One of my mentees is Jessica Grimmer. It has been so cool being Jessica’s mentor because she is in my club, Studio Dance, we are both Early Childhood Education majors, and we are taking a lot of the same classes– we are in the same dance history class. Already this semester we have seen each other a lot and already have a lot to talk about.
Here is the list of Questions I asked her:
How did you choose the major you have chosen?
What has been your most challenging class so far?
What types of volunteering did you do in high school?
Why did you choose ACES?
What are you most excited for with ACES?
Other than your current major, what is your dream job?
What has surprised you about being on campus so far?
When talking about being a Early Childhood Education major, Jessica said that this is something that she always wanted to do. She did have a brief point in High School where she shadowed a doctor and thought that she might want to do that, but once she started looking for colleges she realized her true passion was teaching. Jessica said that if she wasn’t going to be a teacher, her dream job would be a dance teacher– I replied with a comment about how similar they are, but I still counted it as a proper answer to the question. I did like her answer, because I would love to be a dance teacher too. Jessica and I are taking 3 of the same classes this semester, and she says that the Children’s literature class is the hardest class she is taking this semester. I was surprised by this answer because she is taking Math 1125– which is usually everyone’s least favorite subject. I am also taking Children’s Literature, but I have a different teacher. We were comparing the format of our classes, and her class sounded easier than mine, so I think that made her feel a little bit better. Because we are in the same dance class we talked about possibly doing on of our projects together for the class.
Jessica is scared and nervous to apply for the major and about her future class schedules. I talked to her about the types of experiences and classes she will be taking within the next year. I explained ways that she can make herself have a high chance of making it in to the program. I also told her to definitely meet with her advisor to talk about her schedule. This last summer she worked for a summer camp, and I said that would look amazing for her application. She is thinking about doing it again this summer, which would also be great. She also told me about how she used to volunteer as a cheer leading coach and dance teacher during high school. Because she went to a catholic school, she was required to do service projects every year. She was extremely disappointed because she never had the opportunity to work with kids through these service projects, so she had to find those opportunities outside of the school. She is excited for the service activities that ACES will provide her– and she is super excited to make long lasting friends through the program. Despite the fact of not originally choosing ACES (she applied for Honors but didn’t get in), she is happy that this is the way things have turned out.
Jessica and I talked a lot about dinning places on campus– she has been shocked by the amount of options there are. She had never been to 12th Ave Bread Company– which is where I took her for this interview. She asked me about all the dinning places on campus, and I told her about the places on north. I claimed that south has better food, but she should definitely check out the RPAC and Curl Market. We also talked about dining places in the Short North that she should check out. Since she is from Parma Heights, she hasn’t been to Columbus a lot. For our explore Columbus, we decided that we have to check out some places in the Short North.