Year in Review

Final Reflection

Lake Hope Camping Trip

Apple Picking at Waterman Farm

 

Over these past two years, ENR Scholars has provided me with many amazing experiences!  One of the highlights is that I was able to meet all of the other scholars also living in Morrill Tower.  OSU is such a large school and the many  residents in Morrill Tower can make meeting people overwhelming. It was really nice to have already met and become close to a group of people through ENR.  It was rare that I didn’t see someone from ENR that I knew walking down the hallway or on my way to class each day. I think that having these friendly faces really helped me at the beginning of my college career.  Through ENR I learned a lot about the Columbus area and some of the challenges that the area and its residents face.  For instance, I learned about food insecurity, pollution, community gardens, city biking, sustainable business practices, and the positive and negative impacts of volunteer work.  It was really cool to listen to actual Columbus residents talk about the issues they encounter and the steps they are taking to fix them.

My spring 2017 project was working as a member of the Morrill Tower Activity Board (MTAB).  As Director of wellness and sustainability, I helped plan and run general events, as well as a few sustainability themed activities.  Overall, I think it went pretty well! Although the attendance at our events was not always the best, I think the residents that did go, had a lot of fun.  I gained valuable organizing and event planning skills from this project.  I also learned how to collaborate with other MTAB members and delegate tasks effectively so that we could prepare events on time.  This was one of my first leadership roles in college, so it was a very exciting experience.

My advice to incoming freshman would be to step out of there comfort zone and try to make their college experience a brand new start.  If they were shy in high school they should really make an attempt to talk to people and make new friends.  Likewise, they should try new activities that they never would have thought about doing.  Lastly, I would tell them to have an open mind.  The first year (or two) of college can be really overwhelming and it may seem hard to focus on ENR, but it will be worth it.  ENR has the opportunity to provide you with ideas and opportunities that can change the way you look at the word (in a good way)!

Year In Review

This year has been an incredible time filled with new and exciting people, experiences and challenges.  I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to begin this phase of my life here at OSU and with ENR Scholars.  I feel like ENR has provided me with community and a easy way to get involved and do my part to help the environment and the world around me.  

Specifically, the earth month challenge has allowed me to reflect on my environmental impact and make many changes to try and offset this impact.  I am really glad that the challenge was a mandatory aspect of the class because it is very difficult to make that kind of a change to your daily habits if there is not immediate reason or incentive (although, saving the environment is a pretty good reason by itself). While I only decided to make small changes to reduce my impact, the project has given me the chance to think about whether it is more important to live a “comfortable” life or help right the wrongs that humanity has committed against the natural world.  Over the course of the year I have come to the conclusion I should make sacrifices in my life that help fix, as well as protect the environment in which we all live.  Thankfully, the earth month challenge has taught me that it really is not that difficult to make these changes.  There are many little changes you can do everyday to help make a difference.  This is why I really want to continue with the changes that I made during april for as long as I can.

Being at The Ohio State University has also changed the way I think and has made me think about things from different perspectives.  Because OSU is an incredibly diverse place, I have had the opportunity to learn about and experience different backgrounds, cultures, ideas, practices, etc.  Even though I am from a relatively diverse area back home, it is very different living and being surrounded by new experiences at school.  Being immersed in these different experiences has allowed me to have a better understanding of people and why they act certain ways and do certain things.  However, the most impactful class that has prompted me to think and live differently has been my intro to Sociology class.  This class covered a wide range of sociological topics from culture, to economics and politics.  For the course, we were required to read many different articles, watch numerous documentaries, and read a book or two.  While I slightly resented doing all of this out of class work for a GE class, I’ve come to realize that everything that I have done for that class has taught me valuable lessons about society and about myself.  After taking this class and learning about all of injustices in our world, I feel inspired to help do my part to make a difference.  While I don’t quite know what steps I will take to achieve this, I do know making some kind of difference is very important to me.  

Interestingly, this sociology class has tied in very well to the things that I have also learned as a member of ENR.  We devoted an entire week of notes to study environmental sociology during the course.  I was shocked to learn about precarious state that our earth is currently in due to us.  After a week of depressing facts about climate change and shrinking limited resources, my professor gave us hope by telling us how we could help fix some of the problems.  He said that if we start changing our damaging and unsustainable habits right now, we could severely decrease the effects of global warming.  This comment, paired with everything that I learned in that class and from ENR, is what really prompted me to start thinking about my impact and taking steps to decrease it.

Overall this year has been filled with new ideas and experiences that have caused me to think about the world (and my involvement in it) differently.  I am so thankful to be at such an amazing university and be involved with a fantastic scholars program like ENR!  I hope that in the next few years, I will be able to make some of the changes that I have talked about, as well as set new goals to better myself and the world around me.

Year in Review

Service Reflection

           Over the course of this semester, I participated in many different types of service experiences.  With Environment and Natural Resources Scholars, I took part in the Olentangy River cleanup, and in apple picking for the Mid-Ohio food bank.  I choose to participate in the river cleanup because I thought that it would be fun to explore the river and help clean the surrounding area at the same time.  I decided to help pick apples for the foodbank because I really enjoy apple picking and I wanted to help out the food bank.  I also participated independently in service over fall break and thanksgiving break.  I helped out at my local Habitat for Humanity branch because it’s fun and a great way to give back to my local community.  The river cleanup addressed environmental issues, while apple picking and working with Habitat for Humanity focused on more social and economic problems.  I can continue to address similar environmental issues by recycling and participating in more cleanup projects.  Similarly, I can further address the social and economic issues by continuing to volunteer for organizations like Habitat for Humanity.

          For the most part, my experiences did align with expectations.  For apple picking and the river cleanup, I expected to do those types of activities, however working with Habitat for Humanity was more of a surprise.  Since I was not able to go out on a build project, they had me doing various projects in the warehouse and in the office.  For example, I sorted and priced objects that were to be sold in the store, helped build benches and painted an employee’s office.  While that work was important, I did not expect to do any kind of sorting or painting.  During my service opportunities I learned that it is very important to listen to and follow the instructions given by the project coordinator.  Similarly, in order to be focused and efficient,  it is necessary to dress appropriately for the task that you are going to be doing.  If I could participate in these service opportunities again, I would make sure that I got the chance to help build houses with Habitat for Humanity.  If repeating the river cleanup, I would definitely bring bug spray and wear longer pants.  There were many mosquitos down by the river and I got bit numerous times!  The cleanup was difficult because the trash bags became quite heavy and at one point, my bag ripped and leaked muddy water all over the ground!  Similarly, the trash pickers were ill suited to pick up glass shards, which was most what the litter consisted of.  Despite this, however, it was very satisfying to see the difference that we made.  The riverbank looked much cleaner and it was neat to see all of the bags full of trash that we removed from the environment.  By engaging in volunteer and service projects, I have learned that I really enjoy making a difference, whether it’s in community or in the environment.  It feels amazing to know that I was able to help make the lives of others better in someway.  LIkewise, I have learned that I am very passionate about having a clean and healthy environment.  I would love to do more cleanup projects in the future, if given the opportunity.