Throughout the 2018-2019 school year at Ohio State I mentored two girls– Jessica Grimmer and Ally Minnick.
Jessica Grimmer is a freshman from Parma Ohio. She is an Early Childhood Education major with a minor is dance. Jessica loves to dance and joined my dance club: Studio Dance. Throughout this year I have been able to support Jessica in many ways. She has come to me for advice about classes, and I have been able to help her, as we are on the same career path. Jessica and I have a lot in common– we are studying the same thing, have the same interests, and the same hobbies. The one thing that Jessica and I differ on is how extroverted we are. Jessica is a very quiet and sweet girl– I have never seen her be mean. While I on the other hand am incredibly extroverted and loud. It has been very interesting getting to know someone as similar as me, with the opposite personality.
Throughout the past two semesters Jessica has grown a lot. She has been able to work on her ability to include fun into her life, and not just do homework. She has also learned a lot about the major and working with children, and I am excited to see how she grows with her job this summer. I have been able to help Jessica throughout the past year by being her support in the pre-major classes and Studio Dance. Because Jessica is quiet I have been able to help her open up and find friends that also love dance. Because we see each other so much, Jessica and I were able to become good friends throughout the year.
Ally Minnick is a freshman from Dayton, Ohio. She came to Ohio State studying Biomedical engineering, but has recently switch to Public Health. Ally Minnick loves volunteering, and has really loved being a part of ACES because of the service opportunities. I have loved getting to know Ally throughout this entire year. While we don’t have a lot of the same career goals and passions, like Jessica and I do, I have been able to see how Ally is experiencing Ohio State and how her experience may be different but also similar to mine. I loved being able to share some interests with Ally– like art– but also I have loved being able to learn new things from her.
Ally has been able to grow tremendously throughout the past two semesters at Ohio State. One thing that I admire about Ally is her boldness to be able to switch majors because she knew that she wasn’t in the right one. This can be a scary thing, and I am proud of her for standing up for her future and what she wants in life. Throughout this mentorship program I hope that I was able to give advice to Ally, and guide her along the journey. I hope that I was able to help Ally ‘explore Columbus’, experience all that the city has to offer throughout this year, and hopefully encourage her to find cool things to do off campus– which I know that she already loves doing.
Because of the mentorship program I have been able to learn a lot not just about my mentees but also the importance of different personalities. Going into the speed-dating event I was hopeful of getting a mentee who studied the same major, and also likes to dance– and I did. But I also got a mentee who didn’t fit these ‘qualifications’. While I was able to see Jessica more throughout the semester (because we are in some of the same classes, and dance together), I was so happy to be able to have a bond with Ally. She taught me a lot about the different experiences you can have at Ohio State, and I am so glad that I have been able to become her friend. Through this experience I was able to recognize the importance of being friends with people who are different than you– I learned so much from Ally, and I hope she learned from me too.
The mentorship program is very beneficial for not only the freshmen who are being mentored but also the people who are doing the mentoring. I did not expect to come out of the program with two great friends, but that is what happened. I also think that sometimes I was learning from them more than they were learning from me. It was also cool to mentor someone who didn’t really need my help, and someone who wanted my advice all the time. Overall, I highly recommend the mentorship program because of the relationships built and the lessons learned.
