Month: October 2019

Year in Review

During my first year at The Ohio State University, I have learned a number of new things about the community, myself, and academics. I learned what hard work, dedication, and community look like. Academically, I learned just how hard I would have to work in classes to remain in good academic standing and learned new organization skills to ensure that I would be successful in my classes. I learned how to take beautiful and organized notes on using the Notability app on my iPad. Learning about the perseverance and hard work that I would have to have in my academics allowed me to make the Dean’s List fall and spring semester of my freshman year, and allowed me to receive the Marilyn Ruth Hathaway Education scholarship through the College of Education and Human Ecology. I also learned the importance of being a well-rounded student by involving myself in different clubs and organizations on campus. I was very involved in my scholars program this past year, as well as Pen PALS, Delta Delta Delta sorority, and Cru religious organization. This was only the beginning of my involvement at The Ohio State University, as I hope to continue to branch out and pursue leadership positions.

My goals and aspirations have stayed mostly the same since the beginning of freshman year. I am still working towards an education degree and intend on pursuing a master’s degree to eventually become a school counselor. To achieve the first goal of completing a bachelor’s degree in education, I have been completing coursework and working hard to maintain good grades so that I can get into my major (English Education) next year. Some of the courses that I took this past semester that will assist this goal are FEEP (ESCE 2189S), Educational Psychology (ESEPSY 2309), and Literature for Adolescents (EDUTL 3356). These classes were very writing heavy, so they helped me to establish better writing skills and challenged me to think outside of the box. I was supposed to work at a Young Life summer camp this summer to expand my knowledge and work with students in a new capacity, however the camp was cancelled due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was unfortunate, but I hope to apply again to work at this camp next summer and gain the same experiences when it is safe to do so. My goals outside of academics have branched out more since the start of freshman year. I now see an abundance of opportunities and I look forward to pursing some of these in the future. For example, I took a Yoga class this past semester (KNSFHP 1195.01) and I really enjoyed it. This class sparked my interest and I now aspire to take on Yoga Teacher Training at some point in my college career, to become a certified yoga instructor. Taking my first field placement course second semester of freshman year also made me realize the importance of involvement when working at a school. This fueled my aspiration to be involved at the school that I will teach or be a school counselor at in the future, by becoming a club advisor, or even a Cheerleading coach. These are a few additional goals and aspirations that have developed as a result of some of my freshman year experiences.

This past year has been difficult personally, as adjusting to college was not how I had expected it to be. However, this adjustment allowed me to see growth in both my community and personal life. Coming to Ohio State has allowed me to see a campus full of diverse students, which is something that I had not been exposed to in my life at home. This led to me branching out and making new friends from all different backgrounds, and learning so many new things about my peers. This adjustment also allowed me to personally grow and persevere through the tough adjustment phase. I am proud of who I have become over the last year, and cannot wait to see further growth throughout my next three years at The Ohio State University.

G.O.A.L.S.

  • 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: Along with pursuing rigorous coursework for my first two semesters of college, I have also chosen to pursue a minor in Clinical Psychology and Individual Differences. I wanted to challenge myself to branch out of education coursework and learn more about psychology, which will help me later in a counseling graduate program. I have chosen to challenge myself in coursework and branch out beyond what is expected of me in order to exemplify academic enrichment. This year I also made the Dean’s List first and second semester, as well as received an EHE Scholarship. I had the privilege of being the recipient of the Marilyn Ruth Hathaway Scholarship through the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University.
  • Leadership Development:The Mentorship Program has proved to be a very valuable part of my ACES experience. It has been so special connecting with a mentee that is younger than me, especially when they are experiencing OSU for the first time in the midst of a Global Pandemic. My mentee is Dayna Snow, a first-year student studying Political Science from Toledo, Ohio. Her major was originally Early Childhood Education, but she switched it to Political Science about halfway through first semester. She enjoys her new major so much better. My mentee and I are both somewhat quiet, but passionate about involvement and community service. We bonded a lot over the struggle to make friends right away on a campus as big as OSU’s. We both leaned on people from our high school, who we were not necessarily close with before coming to OSU. This was a very rewarding experience for both of us. We are different in our studies for sure. During our second semester interview, I told her that I admired her passion for Political Science, because that is a field that I know nothing about. I am an Education major, and she switched her major from education over to Political Science. My mentee definitely became more confident between first semester and second semester. I could tell that she was coming out of her shell and enjoying OSU more during second semester. Throughout the year, I grew as a mentor and leader by learning to reach out more frequently, even when I was afraid of rejection. My experience as a second-year mentor helped me to see how great of an impact you can have in someone’s life just by telling them that you are there for them. I also learned the importance of keeping up with communication. A lot of times I am hard on myself and refrain from reaching out to people because I feel like I am bugging them. The mentorship program helped to show me that I am never burdening someone by reaching out and making them feel understood and heard. It was also vital in the mentee/mentor relationship to keep in touch. My experience in the mentorship program as a mentee lacked communication, so this is something that I was determined to fix when I got my own mentee. I made sure I was checking in on Dayna a couple of times a semester and planning our Explore Columbus project way in advance both semesters. This project helped me to develop as a leader in more ways than one and made me realize my passion for helping others in their transition to the university. I helped my mentee in the area of socialization by introducing her to others in the ACES program. Dayna was placed on the sixth floor of Smith-Steeb instead of the fifth floor with other ACES members, so she was not familiar with many of her peers in the ACES program. To help with this, I planned for us to go on our first Explore Columbus trip with another mentee/mentor pair so that she could meet another first and second year ACES student. I helped my mentee in the area of mentoring by checking in on her study habits and giving her tips on classes. This became a little more difficult when she switched her major to Political Science, but I still made the effort to understand the classes and her course load. I also made sure that she knew I was a support system for her on-campus and that she could reach out if she ever needed anything. I know how impactful it can be just knowing that you have someone you can call if anything comes up, and I wanted to be that person. I also helped my mentee in the area of orientation by sharing some of my favorite places around campus and off campus with her! When we first met, I took her on a little tour around campus to show her some of my favorite places. I think she found this helpful, and I was glad I got to be a part of this experience for her since she was unable to have an in-person orientation. I also was able to share many of my favorite places off-campus with her, through conversations and our two off-campus adventures. There are many benefits of a mentoring program, but especially this year it was important to make sure that first-year students felt welcome and at home at Ohio State amidst a Global Pandemic. The mentor program was also vital to helping ACES students feel like they were a part of a community in a virtual world. As I mentioned earlier, college is a tough transition and having someone that you can go to for anything and in any situation is something that can be very impactful. The mentorship program in ACES has truly been a fantastic experience.
  • Service Engagement: With which activities are you involved (both ongoing and short-term commitments)? This semester I have chosen to involve myself with BuckeyeThon and Pen Pals. I have also participated in short-term volunteer opportunities such as the OWL program or Community Commitment. I plan to continue to engage with the community through these programs in my future semesters. The Pen Pals Program has helped to contribute to my understanding of Columbus City schooling and some of the situations that those children come from at home. I find it a privilege to be able to interact with these children and find a way to make them smile in their week. I also have grasped a greater understanding for children with Pediatric cancer through the BuckeyeThon program. I have become informed of many different ways to help raise awareness and fundraiser for pediatric cancer through BuckeyeThon. I enjoyed volunteering with both of these student organizations and I plan to continue to engage with the community by looking for new opportunities in the ACES newsletters, as well as keeping an eye out for where I think there may be a need in 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.]

