Month: December 2020

Explore Columbus

For our Explore Columbus assignment, my mentee Eliza and I went to The Roosevelt Coffeehouse. We went on November 2nd, 2020 after planning a week or so in advance. It allowed us to prep a time that worked for both of us, granted that we all have different class schedules and we wanted to make sure they were open for seating due to COVID-19. We chose to go to Roosevelt because it is one of my favorite coffee shops in the city, and I have made it my goal (like I did last year with my mentor) to try to find the best coffeehouse in Columbus. Eliza had never been, and she was totally on board with going to check it out. On our Explore Columbus we were joined by another mentor/mentee pair, Emma Fry and Dayna Snow. Emma was my roommate last year, and we really wanted to get two first years together and have them bond as well. I drove in my car to pick Emma up first, and then the two of us went to go pick Eliza and Dayna up from Smith-Steeb around 10 in the morning. We then navigated through the streets and construction of Columbus to get to Roosevelt. Roosevelt has two locations in Columbus so Emma and I randomly picked one on the maps, and it ended up being the location neither Emma or I had gone to before. This was exciting because even though we knew the coffee and the vibes of Roosevelt, none of the four of us had been to this physical location and we all got to experience it for the first time together. Getting to the location was somewhat difficult, just because the usual roads I would have taken were blocked off or closed for construction. But no worries, we improvised and got to a parking garage right around the corner from Roosevelt. The coffeehouse is located downtown right past Spaghetti Warehouse, which is a wild place in itself, and next to some new apartment complexes; apart from the construction going on everywhere, the day was beautiful and a little chilly, but the sun was shining and really lightened the mood from the previous grey days. This coffee shop was not only beautiful and modern on the inside, but they get extra points in my book for being so well organized and taking COVID-19 precautions very seriously. As a matter of fact, we noticed the employee get up from behind the counter and immediately disinfect a table someone was sitting at when they left, and wipe down the keypads for the cash register and card reader. They even validated parking so we were all set! As we stood in line to order, the barista was very sweet and gave us a minute to think on what we wanted, and even gave us some of his personal recommendation. I ended up getting an iced mocha with almond milk, and Eliza got a hot latte. While we waited for our drinks to be made, we were lucky to find a big (socially distanced) table enough for the four of us to sit around and chat. We talked both between our mentee/mentor pairs as well as with the whole group. Our drinks got there and we all sipped them throughout the conversations, and they were delicious. A perfect little pick me up for that morning. Eliza and I talked about how our semesters were going with COVID-19 and everything, and then Emma and I shared how our first years were pre-covid, as well as how it was adjusting when we got sent home for the remainder of spring semester. Emma and I respectively decided that now would be a great time to do our mentorship interviews and got to it. After our interviews were done, we all were having such a great time that we ended up staying for two hours. This is the funny part; while I was chatting, I mindlessly was folding a piece of paper that I soon dumped in my empty coffee cup. What was that paper you may ask? Oh, none other than our parking ticket, that we needed validated as well as to turn in to exit the garage. So little old me unfolds it, runs to the bathroom, tries my best to dry and smooth it out, and says a little prayer that it will scan. I go back to the table and everyone is laughing, but in the end I had to laugh too since I was so caught up in talking with the other girls. We walked back to the car, and the ticket amazingly scanned. Plus, our parking was free! We took a more scenic route home, by the river and then down through Victorian Village (which I could look at all day), and dropped Eliza and Dayna off to start their school day. Everything about the morning was great, and I would recommend everyone go to Roosevelt. I learned a lot from this experience, from driving downtown and being adaptable, to new things about my mentee. This was such a great time and I loved going with Emma and Dayna as well!

Mentee Interview

I really enjoyed getting to talk to my mentee this semester, even if it wasn’t the most normal that it could have been because of the pandemic. While Eliza and I were out doing Explore Columbus, I decided then would be a great time to do our little interview. We both enjoyed chatting and laughing about different experiences we have had this semester, and I got to answer her questions as well as talk about my experiences in my first semester. One of the first questions I asked her was about her classes, and which one has shown to be the most difficult. She explained to me that her calculus class was being a pain in her side, and how she’s terrible at math. As we laughed over our bonded awfulness for all things math, she told me that she has had to learn how to really dedicate herself to work hard and study for the class, as it is not coming as easy to her as she’d like. Given the weirdness of this year and the pandemic really putting a damper on things, I asked her how and if she has gotten involved in anything on campus. Besides ACES (which she is incredibly thankful for), she has joined some online clubs, a workout group, and has plans to go through rush and join a sorority. We then talked about my experience with rush and my sorority, and how I really found my place on this big campus. On the topic of ACES, I asked a couple of questions. I wanted to know her thoughts on the program and how the semester was going with everything. She told me she really enjoyed being in the program and wishes that we could have done more together, but understands this is a difficult time for everything. She also told me that she loves living in Smith-Steeb and living around people that share similar interests and values to her, but how everyone is different and the environment is really accepting. She asked me what we did last year, and I told her some of my favorite memories of the program, including the cookout on Smeeb’s lawn and community commitment. I was curious to how she was getting involved and volunteering, and she told me that she has found a place called the Dream Center, and goes there once a week for an hour or so. We then moved on to the topic of majors and careers. At the beginning of the semester, Eliza came in with an undecided major, but knowing she wanted to work with children somehow. Even before we were paired as Mentor/Mentee we talked a lot about different options she could kind of explore before she declared a major. At this interview, she told me that she was declaring her major as Human Development and Family Science, and possibly declaring a minor in psychology. I was so excited to find out that she picked something and was even more excited to find out that she picked the thing I am majoring in- hopefully we can take some classes together J. As for a career path, she knows that she wants to be a child life specialist. I asked her how she came to that conclusion and she told me that she had been doing a lot of research as well as talking to friends and family. One of the final things we talked about was what surprised her the most about coming to and being at Ohio State. She told me that she kind of always knew she wanted to come here, but was worried about how big the school would be and thought she would get lost. Once she learned where her classes were, it is not as difficult for her to get around. She also loves to see random people from home and has ran into people a lot more than she expected. Overall, we had a great conversation and cannot wait to see her again after break to catch up.