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 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.]

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness

Original Inquiry

Academic Enrichment

Leadership Development

During my senior year of high school, I was the captain of my varsity softball team. While our season was cut short because of COVID-19, I was still able to be a leader through all of the pre-season practices and games that my teammates and I participated in. I led the team in warm-ups, and I set an example for the underclassman. I made sure to include everyone and give my teammates support during hard practices and games. I always cheered my teammates on at our games, and I gave them feedback when they asked for help. Outside of softball, I helped tutor many of my teammates and I read over many of their papers for their English classes. As a student-athlete, it was important to me that I was able to be a leader not only when we were at softball, but also when we were at school. Being a leader for my teammates gave me a lot of confidence in myself. I showed my teammates that it is okay to make mistakes and that it is important to work hard and overcome obstacles. As a captain, I also demonstrated to my teammates how crucial it is that we support one another. I felt like I learned a lot from being a captain for my teammates, and I grew as a leader.

 

Summary of Mentorship Experience

My first-year mentee was Sofia Rahal. Sofia is a Communications Analysis and Engagement major. Sofia is from Kentucky, and she ended up going to Ohio State University because she has family in Columbus and heard good things about this school. Before coming to Ohio State University, she had never taken a tour of the campus or thought much about going to school here. However, after she applied, the Morrill Scholars Program here at Ohio State University offered her a full-ride scholarship to attend this college. After receiving the news about her full ride to Ohio State University, she decided to accept the offer and attend this school. So far she has really enjoyed Ohio State University, and has had a lot of fun being in the ACES program. Right now she lives in the Smith Steeb Residence Hall with other first-year members from ACES, and next year she will be living in a single on north campus in a residence hall called Jones Tower. She loved having a roommate this year, but she is excited to have her own space next year and start to be more independent. After getting to know my mentee over the course of this academic year, I learned that we have a lot of similarities and differences. We have very similar personalities and we are interested in a lot of the same activities. For example, we are both very bubbly, kind, and smart. We also enjoy constantly listening to music and going to live concerts. We also both enjoy watching throwback movies like the ‘Hannah Montana: The Movie,’ and spending countless hours scrolling through Tik Tok. Besides this, we also have a lot of differences. Sofia is more introverted and prefers to relax at home on the weekends, and I am more extroverted and prefer to hang out with my friends on the weekends. Another difference between the two of us is that Sofia likes taking math classes, and I prefer to take English classes. My mentee grew from the first semester to the second in a lot of ways. The main way she grew was in discovering herself and what she wanted to do with her life. She quickly found out that she did not want to major in Actuarial Science and decided that she instead had a passion for Communication Analysis and Engagement. Seeing her become comfortable in her decision to switch majors was amazing because I saw her grow in her confidence and happiness. I grew as a mentor and leader throughout the year in a lot of ways also. I became more confident in myself as a mentor and a leader, and I was able to grow into someone who looks out for others. From being a second-year mentor I learned how to be supportive and flexible with Sofia. From sending her good luck texts for her exams to sending her pictures from a concert I went to, I learned how to be there as a mentor and a friend. The mentoring experience helped me with my leadership development because it taught me how to be a confident person and how to carry on conversations. Before being a mentor, I lacked confidence and was terrified to start conversations with people I did not know. However, being a mentor helped me to grow in these ways. My mentee helped me in areas of mentoring, socialization, and orientation because she taught me how to listen and be supportive. Learning how to listen to my mentee and be interested in what she has to say was a great lesson for me because I was able to learn so much about her by doing so. I also easily became friends with her because she always had a fun story to tell me or something interesting to say, so we were able to bond fairly easily. Benefits of a mentoring program are that we get to grow as leaders and develop friendships with others. Having a mentorship program also allows students to stay connected with their community and get to have a personal connection with other members. Also, it allows people to learn how to support other people and listen to the stories and advice they have. Lastly, I think a benefit of a mentoring program like the one we have in ACES is that it gives everyone the opportunity to be a mentee and a mentor. Being a mentee versus a mentor are completely different experiences, and being able to be on both ends of this is a very valuable experience. Being able to experience both perspectives helps you to grow as a person, as a leader, and as a friend.

