Final ENR Scholars Reflection

1st year camping trip

The past two years have been a whirlwind of great experiences, lots of studying, and discovery. Coming into college I was very nervous about making friends, what my major was going to be, and overall how happy I was going to be at Ohio State. I came to this University on a gut feeling; the first time I came to campus I just had this feeling that I was where I should be. However, as my freshman move-in date kept approaching, I was getting nervous that my gut feeling was wrong; I was coming to a school where I had no friends, my long-term boyfriend was staying back in Cleveland, and I had never moved previously. Over the past two years, though, I can say that my gut was right and that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

One of the reasons my experience at Ohio State has been so amazing is the scholars program. While at times it did get on my nerves, I cannot thank this program enough for all of the friends, experiences, and opportunities it has provided me with. The program helped me to find my true passion, sustainability, and my favorite subject to study: environmental economics. It has also broadened my view of the world. I had rarely gone camping before I came to Ohio State and now, two years later, I would say I am a relatively experienced outdoor adventurer. The experiences, such as Hocking Hills, the Everglades sea-kayaking trip, and others, has lead me to find one of my favorite ways to vacation: outside. Now, I am confident in my abilities outdoors, and I believe that knowledge is immeasurable.

Halloween 2nd year

ENR has brought me a community that I could not had fathomed before starting at Ohio State. My very best friends are in ENR scholars and I have met so many people through this program. I am so thankful for this little community within such a large University. Without it, I could not have imagined my experience being anywhere near as wonderful as it has been. This is by far the highlight of my experience with ENR scholars. This community led me to my best friends and I do not think anything else can top that.

My Spring 2017 project was my internship with Global Gifts. This was an unpaid internship working on evaluating the operations of the store to make sure they were acting as sustainably as possible. I evaluated the products they carried in the store as well as some of their operations and provided feedback to the store manager on what was going well and what needed working on. I encouraged the store to begin recycling again because they had stopped due to misinformation given to them and I evaluated the overall sustainability of fair trade. Overall the internship was fantastic and gave me the opportunity to make my city cleaner by helping this organization. I’ve gained so much knowledge and experience from this internship that I will be able to carry on with me in my future endeavors. It really allowed me to give back to my community with my time and my knowledge of sustainability while also gaining so much real-world experience.

For incoming freshman, I would recommend just going to events, even ones that scare you. I know school can be overwhelming at times and it’s hard to get yourself to the events, but they’re the best part of ENR. Also, go outside of your comfort zone and try new things. It was through ENR scholars that I found my love for rock climbing, backpacking, sustainability, and other activities.

 

Final Autumn Semester Check In

Throughout the semester, my second year project was Mentor Council. This was a great project that really helped me grow as a person. At first, the project was a little awkward for me however, as I became more comfortable in my role, I really began to learn how to thrive in a role like this one. I got to know my saplings, some more than others, but it was a great time. I committed a good amount of hours, 17 not including the camping trip. If I were to include the camping trip, it would be well over 50 hours.

The events that were held in order for me to complete my project really helped. There were meetings, projects and other events that really helped me get as many hours as I did. The camping trip being two whole days also helped. The camping trip in general helped me become much closer to my saplings. I think that the trip made us all much more comfortable with each other. I definitely found the project rewarding when I look back on the first day I met my saplings. They all have come very far since that first scary day at Ohio State. They seem to have gotten the hang of college and I hope that they do well on their finals in the next week.

If I could start over, I would have made more of an effort to talk to them outside of the events. Being an introvert and admittedly kind of shy, I find it hard to go up to people and just talk. I am not so great at small talk, but I wish I would have made more of an effort. I went to go get coffee with two of my saplings one day and it was a great experience and really made me proud that they have come so far. I gained a lot of confidence from this project and I am excited to see how the next semesters go and how my saplings turn out once their year is done.

Proposal Check-In

I have been working on my proposal for almost two months now. Working with my saplings has been a great yet challenging time. Throughout this journey I have learned that being a mentor is hard. It is hard to find the balance between being pushy and being distant. I want to help everyone but  not everyone needs help.

Marie, my mentor partner, and I first started with the somewhat pushy approach. We learned through experience that this does not work so well with our saplings and decided to back off a little. I believe with this group of students the ‘let them come to me’ approach works a little better. As a group they seem very independent so they do not need us as much as we previously thought.

With that being said, I am still making strides to connect with every one of them. I think the camping trip really helped with that, but two of our six saplings were not there. Marie and I are trying to plan a time that we can all hang out, but it proves difficult with everyone’s schedules.

