On Saturday April 6, 2019, I volunteered through Ohio State’s Alumni Association for four hours to go throughout Columbus and volunteer at various sites. I was assigned to travel to Goodwill Whitehall to offer my services around the store. Goodwill Columbus’ mission is to raise funds and awareness to allow individuals who may have a mental or physical barrier the ability to retain a job. Throughout the course of my time, I helped remove product that had been on the selves for an extended amount of time. This was done by checking dates and colors of the tags that were on the products in order to determine if the product was to be removed or not. I have learned that I shouldn’t take anything I have for granted because it can be taken away in the blink of an eye. Volunteering has impacted me by opening my eyes to another aspect of diversity that not many individuals are exposed to. This has impacted me as a leader by showing me how everyone should be treated equal and given equal opportunites to succeed in life despite any barriers that may be holding them back. I have also learned that a good leader doesn’t make quick judgements about an individual and will take the time to understand their situation. Because of service learning, I am more aware of social issues and how they impact individuals and their families. I am also more aware of ways to alleviate some social issues and how to handle a situation when one is to arise involving social issues.

On Saturday March 2, 2019, I volunteered four hours at the Dunn Dash Triathlon. The Dunn Dash Triathlon is a small indoor triathlon in which individuals can test their physical ability and honors the founder of the Sports and Wellness Scholars program, J. Michael Dunn. Proceeds from the Triathlon benefit the J. Michael Dunn Fund for Student Professional Development. During the triathlon, I was stationed at the pool where I would keep track of how many laps the individual in my lane had swam during the allotted time period. I also turned in all the time cards from each heat so final scores could be tallied. I have learned that understanding the roots of an organization that I represent is important. I have also learned that I really enjoy volunteering and bringing awareness to causes that have large impacts on Ohio State and the individuals involved. Volunteering at the Dunn Dash Triathlon has impacted me as leader by teaching me about J. Michael Dunn and how he was leader, pushing me to make the impact that he did. Because of service learning, I am aware that there are multpile ways to be leader without being demanding or telling others what to do or how to think. There are several different types of leaders and determining which one an individual is allows them to lead to their max potential. I also learned that there’s several ways to make an impact on an individual even if it’s the smallest of acts.

On Saturday February 10, 2019, I particpated in Ohio State’s Buckeython. Buckeyethon is a 24-hour long dance marathon that raises awareness and funds to treat children who have been diagnosed with pediatric cancer. There were two 12-hour shifts in which an individual could participate. My shift was 10am-10pm on Saturday. During my shift, I had to stand for the whole 12 hours to symbolize the continuous fight that children with pediatric cancer go through everyday. I was assigned a team color that represented a kid or kids. Throughout my shift there were multiple opportunities to raise more funds and awareness as well as meet the kid(s) that I was representing. There was also several activities to particpate in such as GAGA ball, silent disco, rave hour, zoo animals, and dodgeball. I have learned that I am very passionate about bringing awareness to cancer and helping find a cure in any way that I can. Participating in Buckeyethon has impacted me as a leader in a way that allows me to be apart of something that is bigger than just myself. Cancer is a global epidemic that has affected many individuals directly and their families indirectly. Buckeyethon has allowed me to help aid those individuals in ways that are accessible to me. Because of service I am able to make a small difference that has a huge impact.

On November 17th, I participated in my Scholars program’s Day of Service. There were three groups that got dispersed throughout Columbus. I volunteered four hours at the Columbus Furniture Bank. The Columbus Furniture Bank is a nonprofit organization that accepts donated furniture. They then take this furniture apart and use the pieces to make smaller furniture that will be given to families in need who can’t afford new furniture or don’t have the room for the large pieces that were donated. The bank will also send some of the nicer pieces of large furniture to their auction house where families who have the room, can purchase the furniture for a reduced price. During my time volunteering, I took apart college dorm room desks that were donated by Miami Univerisy to turn into smaller bed side stands. This service impacted nearly 3,500 families, providing warm, comfort-filled homes. I have learned that there are many ways to help those in need, especially by donating unused furniture. Before volunteering at the furniture bank, I never realized the impact that an old wardrobe or desk could have on a family. I feel that volunteering at the furniture bank has allowed me to develop my communication skills as a leader seeing that I had to communicate with others on how to take the desks apart properly and which drill to use. This also aloud me to gain a sense of common purpose because there were only so many drills to share but we all had the same end goal which reminded me to be patient. Because of service learning, I am more aware of the big impact such small acts can have on a person or community. I am more aware of who I am as a person and what type of leader I am when introduced into a group situation where everyone has the same task.