 

Service Engagement

One service opportunity I participated in this past semester was picking up trash along the Olentangy River. I did this service event with FLOW, which is an organization that regularly tries to make the Earth a less polluted place. I plan on continuing to participate in FLOW’s clean-up events because I think it is extremely important that we keep nature free of pollutants and foreign objects and plants that are harmful to the native environment. This service event contributed to my understanding of how crucial it is to solve climate change and make more environmentally friendly choices. When I first arrived at this service project, I was not expecting to collect nearly as much trash as we did. I was surprised that so much trash ends up near and in the river, and I can only imagine what this sort of pollution looks like in other rivers and bodies of water. I was aware that pollution is harming our oceans, and I have even seen pictures of garbage floating in the oceans and endangering wildlife. However, collecting the trash in the Olentangy River made this problem more real to me. I understood then that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that humans need to take care of the Earth better.

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

file:///Users/caitlyngibbs/Downloads/Diversity%20Paper%20(1).pdf

This is a PDF of a paper I wrote for my Psychology Perspective on Education 2309 class. This paper challenged me as a future educator because I had to create examples of three diverse students with different backgrounds, families, abilities, disabilities, and identities. After I created these descriptions, I had to decide what classroom activities would be beneficial for each student. I selected this as one of my artifacts because I learned a lot through this assignment. One main takeaway was that an effective teacher has to have an understanding of their students in order to figure out how to best support them. There are a plethora of factors that affect how well or poorly a student performs in school. As a teacher, it will be my job to be aware of these factors and use this knowledge to foster a classroom that each student can thrive in. This is why this paper is so important to me. I want to be a teacher who is able to recognize what my students need and how to accommodate lessons for them. My analysis of each example in my paper gave me a good idea of how this support will shape up in my classroom.

 

file:///Users/caitlyngibbs/Downloads/Pluralistic%20Identity%20Essay%20(1).pdf

This is a PDF of a paper I wrote for my School and Society 3206 class. The paper required me to take a look at my own identity and how various aspects of my identity intersect one another. At first, I had a difficult time seeing what parts of my personality overlapped with one another. However, after much thought, I was able to see that many parts of my identity are influenced by other facets. This paper helped me to gain a better understanding of myself, but also challenged me to put this into the perspective of how intersectionality affects education. The various facets of my identity affect me as a person and a student. When it comes to my students, there will be different parts of their identity that they are unable to control that might impact how they are as learners in my classroom. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to look at the intersectionality of all my students and take this into account when I interact with the classroom. I must make sure to recognize the various challenges my students face and ensure that they feel comfortable learning in my classroom. I loved this essay because I was able to gain a better understanding of what intersectionality means to me as a person and as a teacher.

 

