Year in Review
This past year has offered many different opportunities and experiences that were different from my first year at OSU. Academically, I started my first major class for Chemical Engineering in the Autumn semester. This shift in classes focused more on my specific interests rather than the overarching goals of engineering that I had seen in my first year. I enjoyed being able to push myself intellectually as the concepts were presented in a different way to what I was used to. This year began to push my knowledge and made me draw on concepts I have learned over the past few years in ways my first-year classes didn’t as much. I also developed my time management skills more with my academic schedule as more classes required more time spent with them. Furthermore, with the shift to mostly online courses for the fall semester I feel I became a more self-reliant learner as I wasn’t in a class with all of my peers all the time. I began to go deeper into the topics and relied on myself more to understand topics rather than always going to others in my class for help. Academically I also feel I progressed by better adapting to new styles of teaching, especially online than I had in the spring semester of first year.
During my spring semester of second year, I had the opportunity to complete an internship with pH Matter, an energy and materials company. Professionally, this was my first internship, and the wealth of knowledge I have gained I believe will help me in the future with the rest of my major classes and internships. Through this internship, I have been exposed to how research and development works, learned how specific instrumentation works, and was a part of multiple teams working on projects dealing with catalyst synthesis, batteries, fuel cell supports, and catalysts. This internship has provided me first-hand experience with these topics and has allowed me to see what areas I enjoy within chemical engineering and what I want to pursue further into my major at OSU. I have been able to develop a clearer goal of what I want to get out of my major and the path I want to follow, which as of right now is an environmental focus within chemical engineering. This experience has also made me want to explore other areas where chemical engineering is used not just in research and development, but I also want to look at areas of manufacturing or plant work.
During my second year at OSU, I feel like I have developed a lot personally. In my first year, I remember focusing heavily on school rather than on taking time to spend with my friends. However, with everything being online and the restrictions, I feel like I realized the importance of taking time away from school to spend with friends. Thus, I feel like I did a better job of taking time both to myself and to spend with my roommates this year compared to my first year. I also feel that I developed my communication and confidence skills this year as I continued to be a teaching assistant for chemistry for another semester. Compared to my first semester teaching in my first year, I was more confident in my teaching. I feel like this then translated to the lab, where I was more communicative, better at assessing the class, and created better solutions to problems that arose in the lab.
During the summer, I have two major plans. I am continuing my spring internship through the summer, which I think will help me delve into the topics that I have begun to learn about more. The next big part is I’m taking two summer classes for school, which I feel will be a good way to come back to classes after taking a semester off.
Updated G.O.A.L.S.
Updated G.O.A.L.S.
- Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences.
- I hope to gain more knowledge about different cultures through my Year of Service with Mount and serving at a community center where there are people from all types of background, and I can interact with them.
- Update(1/4): During the second semester I am going to try and go to the Inclusive Leadership Series that my Scholars program offers to learn about prevalent issues that are happening not only in our community but nationally and globally.
- One goal I have is to take classes that are outside of my major that focus more on learning about people and how to build better communities. This year, taking a leadership class has exposed me to new perspectives and topics that I hadn’t thought about before. I want to continue learning from classes like this that make me think more about the people in society.
- Update(3/5): During the summer I plan to take 2 classes that are outside of my major, and I think they will be able to provide me a better understanding of other things around me. I plan to take a psychology class as well as a class that revolves around technology and society. Both are relevant topics to the world right now, and I hope to gain a better understanding from them.
- I hope to gain more knowledge about different cultures through my Year of Service with Mount and serving at a community center where there are people from all types of background, and I can interact with them.
- Original Inquiry: Understand the research process by engaging in experiences
- I want to pursue research and gain knowledge by completing an internship or co-op during the next couple years to better understand the path I want to take in my major.
- Update(1/4): I am currently interviewing for internships for the spring semester and trying to decide which internship I want to do.
- Update(3/5): During the Spring semester I began an internship at pH Matter a small company in Columbus OH that focuses on research related to my major such as fuel cells and catalysts. I am continuing this internship through the summer, and I hope to continue developing more knowledge on the topics they look at. This internship has also made me more interested in pursuing an environmental focus in chemical engineering.
- I want to pursue research and gain knowledge by completing an internship or co-op during the next couple years to better understand the path I want to take in my major.
- Academic Enrichment: Academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
- As an OSU-Honda Scholar Award recipient I want to continue building my knowledge and trying new experiences.
- I want to push myself to take more challenging classes as the years pass to stretch myself and put me out of my comfort zone.
- Update(1/4): During the fall semester, I took a leadership class which was different from other classes that I’ve done in the past. It was not at all related to my major and also made me see various perspectives I had been unaware of. It also brought to light many of the social justice issues that are important right now to my attention.
- I want to make my education well rounded by not only taking classes that are required for my major but also classes that focus on other ideologies and thoughts that I can use to better my understanding of different perspectives.
- Leadership Development: 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.
- I want to develop my leadership skills as a Teaching Assistant for General Chemistry and continue to build those skills over the next couple years.
- Update(3/5): After taking a break from being a Teaching Assistant spring semester during my internship, I plan to reapply to be a TA when I return in the fall. I want to continue developing my leadership and communication skills.
- I would like to take on more of a leadership role within the Mount Scholars by continuing to be a post Mount after second year.
- As a member of the Society of Women Engineers I want to have a larger role in it in the next couple years to help make more of an impact with the organization and also develop my leadership skills working with others.
- I want to develop my leadership skills as a Teaching Assistant for General Chemistry and continue to build those skills over the next couple years.
- Service Engagement: Commit to service to the community.
- During my time at OSU I hope to continue doing service through the Mount Leadership Society. Engaging with the program will allow me to be active within the community and help with a variety of service projects.
- I want to accomplish my Year of Service for Mount by serving at the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center and helping tutor for another program, Kindergarten Corps.
- Update(1/4): As of January 2021, I completed my Year of Service by completing over 75 hours total at three service locations during the year. From the experience I learned a lot about adaptability and trying new ways to serve. I also learned to do projects that surround a topic you are passionate about. For me I enjoyed my time at Kindergarten Corps most because education is an important topic for me.
- I hope to find at least one service site this year that I can commit to serving at for longer than the year.
- Update(3/5): I found a food pantry that is close to my house that I volunteered at over the winter break, and I hope to continue serving there during the summer when I have a break.
Career
Resume
Experiences
General Chemistry Teaching Assistant (2020-present)
As a General Chemistry TA I have taught the lab section of General Chemistry at OSU. I have been able to develop communication and leadership skills through this experience. Working with different students every semester I have had to adapt to working with different learners and have gained a better understanding of how to present information to a group. Furthermore, I have learned to adapt to how my students learn so that they have the best experience. These skills can be used later on because I can work effectively with a group to meet other’s needs. I have also learned how to lead and teach a group of students to make myself heard by gaining their trust. Building relationships with students makes them more willing to work with you, which is a skill I can use in the future with other projects.
Chemical Engineering R&D Internship (2021)
During the spring semester of my second year at OSU I completed an internship with pH Matter, a company that focuses on creating materials for different energy projects. With this internship I have been able to work on projects related to batteries, fuel cells, and catalysts. I have learned about various methods to making better catalysts as well as assemblies the different pieces of technologies. Working in this internship has given me access to see research being done first hand and being able to participate in it. Through this project I have learned how to give my ideas to a group that I work with and how to be efficient in a real lab space. I haven’t finished this experience yet but I hope to continue learning more in depth about the processes that go into making the technologies I am helping make. I also want to continue to develop my communication and teamwork skills.
G.O.A.L.S. Update & Career Plan Reflection
G.O.A.L.S. Update
- Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences.
- I hope to gain more knowledge about different cultures through my Year of Service with Mount and serving at a community center where there are people from all types of background, and I can interact with them.
- Update: During the second semester I am going to try and go to the Inclusive Leadership Series that my Scholars program offers to learn about prevalent issues that are happening not only in our community but nationally and globally.
- One goal I have is to take classes that are outside of my major that focus more on learning about people and how to build better communities. This year, taking a leadership class has exposed me to new perspectives and topics that I hadn’t thought about before. I want to continue learning from classes like this that make me think more about the people in society.
- I hope to gain more knowledge about different cultures through my Year of Service with Mount and serving at a community center where there are people from all types of background, and I can interact with them.
- Original Inquiry: Understand the research process by engaging in experiences
- I want to pursue research and gain knowledge by completing an internship or co-op during the next couple years to better understand the path I want to take in my major.
- Update: I am currently interviewing for internships for the spring semester and trying to decide which internship I want to do.
- I want to pursue research and gain knowledge by completing an internship or co-op during the next couple years to better understand the path I want to take in my major.
- Academic Enrichment: Academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
- As an OSU-Honda Scholar Award recipient I want to continue building my knowledge and trying new experiences.
- I want to push myself to take more challenging classes as the years pass to stretch myself and put me out of my comfort zone.
- Update: During the fall semester, I took a leadership class which was different from other classes that I’ve done in the past. It was not at all related to my major and also made me see various perspectives I had been unaware of. It also brought to light many of the social justice issues that are important right now to my attention.
- I want to make my education well rounded by not only taking classes that are required for my major but also classes that focus on other ideologies and thoughts that I can use to better my understanding of different perspectives.
- Leadership Development: 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.
- I want to develop my leadership skills as a Teaching Assistant for General Chemistry and continue to build those skills over the next couple years.
- I would like to take on more of a leadership role within the Mount Scholars by continuing to be a post Mount after second year.
- As a member of the Society of Women Engineers I want to have a larger role in it in the next couple years to help make more of an impact with the organization and also develop my leadership skills working with others.
