A link to my presentation is provided below:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WwDZ0p8wMs2CDAiEr4Pf2F9XMT8w1UGr9D8KXkNWlW0/edit?usp=sharing

Week 9 and week 10 were my favorite ones thus far. They allowed me to get to know students better and invite students to understand me better as well.

Week 9 was devoted to introducing the students to all the amazing resources Thompson Library, in combination with all the other libraries on campus, have to offer. Therefore, the freshmen went to the library to do a scavenger hunt. I did not have to go to class that day, so I used my extra hour and 20 minutes wisely; I napped.

Despite not meeting for class Wednesday morning, I did host a peer mentor event that night.

On October 18, 2017 I took 6 survey students to the Ohio State women’s volleyball game against the University of Minnesota’s women’s volleyball team. Unfortunately, OSU lost rather horribly, but it was well worth our time. Some were able to snag a free t-shirt! We talked about relationships, scheduling, our current classes, and how fast fall semester flies by! A few days after the event, one girl reached out to me for advice concerning her living situation for next year, and I advised her to join a learning community on campus.

Week 10 was the week I had been prepping for all semester! I finally got to give my internship presentation (which I will attach in a separate post). I decided to draw from my experience with mental illness to create a useful resource for students who may currently be struggling, or hit a road bump in the future. College = Anxiety for many high-functioning students.

I first offered statistics to show how common mental health disorders truly are on college campuses, and made sure to relay the signs of such things.  I hope that by giving the freshmen tools to recognize such symptoms, they will better take care of themselves and others regarding mental health. I gave the freshmen on-campus resources, such as CCS and the Department of Psychology, to consult of themselves or their friends decide to seek help. In addition, I provided ways to secure off-campus treatment. Finally, I provided emergency counseling numbers in case of emergency.

Throughout the course of the presentation, I threw in my own story to make freshmen realize mental health can affect someone who may appear to have everything together (so I like to think). Also, I know freshmen have learned these things and heard this speech many atimes, but I, for one, have never heard it from someone who admitted to having a mental disorder. By doing so, I believe the stigma around mental illness is continued on. When I talk about my mental illness, I do not feel weak. I feel empowered because I am taking a stand against it to make sure no one lets it go as long as I did. To have that experience is one of my biggest credibility factors in speaking on the matter.

I am happy to share my struggles and will continue to do so for the rest of my life, peer mentor or not, to save people the time spent struggling within themselves anyway I can.

I do not have much to say about Weeks 7 and 8, despite the fact that they were a nice break, as neither of them had training for me!

Week 7 concerned scheduling, which for honors students, is pretty exciting.  The students learned that the schedule before any non-honors student of the Ohio State University.  The other peer mentors and myself told them that none of us have ever encountered the nightmare situation where we were not able to get into a much needed course.  I saw the looks of relief on everyone’s faces!

When I remember scheduling my first spring semester, I recall being absolutely terrified.  Our peer leaders and advisors had walked us through the course selection for our first semester during orientation… so what was I supposed to do when it came time to schedule again?  I had no idea what I was supposed to be taking, how to get this information, or how to even make the schedule!

I remember the feeling of hope and security that this particular survey lesson gave me my freshman year, and I wanted to make sure these freshmen walked out feeling similarly.

We broke up into groups and taught freshmen the method to the madness that is scheduling.  First of all, we made a point to stress the fact that ADVISORS ARE THE BEST SCHEDULING RESOURCE!  We explained that major advisors can significantly help you pick courses to stay on track in a major, as well as complete your Honors Contract.  It took a few attempts before they understood that their survey instructor is not their major advisor, but I think (hope) we got this through to them.  Moreover, Honors advisors were cited as being an excellent guide to selecting GEs that will not get you kicked out of Honors! Next, we showed them where a course catalog and schedule of classes can be found on the www.buckeyelink.osu.edu homepage.  These are important because it shows what classes are being offered this semester and when!  Also, some majors offer mock four-year plans (luckily, mine was one of them and it helped so much), so for those who were able to access such a resource, I showed them where they could go about doing so.

Following that all, we moved on to schedule planner (dun-dun-dun).  The students I worked with were a little overly anxious to build a schedule, and were visibly paying no attention to me.  THAT was frustrating.  I had them close their devices in order to get the most out of this initial introduction to the platform.  I showed them where they can access schedule planner, how to remove any holds on their account, and how to get to adding classes into their schedule.  Then I showed them how to generate and export/import schedule to Buckeyelink.

I then set them free to mess around with potential schedules until then end of class.

The day after this class meeting, Thursday, October 5, 2017, I spent the day in the Emergency Room.  They gave me no solid answers as to why I was feeling the way I did.  With no answers, I had no results, and skipped class the next Wednesday, October 11, 2017. However, today, I found out that a gluten allergy is to blame.  Bye, bye, delicious gluten.  Below, I am depicted as a bird.

(https://www.glutenfreeclub.com/gluten-free-club-cartoon-gluten-free/)

Weeks 7 and 8 were also spent researching statistics for my final project, in which I will discuss mental health and resources for maintaining/enhancing it.

I look forward to returning to my coursework as a peer mentor in week 9.  I will be hosting a peer mentor event, and putting the final touches on my internship presentation in Week 10.