Autumn Semester,
SEPTEMBER Reflection:
So far this year I have been doing alright in my classes. I’ve struggled a bit to balance the workload and homework I’ve been given, as well as resisting the temptations of major procrastination. Currently, I’m trying to find better ways to manage my time. I’ve learned that I definitely can’t get by in college the same way I did in high school, that I’ll have to actually study to get good grades on tests/exams. I have to make sure I stay on top of the work for classes so I don’t get too impossibly far behind, and I’ve learned that I need to set time aside each week to study for each class in order to get the grades I want for the semester.
One thing I’ve achieved this month is finding Buckeye nuts! I’ve been wanting to find some for a while. I read that the husks tend to drop late September and early October, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for them as I walk to and from my dorm. I managed to find a whole bunch near the side entrance of Buckeye Grove the other day, and I almost ended up being late to my math recitation snatching a few of them up.
Most of my classes this semester are the less fun general credits that I’m required to take, like General Chemistry 1. I am enjoying the few classes, like Society & Natural Resources, that are a bit more closely related to my major. Although some of the academic readings required for this course can be a bit challenging, I’ve enjoyed learning more about the sociological aspects of the environment as well as some topical events. I hadn’t fully realized before just how closely intertwined sociology and the environment is, and how drastically humans have impacted and continue to impact the environment.
OCTOBER Reflection:
This month feels like it went by really fast. It’s so weird to me how much closer we are until the end of my first semester at college. Recently, I’ve been planning out the schedules for my next few semesters. Through my survey class I was able to create a 2 year academic plan, and I’ve also accomplished creating a resume. I was able to create my resume without listing any experience from high school. As I gain more experience in college, the resume I create will be very helpful in getting internships and jobs. I’ve learned a bit more about the direction in which I want to go with my major. Ive been using some roadmaps and guides to help me ensure that I take all of my necessary credit hours. While I am pretty sure this is the major/pathway I want to take, I’m still struggling to envision what I will be doing after I graduate. I have no idea what specific career I want to pursue or what is best suited to me. I think as I go through my years at college I’ll gain a better understanding of what I want to do with the more major-related classes I’ll take later on. I’ll also be able to experiment a bit and explore my options with summer internships.
In my survey class we also just recently did a unit on environmental justice. I was able to read some articles and watch some videos about the issue of transportation in Columbus. I was able to see how despite being such a populated city, Columbus doesn’t utilize the most sustainable methods of transportation. It was interesting to me to learn that Columbus is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. I knew Columbus is a city, so obviously its heavily populated, but I didn’t realize its growth rate was so high in comparison to the rest of the country. Knowing how quickly the population is growing, we need to take more action and invest in more sustainable transportation to protect the environment and the health/safety of the residents in Columbus.
NOVEMBER Reflection:
The ENR Scholar Alumni I interviewed is Katie Maloney, she majored in Zoology and Psychology. Katie worked a variety of different jobs when she was a student as well as after she graduated. She is currently working as a park ranger. From our meeting, I learned some new tips for interviewing with a company as well as general advice for me as an undergraduate. She mentioned that when going in for an interview for a company, always do research. She emphasized that I should make sure I understand what the company stands for, read some employee reviews, and know general information about it. This way, I know if I’m a good fit for the company and if the company is a good fit for me. She also advised asking questions of my own at the end of an interview, one question in particular. She mentioned that I should ask what I should have done or could do better in the next interview/what I can improve upon for next time. Asking follow up questions of my own as well as attempting to learn from my mistakes shows that I am listening and comprehending the goals/image of the company and that I am willing to improve myself and my skill set. Another piece of advice she gave me was to make sure to get involved in both fun extracurriculars as well as jobs/internships. Participating in a club I enjoy will help reduce some stress from school and will help me to temporarily take a break from classes.
While I am a student, there are many opportunities for me to get connected and gain experience for my future careers. Getting involved in internships and a variety of jobs will help me to build up my resume and gain experience for future potential careers. I plan to apply these interviewing tips to my future interviews for potential jobs, scholarships, and internships. I can improve my interviewing skills through practice and learning from my mistakes. I will also make sure to get involved during my time as a college student. I will try to join some clubs to get my mind off of school, and I will try to get some summer internships or part time jobs. These tips will help me to be prepared for the professional world as I progress in school, and will help me hone my skills, and gain more experience.
