Freshman Year in Review

This year has been one of the best years of my life. I have lived this year differently than other years. First of all, coming to college has been a large change due to the fact that I have not lived in my house for an entire year (except for breaks). I was nervous at first due to the fact that I would be responsible for all of my school work and everything else. Another change is that I am not doing any regular season sports like I used to do every single year before now. It has been relaxing not having such a tight schedule but I also miss having the comradery that exists in sports. However, it has been nice because I can just go out and play soccer for fun with a bunch of friends any time I want and there is no pressure to win or lose because it is all for fun. Another change I had was not having the community that existed in my high school. Luckily, a friend of mine that is a school year ahead of me and went to my high school texted me about a fraternity he had joined. Coming into college, I had decided without even looking into it that I would not have time to join a fraternity due to the fact that I am majoring in engineering. However, I decided to go to some events and check it out. Immediately I felt a connection to the organization and all of the guys were great and well-mannered men. All of the stereotypes that I associated with fraternities were blown when I went to more and more events. Phi Kappa Tau is the name of the fraternity, and they are a bit smaller than most fraternities, but I enjoyed spending time with all of the guys and ended up joining. Joining Phi Kappa Tau was one of the best decisions that I made this year. Some changes I have made in spite of these changes mostly involve my study habits. Back home, I would generally go to my room and do my homework there, sometimes going to the library when I had a lot to get done. However, this year I have a lot more distractions in my room and therefore I cannot get that much done, and therefore I normally go to the library almost everyday to get my homework done. Some changes I would like to make is to be more organized. I tend to be a bit messy, which causes me to delegate a day of the week to clean. If I was more organized, however, then I would have a clean room all of the time and not have to spend a couple hours a week cleaning. This year I have been blessed to meet such amazing friends that have similar goals to me. In the very beginning of the year I became friends with one of my engineering partners that lives in Morrill Tower as well, just twelve floors above me. Through him I became friends with many people from his floor and I am on floor twenty-two so often that his RA almost made me a door decoration with my name on it. I am so appreciative of the experiences I have had and the people I was with during these experiences. Another thing that I am thankful for that might sound strange is to have lived in Morrill Tower. Although it is generally disliked compared to other dorms, but I think the community and the setup of Morrill is fantastic, and perfect for Freshman. Also, since Morrill is so far away from most things, I can walk anywhere on campus and it does not feel that far. Besides doing community service, I believe that I have been giving back by being a positive person and bringing positivity to everyone around. This might not seem like much, but I truly try to see the bright side to everyone and try to not let things bring me down. Scholars Earth Month opened my eyes to how easy it is to make a difference in order to help the world. I would say that the choices I made were not particularly meaningful to me, but they were chosen because of how easy they can be done. Such as opening the shades during the day instead of turning on the lights and taking the stairs to conserve energy. Both were very easy to do, and taking the stairs ended up being great exercise.

 

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Before going to college, I signed up to go on a OAC trip to Hocking Hills. The trip ended up being an amazing experience. We did numerous bonding activities to get to know each other, and I made many friends before even coming to college. This picture was taken on a trail in Hocking Hills (I forget which one), but I just really like this picture due to the fact that I think it enraptures my excitement and attitude towards the trip and beginning my journey at OSU.

 

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This picture was taken in the first week of school, when we did the minute to win it challenges as an ice breaker to meet fellow ENR scholars students. The challenge that I did involved using a raw spaghetti noodle in your mouth to pick up raw penne pasta noodles. In order to win, someone had to pick up the most noodles, and I couldn’t believe that I was able to pick up all five. These activities were very fun and I am very appreciative that it was such a beautiful day.

 

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During football season, I had season home tickets in the Block O North student section, which was so much fun. I am so glad that I bought these tickets because it was so much fun to be apart of the cheers. Going to the football games was the best part of every weekend in the fall, it was just amazing to be in the stadium, which was always packed, and see the Buckeyes play. Before this year, I had never been to a Buckeye football game, and I have definitely been missing out. However, I still have three or four more seasons to buy tickets and enjoy seeing the Buckeyes beat Michigan!

