Year in Review 2018

When writing my Year in Review post last year and reflecting on my first year at college, I was surprised by the immense amount of personal and professional growth I underwent in just nine short months. Looking back on my sophomore year now, I realize that, again, I have surprised myself with my growth. This significant quality of growth is due to many varying factors, one of which is my involvement with Dunn Sport and Wellness Scholars.

Being surrounded by a group of such supportive and high-achieving scholars has provided the positive environment in which I have had the opportunity to thrive. The Ohio State University offers more than sufficient opportunities for each student to thrive, but it is up to the individual to take initiative and utilize those opportunities. Here, in Dunn Sport and Wellness Scholars, the wonderful staff members provide us scholars with not only the opportunities to get involved, but the encouragement to succeed. The speakers at DSWS meetings promote important life lessons: find a career that excites you, push yourself out of your comfort zone in order to grow, do things that make you happy, and maintain balance in order to stay healthy both physically and mentally.

Throughout my two years at The Ohio State University, my professional skills and experience have developed and I have matured in my understanding of myself and of the world. When I entered Dunn Sport and Wellness Scholars as a freshman, I was an undeclared major and was unsure of my career aspirations. The DSWS leadership class helped me understand how to utilize my skills when searching for a career field. During my freshman year, I took classes in psychology and criminal justice because they interested me. Sure enough, I found myself absolutely intrigued with my studies so much so that I enjoyed reading the textbooks. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone by reaching out to professionals in law enforcement to enhance my knowledge of the career field and to build my professional network. The summer after my freshman year, my career aspirations were reassured as I completed an internship with the Homicide Cold Case Unit of the Columbus Police Department. That internship experience also helped me become much more accustomed to and comfortable with working in a professional setting. After the internship ended, I began working as a Student Safety Service officer with The Ohio State University’s Department of Public Safety. This job has had the most influence on my development this year. The odd hours have improved my time management skills, the unexpected situations I have encountered at work improved my ability to assess and handle stressful situations, and my interactions with coworkers have given me lifelong supportive friendships and introduced me to a variety of career paths.

 

            

Year in Review

Upon arrival at the Ohio State University, I was so excited and eager to take advantage of every opportunity. I collected probably forty club flyers at the Welcome Week Involvement fair. Ohio State already felt like home, but I was overwhelmed in my efforts to participate in everything. As I started join Tae Kwon Do and kickboxing clubs, I had to undergo unrelated jaw surgery. My jaw was wired shut for the next two months. During this time, I had to make several trips home to Virginia to visit my surgeon, all the meanwhile being weak mentally and physically from not being able to eat. For these months, I felt more disconnected from the university as it was hard for me to enjoy the same activities I had prior to the incident. The true lifelong friendships I made in my first couple months of college encouraged me to persevere through this hard time. Towards the end of the first semester, I began to get back into my athletics. Essentially, after undergoing hardships during the first few months of college, I felt an immense surge of happiness and accomplishment as I focused on my passion in martial arts and my career goals in law enforcement. Through all of these major life events, the small and seemingly meaningless moments are actually the most meaningful because they remind me how much I love Ohio State and the people here. These memories include suite-dinners at Kcomm, walking home late at night after long study sessions at Thompson and seeing the bright lights of Ohio Stadium, and talking to the nice chefs at Morrill Traditions who made me smoothies while my jaw was wired. As I reminisce on my first year, these are the types of memories that make me sentimental and ready to come back for another semester!

G.O.A.L.S.

[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

[“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 information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

An artifact that represents my first year of college would be my boxing gloves. Boxing is a passion of mine that gave me something to look forward to during hard times and continues to help me thrive today. My love for martial arts inspired my career choice. This summer I am completing an internship with the Police Department, meanwhile training for boxing competitions. The sport simply contributes to my overall wellbeing that made my first year at college so incredibly outstanding. This symbol also states the importance of finding and pursuing your passion. I believe that the key to overall wellbeing and happiness is dedicating time to what makes you excited. To put it in another context, if you had unlimited money and did not need a career to provide for yourself and family, what would you do? Waking up in the morning excited to do something is a feeling that every individual needs to find, and I found mine in martial arts and psychology. Another artifact to represent my first year, as weird as it sounds, is a brain. I declared my major in psychology and minor in criminology, so most of my classes have been psychology courses. I learned about Behavioral Neuroscience, Social Psychology, and Statistics in Sociology. These courses have reinforced my confidence in my career choice, because I love learning about what makes people think and behave as they do. Taking major classes during my freshman year helped me figure out a tentative direction for my career.

About Me

I grew up in Arlington, Virginia (a suburb just outside of Washington DC), and decided to pursue my undergraduate career out of state at The Ohio State University. I was drawn to this university by its numerous academic and social opportunities, its large body of students and alumni, its central location in the city of Columbus, and most importantly its incredible school spirit and feeling of home. I am majoring in psychology and minoring in criminal justice and security & intelligence, with the hopes of pursuing an intelligence analysis career. I am fascinated with the workings of individuals’ minds and would like tailor this knowledge to the field of criminology to hopefully make our communities a safer place.

I am involved in the Dunn Sport and Wellness Scholars Program because staying physically and mentally healthy have always been priorities in my life. Although I played many different sports as a child for short periods of time, the one that remained with me was Tae Kwon Do. I have been doing Tae Kwon Do since I was four years old, and am currently a Second Dan Black Belt and an instructor. This led me to also join Hapkido and kickboxing. These martial arts have shaped who I am today. I also like to remain active in another sense; I love camping! A couple of summers ago, I participated in a week long Outward Bound course whitewater rafting in Utah. Over winter break, I am going on an Outdoor Adventure Center trip to sea kayak in the Florida Everglades. I hope to someday complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail!