Year in Review

This year has really allowed me to grow as a person, and I feel as though I am much closer to reaching my goals than I was just a few short months ago. This year has allowed me to partake further in many activities that have opened my mind and helped me to fulfill many of the areas of the G.O.A.L.S. of the Honors program here at OSU. I would like to reflect on what I have done this year and what I plan to do in the future to fulfill all of my G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness:

Becoming globally aware is something I strive to achieve in my life as I gain more experience. Currently, I am enrolled in a class called HIV: Microbiology to Macrohistory in which we learn about the complex issues posed by HIV and how it is affecting the health of millions of individuals across the globe. This class has opened my eyes to the enormous disparity in the treatment and resources available for those with HIV around the world and has motivated me to learn more about those countries most affected by HIV and what the United States has done to either help or hinder their progress toward more widespread treatment and better medical facilities.

I want to continue to broaden my perspective on global awareness throughout my time at Ohio State through pursuing a Global Public Health minor. Often, it is the case that many in the United States are not aware of the health issues affecting millions across the globe. I will strive to become a more globally aware individual through learning about these issues and what world organizations are doing to combat them and further global public health. Having a strong understanding of global public health will help me to form my own opinions and strive to help others around the world long after I have finished my time at Ohio State.

Original Inquiry:

This year, I have learned much more about the research process through my Ecology class. In the lab for this class, I am required to participate in multiple small scale research and data collection processes, such as gathering data on the goldenrod gall fly. The class also requires me to do a semester long research project on squirrel behavior in which I collect data over several weeks and write a formal paper on the information I’ve gathered. I have also been helping my ecology TA collect data for his graduate research project on two species of desert shrub. Through this, I have been witness to what graduate level research is like. I also plan on taking EEOB 3498 my senior year, in which I would conduct my own research on an area of behavioral ecology of my choosing. I think having a strong research background will greatly benefit me during my time in Veterinary school.

Academic Enrichment:

I chose the zoology major because I have a passion for animals and conservation, and I believe being knowledgeable in these areas will greatly benefit me in the future. Our planet is currently facing dramatic global changes and extinctions due to climate change, and I hope to use my knowledge learned at OSU to help prevent these dramatic effects from continuing to take place. After I receive my undergraduate degree, I would like to attend vet school at OSU, so taking rigorous and intellectually-stimulating coursework is very important to me.

Besides taking all of the prerequisites for vet school, I have tried to take honors or upper level courses for all of my GE requirements. Because my required courses are all heavily science-based, it is important to me that I make myself well-rounded through diverse and interesting GE courses. For example, a class I am currently in, History 3704 (HIV: Microbiology to Macrohistory) fulfills my history GE requirement, but it also has opened my eyes to so much information that I was completely unaware of. The class has delved into the history of, and the modern-day issues, faced by several African countries, such as Malawi and South Africa, as well as the effect of HIV on their health care systems. I am very thankful that my honors status has allowed me to take this class at this time, because it has inspired me to pursue other challenging coursework so that I can be a more thoughtful person.

Leadership Development:

I am currently involved in Pre-Vet club, Evolution and Ecology club, Animal Welfare and Behavior Club, and I am planning to go to Cusco, Peru through Volunteers Around the World with several other OSU student during the 2019 winter break. These various activities have allowed me to meet new people and explore outside of my comfort zone in different volunteer opportunities and educational trips. I have been learning from others how to be a leader, and I hope to obtain a leadership position in one of these clubs in the future.

This year, I have also been an Office Assistant for Bradley-Paterson hall. This job has enhanced my interpersonal skills and helped me to think quickly in novel situations. I also interact daily with my building’s RAs, so I get to see what leadership means to them.

Next year, I hope to be an ASC Honors Peer Mentor. This would allow me to meet incoming ASC Honors students and teach them about all of the exciting opportunities OSU has to offer, as well as give them advice on navigating the most stressful parts of college. This would really allow me to hone in on my leadership skills and abilities and develop my own style of leadership.

These leadership goals are crucial to me because being able to be a confident leader will be very important to me during Vet school and throughout my career after I graduate. Being able to effectively lead a number of people is crucial in many work environments, and a veterinary hospital is no different. I hope to be someone that others can look up to, and I will try to lead by example by being as hard-working and dedicated as I can be.

Service Engagement:

Through pre-vet club, I am able to volunteer at the OSU Animal Hospital each week. I also volunteer at various nearby shelters and sanctuaries like the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue and Sunrise Sanctuary through Animal Welfare and Behavior Club.

When I travel to Peru in the winter of this year through Volunteers Around the World, I will be volunteering at a local animal hospital assisting veterinarians with handling, vaccinating, and drawing blood from patients. My VAW group will also be traveling to more rural areas to assist those with animals living outside of Cusco, as well as spend a day teaching children living in Cusco about local animals. I’m sure this will be an impactful experience that will inspire me to continue volunteer work around the world when opportunities arise.

