Global Awareness: During my freshman year, I continued my Spanish language education, which has been a passion of mine since high school. Although I haven’t had time to pursue a major or minor in Spanish in college, I am excited to continue this passion through an opportunity I have received through STEP, in which I will be teaching English and health skills to elementary students in Costa Rica in May of 2019. This will no doubt be a terrific asset to my resume, but is also a cause very close to my heart as I will be helping to further education to kids in underprivileged areas. I am ecstatic to be able to immerse myself in a new culture while using my Spanish background to learn more about the world in a local setting.
Original Inquiry: Health Sciences Scholars has given me opportunities to get to go to research seminars, volunteer in the health field, and observe presentations by accomplished medical professionals about the research they’ve done. One particular presentation that has stuck with me, was Dr. Christopher Pierson’s research on ways to use histology of pediatric brain tumors to predict the prognosis of patients. While I haven’t begun my own journey of undergraduate research yet, I can confidently say that HSS has taught me how to professionally reach out to faculty members and find research opportunities on campus.
Academic Enrichment:
Upperclassman Interview
I interviewed a friend of mine from high school, Riley Hulbert, who is a junior here at OSU studying Biomedical Engineering. After having struggled immensely throughout my freshman year of college both personally and academically, he provided me a little bit of peace at mind. We discussed how going to a very competitive high school left us feeling overly confident going into college, and how much of a shock classes like Chemistry and Calculus were compared to what we were used to. He also told me that it’s totally normal to struggle with time management and keeping a normal sleep schedule, but told me that those little failures taught him lasting life lessons. Overall, I left my conversation with Riley feeling optimistic for the future, and that all of my challenges and failures are making me a stronger student and better person. Although Riley is not on the Pre-Med track, he is going into a very competitive and health related field, so he also had a lot of insight to offer me as far as study skills, things to include on future applications, and when and where to begin studying for the MCAT or GRE.
Professional Student Interview
I have a strong interest in pursuing a career in Occupational Therapy, so I decided to interview Kelsi Doerrer, a student at OSU’s OTD program who graduated from Ohio State and was also in HSS. Kelsi and I talked about good majors for me to pursue, schools she applied to, how the application to OT programs worked, and when she took the GRE. She expressed to me that Ohio State was actually her reach school, and that she applied to smaller programs around the nation that she had thought were more realistic. Kelsi also minored in dance, and encouraged me to show some sort of creativity on my application to stand out to OT schools. Finally, she gave me insight to what OT school is really like, which left me feeling more confident than ever that Occupational Therapy is totally the field for me!
Leadership Development: I am the president of a club I created with a friend of mine at OSU called Gluten Free Buckeyes. I have exercised many professional skills through this role because we partner with a national nonprofit organization called the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG). This club has given me experience working with fellow students, mentoring children and families affected by celiac disease, and working under adults in the corporate world in face to face situations as well as virtually through email and conference calls. Leading this group has made me feel very confident working along side adults in the real world with helping others as the main focus, as I plan to do for the rest of my life in the health field.
Service Engagement: I am committed to serving the community through several organizations I am involved in such as Gluten Free Buckeyes, College Mentors for Kids, as well as the KIDs Central Ohio branch I am involved in at Nationwide Hospital. Gluten Free Buckeyes works to advocate for students at Ohio State affected by celiac disease or gluten allergies, as well as mentor families who are newly diagnosed. In College Mentors for Kids, we serve the community by mentoring elementary students who live in low income areas by exposing them to college and helping them work toward an end goal of higher education. Finally, I also am on a health research and advocacy board called KIDs Central Ohio, in which we conduct studies, hold seminars, and try to educate the community on ways to live a healthy life.