SEMESTER REFLECTION:
At the beginning of my college life experience, I definitely felt a bit overwhelmed with all of the new changes that I was experiencing. I had to learn where things were on campus and how to get to different places. I also was living in a new room, with new people that I didn’t know. My classes were all pretty much completely online, except for a few recitations. After getting more used to dorm life, figuring out how to balance my workload for classes with work, and becoming closer to my suite-mates I started having more fun. I went to some events held by RAs in Morrill, and I explored campus a bit more. With the online format of classes, it’s definitely a lot harder for me to stay motivated. Especially at the end of this semester, the little motivation I’ve had has gone completely out the window. It’s been a bit of a struggle to pull through and finish strong for my classes and final exams. I feel I would probably be doing better in some of my classes, like Chemistry and Precalculus, if I had more consistency in my schedule. For next semester, the Calculus class I scheduled is at the exact same time every day so my schedule is a lot more consistent day to day. Hopefully having a more consistent schedule and already knowing what living on campus will be like will help me do better as I progress to more challenging classes. I will try to remain focused throughout spring semester and not burn myself out too quickly.
I really like living and being on campus at OSU. I like being able to bond more with my suite-mates, getting to explore campus, and getting to meet new people through my classes and work. In my precalculus class, for my final grade, I achieved a much higher score than I anticipated. My grade in that class has already been suffering a bit throughout the year, but it didn’t end up as low as I thought it was going to be. The online homework in that class was entered as one big grade and was one of the last grades entered other than the final exam. My homework score helped boost my grade a lot, and I did a lot better on the final than I previously thought I would. Chemistry is a bit of another story. I’m a little worried about my final exam score, which could possibly make or break my grade for the class. Hopefully I scored well enough to not have to take chemistry again. That would honestly be a nightmare, Chemistry is the worst. For spring semester, my goal is to get into better study habits for my classes earlier on in the semester. The methods I used this semester didn’t work out too well for me, so I will try out a few newer different ways of studying to see what works best for me and the classes that I will be taking.
Spring semester,
JANUARY REFLECTION:
So far, this semester has started off a bit more smoothly than in the fall. I was able to achieve a much smoother move in than when I moved out for break. The day I moved out for break I severely overestimated the size/capacity of my stuff that my sister’s car could hold. We ended up having to really cram the car full. My things took up the trunk, backseats, and I even had to hold some stuff on my lap on the ride home. Before I was even able to get all my stuff to her car, I accidentally locked myself out of my room. I had worked around 5am the morning before my move out time and was running on about 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I was rushing, trying to finish some last minute packing and I left my key on my desk. When I went to the desk to get a loaner, the OA working and I ended up not being able to find the key for the loaner cabinet. So I ended up having to wait around 20 minutes until our manager was able to respond with where it was at. Basically any move in would’ve been better than that. So, the fact that I didn’t lock myself out of my room while moving back in was a huge improvement.
Since I already know what to expect for my classes and I already know how to get around campus better, these factors didn’t add much more stress to moving back in for spring semester. I am enjoying my classes more than last semester, but I am still finishing up taking my GEs and haven’t gotten to the classes I’m really excited for yet. I am taking biology this semester, which I enjoy leagues more than chemistry. I learned that we are going to be doing a group project in our lab groups throughout the semester where we grow turf grass, which I think will be kind of fun to do. In my ENR 3500 class, we are also doing a bigger group project where we role play communities. I definitely think these group projects will be pretty fun to participate in this semester.
I have been struggling a bit with balancing my work load for my classes and improving upon my time management skills. I’ve been working more this semester and have had to pick up some more hours since we lost a few OAs over the break. In the first week after I moved back in I ended up having to work at 3am twice. I worked around 11pm to 3am in the middle of the week, and worked again at 3am a few days later. Normally I’m fine with working this early, but I hadn’t gotten enough sleep prior and I had to get up again at 10am for my classes, so I was quite exhausted. I’ve learned that, this semester, I probably shouldn’t work after 3am on weekdays. This way, I can get at least 6 hours of sleep before classes and not burn out too quickly. My calculus class this semester has had the largest workload out of all of my classes. Since classes started, every weekday (even on the first day of classes >:( ) we have had multiple assignments due on Ximera or Carmen. So I’m just trying to figure out how to balance my work, homework, and listening to lectures for my asynchronous class.
