Sophomore year has been both challenging and exciting, and it is flying by.  This year, I have been able to be more academically focused than last year.  I’m not saying I wasn’t focused on my school work last year, I was, but I had many more distractions, as I was in a quad in a ten-person suite in Lincoln, where the door was always open and people were always stopping by.  Now, I am in a regular double with a roommate who is also focused on her studies.  This new environment has significantly influenced and increased by studying and we push each other to work hard, but healthily.

This year, I have thought a lot about what I want to do in the future, and I’m still not exactly sure, but I know which direction I’m heading in.  As of mid-March, I am now officially a Biochemistry major.  I tentatively entered freshman year as a chemistry major, knowing full well that that was not what I wanted to do with my life or what I really loved.  I like chem, but I’m not passionate about it.  However similar the majors are, I am very happy with my switch and I’m really interested in the material.  My honors contract shows my commitment to the goal of Academic Enrichment as I have spent so many hours assembling my planned curriculum and completely rewriting it too many times to count.  My goal is medical school, however, I am still open to similar fields.  My biochemistry major is perfect for this, as it fulfills almost all of the requirements and recommendations for medical schools and other professional schools. As mentioned above, the major is perfect, because it is what I am most interested in.  It is the course where I hear material and I often find myself saying “Wow, that is fascinating…” and sharing in awe looks with my friends.  For my minor, I picked biology.  I entered school here wanting a major in chemistry and a minor in biology.  Even though I switched my major, I have kept the minor the same, because those are the courses I am interested in.  I really want to take anatomy and physiology as I find them interesting and useful, but also good to have already been exposed to, so I can better succeed in medical school.  I realized I would only have to take one additional course for the minor, so why not do it? Also, the minor helps me pick courses that complete the upper-level course requirement.  I could take easier courses instead of the minor to boost my GPA, but I am going to work hard and challenge myself to do well in trickier courses that actually peak my interest.

For the Global Awareness part of goals, I plan to use my STEP funds to learn about a new place, people, and culture while volunteering.  My proposal is for a trip with Cross-Cultural Solutions to Costa Rica to assist in early childhood education.  These schools are limited in number, have too many students, and too few teachers. The children are not getting the attention or the material that they need to succeed and stay in school. I will be able to learn about a part of the world I know nothing about and will better understand the amazing privilege I have of being able to receive this education and other experiences.  I will also challenge my Spanish education that I will be finishing next year and I will learn how to effectively communicate with a language barrier.  In my Spanish classes, I will learn about the cultures of millions of people around the world.  In my English courses, I am learning about representations of peoples through media.  History of art 2003 will teach me much about eastern Asian culture.  Classics 2220 and 2201 will teach me about the ancient world and how certain groups of people formed and what the western world is built upon.  Architecture informed me a lot upon the lives, history, and cultures of people all over the ancient world to present day.

To complete the original inquiry goal, I have participated in research in classes, and am planning to do more with professors here and with companies at home.  In biology, I chose to extract endophytes from a particular form of pine and grow the fungi to analyze what the particular species were.  In psychology, I participated in multiple studies and conducted my own experiment on the effectiveness of online flashcards versus paper flashcards on memory retention for languages.  In Chemistry 1620, I developed a solar cell by changing one of the components within to determine the effect on efficiency, while making a product that was less environmentally harmful than the first.  These courses have taught me a lot about the research process and the additional work required that you might not realize from an outside perspective.  I want to take Biochemistry 2900H, because I think it would be awesome to learn about all of the research in the field that is being done on campus.  After touring the labs, you get matched to one, so that you can work in it.  I plan to do research next year and senior year.  For this summer, I hope to work, intern, or shadow at a company near my home that is researching the effectiveness of using an opioid antagonist that can regulate bone stem cells to accelerate bone growth.

I am usually more of a follower than a leader in a group, however, I will take charge, if I think the current leadership is ineffective or lacking.  I am timid, so sometimes that is what is in my way.  I think the volunteer trip to Costa Rica will be very effective for me to further develop my leadership abilities.  I will be out of my comfort zone.  The experience will push me to challenge my communication skills and learn how to communicate when I can’t understand someone and they can’t understand me. I am going to go with one of my friends, to lower the price, and she is even quieter than I, so I will end up being the voice and making decisions for the both of us.  At school, I am an event planning chair for Smiles with Style, which is a club that volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House.  I will be in charge of planning and running events for just the club members and others involving the children at the house. These will assist in my personal goal of being more outspoken, brave, and ability to be a better leader.  This will be extremely important for my career goal of becoming a doctor, as I need to be able to be a good, effective leader and a great communicator.

For service engagement, I have and will volunteer abroad, at home, and here at Ohio State.  I will work with preschool children in Costa Rica to develop literacy, numeracy, creativity and work on social, emotional, and motor abilities.  I am also planning to volunteer at a hospital over the summer and volunteer at The James next semester and continue to do so for the rest of my undergraduate career.  On campus, I am involved in Pen Pals, Smiles with Style, Project Sunshine, and Make a Wish.  In pen pals, we write to kids every other week to give them another person in their life that they can talk to and learn from.  We get to meet these kids and show them around campus.  In Smiles with Style, we volunteer at The Ronald McDonald house to give them a better experience while receiving medical care.  We also help the families to lighten their stress.  Project Sunshine also volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House, but the hope is that we will also be able to volunteer in Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  We spend time playing with and teaching the children and we prepare activity packages for the children to complete while in the hospital.  Make a Wish raises awareness and money for the local branch of the Make a Wish Foundation, so that children’s wishes can be fulfilled.  We also get to meet wish kids and help make sure that their wish is fulfilled to the best it possibly can.