This year has been very different then what I could have imagined it with the pandemic making classes fully online with the exception of some labs while restricting clubs and social gatherings it seemed like this year was going to be a bummer but it was one of the best years of my life. Something I learned in class that impacted me wasn’t a topic but it was how you need to apply yourself before, during and after every class to make sure you better understand all the material effectively to get those grades up. Many classes I have taken so far have been classes I mildly enjoyed, some I disliked, so that makes it more of a challenge to try and apply yourself to better your knowledge. Something I learned outside of the classroom is how to better understand the true impact mental health can have on you and how you preform in every aspect of your life. With the resources here on campus and learning a lot from other students I have found better methods for dealing with mental health issues that have been bad for most people especially since the beginning of 2020. Something I am trying to change about myself as a person is I am trying to be less angry and have a more positive attitude. I have learned that having a more happy and positive attitude on life since it is better for mental health but it also just makes you a better person for others to be around and you can radiate that positive energy to others. Now I said this is something I am trying to change and nobody is perfect so things so still happen in a negative way but in my eyes the act of trying is far better than not doing anything at all. One memory from this year that is for sure my favorite is taking a trip with my friends to get away from stress at school and have our time to enjoy our lives and the experience of just traveling. This was such a great experience and looking back on that trip to Chicago with my friends is something I will probably remember for a long time to come. Sightseeing, shopping and reexploring a city I haven’t been to in years was so great and I am glad I got to spend it with great people. For the next year the one thing I cannot wait for is to have in person classes finally back. With the vaccination plans OSU has carried out I can get a true first year with those in person classes and meeting my classmates and professors in person while hopefully better understanding my class material and getting more hand on learning experience. I have struggled this past year with learning online and it has effected my stance on taking classes not in person and has also messed with my drive for school. Even so, hopefully for my sake as well as my GPA’s that in person classes are just what I need to kick myself back into high gear and go on to do better in classes then I did this year.

Something I have learned in class is in my economics class is how to view different ways to use money in a graph format to optimize money and finding the balance between saving and spending. You can also in this way look at levels of inputs for work and outputs of product like amount of work an employee wants to put in f0r a certain pay. My economics class is easily one of my favorite classes this semester since it is just such a very interesting topic and I believe everyone should learn to some extent about how money works throughout the world. Something I learned about myself is that when I plan out my weeks I tend to get things done at a more efficient rate. I recently bought a calendar and it has helped me so much get my work done on time and with time to do other things that I enjoy doing. It’s easier to plan my time which is something I have struggled with in the past which is better than I thought since I have found more of a reason to study. Something I have struggled with is trying to stay motivated to do work even though I have a system for seeing what is needed to be done it is hard to continue to do when all the work feels repetitive. Hopefully nearing the end of the semester  I can get a second boost to push through the rest of my assignments with a strong work ethic into my finals to finish on a strong note. Something I have achieved is increasing my study methods for different classes as to continue to further my understanding of the material. To try and keep my grades to the caliber that I want them to be at I have been applying myself to study in different ways to better absorb the material to do better on the exams and it has been working for the most part.

A job I could see myself applying for is the job of amphibian, reptile and invasive species program manager. This job is stationed in DC with the primary purpose of being the direct contact with the association on conservation, management of the amphibian, reptile and invasive species and facilitates national collaboration on conservation issues. Most of the requirements for this job seem to be very doable in terms or graduating in 2024. One key requirement is to have some sort of biology, wildlife or environmental science degree which I plan on having after I change my major to FFW. Experience is another key requirement especially for wildlife and fish conservation. Specifically experience in state, territorial, DC or provincial fish and wildlife agencies with a clear understanding of the states fish and wildlife conservation preferences. Experience with Microsoft 356 and Microsoft office products are to be expected as with most jobs now a days to read and construct data given to you or needs to be given to others. How conservation applies to a national and local scale are also important for this job in the event that an outside business is needed to collaborate on a project. In order to make sure I can get all of these prerequisites and requirements for this job, the first one I could start with is learning about conservation of wildlife and fish nationally and move to more local areas. Of course another important step is to get my degree which if I wanted to I could get by spring 2022. If I wish to peruse veterinary school that is also an option but the fact I have so many factors to consider I am not 100% sure on my certain path to peruse. But if I choose to take a four year track to graduate I would take on a minor relating to environmental science or zoology so I could really understand more of the environmental side or more the wildlife side. Personally I would probably enjoy the zoology minor to more so focus on the animals since it relates to what I originally wanted to do which is go into a veterinary profession. With this job it is important to the future as humans have an impact on the environment and what inhabits it, it’s also our job to make sure we try to preserve the environment. With this job I can see myself in the future, seeing as I have all the requirements, successfully do this job and make a change.