Explore Columbus AU ’21

Hello! For our Explore Columbus expedition, I decided to take my mentee, Sofia Rahal, to Kafe Kerouac. When I was a mentee in the ACES program last year, my mentor took me here for our first Explore Columbus mission. I immediately fell in love with Kafe Kerouac when my mentor took me, so I thought I would share this place with Sofia. Kafe Kerouac is on High Street and is about a 10-minute walk from north campus at OSU. When I first went there, I really loved the relaxed atmosphere and good vibes of this coffee place. It is a really great place to catch up with friends, study, or get a good cup of coffee. Something I was most looking forward to for my visit to Kafe Kerouac with Sofia was being able to get to know her more while enjoying a nice latte (my favorite is the Mark Twain Latte, by the way). Because Sofia had never been to Kafe Kerouac before, we decided to meet up at Smith-Steeb and walk over together. The walk from Smith-Steeb to Kafe Kerouac is about 25 minutes long, and it was nice to be able to talk with Sofia on the way over. Once we arrived at Kafe Kerouac, we took a couple of minutes to look over the menu and decide what we wanted to order. I ordered the Mark Twain Latte (of course) and Sofia ordered hot chocolate. Then, we decided to sit at a table and talk. The inside of Kafe Kerouac is very cool because there are books on shelves almost everywhere you look. Sofia and I bonded over enjoying reading and poetry. We sat and talked for a while, and I also had the opportunity to ask Sofia some of the mentee interview questions. These questions helped to spark a lot of conversation between us and I got to know her a lot better through this. Anyway, I love Kafe Kerouac and I would definitely go back and recommend this place to a friend. Since going to Kafe Kerouac with Sofia, I have returned to Kafe Kerouac twice to study with my roommate and meet a teacher from a class I took last semester to catch up. I have gone back simply because as I said early, Kafe Kerouac is a great environment. I do not like studying in silence, and Kafe Kerouac is a great mix of background noise and light music (in other words, it is not as silent or scary as Thompson Library during finals week). Overall, Kafe Kerouac is quiet enough to where you can get a lot of productive studying done, but loud enough to where you can have a conversation with friends. I would recommend this place to a friend for all the reasons I have listed above! To finish off my post, I would love to talk about what I have learned about Columbus through this experience. I have learned that Columbus has a lot to offer and many places to explore. I have loved getting to know Columbus over the past year and a half, and I am always appreciative of what this city has to offer. And at the same time, I have recognized that I still have even more to explore! It is always fun to learn about a new city because you get to know your new favorite spots. Also, learning about a new city helps you to form a larger sense of community and connect with people who also love the same places that you do. Something I would recommend for someone who is endeavoring to complete the same experience is to keep an open mind and go in with a positive mindset. Experiencing new things or places can be scary, but if you dive in head first, it will be a more enjoyable experience. A way to really immerse yourself into new experiences or if you are starting to explore a new city, commit to it fully. For example, if you are going to Kafe Kerouac for the first time, I would encourage you to be bold and try one of their specialty lattes. This is a great way to introduce yourself to Kafe Kerouac, and it allows you to experience the place to the best of your abilities. So far, I have ordered the Toni Morrison, Mark Twain (multiple times), and Anne Rice lattes. I have loved trying different lattes here because it allows me to have a greater experience at Kafe Kerouac and become an informed customer. If you ever have some free time, go to Kafe Kerouac!

 

Explore Columbus SP ’22

For this semester’s Explore Columbus assignment Sofia and I choose to go to Sweetwaters Coffee and Tea cafe. We both really enjoyed our coffee trip from the first semester, so naturally, we wanted to pick another coffee shop to go to for our second Explore Columbus. Sweetwaters is a fairly new cafe located right off of High Street, and we had heard great reviews about it from friends. Because of this, we decided that Sweetwaters was where we should go. The thing we were looking forward to most upon this choice was to see whether or not Sweetwaters would live up to the hype that it has been receiving from all of our friends. We were not sure if the coffee would be good or not, so we were very excited to create our own opinions about this cafe. We decided to go to Sweetwaters on a Saturday at 2:00pm. We also decided to walk to Sweetwaters together, and so we met up at Smith Steeb Residence Hall. On that particular day the weather was not cooperating, but it ended up being a good day for hot coffee (even though both of us ended up ordering iced coffees). At first, it was really rainy, and then it started snowing out of nowhere. The weather was frustrating to deal with and it became incredibly cold on our walk over, however, we still were able to enjoy our walk and pretend like the weather was not as bad as we thought it was. To keep our minds off the terrible weather we discussed warm vacation spots and pretended that we were on the beach. When we got there, the cafe was not too busy. There were a couple of people studying or chatting with friends, but other than that it was not too busy. We decided to order our coffee first and then find a table to sit at since it was not too busy. My friend has recommended that I get the Dreamy Cold Brew, and after looking at the menu I decided to take her advice and get this coffee. Sofia also was unsure of what to get, so she decided to order the same thing as me. The people working at Sweetwaters were really nice and they helped us both sign up for their rewards program that provides a 10% discount at checkout every time you pay for their products with your BuckID. I thought that this sounded like a good rewards program (plus it was free), so I decided to sign up and get the 10% off on my coffee. After this, Sofia and I sat down at a table. The inside of Sweetwaters is very nice, and we took a few minutes to admire the artwork hanging on the walls around us. A few minutes later our coffees were ready, and we tried our drinks at the same time. We both really liked the Dreamy Cold Brew, but we agreed that it was not the best coffee we had ever had. I think we both enjoyed the coffee we got at Kafe Kerouac for our last Explore Columbus assignment more than we enjoyed the coffee at Sweetwaters. However, the cold brew coffee was still really good. While we were at Sweetwaters, I also conducted the second-semester interview assignment. We ended up having such a great conversation that we stayed at Sweetwaters for 2-3 hours just talking and having a good time. We talked about everything from the interview questions to concerts we have both attended. I also learned that we were both going to go to the Oliva Rodrigo concert that was coming up within the next couple of weeks, and we planned to drive down together. I thought that was such a fun coincidence, and I was excited to go to the concert with her. She ended up finding out a couple of weeks later that she was not going to be able to go to the Olivia Rodrigo concert anymore, so I ended up sending her pictures from the concert so she could pretend that she was there. I would recommend Sweetwaters to a friend because it was a nice space and the coffee was good, but I would probably never go back there myself. This is simply because I am a bigger fan of other coffee shops in the Columbus area that I would rather go to. In doing the Explore Columbus assignment, we learned that Columbus has a lot to offer. If you are ever bored, you can always find a coffee shop, a mall, a park, or somewhere to go that will keep you entertained. We also learned how much fun it is to explore a big city like Columbus. There are always new shops to discover, or old shops that are more like hidden treasures. It is easy to find ways to destress or have fun in a big city like this because there is always something new to explore. To someone who is endeavoring to complete the same experience, I would recommend having an open mind and making the most out of your experience!