 

 

 

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This picture was taken a few weeks ago when it turned out to be a really nice day outside on a Friday. The journey started at the OAC and two friends and I rented a canoe and walked from the OAC to the Olentangy river. From the banks beside Morrill Tower we began our journey down the river on a clear day, absolutely no clouds to be seen. It was such a great time. We saw numerous turtles laying on the bank of the river, some sliding in for a swim. For about an hour the journey was relaxing and since the current was so strong, we mostly just had to use the paddles to keep the canoe straight. Further down the river, however, rapids began to develop between some bridges, which wasn’t too hard to maneuver in, but it made us a bit nervous. When we finally thought all of the rapids were over, however, we saw a sign down river. The sign was too small to read at first, and it was posted in the middle of the river, which we thought was odd. When we got closer, we could read DANGER, but still couldn’t see the rest of the sign. Once we were close enough to read the sign, it read DANGER: DAM AHEAD, TAKE OUTLET NOW, and had an arrow to the left. The sign was very poorly placed due to the fact that it was AT the danger, and gave little time to take action. We hurriedly paddled to reach the shore on the left, and due to our turning the canoe was now sideways and we had reached rapids. The rapids made the canoe flip since it was sideways, which sent us out of it. Luckily, we all made it to shore without any major injuries, which may not have been the case if we flipped any later and got trapped in the heavy rapids and sharp concrete that was around that area. However, when we got to shore, we saw our canoe floating down the river without us. We went up and crossed the street in order to meet the canoe further downstream, and ended up in the middle of downtown by the time we actually caught up to it and pulled it ashore. Due to the happy ending and the fact that no one was hurt in the rapids, I love this story and will remember it for the rest of my life.

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I went to the spring game with some of my fraternity brothers, and it was so exciting to have football in my life again, even if it was for just a few hours. It is great to know that I have found such a wonderful community here at OSU filled with so many friends who I know I can count on, and have great memories with now and in the future. I truly value and appreciate my time here at OSU and cannot wait for next semester to begin.

Year in Review

I did a few community service opportunities this semester. These include picking up trash on the sidewalks around campus and around the path of the Olentangy river, apple picking, and making blankets for children in need. I did the trash pickup the first week of school as a way to get to know my new fellow ENR scholars, and I was luckily put in the same group as my saplings mentor, Jake, which made it easy to get to know him, too. I did the apple picking because it seemed like a fun service opportunity with my fellow ENR scholars’ students and all of the apples we picked would go to a food bank. I made the blankets with my friend from Torres because I had done it before in eighth grade. It was a good time just having nice conversations with people I had never met before and it was nice knowing that I was helping kids out there who may not have families that are fortunate to buy something as simple as a blanket.

 

The trash pickup addressed littering, which I had not realized was so bad until I did this service opportunity. It is insane how much trash people toss into nature without a care in the world of what other organisms it could affect. The main thing I can do to continue to address the issue of littering is to make sure none of my friends litter, which seems small but can be huge if everyone made sure their friends did not partake in littering. The apple picking addressed the issue of poor families that may not have the money to buy fresh fruits, since that is pretty pricey to some. This was great because I had partaken in food drives in high school, but those were all canned and non-perishable items, so it was nice to know that we were providing fresh apples to those in need. I can continue to address this issue by participating in this service annually as it is run through OSU’s farm. The blanket service opportunity addressed similar issues as the apple picking which was not all families can afford simple necessities, which in this case was blankets. I can continue to address this issue by buying blankets and donating them, even if there is not another blanket-making service opportunity.

 

The service I participated in this semester was the best community service opportunities I have done in my life. In high school I did some service, such as playing with kids at a local elementary school near my high school, and although it was fun and the kids were great, I never felt like I was really making an impact. However, by cleaning up trash, picking apples for a food bank, and making blankets for less-fortunate families felt like physical evidence that I was making a difference. The trash I picked up would be in the trash where it belongs, not the grass or sidewalk, the apples I picked would go to children who may not have fresh fruits, and the blankets I helped make would go to children in need.

 

My favorite part about doing community service is the learning experience. Anyone can do nice things for people and not really care about them, but when one really thinks of what a difference they are making in someone’s life, that is another part of service some do not usually think about. For example, it is strange to think of a world where you would not have fresh fruits or even a blanket to keep warm in the winter. When you imagine living in a world that the people you are helping actually live in on a daily basis, that is when service becomes meaningful.

 

If I could participate in these service opportunities again, the only thing I would do differently is tell more people about the service event and urge them to come. The more people doing service, the more that can be done and therefore more people on the receiving end of the service can be helped.

 

The most difficult aspect of the three service opportunities I participated in this semester was the trash pickup. Since it was a lot of walking, towards the end it was hard to have the enthusiasm that I had in the beginning of the service. By the end I just wanted to head back to my dorm and rest. However, it was very satisfying knowing that I had helped clean up the campus that I will be living on the next four years. The most satisfying part out of all three of the service opportunities was the apple picking. It was a great day outside and it was nice to talk to fellow ENR students and pick apples for those in need.

 

What I have learned about myself is that on a daily basis, I do think about all of the things I am grateful for in my life, but I do not really think of what kinds of struggles other people in the world may be going through. Through service, however, I am able to think of these people and it makes service very fulfilling.