Week 3 started out amazing… the freshmen did not look at me like I had 3 heads when I tried to make conversation with them!
That being said, week 3 was the time where I really felt as though I was impacting the freshmen in a positive way, and that they also were looking to me for guidance. The morning of Wednesday, September 6, I walked into the survey class and greeted the freshmen. All at once, multiple girls shouted questions at me. “Where do I buy ingredients for protein balls? Where do I cook them? How do I get into my dorm’s kitchen,” or, my favorite, “where can I find a good coffee?” Obviously, being part of Generation X, I promptly told the student that there is a place on 14th Avenue and High Street. The name? Starbucks, obviously.
During the class time, Rachel broke us up into small groups to lead discussions about the importance of the liberal arts in the world, which was also the topic of the discussion post that the class had done prior to the meeting. It was definitely difficult to get the freshmen to talk to me in a smaller group, as I could tell that they were not very confident in whether or not their answers were viable. I encouraged them, as countless professors have done for me throughout my college career, that there is no wrong answer. Well, there is, but it’s better to have the confidence to speak up and be wrong, than to lack the confidence to speak up at all. My cheesy comment worked, and they began to give their opinions. Mostly, they felt that liberal arts training makes individuals more well-rounded, and ready for the daily interaction that is involved in many professional environments. They also conferred that, although math and science is part of the liberal arts, those students are quite different than students pursuing B.A.’s. It was said that those students tend to lack people skills, and may be a bit more on the socially awkward side… they said it not me! Some of them felt more comfortable towards the end of the conversation and began bonding with each other over the experience that is the first weeks of college. Seeing that made me happy, as I know that connections are what pulled me through my first semester of college.
The next day, September 7, I arrived to training, and it was nothing out of the ordinary! We simply went over more GE requirements for the science classes, how to communicate with others at Ohio State, and practiced some skits depicting communication situations between students and professors. The communication presentation brought me back to the time I saw those slides in my survey and frantically searched for a teacher to write me a letter of recommendation. Two years and a major change later, I do not remember that professor’s name, unfortunately. But, those slides definitely cleared up questions about emailing teachers and office hours that I had coming into college.
Week 4 was even better than week 3, as the students greeted me first when I walked into the class rather than me having to drag a “hello,” out of them.
The survey class on Wednesday, September 13, flew by! Sam did a pretty awkward, but hilarious, rendition of the communication at the university powerpoint, and there was a ton of questions. Students wanted to know about how to appropriately greet teachers in emails, how to make an email signature, and how to form the relationships that can eventually result in a letter of rec. Sam, Jonah, and I each spoke from our experiences, which were pretty similar. We used specific examples to make sure the students understood what we were telling them. We mentioned how to start conversations that are not painfully awkward with teachers, and where to make the fancy OSU email signature online, and what to include in these.
Next, Jonah and I performed two skits in front of the students to further convey appropriate means of communication. One skit dealt with requesting a letter of rec, and the other dealt with trying to add a class multiple weeks into a semester. We purposefully were pretty bad in both our acting and portrayal of the students in the situation. However, we stayed true to how we felt most professors would respond. No letter of rec was given, and no class was added that day. Following our performance, we opened the floor to suggestions from students on what went wrong, and how to remedy the situation to possibly lead to a better outcome. From these, they learned how to handle such situations in their collegiate careers. Hopefully their Honors Contracts keeps them out of scheduling trouble, however!
Thursday, September 14’s training was heavy. We discussed transition challenges. We listened to an experienced mentor present hers, and two new mentors gave theirs a run-through. I was one of those two. My topic was the struggles that I have faced with mental health, particularly my OCD. It is something that I have just recently began discussing so openly, and it is difficult… but SO LIBERATING to be able to do! I received positive feedback on my presentation, which felt even better.
I am excited to actually present my transition challenge in this coming week, as I know freshmen students can be on their own for the first time, and fighting a mental disorder away from home was the hardest thing I have ever done… and am still doing.