Before the beginning of my first semester at Ohio State, I was chosen to attend the 2017 Leadership Collaborative, an annual leadership conference conducted by the Office of First Year Experience. At this conference, I was able to not only hone my leadership skills and become educated on the qualities a leader must possess, I also met 70 other students from around the country.
For one week at the beginning of August, I attended small group sessions, group outings to campus, and trips to the surrounding Columbus area. Such trips included the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus and the Columbus Museum of Art. These trips were meant to introduce myself and other students to the many different forms of leadership that one can become involved in both on Ohio State’s campus and in the city of Columbus itself.
I throughly enjoyed this experience on a personal level as well as on a professional level. As a result of attending this conference, I met some of the brightest and most determined people I have ever known. Within this cohort of students, I gained the unbreakable friendship of six other first years, with whom I have experienced my first semester of college with. These friends have been my anchor through my personal, academic, and mental struggles thus far, and I could not be more grateful.
I attribute the 2017 Leadership Collaborative with easing my way onto Ohio State’s campus, introducing me to some of the university’s most innovative and established staff members/alumni, and bringing to me the closest friends I have ever had.