 

Interview Assignment AU ’21

My mentee is Sofia Rahal. Sofia is majoring in Actuarial Science, and is earning a minor in Computer Science. For the interview, I decided to ask her questions during our Explore Columbus at Kafe Kerouac. The first question I asked was from the academics category, and this is where I learned how Sofia ended up choosing her major. Her parents told her about the Actuarial Science major and encouraged her to look into it. After much research, Sofia ended up really liking the major. Not only does Sofia love math, but she also loves the paycheck she will be earning after she graduates with this degree. I thought that part was pretty funny, but I commend her for knowing her worth and finding a job that will give her a salary that will give her a lot of spending money and allow for her to support herself after graduation. The next question I asked her was from the involvement section. I learned that Sofia has not been as involved as she would have liked to be her first semester at OSU, but she plans on being more involved next semester. Sofia loves service and misses being involved in her community. In high school, Sofia was a part of a bilingual reading program for K-5th graders where she played games with students that combined English and Spanish. The next question I asked her was from the ACES section. I learned that Sofia chose ACES because after reading through all the different scholar’s programs that OSU has to offer, Sofia thought that this program best aligned with her values. As I already mentioned, Sofia loves to do service, and she also loves to advocate for things she believes in, so this program seemed to be a perfect fit for her! One challenge she has experienced this semester with ACES is getting her service hours because she was extremely busy and found that many of the service opportunities this year were difficult for her to get to or did not align with the types of service that she is interested in. The next question I asked was from the careers category. I learned that Sofia’s goals during college are to get internships during her sophomore year of college, pass certification tests for her major. Apparently, the certification tests are extremely difficult, so she is a little nervous about the upcoming tests. Her more long-term goals are to live in New York City after graduating and to get a job right after graduation. The last question I asked her was from the Miscellaneous category. I learned that this semester, Sofia has learned the importance of a good nap. Before college, Sofia did not take naps. However, she realized that college students do not get enough sleep while at school, and that napping helps her to get more sleep. I also learned that Sofia did not tour OSU before attending college. Because of this, Sofia was surprised by a few things when she got here. One thing she was surprised by was how long her walks to classes are. She does not mind the walk, but she was not expecting to have a 20-minute long walk to most of her classes. She also learned that it floods a lot at OSU whenever it rains. She was really surprised by this simply because she was not expecting it. Lastly, I learned that Sofia is an out-of-state student, but she has family that lives in Columbus and are alumni of OSU. I really enjoyed getting to interview Sofia because I got to know her more and learn a lot about her. Sofia is really funny, kind, and smart, and it was great to see her personality shine through in each of the interview questions.

