desired level of success. I also learned more about her and what her interests and passions are which is really amazing. I have enjoyed working with Sarah and I am glad to have had her as my mentee! Continue reading →

Explore Columbus – Lucky’s Market

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Sarah and I started our day by walking to my parking garage. We had another conversation about parking passes at Ohio State and just parking in general and how hard it is. We aired our general grievances about school, Ohio State, our classes, and more on the drive over to Lucky’s Market near Clintonville and Old North Columbus. The drive was long because it was a weekday fairly early in the afternoon when everyone was out and about. As we stopped at every light — at least it seemed– we talked about our families and what we planned for doing over Easter and even summer.

I told her that I was going home for one night and taking the opportunity to see my family and even take some stuff home. She told me how since she lived so close, she was going to go home for the entire weekend and actually hang out with her dog and family. She showed me pictures of her dog, which was adorable, and I highly enjoyed that. We talked about our pets and bonded over our love for dogs again.

When we got to Lucky’s it was not that busy, which was very nice since the store is fairly small. Lucky’s is a natural grocery store that has everything organic and culturally hip that you can think of. There is an entire section dedicated to “health care” including new and inventive methods of treatment. They also sell many homemade things and products from small businesses and local facilities.

Me & Sarah at Lucky's
Sarah and I stand in front of the Lucky’s sign and the store

After our trip was done we left with our few goodies and began the drive back to campus. We talked about when we would be getting together again and the events we were going to in the upcoming week. When we got back to campus we said our goodbyes and parted ways and I was off to class!

Winston’s Food Truck With My Mentee

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For one of my Explore Columbus outings this semester I took my mentee, Sarah Ramsey to Winston’s Coffee and Waffles. This is a food truck that sits in Clintonville on the corner of Indianola and Arden. I love this truck and I try to visit it as often as I can I  thought it would be fun to bring Sarah along, show her a bit outside of campus, and conduct our interview! We began our morning by meeting between our two buildings since I live one building away in Park-Stradley Hall. As a second-year student, I am able to have my car on campus so I was able to drive to the food truck.

I explained to Sarah that as a second-year you can obtain a parking pass to have your car on campus for a grand total of about $952 for the entire year. While it is not guaranteed, I was able to get a pass for the 11th avenue garage, only a few buildings down from me. Since Sarah lives in Ohio, bringing a car to campus was something that she was interested in so we had this conversation on the way over. She asked how to apply and the odds of getting into a garage close to her resident hall next year. After this subject, we started talking about where she was living the next year. By the time we were done with our conversation, we were pulling down the street that Winson’s is on.

Of course, today is the day that landscapers took up the entire road and made me drive a different way. Lucky for me, my boyfriend lives in that neighborhood. Knowing all of the different ways to get there when the street over also had constructions and I was able to go that way. Within a few minutes, we pulled into the small parking lot that Winston’s sits on.

They were not busy at all, but then again it was already past 10 am. A majority of customers that come to Winston’s go early in the morning for their coffee before they go to work, so we got there at a good time. There was no wait and we were able to walk up and order. I told Sarah that my favorite thing to get was the “Winston” which is just plain waffles with syrup on the side. Sarah ended up ordering a small waffle with Nutella and strawberries that looked delicious. I also ordered an “iced Winston’s mocha” which is my favorite coffee from there. Sarah ordered a hot latte and once our order was ready, we went back to my car. It was a brisk morning so we were unable to eat outside, but we enjoyed our coffee and waffles from within my car.

 

Sarah, Bupkus, and I are in my car enjoying our Winston’s Coffee and Waffles!

We talked casually about life, Ohio State, and our plans for the summer. We also talked about our time as Advocates for Community and Education scholars and how our experiences differed fr0m our expectations. All in all, we were excited for our semesters to be ending (but not the finals) and the opportunities to relax and spend time with our pets.