MARCH REFLECTION:
In comparison to last semester, this semester seems like it has just flown by. I’m starting to get into the more interesting classes as I complete my GEs. Although, I still haven’t escaped math. Last semester I barely passed Pre-Calculus and I’ve been kind of struggling with Calculus this semester. I still need to get my Calculus credit over with and it is looking like I’m going to have to take it again over the summer at C-State. As I’ve been taking Biology 1113, I’ve learned that I do not remember as much as I previously thought I did from AP Bio. Most of the concepts we are covering are definitely familiar to me, but I still need to take the time to learn the specifics of them. I still need to study the content partially because I didn’t exactly memorize everything from AP Bio, and because we are going more into depth than my high school course did.
Lately, I’ve relearned that it’s important for me to be prioritizing putting myself out there. I already knew this was an area I need more improvement on, but I’ve been finding myself falling back into some old habits. I promised myself that I would make more of an effort to be more assertive and social when I was first moving into the dorms, and to an extent I’ve succeeded. A few other ENR scholars, most of which happen to be my suitemates, and I have all become pretty good friends and are living together next year too. I’ve just been in sort of a limbo lately, and it feels like I’ve backtracked a little in reducing/facing how anxious I tend to get in social situations. I’m hoping there will be a lot more in-person classes and events next year so I can force myself to talk more/get out there more. I know a key part of overcoming this is to put myself in more social situations so I can kind of normalize them to myself, but it’s sometimes hard to take that initial step.
Despite all that, I have finally been able to achieve what I wanted to do last semester and get a plant baby for my dorm room! Not only was I able to get one succulent but I have two of them, and possibly a third on the way. 😀 Now that I have finally gotten some new plant babies, the last step is to not accidentally kill them.
END OF YEAR REFLECTION:
In the beginning of each of my Biology lectures, my lecturer always explains the scientific reasoning behind a fun fact or tidbit. She recently told us about the 17 year cicadas, Brood X, that will be emerging soon all across the Midwest. It was interesting to learn more about the life cycles of cicadas and how we will be seeing the emergence of many in the coming months. She also made the connection to how some people believe climate change is affecting their cycles, as some of the 17 year ones emerged 4 years ago and many of the 13 years broods down south emerged at 9 years. Cicadas kind of creep me out and they’re quite loud, but it’s fascinating to learn more how their life cycles work.
Something I learned outside of class was how beautiful campus is in the springtime. While walking to JON for my covid test, or on my way to class the trees and flowers blooming all around campus are truly stunning. Springtime is always a beautiful time, but it’s nice to be able to walk around the more scenic parts of campus and take it all in. Everything looks so different in the springtime, it’s nice to be able to just take a walk outside and see how all the life is coming back.
I definitely feel that throughout the year, I have become a lot more independent as a person. My sister lives off-campus and my family lives about twenty minutes away, so it’s not like I’ve been completely alone my first year on campus, but I’ve still had to do a lot of things on my own. I feel like I know my way around campus a lot better and am able to get the things I need to do done on my own, whether it be getting my weekly covid tests, finding my classes, scheduling an appointment, or getting used to living in a dorm. I still don’t feel like an actual grown-up yet, but I feel more equipped for next year on campus and as I prepare for my future.
A favorite memory from this year would definitely be from the end of the year scholars gathering we had. It ended up being a lot different than I thought it would be, in a good way. Everyone was just there to hang out and there were plenty of things to do. I didn’t think it would be as chill as it was, I thought it would mostly be playing more sports games. I wouldn’t really call myself a sporty person, my hand-eye coordination is less than ideal. So, I had fun just relaxing, hanging out with the other scholars, and eating marshmallows.
Next year I am looking forward to getting to live with my suitemates again, and having more fun classes. I’m especially excited for a plant identification class I’m taking for woody plants. A good portion of my classes are in-person and are on ag campus, in Kottman Hall and the Agricultural Admin Bldg. I hope next year I’ll get to do a lot more fun, in-person events with my suitemates and have the start of a more normal college experience.
