Global Awareness: As a History major, global awareness is of the upmost importance. There is a reason why the requirements for the major include studying different areas of the globe and not just taking courses in one particular area. For those classes as well as a few of my General Education classes, I am focusing on Israel and the Middle East. I travelled to Israel a couple of summers ago, and it was an amazing experience, plus with all of the turmoil going on in the Middle East as a whole, learning about the issues and how they originated are very important. Also, within my major, I have been and will be taking courses on war history in different time periods. I have learned and will learn about many different empires, armies, and battles, and it would be great to visit some of these places to see where the history I studied took place. For that reason, plus my general interest in world travel, I plan on studying abroad. The destination of which I have not yet decided, but I know I studying abroad is a huge goal of mine.
Original Inquiry: Research is very intriguing to me. I came into college expecting it to only be for the science majors where people in lab coats throw chemicals together, but through survey and other information sessions, I have come to the conclusion that anyone can do research. Plus, if I ever want to go to graduate school (which is likely), being able to conduct research in a specific field and having experience in doing so is vital. Within my major, I am slated to take a research course on early American History. I am fascinated by America’s beginnings and using knowledge from my other courses can pay huge dividends for figuring out what exactly I want to research in this area.
Academic Enrichment: The academic plan was incredibly beneficial to shaping my entire college course load, including what I want my major and minor to be. Coming into the Ohio State University, I was the epitome of undecided. I had more of a feel of what I did not want to do than what I did, but this all changed. After meeting with the History advisor and taking a supremely interesting course, I decided to become a History major. While I still do not know exactly what I want to do after college for a profession, but the classes I take here can shape it. I also indicated my (tentative) interest in a minor in Political science, which I am confident I will pursue based on the topics of the classes I wish to take. General Education courses, although typically seen as a burden, are sometimes pretty interesting, and I am, in particular, excited about including Economics classes, which could turn into a minor down the road.
Leadership Development: Here at at OSU there are many different ways for me to become a leader. With the hundreds of different groups and organizations on campus, I am excited to find the ones in which I can get involved. Whether it is greek life, interning (possibly for law offices like I did in High School) or finding the organizations that I do not even know exists yet, I am excited to get involved on campus. After getting involved with these opportunities I plan to work my way up and foster my leadership abilities.
Service Engagement: Community service has been a staple of my life for as long as I can remember, so I do not plan on stopping that anytime soon. Getting involved in service opportunities like BuckeyeThon or other causes on campus are great ways for me to do this.