I also hope to volunteer through a Buck-I-SERV trip during my 2020 spring break. As of right now, I am most interested in traveling to New York City to volunteer at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. From my class on HIV, I think I will possess a good amount of background information that will allow me to effectively help people. If possible, I would like to lead the trip to gain more leadership experience, and to help others have a memorable experience and perhaps change their own views on HIV. I have learned that although the disease has become less stigmatized recently, many people still hold prejudices against those with HIV, and I think volunteering at the GMHC will be beneficial for myself, as well as the others involved, and help us to minimize our own prejudices as well as educate those around us on our experience.

Reflecting on My First Semester at Ohio State

Now that the semester is almost over, I can look back and reflect on the things I learned through University Exploration during my first three months at OSU!

My biggest challenge this semester has been the difference between homework assignments in high school and college. In high school, homework assignments were small and were almost always due the day after they were given. In college, homework assignments tend to be a bit longer, but they’re not due for longer periods of time. This was difficult for me because I had to plan how long an assignment would take me to complete and schedule time each day to complete the assignment. Because of this, it would seem as though one day I had no homework, and the next I had multiple hours in each class. Once I created a schedule of when I would typically do each type of assignment for each class, the workload became a lot more manageable, and I found myself not stressing over due dates and always completing assignments a day or two ahead of when I needed to turn them in.

Through lecture attendance, I explored the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences, and the College of Public Health. I attended all three of the College of Arts and Sciences lectures for the different types of majors offered in the college. I chose to attend these five lectures because I am interested in an Animal Sciences major, but I want to explore other possible options for minors outside of the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences to broaden my education. I know that I want to minor in another science-related field, and going to these lectures helped me narrow down my choices. I am also considering a foreign language minor, so I made sure that I went to the Arts and Humanities lecture for the College of Arts and Sciences.

At the beginning of the semester, I knew I wanted to find a major that could get me into a good veterinary school after graduating from Ohio State, but I wasn’t sure which major would best prepare me for this. I was debating between zoology, animal sciences, and biology. From attending lectures and exploring different majors and colleges, I eventually decided that the animal sciences major would be the best fit for me.

My ultimate goal is to become a veterinarian, and in order to do that I need to go to veterinary school. I’ve always loved animals as well as biological sciences, and I want to get as much experience with animal biology and anatomy as I can while I am an undergraduate. From doing research and attending lectures, I’ve discovered that the animal sciences major is the best fit for me in order to both gain practical experience with animals, as well as ensure that I am a strong candidate for veterinary school.

The most beneficial thing about attending lecture for me was learning about all of the possible majors and minors Ohio State has to offer. When I first came to OSU, I didn’t know about the animal sciences or zoology major, and I had no idea if I was interested in a minor. Through Exploration lectures, I now have a good understanding of all of the different paths I could take in order to get myself the best education possible.

I wish I could’ve learned a bit more about the study abroad opportunities at OSU, and the best way to find financial aid to finance these trips. I’m interested in doing study abroad at some point in my undergraduate career, but I don’t know where to start as far as finding a trip and financial resources.

One goal I have for the upcoming semester is to officially declare the animal sciences major, so that I can better plan the steps I need to take in order to graduate. I will declare my major with an advisor from the College of FAES, and then discuss the best path for me to take. I also want to find and declare a minor related to biology or ecology, which I hope to discuss with my advisor.

If I could go back and talk to myself at the start of the semester, I would tell myself to worry less about finding a major and meeting all of the requirements. University Exploration helped me immensely with this, and I found that finding my major was actually relatively easy!

I would also tell myself to worry less about the transition from high school exams to college exams, because, at least for me, it wasn’t much of a change. I found that the exams are roughly the same difficulty, and that the method I used to study in high school continued to work in college. I didn’t have to make any large changes to my studying routine.

Overall, this has been a great first semester. I learned so much about what OSU has to offer, and I am incredibly excited about what the future holds for me!

My Informational Interview with an OSU Student

This past week, I interviewed Sydney Alibeckoff, a junior at Ohio State majoring in Microbiology.

 

Q: When and why did you choose this major?

A: “I chose Microbiology because the spring of my freshman year I took a microbiology course for a pre-vet requirement and I ended up completely falling in love with it. I became really fascinated with Microbiology and the biochemistry of life and decided to change my major to that, and I also decided to do a Biochemistry minor.”

 

Q: Did you start in this major? If so, did you ever question your decision? If not, what was/were your previous major(s) and how did you decide on this one?

A: “No, I started in Animal Science, but I changed majors because I liked the more molecular analysis of biology rather than the study of larger macroorganisms and phenotypes.”

 

Q: What was your favorite major course, and why?

A: “My favorite major course so far was the general microbiology course because I had a fantastic professor, Doctor Pradhan. She’s the one that helped me decide to change my major.”

 

Q: What kinds of extracurricular experiences (research, internships, co-ops, student organizations, study abroad, etc) have you had? Why did you choose those particular opportunities? 

A: “I’m doing undergraduate research at a Microbiology lab. I decided I wanted to try research to see if I wanted to go down the “research and development” path for a career, and I ended up really loving it. The whole research-inquiry process is really fascinating, and also I work with a fantastic grad student who’s become my mentor. He’s great!”

