Alexandra Criss, or Alex, an Elementary Education major from Upper Arlington, Ohio was my first year mentee in the ACES program. Alex and I had many things in common, but we also had a few differences. Much like my own personal experience, Alex chose to come to Ohio State because she had grown up incredibly close to campus. I grew up about twenty minutes from campus, while Alex grew up only ten minutes away. She had been involved in the buckeye campus culture for as long as she could remember, and could not imagine herself going anywhere else. While we both applied to a few different schools, we both knew OSU was where we would eventually end up. Another thing Alex and I both have in common is the fact that we are both very service-oriented people. We both enjoyed community service in high school, and this is one of the main reasons we joined this scholars program. It is also why we are both in fairly service-oriented majors. Our majors do demonstrate one of the differences between the two os us. I am a Social Work major with minors in Spanish and Health & Society while Alex is an Early Education major considering minoring in American Sign Language (another similarity between the two of us is that we both took ASL courses in high school). Alex considered majoring in social work because her mom is a social worker, but choose and stuck with education in the end.

I feel as though Alex and I’s similarities and differences are one of the reasons we grew as a mentorship pair between the first and second semester. I noticed many changes in Alex throughout the year. Primarily, I noticed she had greater confidence in her major. Alex was still on the fence about switching majors first semester, but by second semester I noticed she was confident in her future as an educator. Another thing I noticed is that Alex was much more settled in to OSU by second semester, which is as to be expected. Alex seemed to have an established group of friends both in and out of ACES, and had rushed a sorority. She seemed more comfortable in her involvements on campus at Ohio State. I also believe I grew as a mentor throughout the year. While I have had experience mentoring in other organizations on campus prior to this year, I feel as though this experience was the most organized and beneficial to my growth. First, I feel as though I got better at reaching out. Many times throughout the semester, I had to reach out to Alex to plan our meeting times. I also feel I became more confident in my leadership abilities. The main reason my confidence grew came from the fact that I feel as though Alex and I had an authentic friendship in the end as opposed to a forced relationship.

I hope I helped Alex grow in the areas of mentoring, socialization, and orientation throughout the year. I can think of a few specific examples where I believe this growth occurred. Overall, I think I provided Alex an example as to what a mentorship relationship can look like, and hope she can apply this knowledge next year. Additionally, I recommended that Alex should apply to be a member of ACES next Leadership Council for the 2021-2022 school year. I believe my openness in sharing my experience in the council encouraged Alex to apply for a position. Alex is now ACES’s next service co-chair, which I believe shows one way in which I encouraged further socialization within the scholars community. Overall, I think Alex and I’s genuine connection helped facilitate open and honest conversations about our involvements both on campus and before coming to Ohio State. I feel as though through talking about my experience on campus, I encouraged further orientation with what OSU has to offer.

I consider there to be many benefits to the mentorship program. In general, a mentoring program encourages a deeper connection among its participants while helping one feel more connected to an organization. I feel as though both Alex and I grew immensely throughout our time in the program. We both grew in our confidence, honesty, and leadership abilities. In the end and in my opinion, the biggest benefit of this program was getting to know yet another person in ACES on a deeper level. I am grateful to have been paired with Alex, and happy we got to provide support for each other during this overall hectic, stressful year.

Global Awareness is one of the important foundations of Ohio State’s Honors & Scholars Programs. It is important as a member society to recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion and to be culturally sensitive. As a Spanish minor, I believe it will be very useful to be bilingual in my future career as a social worker. Because of my involvement in the Spanish language, at one point in my college career I want to study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. I believe this experience would not only help me further develop my Spanish-speaking abilities, but also help me experience a culture I only know so much about. In my current Spanish 3403H class, and in my prior high school Spanish courses, we have had many guest speakers including native speakers, from which I have gotten to partially immerse myself into a different culture.

It is important for students to recognize the importance of uniqueness and diversity even if they are not studying a language in college. In any future career, it is likely that one will deal with clients, colleagues, and therefore people from diverse experiences and backgrounds. To prepare students for this, people should encourage a variety of activities, experiences, and conversations involving people from all backgrounds.

One of the central G.O.A.L.S of Honors & Scholars at Ohio State is service engagement, meaning committing to service in communities. There have been many times in my life where I have participated in community service activities.

Throughout high school, I went on five mission trips with my youth group to different places across the United States. During these trips, we partnered with members of the community to repair homes, landscape, and run community events. In my local community, I volunteered at the Delaware County Common Ground Free Store serving meals and bagging clothing items.

Now at Ohio State, service engagement still continues to be an important aspect of my life. In the ACES scholars community, we are required to get twenty hours of community service a semester, which has motivated me to familiarize myself with the Columbus community and service opportunities. So far, I have made blankets for Project Linus, volunteered at the Centerville Community Center, and picked up trash by the Olentangy River with an organization called F.L.O.W. I plan to participate in many other events like these in my next semesters at OSU.

Another organization I am apart of is a newly created student organization called Rise. Rise is an organization focused on helping middle schoolers grasp the idea that where they come from does not effect who they will become. Since this organization is new, we haven’t started our activities yet, but in the spring we plan to go to local middle schools in the Columbus area. While at these schools we plan on tutoring, mentoring, and getting to know the children. I am excited to be the Co-Language Coordinator as well as the Community Service Coordinator.

• 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.