As an honors student at Ohio State, I have taken steps to gain valuable experience in each of the five G.O.A.L.S. sections: global awareness, original inquiry, academic enrichment, leadership development, and service engagement. I plan on continuing to search out other experiences in these areas during the rest of my time at Ohio State.
To develop my global awareness, I have taken course work such as Spanish, Mythology, and History of East Asian Art to gain a better understanding of different cultures from around the world. I have also made an effort to develop relationships with people from backgrounds different from my own to broaden my global awareness. I also spend time every week talking with people from different backgrounds at a local community center for homeless youth, which is something I will expand on later.
As an actuarial science student, the original inquiry section of the G.O.A.L.S. has been the most difficult for me, as there are very few research opportunities relating to actuarial science. Despite this, I did complete a capstone project in summer 2018 during my internship with Famers Insurance. This project involved extensive research on Farmer’s book of business, competitor’s pricing techniques, and ways to make Farmer’s pricing model more accurate. I have also completed multiple research projects for my classes, in topics from economics, to geology, to future longevity of humans.
Academic enrichment has been a major part of my experience at Ohio State. I have taken many high-level math and statistics courses for my actuarial science degree, and I have also taken high-level economics courses in order to attain an economics minor. I chose to major in actuarial science because math has always been a strength of mine and something that I enjoy, and actuarial science is a very math-heavy major. I chose to minor in economics because that has also always been an interest of mine, and an economics minor complements my major very well. On top of my major and minor coursework, I have taken honors-level GE courses whenever possible, and I plan on continuing to do that until I graduate. I have also been very busy over the past year with studying for and taking actuarial exams. These exams are extremely difficult, and studying for them requires significant amounts of time and devotion outside of the classroom in order to be successful. I have successfully passed the P and FM exams, and I plan on taking the IFM exam in November 2019. This coursework, combined with my actuarial exams and internship experience, will help prepare me for my career as an actuary after graduation.
Leadership development has also been an important goal of my time at Ohio State so far. As I mentioned previously, this past summer I was a pricing analytics intern at Farmers Insurance. With this internship, I had the opportunity to lead my own project to update the pricing model that Farmers uses to price condo insurance in Ohio. Throughout this project, I led meetings to discuss the progress and next steps of the project, consulted with leaders from various areas of expertise, and presented my project results to over 40 members of the product team and upper management at the end of the summer. This internship was a great opportunity for me to gain experience with leading a project and public speaking. This upcoming summer, I will be an intern at Westfield Insurance, and I expect to have similar opportunities for leadership development. I am also a tutor for Pass the Class, a student organization at Ohio State. With this organization, I spend time every week tutoring homeless youth. I try very hard to lead by example and be a positive influence on the youth that I talk with, and it has definitely helped me develop better communication skills. I have also recently became a member of the youth development executive board for Pass the Class. With this, I will work on developing a GED curriculum that will be used by our tutors to better teach our students. I am also a member of the actuarial science club at Ohio State, and I was previously a member of the OSU run club.
My most prominent experience relating to service engagement has been my experience as a tutor for Pass the Class. Being a tutor with this organization has allowed me to help underprivileged youth in the Columbus area pursue a G.E.D. or college diploma, build their resume, and apply for jobs every week. Outside of tutoring, I have also volunteered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service both years that I have been at OSU, volunteered time at my church to pack meals for children in third world countries, and volunteered to collect money for the Salvation Army during the holiday season.