 

Q: What are your plans for after graduation?

A: “I intend to go to grad school. I don’t know if I’m going to do that right out of college or work for a couple of years to learn what specific area I want to go into, whether it is biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, etc. I want to make sure I know what area I want to go into before starting six years of grad school.”

 

     When I first tried to find someone to interview for my prospective major, Animal Science, I realized this assignment might not be the piece of cake I originally thought it would be. No one I knew was an Animal Science major, let alone any major I was even remotely considering. I searched for possible interviewees on the Senior Bank, but received no reply to the emails I sent out. Right when I was beginning to panic I realized I knew someone from my high school who went to Ohio State and originally majored in Animal Science. Although she switched her major to Microbiology down the road, Sydney was the perfect person to give me all of the pros and cons of both Animal Science and Microbiology (which I am considering as a minor). Although she is a junior at Ohio State, she has already taken multiple major-specific courses and does research in a lab at OSU. I was overjoyed when she said yes to an interview.

     I’m already decided on my major, but the interview helped me narrow down my minor choices immensely. I want a strong biological foundation, both micro and macro, and a minor in microbiology seems like the perfect way to balance out all of the macrobiology of an Animal Science major. Sydney explained some of the things she has learned in her microbiology courses as well as what she is currently researching in lab, which helped me to understand what a microbiology minor would entail. She helped me to see that a well-rounded knowledge of biology would best prepare me for veterinary school after graduation.

      I told Sydney I was curious why she had switched from Animal Science into Microbiology. She answered that it was because she was more interested in microorganisms, instead of large organisms like cows and dogs. This helped me realize that Animal Science is a good match for me, because, unlike Sydney, I’m more interested in animals and multi-celled organisms than small microorganisms. This interview reinforced that I’m taking the right path for me.

     I feel that I still need to learn what kinds of research opportunities are available for Animal Science majors, but I can easily learn this through Animal Science courses or by speaking to a FAES advisor. As far as minors go, before deciding on one, I’d like to compare microbiology, biochemistry, and molecular genetics a bit more.

     The “Focus Career Assessment” helped me decide on a major because it narrowed down my interests and strengths and reinforced that the majors I was considering, like Animal Science, Zoology, and Biology were the right types of majors for me. Having to print my advising report and find what GE’s I had credit for was also incredibly helpful, because it helped me realize what classes I still have to take and which ones I don’t. Also, the required advising appointment helped me realize which classes I have to take next semester to set me on the path to an Animal Science major. Overall, I’m very glad I enrolled in the University Exploration program because it helped me feel a lot more confident about my intended major, and it has helped me narrow down my list of prospective minors.

College Transition Lecture Reflection

As I start college, I am most worried about being able to study properly for exams. In high school, I would study for an hour or two a few days before the test, and I would study a few hours the night before. This worked for me then, but I’m worried about my time management now because there is a lot more information to cover and I tend to study slowly.

I am most excited about the freedom I have now. I can decide by myself when and where to eat and what to do with my free time. Although I do miss my family, I’m excited for the opportunity to make my own schedule and decide what is most important for me without having to ask for permission.

From high school I’ve learned that I am a strong student when it comes to sciences like biology and chemistry, but I am also able to adapt to and do well in classes that I find less interesting, like english and history. I’ve already learned how to be disciplined when it comes to showing up to class and doing the classwork on time, so I believe this will greatly help me when it comes to college courses.

Any co-curricular activity that involves animals I am very interested in. I’ve already signed up for the Oval Dogs organization, and am excitedly awaiting our first meeting. I’m also very interested in getting involved in any activities that have to do with hiking or backpacking, as well as environmental clubs. During my second or third year, I would love to be an intern or work at Ohio State’s Veterinary school.

The piece of advice from the panel that most resonated with me was that it’s okay if I don’t know exactly what I want to major in right now because previously I felt so much pressure to declare a major. Most of the students on the panel are set to graduate on time, and some of them didn’t declare their majors until their sophomore year. The panel helped me understand that many students are going through the same choices as me, and that there are tons of resources I can take advantage of to help me decide what I really want to do.

Getting to Know Me

Hello! My name is Briar Golladay. I’m from Rocky River, a small suburb of Cleveland. I have always had a love for animals of all kinds, and I hope to use the knowledge I gain at Ohio State to help as many animals as I can. I am currently in the University Exploration Program, but I am leaning towards a major in Veterinary Medicine. I love learning biology and chemistry, and I’m excited to further my knowledge at OSU! During high school, I was able to shadow at a local animal hospital, and I got to see all of the things vets do on a daily basis. This also lead me towards the idea of majoring in Veterinary Medicine. No matter what I ultimately decide to study, I know Ohio State will be the perfect place for me to obtain all the knowledge I need to succeed!

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.]

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 is a reflective description of the artifact that attempts to communicate its significance.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

About Me

[Your “About Me” is an introduction and should provide insight into who you are as a person and a learner.  This should include a picture of you that is appropriate in a professional/academic context. This information should be continually updated.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio.  Delete these instructions and add your own post.]