I think after the reevaluation of the needs of my saplings, my project is going more smoothly. Instead of the planning events we have gone with the invite to things we’re already doing approach. I think it’s important while doing projects like these to be flexible with how you approach it. If we had kept the original plan then we probably would have just become frustrated with the results. I think with this approach everyone is happier and it is putting the responsibility onto our saplings to decide how involved they want to be, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Second Year Project Proposal

I plan on using my position within the Mentor Council for my second year project. I chose this because I know that the transition from high school to college is a hard one and I want to help my saplings through it so they can truly thrive in this environment. My mentor last year was always friendly and smiled every time I saw him, and I think that really helped me through my first semester here at Ohio State. I am working on this project because I want to give back to the Environment and Natural Resources Scholars community and this is the best way, for me personally, to do that.

 

My saplings will hopefully benefit from this project. Each one of the saplings in my group have a different level of need out of this program and I hope to be there for each of them. If they just want me to be a friendly smile in the elevator or someone who can help them with all things Ohio State, I am there for them and I think that is a very comforting thing to know.

 

The Mentor Council has already benefited me by teaching me to be a better leader and conversation mediator.  Through our meetings and interaction with our saplings I have already grown as a leader and I hope to continue to grow. Due to my introverted tendencies, I sometimes have a hard time taking on vocal leadership roles, tending to take on the roll as the quiet leader, but through the Mentor Council and ENR in general, I have already started to come out of my shell. I hope that this program continues to help me find my strengths in leadership and communication.

 

I hope this project will continue to help me find myself through my strengths. I hope to help my saplings grow and find themselves, too. There is nothing more beautiful in this world than to watch someone else blossom and, better yet, to have a distinct role in it.

Year in Review

This year has been one of growth for me. Going to Ohio State has truly opened my eyes to so many different things. I have become more environmentally conscious than I was previous to this year because of ENR scholars. Ohio State has also just made me more open to people that are extremely different than me.

First of all, becoming even more environmentally conscious has been such an amazing experience. I was already pretty sustainable, but now through ENR I have noticed some of my daily activities that were actually extremely unsustainable, such as taking long showers or eating meat at every meal. I found my passion lies in sustainability through ENR. I did not even know that sustainability could be a career path, but now I do. I changed my major from Biology (something I completely hated) to Environment Economy Development and Sustainability. Even with one semester of this new major, I have noticed how much happier I am in my classes. Instead of a heavy science load like I had the first semester, I had a course load that was balanced which, in turn, made me feel more balanced. I had a science and a math course, but I also had a social science and a humanities course. Through this I have found that I excel more with a balanced lifestyle.

Ohio State has made me much more open to different people, too. I thought in order to be friends with someone you had to be very similar to them, but through my suite mates I found that I could be best friends with someone who is the complete opposite of me. It, again, provides a balance. My entire suite was filled with people who all were completely different and unique. It is so hard to believe that we all got along so well. It really opened me up to the possibilities.

One thing I have been working on this past Spring semester is minimalism. I have not, by any means, gotten to the point where I can say I am a minimalist, but I am on a journey towards it. One day, I looked around at all of the stuff I had accumulated and I felt an overwhelming feeling of stress on my shoulders. I tend to be a packrat, not because I think I’ll need this stuff later, but because I feel absolutely awful about throwing anything away. Of course, I can donate a lot of stuff, but the other stuff burdens me to throw away. So, I have been going through all of my stuff and trying to donate as much as I possibly can. I have reached that point in my life where i have realized happiness does not come through stuff, it comes through good company and a good state of mind.

I am a feely person, so the only thing that has prompted me to do these things was because I had a gut feeling to. If you give me information that will change my mind, I will change my mind. I try to live without pride, in that sense, because pride can get in the way of happiness. ENR gave me an abundant amount of information on why I should not take long showers, so I decided to shorten them. I have always gone with my gut. It is how I decided to switch my major from an ever-so-popular Biology major to a not-so-popular EEDS major. If it feels right, I will most likely do it. So all of the changes have been made because something inspired me to, whether it was ENR Scholars, my classes, or just information I read on the internet.

This year has taught me to stop and breathe. To take in the world around me. I already was like this, but this year made me realize how important it is, even if I’m stressed. It has also opened my eyes up to how beautiful people can be if you give them the chance to blossom. Through my sea kayaking trip I got to experience this first hand. I have learned that showing vulnerability first may be hard, but it is the catalyst for a beautiful conversation. So, I have decided to be more vulnerable. That is how I have been giving back. I also have done community service, which is important, but I feel like this may be just as important. To show vulnerability is hard, I know, but it is the difference between a mildly okay conversation and relationship to one that is beautiful and complex. I hope to continue this when I become a mentor next semester. I truly want the first years to experience these conversations. They are ones that I used to have with my family a lot before college and I did not get during my first semester here. Through sea kayaking and my Environment and Religious Values course, I definitely got a heavy dose of those conversations in Spring semester.