On October 4th, I volunteered three hours packaging meals for families in need throughout Columbus through an organization called Kind Columbus. Kind Columbus is an organization in Columbus, Ohio that wishes to build community through unconditional acts of kindness. One of their many projects is Feed the Funnel, a project in which volunteers come together to package 100,000 meals in two hours. Each station has its own task whether it is measuring the amount of contents that go into the package, weighing the overall weight and adding rice to meet the specified weight, sealing the packages close, or packing them away into boxes to be shipped off. My task for the duration of the project was sealing the packages close and double checking that every inch of the bag was closed. This project impacted the many lives of those in need around Columbus, and my participation allowed even more packages to be sealed and shipped off to those in need. I learned that no matter the time or day, everyone has been in a spot in which they needed help in some way and for some of us, food is one of the most inaccessible commodities. After participating in this project, I learned that I just love to serve. I love to help and leave an impact on as many people as I can. This has impacted me as a leader because a leader should be selfless and put others before their own needs. I learned this because this project was from ten o’clock at night until one o’clock in the morning and instead of staying up until one o’clock watching television, I put the needs of others before mine and helped be one of the many individuals that packaged over 100,000 meals. Because of service learning I am educated on the rate at which food is inaccessible and ways that I can help feed those who are in need.

On Saturday, August 29th, I volunteered three hours at Indianola Informal K-8 School helping mulch and pick weeds in their environmentally friendly garden. This service project was just one of many involved in Ohio State University’s Community Committment. This is Ohio State’s biggest community service project that attracts around one thousand students every year to be dispersed to different sites throughout Columbus to offer their services. Indianola teaches grades kindergarten through eight, educating them on the positives of growing your own foods, recycling, and having compost. During my visit, I helped pick weeds that were crowding the garden, laid much, and even harvested some vegetables that were ready for picking. This gave the graden a more open and clean look, while allowing it to flourish and thrive seeing that all the weeds were gone. This project really hit home for me. In middle school, I wanted to create a compost garden to recycle all the left over food but was very uneducated on all the different aspects that went into starting and maintaining such a project. Through volunteering at this site, I learned how to start, maintain, and all the political aspects that surround creating such a garden. I also learned that their are many more ways to benefit the Earth than just recycling. Volunteering has showed me that to be a leader, you don’t have to have direct contact with those you are helping or impacting, but that your intentions will remain clear regardless of whether they were spoken or wrote down. Because of service learning I am more educated on the impact just one person can have on the Earth and how to create positive impacts in my every day life.

My results for the True Colors survey was that I was more orange in camparison to gold, green, and blue. This means that I am very outgoing, spontaneous, open-minded, adventurous, and competitive. Although these do describe who I am as a person, I also feel that I fall under the other three colors as well. For gold I am very organized, dependable, cooperative, and caring. Green I am very logistical and love learning new things. I love to find one thing I’m very interested in and just research its entire backgrond. Some qualities of green that I feel I am is inventive, curious, determined, and seeking. I would say the qualities of blue that I exhibit would be that I am compassionate, unique, empathetic, poetic, and inspirational at times. I feel that you physically cannot be just one color and because of this, the true colors reflection really makes you self aware of what you display and some aspects you could introduce more of into your life. These could be every day qualities like communication, being knowledgeable, being open-minded, while also being cooperative with those you encounter. Applying all fours colors into your everyday life allows you to touch on multiple levels with a such a diverse population. Some examples of ways that you could apply this information in the Dunns Scholars Programs and other teams are by being organized when it comes to group projects or games that involve more than two people. Also communicating when working together to achieve a common goal. Being dependable of yourself and responsible for you part is another way to apply true colors into programs and other team organizations. Being open-minded towards your partners and welcoming every new idea or value is also a huge aspect of using the colors. These are just some of the few examples of how you can apply the colors into school programs and team oraganized functions.

A time that I saw leadership in sports was during my senior year of softball. We were behind and only had about two innings left to tie the game or get ahead to win. One of the seven seniors on the team brought us into a huddle and pumped us up. She reminded us that for some of us this was our last year and for those who weren’t graduating that at some point they would be in the same boat looking to not just to their seniors but to the underclassmen as well. She told us that we have the talent and capibilty to come back and that now all we needed to do was show that we had more heart and wanted to win more than the other team. This really pumped the team up and to me it showed leadership. This showed leadership because she picked everyone up when they were down and by not being negative herself. She motivated us to be the best possible player that we could and led by example. When other seniors spoke up in the huddle, she listened to them and boosted what they said. She was very positive and kept a positive outlook the entire game by talking with us and too us instead of at us. This showed tremendous leadership by listening, allowing others to talk, being positive, and motivating others. Ultimately this lead the team to come back and win the game. Coming together wouldn’t have been possible without such strong leadership.