Graduation Tassle

At the beginning of the year, I went to convocation.  At the event, everyone received a scarlet and grey tassle.  Although it isn’t the one we’ll wear at graduation, it was given to us as a reminder for why we’re here and where we want to go.

Surprisingly enough, I’ve found that it’s worked.  Whenever I haven’t done as well as I’ve liked on something, or just would feel fatigued because of all of the work that I need to get done, looking at the tassle gave me a boost of motivation to get to meet my goals.  Sometimes it seems like 4 years is way too long of a time, but I know that graduation will get here sooner than I know it.  Having a symbol of why I’m here at college has reminded me of this fact.

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TedX Conference – Reconstructing Reality

On March 5th, I attended a TedX conference held here at Ohio State.  The theme of the conference was “Reconstructing Reality”.  In the conference’s 3 sessions, speakers spoke on a variety of subjects that all centered around the idea that we need to challenge how we view the world around us.

Going to this conference had a great impact on me as a student and person.  Every speech I heard made me think about how I think about things.  Whether it was talking about how the tech industry is rapidly evolving, the racial tensions that still exist, or how representation in things like comic books matters to the young people reading them, all of the speakers gave good reason to reevaluate how I thought about the world.  More importantly, they also reminded me how crucial it is to understand how others perceive the world.  On a campus as diverse as this one, we need to be able to work with people who may understand things differently than we do.  Going to this conference helped me to remember this.

All audience members wore a name tag like one.

All audience members wore a name tag like one.

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

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 information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. 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 information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

MDG Project

One artifact that’s very important to me is the research project I did for the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.  In this project for the Scholars seminar, my group researched the second Goal, which is “Achieve Universal Primary Education”.  We focused on the Middle East and how MDG #2 has affected the region.

The first part of the project consisted of writing a paper that talked about what MDG #2 in detail, what the Middle East entails, why the Goal was needed in the region, and solutions that the UN recommended to achieve the MDG.  My responsibility in the project was to work on the fourth part of the paper.  The second part of the project was presenting our Goal to the rest of the seminar class.  In making our Prezi, we summarized our paper, and also talked about the progress of MDG #2 in the Middle, the roadblocks to it being fully achieved, and what future plans the UN has to continue this goal in the future.

This project helped me to grow more as a student.  Researching the struggle to ensure universal primary education for all children in the Middle East not only allowed me to research a global region that I have no personal experience with, but also allowed me to learn about a global issue that I haven’t had to ever worry about personally.  Learning about these global issues reminded me that as a student,  I need to always make sure I’m not just focused on my own personal bubble here at OSU, but that I remain aware of others in the global community.

This Prezi was what we used to summarize our paper, as well as show how much progress has been made in achieving MDG 2 in the Middle East.

This Prezi was what we used to summarize our paper, as well as show how much progress has been made in achieving MDG 2 in the Middle East.

About Me

Hi everyone!  My name is Sara Fuetter and I am currently a first year International Affairs Scholar student studying Molecular Genetics.  Below is a picture of me on move-in day:

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While here at Ohio State, I hope to accomplish two things: expanding my knowledge/appreciation of the global community, and taking advantage of all the ways that I can grow academically.  For the first goal, I hope to eventually study abroad in some capacity, whether it’s a Maymester trip or an entire semester.  I find that learning about other peoples and culture is incredibly interesting, and I’d love to be able to interact with these cultures first hand.  Having done the Ulster Project the summer after my sophomore year, I gained a strong sense of global citizenship and love for learning about others’.

For the second goal, I hope to someday do undergraduate research while at OSU.  Although I’m not sure on if I’d like to make a career out of it, I’d particularly would love to have the opportunity to do first hand research on stem cells.  Alongside this, I plan on achieving academic growth by taking challenging classes, especially those that require me to critically think about things that I may not have thought about before.