 

Interview Assignment SP ’22

My mentee is Sofia Rahal, and her major is Communication Analysis and Engagement. For the interview, I decided to ask her questions during our Explore Columbus at Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea Cafe. The first question I asked was whether or not she was enjoying her major and why. Last semester her major was Actuarial Science with a minor in Computer Science, and this semester she had changed her major to Communication Analysis and Engagement. She had disliked her previous major because it was difficult, too much work, and involved more math than she was anticipating. She simply did not enjoy her major or minor, which is why she switched to being a Communications major. While she has not started any major classes for her new major, she is excited about the change and thinks that this will be more interesting for her. Sofia has friends that are Communications majors, and they all really enjoy their classes and think Sofia would like them too. The next question I asked was how she got involved on campus this year. Sofia told me that she has yet to be that involved on campus, and that her participation in ACES events has been the extent of her involvement at Ohio State University. However, she is a part of the Morrill Scholars Program, and hopes to become more involved in that during her sophomore year. The next question I asked her is about how her first year in ACES was. She said that her first semester of ACES was a lot of fun because she thought we offered a lot more events that she was interested in and available to go to. She also enjoyed her second semester in ACES, but did not go to as many events because of her busy schedule. However, she did attend the Tie Dye and Donuts event and reported that this was her favorite event of the year! I also asked her if anything surprised her about the program, to which she responded no. The program was everything she was expecting, and she loved being a part of it. She also loved the perk of being able to live in Smith Steeb Residence Hall with all of the other first-year ACES members. The next question I asked her was whether or not her career plans have changed since her first semester and how. She said that they had changed mainly because she switched her major. Now that she is a Communications major, she has been thinking of new career paths that she would be interested in. Sofia told me that she has been thinking about doing something in the music industry, specifically something related to music business. She would love to organize big music festivals or venues, and is hoping to use her Communications major to help her achieve this dream job. Sofia has a love for listening to music and going to concerts, which inspired her to choose this as a career path. When she was talking about this career path she seemed a lot more interested in the possibilities that her new major has opened up for her, and it seems like she will be a lot happier earning her Communication Analysis and Engagement degree than the Actuarial Science and Computer Science degrees. The last question I asked her was about her favorite memory from last semester. She said that her favorite memory was when she went to the Lorde concert. The concert was on a Saturday, and she ended up skipping her classes on Friday so she could make the drive down and be well-rested for the concert the next day. She said it was a very fun experience and one of the best concerts she has ever been to! I had a lot of fun asking her all of these questions, and it helped us to bond and learn more about one another. After learning that her Actuarial Science classes were extremely difficult, I made sure to check up on her for the rest of the semester and wish her good luck on her exams. Knowing this helped me to be a better mentor as I was able to provide her with support. Sofia was the best mentee I could have asked for, and I really enjoyed getting to know her over the course of the year!

About Me

Hi! I am Caitie Gibbs, and I am a second-year at Ohio State University. I am 20 years old, and I am from Cleveland, Ohio. I graduated from Magnificat High School, and I am a member of the National Honors Society. I have three siblings, one of whom also attends OSU. I also have two dogs named Pumpkin and Draco. I have decided to major in Integrated Language Arts with the dream of becoming a high school English teacher.

I have always known that I have wanted to be a teacher, however, I have struggled with figuring out what age level I want to teach. My junior year English teacher is who inspired me to become a high school teacher. I really enjoyed the diverse curriculum she presented to my class that year. I read everything from classic novels to short stories. I also read pieces from authors of different backgrounds and races, and I observed different styles of writing. My experience in this class made me wonder why my English curriculum in previous years had not been so diverse and had only consisted of white male authors. Humans can learn so much by reading about people who are different than them, and my goal as a future English teacher is to bring more of this into my curriculum.

As for my future, I have many goals that I would like to accomplish while at OSU. While at OSU, I plan on taking advantage of all the opportunities that this university has to offer. I am taking a field experience class next semester, and my goal for this is to observe classroom dynamics. I understand what a classroom looks like from the eyes of a student, so I am interested in gaining an understanding of what teaching is like. My goal is to learn more about teaching and all that this field entails. Another goal I have is to partake in service opportunities within the greater Columbus community that will get me involved with the youth in this area. Bonding with the community I hope to teach in is very important to me, and I hope to be able to do this in the future. My next goal is fairly basic, which is to graduate and become a great English teacher. I want to be a teacher that my students can rely on and feel comfortable around. A couple of my long term goals include earning a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. so that I can continue on the path of education and learning. I believe that learning does not stop after four years of college, and I would like to continue learning through life and by working toward these credentials.