Year in Review

The Dunn Sport and Wellness Scholars program has helped me in beginning the process of determining what I want to major in and what I want to do in the future. Each week, we have new speakers from all different sorts of backgrounds come tell their story and what they do now. This is probably one of my favorite aspects of being involved in a scholars program and it is unique to DSWS. During the second semester, we had the CEO of AccelWELL, Nicki Meyer Dennis, come speak to us. Before arriving to the meeting, I was reflecting on how I have no clue what I want to do with my life and was kind of freaking out. After hearing her speak about her company and going deeper into what AccelWELL does, I was intrigued. Before joining DSWS, I honestly had no clue what wellness even was, but after gaining a deeper knowledge of what wellness is in class last semester, I knew that I was interested. Listening to her speak helped me to realize that wellness may be something I may want to do with my future. I was also given her contact information, so if I ever want to contact her company and ask questions about what a job in wellness may entail, I am able to. Having professional speakers come and talk about what they do has helped me develop personally and possibly could help me develop professionally.

DSWS has helped me to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people. Since I am a commuter, I am not constantly with everyone in the program. Everyone else has gotten a chance to meet one another and develop deep friendships and towards the beginning, I felt like an outsider. It taught me that making friends with people who live together is not as easy when you aren’t always there. The second semester has been a lot better because I found people in the program that reach out and invite me to things. They are super nice and inclusive too, which makes things easier. I also realized that I can’t wait for people to contact me, but I need to be bold and reach out to them.

When I entered DSWS, I was a shy girl who knew a handful of people that went to OSU. As the end of the year approaches, I can say that I have gotten out of my comfort zone and been more vocal and bold when meeting people. I have made a core group of friends through a program called YoungLife, but I also have met people in DSWS and my classes. My level of maturity has grown immensely because I realized that I am responsible for completing my assignments on time and to the best of my ability. It has been a crazy, but incredible year at THE Ohio State University.

Year in Review

My first semester at Ohio State has included many ups and downs and has been a complete roller coaster! I love Ohio State and all that this university entails. The most memorable experience from my first semester is when I went on a fall retreat to Goshen, Virginia with Ohio State Young Life College.

Since I am a commuter, I was very nervous about the topic of friends. I did not know how I was going to make friends if I lived 30 minutes away from everyone. During the first week of classes, I went to the involvement fair, Buck-I-Frenzy and many other kick-off week events that the university was hosting with people I met in high school. Throughout high school, I was involved with a program called Young Life, and it was something I loved a lot. As I was walking through the crowded oval during the involvement fair, I passed a group of people who were representing young life and talked to them for awhile. I found out that they had events going on every day of kick-off week, and decided along with my high school friends to get our of our comfort zones and go. i continued to go to events throughout the semester and was made aware of a fall retreat that was coming up about halfway through the semester. I knew a few people who were going and decided to go. I ended up having the best weekend of my semester on that retreat and made some awesome friendships. The weather was perfect and the majority of the day was free time to do anything that we wanted. This allowed me to get to know some people better and actually make friendships.

This was the most memorable experience of my first semester at Ohio State because it taught me that getting out of your comfort zone, although scary, was worth it. So many good things can happen if you just take a chance and do something new!!

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 information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. 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 information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

An artifact that I consider to be a representation of my academic interests and achievements would be my chemistry lab goggles. The chemistry goggles that I wore were clear with a grey strap that wrapped around my head. The goggles represent the class that I struggled with the most this past semester, which was Chemistry 1210. I have heard many people talking about the chemistry department at Ohio State. I have heard that the department has been on probation for the last few years due to its high fail rate. I have heard that it’s a weed out class. I have heard that it’s an easy class. I have heard that the midterms are hard, but the final is easy. What I am trying to get across is that there are many different interpretations of the chemistry department here at Ohio State, which means that there isn’t a right or wrong way to view it. I personally found the course to be academically stimulating and difficult, so I had to put in a lot more time an effort into studying for the class than some of my peers. The abnormally high fail rate of students in the past was what scared me the most when completing this course, but I prevailed. These goggles represent the hard work and effort that I put into this class and all of the classes that I took this semester. These goggles represent confusion during my first semester. These goggles represent hours and hours of sleep that I lost due to studying. Finally, these goggles represent triumph.

About Me

Hello. My name is Grace Hippler and I am a member of the Dunn Sport and wellness Scholars group. I was born and raised in Canal Winchester, Ohio on March 30 of 1999. I love my hometown and have lived in the same house for my entire life. Canal is a small suburb, southeast  of Columbus, and is the home of the Indians! My three most important values include my family, friends and faith. Throughout my four (or more) years at Ohio State, I plan to graduate with Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences, and hopefully go on to Physical Therapy graduate school.

I chose Ohio State over all of the other universities because I believe that it truly encompasses the qualities of school that I love. I love that academics are such a priority to the students and faculty, as well as our school pride! Throughout high school I loved math and science classes, which lead to the determination of my major. My favorite teacher in high school was my chemistry teacher and she showed me that it is possible to make learning about science fun! Although I am not completely set on my major, I think that I would still wan to pursue something in the medical area. The pre-requisites for Physical Therapy school include two general chemistry courses, two general biology courses, two physics courses, anatomy, and physiology, which seem intimidating, but I am determined to get through it and do what I love. My academic goals will be difficult to achieve, but will be worth it in the long run.

Many careers interest me, but my top options at the moment are to become a physical therapist, a psychologist, psychiatrist or a guidance counselor because I want to help people. I haven’t decided how I want to help people yet, but these are my main choices right now. I work at a recreation center, so I am all about health and wellness. I believe that my job at the recreation center has influenced my decision of future careers, because it made me more aware of the importance of health and wellness in society. I want to help people to grow, whether that’s through physical rehabilitation or mental wellness. I could do this numerous places, such as a hospital, a high school or the wellness center at Ohio State.

On campus, I feel as though I belong most to the student organization Young Life, which is a christian youth group on campus. Being a commuter, this is where I made my friends on campus and it is where I felt most loved and accepted. I have been involved with Young Life since high school and have met many people through the organization. I hope to contribute kindness and love to Ohio State’s campus. I want students to feel comfortable around me and feel as though they can talk to me about anything because this is how I believe community should be.