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About Me

Since as early as I can remember, I have been a curious person, always asking questions and seeking answers. As a child, my curiosity manifested itself in the exploration of the world around me. I loved to explore and learn about all of the different plants and animals that I was not familiar with. However, my curiosity of the natural world never dissipated, but further developed into a sense of wonder about not only the Earth, but the entire universe, and would shape my path in life as well as my future endeavors.

Early in my educational career, school never quite came naturally to me. Although I was able to do well in my classes, I did so without much effort, lacking the motivation to truly learn the material and excel academically. During my sophomore year, there was a class that I preformed particularly poorly in. This grade was a wake-up call for me to do better. I retook the class over the summer and passed with flying colors. I actually enjoyed working on the course over the summer, and felt that I learned a lot more than I had in the class at school. I came back to school my junior year with a newfound respect for education. During my junior year, and even more so my senior year, I excelled in my classes. The satisfaction that I earn from solving problems, helping others to accomplish their goals, and helping others to achieve a similar satisfaction from their education has also helped me to realize my passion of teaching. My fondness of helping others to understand complex topics has made me realize that I yearn to be an educator, more specifically, a college professor.

I have chosen to study physics in college. The more that I learn, the more that I realize that the only way to sate my innate curiosity of the world around me is to learn how the universe works. Physics has always been interesting to me, however, during my first physics class my senior year, I was sure sure that there was nothing else that I wanted to study in my further education. I learned to make mathematical connections with the world I love being able to explain to others why things happen the way that they do. Now, at the culmination not only my education, but my curiosity thus far in my life, I am prepared to do what it takes to learn everything I can, and accomplish my goals.  I have serious ambitions to do well and to not take any shortcuts. I know that I can do anything that I set my mind to, even if it is very hard. I hope that my ambition and drive will lead me to success in college and in my future career.

I do have several regrets from my years in high school. First of all, I regret not trying harder and not enjoying my education in its entirety. Secondly, and possibly more importantly, I regret not getting more involved. I was involved in almost nothing in high school. Thankfully, my new start at tOSU has already brought boundless opportunities to get involved. So far, I have volunteered for the Students for Recycling’s “Dump and Run” Event, and been to several academic club meetings. In the future, I hope to involve myself in community STEM outreach and education so that younger people will be inspired by education to change the world as I was. Additionally, I hope to get more involved in sustainability organizations in order to make a difference in the community and the world.

As a scientific minded person, I am aware of the effects of climate change and of how critical it is to make a change now. As I have grown, so too has my love of nature, and a new sense of responsibility to protect it has developed. I hope that with my physics degree, along with attempting to understand the universe around me, and teach others, I can extend my degree to another of my passions: sustainability . I hope to do this by conducting research and developing technologies to help save this small part of the universe that we currently call home, and ensure the health and beauty of the Earth for future generations.

 

Artifacts

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation includes both a description of the artifact and a reflection on why it is important to you, what you learned, and what it means for your next steps.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

About Me

[Your “About Me” is a brief biographical statement that might include your intended major, your academic interests, your goals, as well as the things that make you unique.  Definitely include a picture! Also, remember that you can always update this post at any point. For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Year in Review

My first year of college has been full of ups and downs. From the most difficult classes of my life to making an impact in the community that I now call my home, this year has taught me a lot. Although I have learned many things, I feel as if I have learned even more about myself. I have made many friends, and many more memories. This year has been an excellent start to this brand new stage in my life.

College is difficult. It can be very hard to balance time between academics, friends, and other activities. During my first semester, I feel that I did a good job with this. I got plenty of exercise, got good grades, and made sure to make time with my friends as well. Second semester was a bit more challenging for me however. During spring term, my classes were much more difficult. I made the mistake of socially isolating myself from others, and spending a lot of my time on my studies. Although my grades were doing well, I felt as if my mental health was slipping. Fortunately, there were a lot of people, in my classes, and especially in my ENR community that checked up on me. Interactions like this really helped me to realize that I need to balance my time better. Eventually, I was able to budget my time to allow for more social interaction. To my suprise, my grades did not suffer, and I felt a lot better in general. The most important thing that I learned about myself this year, it’s that I am prone to shut people out of my life in times of stress. This is something that I should work on, because having an unbalanced life is bad for all aspects of my health. 

Along with the classes that I was enrolled in, I have also been very involved on campus this year. This was a significant change of pace for me, as I was not involved in anything in high school. There is one organization in particular that I am very passionate about called Scientific Thinkers. This organization has a focus on STEM outreach in Columbus area schools. My favorite memories have come from volunteering for this organization. My favorite memory that I have of this year is leading an experiment for elementary school children about electromagnetism. This is an experiment that I helped to put together and organize. It made me very excited seeing all of the children understand the concepts and in general getting very excited about physics. This was so heartwarming to me, and I hope that I was able to help instill curiosity in those children that they will carry with them into their future lives. This is a memory that I will never forget.

I have learned so much in my classes. Every day of school this year, I have woken up ready to learn something new, and my classes never disappointed me in this regard. However, the thing that I have learned in class that has been most impactful to me is the knowledge that I can do it. I went into college with a declared major in physics, very nervous about whether or not I was smart enough. This year has helped to convince me that, with curiosity and motivation, I can do it. I spent a lot of time this year teaching others math and science. This was also very impactful to me, as it showed me that I can teach people challenging topics in a way that is intuitively understandable. This means a lot to me because I hope to be a college professor in physics after the completion of my education.

This year, although it has had bad moments, could not have gone better in my opinion. Every mistake, to me, is a learning experience. This year has been full of mistakes. This gives me hope for my future. In a sense, what I am looking forward to next year is improving upon everything that was great for me this year. Next year will be a brand new opportunity to develop friendships, learn in my classes, make an impact on those around me, and most importantly, make more mistakes, because there is always room for improvement!

G.O.A.L.S.

[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

  • Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc.
  • Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
  • Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
  • Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
  • Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]