Something interesting I learned in my classes for this semester is the flight zones of animals in moving them. The flight zone is a zone in an animal’s personal bubble that changes the way they act whether it’s moving away from the designated location or feeling threatened by a human’s presence and charge at them. The knowledge of the flight zone is keep for transporting animals especially moving them into a trailer for any reason such as relocation or shipping them off to the butcher. Something I learned about myself is that I am more resilient than I used to think. I can get through more than I think I used to be able to get through, I just to have confidence in myself. Something I am still struggling with is my study habits. I haven’t found a true method that has worked well for me and I am feeling worse about it when comparing myself to my peers who all seem to have very good study habits. One thing I hope to accomplish within the next few weeks is to get that habit on lockdown and make sure it works for me and can also help me in the best way to retain information for my exams and for future classes. Something so far I have achieved is a very good understanding of the material in my classes which has helped me with the first assignments in all my classes. Hopefully this understanding will increase as the semester goes on so I can keep these grades and increase my GPA to keep my scholarship for the future. As that is one of the things I have been worrying about for my future at OSU I want to just make sure I can do everything in my power to do what is best for my education.

This has been no ordinary semester in the slightest, from online classes to limited interaction with others and all other restrictions due to COVID-19. Despite of all the new rules for my first college semester, it wasn’t that bad. The transition was a little rougher than imagined but easier in some departments. With going mostly online besides a few exceptions I found that I don’t learn as effectively in a non-classroom setting, but with all my classes being online I had more time to do work since I didn’t have to walk around from class to class. Other than that life in college has been great, it was easy to make friends which was one of my huge concerns coming into college and that made the transition a bit easier. So far college life has been great not just because you are away from home but everyone is just trying to get through school while trying to have fun and its easy to bond over that especially if you chare classes with them. OSU’s campus is just so beautiful I love that about the college and is one thing that is so cool about the culture is just there is always something happening maybe not as much due to COVID but hopefully more of that will happen soon. The other students and the factually for the most part have been great and it made the university more welcoming to myself and others. Granted with COVID it was a bit different but still wasn’t too bad most of my professors made the transition to online learning pretty smooth and manageable. One big struggle of college life is since everything is online it is sometimes hard to want to get out of bed just to look at a computer screen all day. The lack of interaction in the daily life at OSU due to the distanced learning just made my mental state decline pretty hard when I was on campus. Luckily I had friends who were all going through the same thing so we where there to help each other try and get through this rough and very different semester. One thing I achieved this semester is getting through it. There where many times in this semester where I felt like giving up and I, with the help of my friends, kept pushing because I knew I could do it and with the little extra push I got through it. With this semester it showed me that I can achieve things even if they aren’t necessarily normal but I just need to power through and keep my mind sharp and that will help me. A goal for myself next semester is hold myself to higher standards for my academics. I let myself go off too easy this semester and because of that my grade slipped pretty hard. I know for next semester I need to hold myself more accountable for my own work and making sure I understand the material thoroughly. Next semester I am not taking as many classes because I found my limit in my first semester so that should be easier for me to make sure I understand the material. I won’t bespreading myself too thin and I should be able to balance the work to ensure I have better grades ending next semester.

