Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. 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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

This past summer I had the opportunity to go back to Romania to see my family and travel with them around Europe for two months. I was born in Romania and I moved to the US when I was relatively young, but I still remember a lot about my childhood there. Over the years since I left I haven’t been able to return very much as it is very expensive to travel over the ocean; however, my experience this past summer made a huge impact on me.

I spent about a month total in my home town, and a month on the road with various family members. I visited some small villages around Romania as well as a few castles and ruins. I visited Valencia, Spain with my grandparents, Nikiti, Greece with my cousins, and Venice, Italy and Vienna, Austria with my aunt and uncle. These events were so important to me because I not only got to see my family after so many years apart, but I also got to step out of my comfort zone and see the world from a different point of view.

I had the opportunity to grow very much over the course of the summer as I was nearly on my own for the first time and in many different countries. It taught me so much about being independent and learning to only count on myself. It also taught me how privileged I have been in my life and how much worse I could’ve had it if my parents had chosen to stay in Romania. My time there improved my awareness for what is happening around the world and it fixed my misconception that everyone is living the suburban life that I have had.

When my parents left the country, communism had just fallen and the country was a disaster. It still is to this day, with corrupt politicians in every single position of high power, and a living standard rarely seen in the US. Had I stayed there I would’ve had much fewer opportunities to push myself and to grow and I for sure would not be the person I am today. My experience there made me much more grateful for what I have, much more willing to work for what I want, and more mature as a person.

Alba Iulia – This was a newly reconstructed church from before the communist era

Hunedoara – The castle where Vlad Dracula was imprisoned in at the end of his reign

Sighisoara – One of the best standing and still populated medieval town, originally constructed during Roman times.

Bran Castle – Vlad Dracula’s castle during his reign as well as the castle of many other rulers of Romania

Timisoara – my home town and the cultural center of Romania.

Venice, Italy

Benidorm, Valencia, Spain

About Me

 

I am passionate about STEM because I want to help people. I want to devote my time studying at the Ohio State University so that one day I can make a difference in someone’s life and hopefully improve it. I believe that I am qualifies to be a STEM scholar because I have the passion of helping people, but I also have the passion to become the best at what I do and work hard here at the university.

My parents and I are immigrants from Romania and they have taught me from a very young age that to succeed in the US, one must find what he/she is passionate for and give their all to be the very best at it. They have instilled a passion for the STEM fields as my father is a professor of statistics and my mother is a physician at a local hospital. When I was young I would always wait for my mom to come home from work so that she could tell me stories from her time in medical school and at the hospital, and hearing how passionate she was for her work made me love it too.

I am currently a pre-data analytics major on a premed track and I want to make a difference in people’s lives like my mother does does. I have volunteered for the same hospital at which my mother works and I had the opportunity of working with newborns affected by heroin use of their mothers and I learned how much of a difference just one volunteer can have on a person’s life. I have not yet had the opportunity to participate in any research or clinical shadowing but I plan on speaking to my professor  about getting involved as soon as I can.