First Semester Interview Assignment (AU21)

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My mentee’s name is Sarah Ramsey and she is a middle childhood education major. One challenging course Sarah has encountered is her anthropology course. This was a struggle for her during the Autumn semester because the class required at least ten hours of work outside of the allotted class time and even though it was a general education requirement for her, it demanded a lot of attention. Rather than the normal university standard of spending double the amount of time as you spend in class working on classwork, this placed a large amount of strain on her as she balanced her other courses. Sarah plans to continue her involvement on campus by learning more about and possibly joining E-Sports. She is very interested in gaming and would love to build a community with others around something that she enjoys. Similar to ACES, E-Sports provides a targeted community to those with similar interests all while providing a time to relax and play the games she would already. Just as I have found my place in 4 Paws for Ability, I was hoping that she could find the same in E-Sports. After describing my participation in the 4 Paws club, she also seemed very interested in it and even expressed that she had thought about joining it, which I would be able to help her with.

Speaking with Sarah, she expressed her reason for joining ACES was she found out about the program at the Honors and Scholars meeting during orientation. Additionally, she was interested in the program because she could live in a community of people that hold common values that they could bond over. She has been able to find friends in her building, even some in the same major, to help her feel more welcome and at home on campus. Following graduation, Sarah plans on becoming a middle school teacher of either psychology or science. Although the middle school curriculum does not normally involve psychology, she loves the subject and would love to integrate it in some form, even if it is in a science class. If something were to happen there, she would attend grad school to pursue other pathways. I believe she is focused more on the field of psychology, but I am unsure which type of program she was interested in to continue her education. I found it very interesting that even though we have spoken before, I did not know that we both liked psychology and wanted to continue it after graduation. 

After I have learned these things about Sarah, it has helped me see more who she is and why she became involved in Advocates for Community and Education Scholars. I have been able to identify similar interests between us that I will be able to use to connect with her and make her feel more a part of the ACES community. Hopefully, I can use this information to tell Sarah about events happening on campus that she may be interested in and even attend them with her if that would appeal to her. We have also spoken about the challenges of online schooling and even obstacles in the ACES program that we have encountered. Although some people feel a very close connection with other members of ACES, neither of us has been able to bond with our community as a whole, even though we lived with them. Ohio State University is a large school, and sometimes it can feel like you are just a minute part of the community, but once you find those people that you can click with, it can feel a whole lot smaller. I would love to foster our relationship and help her feel more comfortable on campus as I have adjusted and learned to find my people. I look forward to attending events, meetings, and becoming a more involved mentor and member of Advocates for Community and Education Scholars.

Year in Review

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[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

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According to Honors & Scholars at Ohio State University, G.O.A.L.S. stands for: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement.

  • Global Awareness
  • Original Inquiry
  • Academic Enrichment
  • Leadership Development: During my time in ACES, I have developed my leadership skills through our group projects and small virtual events that I have been able to attend. Leadership to me means stepping up when no one else will and being able to extend yourself to others whenever you can help. I plan to continue working towards this G.O.A.L.S. of leadership through applying for leadership council, further increasing my involvement in my current clubs on campus, and stepping up whenever I can.
  • Service Engagement:  I love to help my community whenever I can. This semester has made it much more difficult to continue in-person service and time commitments, however, U have still found small ways to help in the community both virtually and through donations. To me, service is being selfless when it comes to helping others. You should not be thinking about how volunteering will help you personally, rather how it helps those around you. I plan to continue working towards this goal by offering my time, and helping in person whenever possible.

Career

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[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

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Mentor Outing with Anna Enriquez
Meranda and Anna at The Shoe following the ACES Scavenger Hunt event.
  • At this event, my mentor and I adventured around campus to find popular and hidden landmarks that were key to thriving as a student on campus. She showed me her favorite spots and I was even able to help find some places. This partnership has allowed me to have someone to confide in when I have issues and also has helped me plan my schedule due to our similar majors.

Past into Passion

  • This essay was originally my Common Application essay 1, which I used to apply to colleges. This piece shows how I have grown as a writer and what events and life changes have led me to be the person I am today. Written in my senior year of high school, there are many changes that should be made to this paper, but as is, it shows how I have grown both as a writer and as an individual.
High School Volunteering
Leo’s Club collecting and gathering pet food to distribute around the community.
  • As the president of this club in high school, I was in charge of most of this collection drive and distribution. This event gave me insight into how in need our community was and opened my eyes to the hardships many encounter, even where I grew up. This moment encouraged me to find new ways to help and to continue this effort into college and throughout life.