Month: May 2017

A Day in the Life of a Buckeye

For the past five years, students on campus have been organizing a day for kids from urban and Appalachian communities to come to OSU and experience what it is like to go to college. A Day in the Life of a Buckeye has a goal of motivating students to pursue higher education and increase the college-going rate among Ohio’s urban and Appalachian area students. Current OSU students are paired with a high school student, usually sophomores or juniors, and take the high-schoolers to class, dining halls, dorm rooms, and more. OSU students were told to make sure the students went to class and stayed awake and even answered questions if called on by professors!

This year I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to host a student! The day starts off at the Union at 8 am (and for someone who’s earliest class was 10:20 once a week 8 am was quiet the wake up call!). On Wednesday, my first class is 12:40, so from 8 until then I trudged all over campus taking my student to the eleventh floor of Thompson, my dorm room, Scott Traditions, the RPAC, and grabbed pasta bowls at Curl Market before heading to my class, Calc 3! She was probably bored out of her mind while I frantically scribbled notes and wrote down the problems from the board but that was partially the point of the day.

Experiencing college for the day isn’t always fun classes where you watch movies in order to understand Italian mob culture in New York City and darties, although it can be. College is full of boring classes you have to take and waking up earlier than you may like to go sit in classes you aren’t excited about. I cannot say for sure if my high-schooler had a good day or will pursue college in her future but I can say I showed her what my day was like and answered all of her questions to the best of my ability.

I think programs such as this allow kids to experience college and make connections they would have otherwise not have be able to make. Kids have the opportunity to gain a friend and a mentor who has already gone through the college application process and can provide support and encouragement. I enjoyed meeting kids with such diverse backgrounds, a background far different than my own. I hope the kids gained something from the program because I know I did.

Year One: Complete

Second semester could not have been more different from the first. This year, I was reminded of how quickly things can change. I am not someone who deals with change very well, but at least I know that. Right? The point is if you had asked me if I thought I would have a completely different set of friends or if I would have added a minor in Biomedical Engineering, I would say no. But those things are true. I really don’t speak to my roommates or original friends and I have contemplated changing my major but, settled for adding a minor. Things have certainly not gone as planned but, that’s life.

I have new friends which is good! I love my friends, but I no longer have these wild plans to live with them junior and senior year or crazy plans to road-trip across the country to visit them like I once had. Although, I think that is a good thing. Before, my friendships were not based in reality; rather, they were based in crazy dreams with no real goal or endpoint. I had high school relationships and I was in college. Second semester showed me that I wanted to be grown up and be more responsible. I want to surround myself with motivated, serious people, who also know how to have fun because we are in college and not an old folks home for goodness sake.

I added a minor! So that’s fun! I really thought about switching my major this semester but, ultimately it didn’t make sense. I still want to go to graduate school for veterinary medicine and would be an undergrad for what seemed like forever if I tried to switch majors and get all my pre-requisites for vet school. Thus, I settled for a minor in Biomedical Engineering! I am beyond excited and really want to look into getting involved in research in the fall, once back in Columbus.

Overall college has been everything I expected and more I could have never imagined. College really is a place where you learn who you are. I have realized what I want out of the relationships I form and what I want academically and that grade forgiveness is your friend and you should NOT be ashamed to use it. I think Ohio State has more to offer than I ever thought and I have to go out and grab those opportunities by the horns because they aren’t always going to be there.