For the rest of my undergraduate years at OSU, I want to make sure I put my best work forward in all my endeavors. I encourage myself to keep going and push myself regardless of the hurdles that may set me backwards and take care of myself mentally throughout the process.
Vision Statement
To work and achieve my duties as a student, volunteer, and worker in my undergraduate career at The Ohio State University and grow as an impactful member of my communities.
Review of Chemistry
Chemistry at OSU definitely lives up to what is said about it. A lot of people who have heard or taken a chemistry class at OSU talk about how hard it is and the courses definitely live up to that statement. The last time I took chemistry before college was my sophomore year in high school. I thought it would be simple and I did not take it serious, thinking that it would be a review of such simple concepts. After the first midterm, I realized I was very, very wrong. After the first midterm, I kicked into a survival mode. I realized I will have to put all my effort into chemistry in order to do well. I started studying better by looking over problems. I went to office hours and asked questions during recitation, and I made sure to really understand master chemistry questions and reading lectures. This class was by far one of the hardest classes I have taken. Looking back at this class, I wish I took an advanced chemistry class in high school or went to a school that taught chemistry well because people who had a good overall understanding of chemistry because for those students chemistry at OSU seemed to be a review for them.
I learned a lot from my chemistry courses. It was interesting to get an a good understanding of chemistry for once. Before college chemistry, I just memorized the main points and hoped the exams would be similar to what I memorized. In college chemistry, I had to actually learn the information and understand what each and every question is asking. I learned a lot about topics like colligative properties and acid and base equilibria and how they relate to our everyday life. I hope what I learned in my general chemistry courses will help me have a good overall understanding of my organic chemistry courses.
Second Year Reflection
My second year at OSU has taught me a lot. This year was definitely one of my most difficult years, but I am glad I learned so much and got through it. This year proved to have a lot of challenges as I started some hard science classes and had to manage life throughout a pandemic. Diving into some difficult classes this year really taught me to keep going even if things do not work out right the first time. I learned how to study more efficiently and allocate time to different classes that require a lot of work at the same time.
The pandemic put a halt on many of the goals I wanted to accomplish this year. I wanted sophomore year to be a year to look for research, keep participating in volunteer work, find clinical work, and many other goals. When the pandemic hit, a lot of access to work and volunteering got shut down. Research was completely closed off and hospitals were inaccessible. It was difficult to find things to do other than schoolwork. Overtime and as the pandemic comes to a stop, access to volunteering and work opened up slowly. I was able to find some research and get back to volunteer finally around the end of my second year. It was a long process, but I am glad I was able to make some progress even through a pandemic.
Artifact 2
My OSU pin marks the end of my first year as an RA! Being an RA taught me a lot about myself and others. Before being an RA, I found it hard to be well-spoken and one of my overall goals was to work on my abilities. I developed my leadership and communication skills and was able to use some of my public speaking skills during my first year in my RA role. I worked a lot with presenting programs and presentations, interviews, collaborating with other RAs and hall directors, and talking or solving problems with residents. This allowed me to become comfortable with speaking to others.
Reflection of Work Experience: COSI
One volunteer experience that I had this year was when PASS went on a trip to COSI. I realized how rewarding and how much the volunteer work changed my life. PASS went to COSI on a volunteer trip to help clean up COSI for children to have a better experience. We spent the majority of our time picking weeds out of the grass and making the yard look better. It was after a rainy day so this was the first trip that allowed me to get to know the other volunteers. It was a great way to better our community with people at OSU. I also got to start friendships that mean a lot to me so I am really grateful to have that experience.
Volunteering at Riverside Methodist Hospital
I was able to resume my volunteering at Riverside Methodist Hopsital. I started when I was in my senior year of high school and wanted to continue throughout my college life. I continued my volunteering in my second semester. It was refreshing to be back to the hospital after so many months. I was excited to see new volunteers and reunite with old volunteers that I met in my high school years. I got to discharge some patients and go to several parts of the hospital. I had to familiarize myself with codes and the routine around the hospital, but it was a quick process. My highlight was discharging a family with a newborn baby. The baby was adorable and I was happy the woman had a safe delivery. I cannot wait for COVID 19 to die down so I can go back to volunteering again!
Campus Job
Office Assistant at Barrett/Nosker Desk:
I was hired as a Office Assistant at the Barrett/Nosker desk at the start of October. It was an amazing experience to get familiar with the Ohio State University campus. I learned at many campus resources. In addition, it was an amazing way to allow me to manage college and job at the same time. It also pushed me to test my limits and know what I can and cannot do. I spent a lot of days working early mornings and nights and trying to balance schoolwork at the same time. It was an amazing learning experience.
Resume
Artifact 1
The medals that I wore to my high school graduation are a tangible representation of my goals and values. It showed how much hard work I put in over the past 12 years and how so many people helped and supported me to get there. This event reminded me of all the hardships I went through in high school and how I overcame them. One of the medals are from my fourth grade teacher, Mrs Woldemariam, who remembered my graduation and honored her students who made it to graduation with medals of reward. Attending public schools where students were lost due to societal pressures like drugs, gangs, and violence, a lot of people were not able to cross the finish line and I was happy to see most of my peers wearing the same medal that I was wearing, representing that we were able to finish what we all started together.