Scholars Earth Month definitely helped me to become more sustainable in my life. Because of it, I have become mostly vegetarian. I do eat occasional meat, but I have tried to slim it down as much as possible. I am not one who likes to restrict themselves, so, as of right now, I could not say I was full on vegetarian. However, I am eating way less meat than I had previously, and I feel great. It has made me happier and healthier. It has provided a much needed balance into my life. I am still trying to cut down my shower time, it is probably the hardest thing for me to do. Scholars Earth Month has helped me to realize becoming sustainable is a work in progress. It cannot be done overnight, but with enough will-power, change can happen, and it becomes easier.

To end, I’d like to put my two favorite quotes that I have found this past year. The first is one that was read during the sea kayaking trip.

“There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less” -Kurt Hahn

and the second one was one I heard in my Environment and Religion class:

“The unexamined life is not worth living”

Both of these quotes are perfect depictions of my past year.

Earth Month Challenge Week 4

This past week I ate vegetarian, which was not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it still was pretty difficult. I realized that there really aren’t that many options on campus for vegetarians that aren’t generic salad. At most of the grab & go places on campus there is only one or two vegetarian options, unless you count the places that have vegetarian chicken. I do not personally enjoy any of the vegetarian styled meats, so that wasn’t really an option for me. I was trying to eat a pure vegetarian meal without any of the weird meat-styled substitutes, which I found to be pretty difficult. It was an eye-opener to see how obsessed our culture is with meat.

 

Throughout the entire month I learned a lot about sustainability in the Food and Water category. After going through with this Earth Month Challenge I realized how unsustainable our food industry at the University is. I feel like instead of having meals focussed around a particular meat, the meals should be vegetarian first and then meat can be added on to them. That would give vegetarians so many more options and then anyone who isn’t vegetarian can still add meat onto their meal. This is wishful thinking, but I think it would cut down on a lot of the meat that is eaten here making OSU students more sustainable.

 

I learned that I am capable of eating vegetarian and that it is not as hard as it sounds. Also, during this experience, I have realized that I am not craving meat like I used to. The past two weeks I have eaten only vegetarian or strictly only fish meat products, and I have felt healthier. I no longer get that gross feeling from overeating like I have previously from high meat content meals.

 

With all of this in mind, I am not going to strictly continue the vegetarian diet, but I plan on eating less meat based meals. Of the meat-based meals that I have, I do plan on eating fish mostly. I recently watched a Ted Talk on a man who does meatless weekdays. Monday through Friday he eats vegetarian and then on the weekends he allows himself to eat meat if he pleases. I really enjoy this compromise and I plan on trying that.

 

Next, I think I will try the Toxicity category. I want to slowly back away from toxic lotions and body washes and towards more natural ones. I have already replaced my face lotion with coconut oil, which is working out well, so I am excited to continue switching out my beauty products for more sustainable ones.

Earth Month Challenge Week 3

For week 3 I decided to eat Pescatarian. For the most part I ate vegetarian, but there were a few days that I ate fish, especially when I felt as if I was not getting enough protein throughout the day. The act of eating pescatarian was not hard because there are plenty of things to eat around campus that do not contain meat (except fish), but the hardest part of this week’s challenge was just remembering to do so. I think in our culture it is so hardwired into our brains that we need to eat meat with every meal that it can be hard to break that social instinct. I’ve learned that I definitely can eat pescatarian if I become more conscious of my eating and more attentive to my decisions throughout the day. It is harder to eat pescatarian or vegetarian because you do have to be more conscious of what you eat the entire day so that you do get the necessary protein in your diet, especially if you’re an athlete.

This next week I am going to go vegetarian, so no more fish! I think it’ll be hard to find options on campus, especially in the dining halls, that are not just salad. I love salad, but I cannot eat it 2 or 3 meals a day. I also do not really like substitute meats, like to-furky or vegetarian chicken, so it will be harder for me to find meals on campus if I do not eat those. This is a really big problem in university dining, they think you can just offer a substitute for a meat, but really we just need more plates that aren’t centered around it. I know of a few really good vegetarian meals around campus, but it will be interesting to have to find other options, too.

Earth Month Challenge: Week 2

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First of all, here’s an update from my first week’s challenge! My herbs have started to sprout and I’m really excited about it.