Artifacts

Artifact #1: ACES Pillars Film Project

This artifact is a group project that I completed in my first semester of my first year with a group of people in my scholars program for the scholars course. The goal of this assignment was to reflect on the concepts exemplified in the ACES Seminar course and apply them to a film review. It was created throughout the semester and presented in class in the last week of class. We applied the ACES pillars: positive social change, advocacy, community, and service to the film How to Dance in Ohio. We created this project to educate the public about important issues impacting communities. I selected this artifact because it was a great way to connect a film to the pillars we were learning about in scholars seminar, and also connect them to real situations happening in our area. How to Dance in Ohio also took place in Columbus, Ohio, so the film presented a unique opportunity for the group to learn about things going on in the area. I also selected this artifact because it demonstrates successful group collaboration. In order to complete this assignment we had to get together as a group of five to watch the movie and complete the assignment. This required time management and cooperation. Through this assignment I learned about a great local program for people with developmental disabilities. I also learned how to connect this film with our pillars. The collaboration, cooperation, application, Time management, and group work skills that I learned through this assignment will help me in the future as I approach education and work situations.

Artifact #2:Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Essay

This artifact is an essay that I wrote for my ESPHE 3206: School and Society course this semester. I really enjoyed this course and felt I learned a lot from it, especially about the topic of culturally responsive pedagogy. I worked on researching and creating this essay over the span of three weeks. During this three week span, we also had a guest speaker, Dr. J. Rawls, come in and talk about the subject of pedagogy. I felt that I learned so much from this guest speaker and was truly influenced by him. Dr. J Rawls is an American hip-hop musician, producer, educator, and speaker. He came to speak to our class about Youth Culture Pedagogy and how he relates that to Hip-Hop in the classroom. I selected this artifact because I feel it combines one of the most influential things I have learned in this course, and the material that I learned from the guest speaker. This is significant because this was my first time learning about culturally responsive pedagogy and youth culture pedagogy. I felt that this topic was truly influential and researching this topic made me realize my true passion for education. From learning about this topic, I will take it into my future career as an educator/school counselor.

About Me

Hi, my name is Emma Fry and I am from Medina, OH. I graduated from Highland High School and am currently a first-year student at The Ohio State University and a member of the Advocates for Communities and Education Scholars Program. My intended major is English Education through the department of Education and Human Ecology and my goal is to achieve a Master’s degree in School Counseling. Academically, I enjoy psychology and writing courses. In high school I enjoyed being an editor for our school’s newspaper, and this helped me to realize my passion for writing. I also realized a passion for working with others in high school, through programs such as Peer Leading, Hornet Mentoring, and DARE Role Modeling. I continue to be involved on campus through student organizations like Cru, Young Life, Delta Delta Delta Sorority, and the Pen Pals program. I can also be found taking advantage of the free yoga classes or volunteering for various events through my scholars program. I intend on becoming more involved throughout the duration of my time here at OSU.