It is crazy to see how ENR has changed in such a short amount of time compared to our alums but it has quite a bit. When interviewing Alyssa Witeof I wasn’t sure what I was going to learn about ENR or her time at the university but it was interesting on how somethings were the same but others were different. For her time in ENR the community lived in blackbird while we obviously live in Morrill towers. But, like out ENR community they were all very close and she is still friends with them to this day. ENR was and is still that freshmen and sophomore group of students that care for the environment and want to be apart of the community. Alyssa was involved in many student organizations like the animal science and pre vet clubs as well as block O. All of these clubs were great experiences for people passionate about those topics. Block O is a great club for any sports lover while the animals science and pre vet clubs are great for anyone looking for internships or getting closer with other animal science or pre vet students. College is a great place to develop not only your knowledge but yourself as a person wether its job experience or internships, they give you something fun to do in college as well as introduce you to multiple environments to prepare you for the future. The biggest lesson Alyssa had to learn in her career is what she didn’t want to do in her life. She tried many things and moved around a lot but she had to see what wasn’t for her before she found her calling which took some time but she is happier doing what she does now compared to if she would have kept at the same job she didn’t like. Things to prepare yourself in a professional career are to look at all your bosses and gather what you want from a boss, not so much as what they want from a employee. Interviews are a huge part of a job, one key part is to look into why you are filling the roll and see what you can gather if it’s the right job for you. One big interview tip is to read up on the place or company you plan on working for and ask personalized questions to show a true interest in the job. One sign to show that you care about the job is to ask “what would be considered wrong” that shows that you care about doing your job correctly and to hold your working credibility to your bosses standards.

Over the past month I have learned a lot of things from all my classes. The most interesting has to be in my animal science lab where we finally got to meet in person in the past month and learned about the digestive systems of animals. It is so crazy how proportional these animal’s systems are compared to human systems. Like a sheep has a digestive system is almost twenty four times longer than its entire body when measured out! Pushing myself to make studying a more recurring habit has helped myself understand the material more and also shown to give better results for assignments and test. I always thought studying was a waste of time especially in high school and this showed in my first wave of college exams. For me to now realize how important studying is, I hope I will stay in the right mindset especially for finals only a little over a month away. Time management is something I still struggle with, trying to find time to manage for assignments, studying and time for myself in-between all class time throughout the days. It is getting better but to my standards, it isn’t good enough. Before holiday break I would love to get into a goof habit of studying and prepping for exams before I go home and potentially fall out of that habit. Something I have achieved is officially my first college A! In my FAES survey course, I know it’s not a hard class, the final grades were submitted since it is only a seven week course and I got an A. I can say that I hope to maintain those standards in all my classes which might not be a realistic standard but one I would love to have all A’s and B’s to make sure I am succeeding to the level I have set myself too.

In my Animal Science class I learned about the dairy farm on OSU’s campus and I didn’t even know we had one. Learning about the upbringing of a cow’s day to day life from birth to all other ages. It was interesting to get a virtual tour and see what went on behind the scenes. So far I have learned two big things about myself. One is that studying is very important and the other is I think I was always meant to be an extrovert. I never ever needed to study in high school, I was always able to put things off and get them done at the last minute and still get a good grade on it. But, ever since I have been at OSU I have learned that this isn’t high school or community college classes, this stuff is hard and I did not prepare myself fully. I have always marked myself as an introvert ever since middle school but when I made the friends I have made so far here I have learned that hanging out with people and being social isn’t so bad and when I can’t have those experiences it makes me sad. Something I have struggled with is trying to stay motivated during my homework sessions. Every time I try to sit down and do homework I always find myself getting bored then putting it off for later. This kills me since then I have to rush to get it done and try to attempt to learn what I need to learn in a shorter amount of time. Something I have achieved is a finding a great group of friends. That was one of my biggest concerns going into college was trying to find people to become friends with but I think I lucked out. All of my friends have been super nice, helpful and all around great people to be around. Overall with this new support system and people by myside, adapting to college has been smoother than I thought it would be.