For the second week my challenge was to take shorter showers. This one is actually really hard for me because I find showers really relaxing, especially during the colder weather, but I still managed to shorten my showers by a couple minutes. I think if I would have made two mini challenges within this category I probably would have been more successful. I do not wash my hair everyday, so setting a goal of a shorter amount of time for those showers and giving myself a little wiggle room for the days I do wash my hair would have made me feel more accomplished. When I did wash my hair this week it took longer so I felt like I wasn’t accomplishing my goal, but reflecting back on it I now realize the showers were still shorter than they would have been if I wasn’t keeping in mind the time I was in there for.

This week I learned that I really enjoy long showers but that  it is something I can work on in the future so I don’t hurt the environment so much from it. I do not know if I’ll ever be the 3 minute shower person, especially when I have to wash my hair, but just shaving off 2-5 minutes really makes a difference.

I have actually decided to change what my goal is for next week into eating pescatarian. I had originally said I was going to make my own convenient foods (like granola bars) but I do not forsee myself getting to the grocery store this week in order to buy the ingredients. So, in order to ease into week 4, I decided to eat strictly pescatarian. I enjoy fish so it won’t be unimaginably difficult, but it’ll still be difficult to not eat some of my favorite foods.

Earth Month Challenge Week 1

For this first week I decided to start growing my own herbs. This is, in a sense, a way of eating locally. My roommate, Claire, and I both planted some herbs in pots for our dorm room and I have been in charge of caring for them. This challenge is obviously going to go on throughout the Earth Month because they haven’t sprouted yet, but will also go on after Earth month. I already knew in the back of my head that I loved plants and growing things, but this week has reinforced it. I have been anxiously awaiting a sign of life from our seeds, even though it has only been a week. Claire and I have other plants in our room, but for the most part she has taken care of them because I have a hard time trusting myself with living things, but I have learned that I can remember when I need to water them and to put them in the windowsill.

I am excited for this upcoming week because I am going to take on a larger challenge of taking shorter showers. This is one of my biggest weaknesses and it will truly be a challenge, especially in cold weather, to take shorter showers. I plan on making a playlist of music that is under 10 minutes and trying to be out of the shower before the playlist ends. This will make the challenge go smoother because I do not have the best sense of time. I am excited to see how the week goes!

Post-Trip: Sea Kayaking Through the Florida Everglades

OHIO in the backcountry

OHIO in the backcountry

Sea-Kayaking in the Everglades was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was filled with laughs, sunsets, wildlife, hacky sack, compasses, beaches, and, of course, a ton of kayaking. We kayaked over 30 miles throughout the six days in the backcountry. We saw some amazing things that not many people get to see in their lives. We saw manatees, many different birds, a whole pod of dolphins, a baby alligator, bioluminescence, and some very beautiful sunsets. The subtle beauty of the Everglades is breathtaking.

I learned many things throughout this trip. I learned how to kayak correctly, partly due to instruction, partly due to the fact that I could not have kayaked over thirty miles just using my arms and no core like I previously had. I learned how to use a backcountry stove and how to make some pretty delicious meals. I also learned how to read a chart (and that there is a difference between a chart and a map) and how to use a compass. Not only did I learn how to read and use a chart, I actually got to put these newfound skills into action on the last day as Navigator. Surprisingly, I did not get anyone lost and we safely got to our destination. I learned all of those technical skills, but there are skills that I learned that are not as tangible as those listed previously. I learned how to become a better leader, and how to open myself up to strangers.  I learned how immeasurable good community is, and how nature brings out the best in people. I found that the hardships of the backcountry cause the good times to be even better. I learned how to trust people with my vulnerabilities, and how to make other people trust me with theirs. By doing this, I learned more about myself in a week than I had the past eighteen years of my life.

There is a quote that was read to us more than once. It was said by Kurt Hahn and it goes “There is more to us than we know. If only we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.” I truly believe this trip helped me to see more in myself than I had previously seen. I learned that I can be a good leader and I can use navigation to get myself somewhere.

This trip has only intensified my lust for adventure and spirituality within nature. I would recommend this trip to absolutely anyone who is up for the challenge. While, it was physically demanding at times, it truly changed my life, as cliche as that sounds. If anyone is considering this trip or a trip like this, my biggest recommendation would be just do it. Put your deposit down so you cannot back out. Possibly hit up the gym. Most importantly, though, open yourself up to the changes that it’ll inevitably bring to you.

Navigating on the Beach

Navigating on the Beach

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Post-Sea Kayaking Dinner at Stan's

Post-Sea Kayaking Dinner at Stan’s