Year in Review

I think that over the course of this semester my scholars program has provided me with opportunities to develop personally. This being in the areas of personal emotion and how to regulate it. The first time that this really came to pass was the week that we had Dr. Maryanna Klatt come to speak to us during our weekly meeting time. She did a talk over over wellness going much more beyond physical wellness into mental wellness. She discussed topics of mindfulness and mediation which had been something that I had been interested in for some time. Hearing this topic from her and everything that Ohio State offered in relation to it made me realize that I was able to pursue this fascination here. It made me explore the different classes and minors that Ohio State has to offer and in the end actually made me change my minor all together. I ended up because of this meeting switching to minor in the biological basis of behavior as it would give me the scientific background as to how emotions work. This would in turn allow me to see and understand an important aspect of my life and enabling me to apply the knowledge I would be obtaining into my pursuit for mindfulness and emotional intelligence.

The biggest life lesson my involvement has taught me is the importance of genuine relationships. This was forged through the numerous events and activities we have all done together and how we as a program stress the importance of communication and leadership. The leadership class my freshman year was the first time these topics were ever introduced to me and over the course of the two year program they have time and time again rang true. I have seen how being a leader has affected my student organization involvement and how effective communication has allowed us, as scholars, to get through difficult tasks whether that be beating challenges at team building camp during welcome week or even when finding a phone that had been dropped off of a cliff. While these topics and moments allowed us a group to grow they really caused me to flourish individually. This being because these ideals forced personal growth as I was pushed outside of my comfort zones in many ways which I will be forever be thankful for.

Coming into DSWS freshman I was someone that was very sure of himself, one track minded and that only wanted to achieve getting to graduate school. I was in all honesty kind of self-centered but because of my experience in the program and how I have been able to grow I am now no longer that way. As I leave DSWS I am still proud of myself but in a different way. Before I was proud of what I was accomplishing academically but now it is because of how I am able to touch peoples lives and how working hard will allow me to better others later in the future. Now I am not only focused on school but how I can personally develop in turn allowing me to better be able to empathize and relate to others. Finally, as I leave I can honestly say that my goal is no longer about me but focused on others. My time here has changed me greatly and because of it I want to work to better others not myself and I will always be thankful for the personal change that this program has caused within me.

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Cold brew coffee in a cave during the second year retreat

Introspective leadership developement

When coming into the Dunn Sports and Wellness program I expected and received a strong community of like minded people. However, what I didn’t see coming were the leadership opportunities and the personal development that would change who I am becoming today. In my first semester at Ohio State we went through a leadership development course where for the first time I was challenged to look at myself introspectively. I was told to asses my strengths and weaknesses which up to that point in time I didn’t even know about myself. It was something that helped teach me who I was and where I needed to improve. After the assessment it was brought to light that while I was very much so a person centered around logic and meticulous thinking that I lacked more developed abilities in building relationships and fostering growth in those around me. This really allowed me to see who I was then and set in motion a process to become who I want to be. Seeing this made me want to work on these areas so I began to take steps to do so. I decided to become a mentor in my scholars program and even joined student organizations where I ran for office which is something that would have normally been outside my comfort zone. This also allowed my leadership qualities to flourish as I began to develop better relationships with those around me. Without having the opportunities that this program has offered me I wouldn’t be becoming the leader I someday want to be whether its among my peers or in the workplace.

Year in Review

One of the most memorable moments from the beginning of school was definitely taking my first round of college level midterms. I had taken college courses all throughout high school but being offered through my school itself they still to me always ended up seeming to just be another high school class. It wasn’t until September of this past fall semester that I realized it was now a whole new ball game. They were so much more difficult as the questions were really in depth and were trying to push at whether or not you actually knew the information, not just how well you could memorize a piece of paper like in High School. It honestly shook me as during this time I received my first C ever on a test. It made me reevaluate how I was learning and forced to me to change my habits. It first started by having to actually sit down and read the textbook. After these exams I realized that for me to learn the information I had to read every page and take notes on them as well. On top of that I had to view every power point and that was for just classes that didn’t have any applied math. For those, such as chemistry, it took effort beyond reading as I had to additionally do practice problems to learn how questions were going to be asked. It was one of the hardest things I have have had to do but it taught me the value of hard work and that the long nights and hours studying pay off on the grade card and eventually will pay off as I look to shape my future.