- Service Engagement: Commit to service to the community.
- During my time at OSU I hope to continue doing service through the Mount Leadership Society. Engaging with the program will allow me to be active within the community and help with a variety of service projects.
- I want to accomplish my Year of Service for Mount by serving at the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center and helping tutor for another program, Kindergarten Corps.
- Update: As of January 2021, I completed my Year of Service by completing over 75 hours total at three service locations during the year. From the experience I learned a lot about adaptability and trying new ways to serve. I also learned to do projects that surround a topic you are passionate about. For me I enjoyed my time at Kindergarten Corps most because education is an important topic for me.
- I hope to find at least one service site this year that I can commit to serving at for longer than the year.
Career Plan Reflection
Through my time in Honors and Scholars, I have been able to learn a lot and meet many of my GOALS. Being in the Mount Leadership Society Scholars program has offered me many opportunities to learn more about people that aren’t like me and has allowed me to learn about many topics that have made me more well-rounded in my learning. Through Mount, I have taken a couple leadership classes that have allowed me to see and understand better many of the most prevalent issues facing people in the U.S. This has impacted my future career plans because I realized that it is important to consider what impacts your job is having on the people in the community. It has made me want to be more cognizant of that fact when I am applying to jobs in the future; I want to know how what I am doing may positively or negatively be impacting the community. Furthermore, in Mount, I had the opportunity to work in team projects as one of the leaders to create service projects. Taking the lead on a project was something that I learned a lot from, and I want to continue taking the lead on projects in my career. I feel like I was able to learn more interpersonal skills from that experience, and I can only get better from doing more of that in my career. Overall being in Honors and Scholars has made me want to take on challenges I am passionate about and try to work on projects and in areas that make me grow as a person in all areas of my life.
Artifact #3
An experience that has been very eye-opening for me during my second year has been serving at the Clintonville-Beechwold Food Pantry for my Year of Service through the Mount Leadership Society program. Through this project I have learned a lot about what issues people in the community are facing especially during a pandemic. By coming in every week I have gotten to develop a better idea of the needs of people in the community. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to learn more about the behind the scenes aspects of a food pantry and how it operates which has helped build my knowledge. While this year the interaction with the community members is more limited, this experience has allowed me to make better relationships with the other people who are working at the pantry. To hear how long they have been serving and how much time they put in to helping others has made me realize that the reason these services are available is because of the amount of time they commit to it. My artifact is my first Timesheet and Reflection because it was the first place where I could could write down my thoughts and reflect on my project. In Mount we talk about reflecting on service, which I think is really important to understanding why you are doing service and how it is impacting others. Taking the time after each time I serve to write what I did has helped me to process how what I did is going to help many families. Reflecting on the challenges of the project and what I hope to get out of the project has also been a way for me to think about my service at the site and what I can be doing differently in the future to make a bigger impact. This project has also made me step out of my comfort zone and interact with many new people and learn their stories, which has helped me to understand the significance of the pantry. While it looks like we are just giving food to families, there other resources that the pantry provides that aren’t as well known, so getting to help with these areas as well has made the experience for me more impactful. As I continue to work with the pantry through the rest of the year I hope to learn more of the volunteer’s stories and interact more with the community members when I can. I also hope to gain more knowledge about how the pantry works to help community members in other ways besides just giving food.
G.O.A.L.S.
- Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences.
- I hope to gain more knowledge about different cultures through my Year of Service with Mount and serving at a community center where there are people from all types of background, and I can interact with them.
- One goal I have is to take classes that are outside of my major that focus more on learning about people and how to build better communities. This year, taking a leadership class has exposed me to new perspectives and topics that I hadn’t thought about before. I want to continue learning from classes like this that make me think more about the people in society.
- Original Inquiry: Understand the research process by engaging in experiences
- I want to pursue research and gain knowledge by completing an internship or co-op during the next couple years to better understand the path I want to take in my major.
- Academic Enrichment: Academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
- As an OSU-Honda Scholar Award recipient I want to continue building my knowledge and trying new experiences.
- I want to push myself to take more challenging classes as the years pass to stretch myself and put me out of my comfort zone.
- I want to make my education well rounded by not only taking classes that are required for my major but also classes that focus on other ideologies and thoughts that I can use to better my understanding of different perspectives.
- Leadership Development: 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.
- I want to develop my leadership skills as a Teaching Assistant for General Chemistry and continue to build those skills over the next couple years.
- I would like to take on more of a leadership role within the Mount Scholars by continuing to be a post Mount after second year.
- As a member of the Society of Women Engineers I want to have a larger role in it in the next couple years to help make more of an impact with the organization and also develop my leadership skills working with others.
- Service Engagement: Commit to service to the community.
- During my time at OSU I hope to continue doing service through the Mount Leadership Society. Engaging with the program will allow me to be active within the community and help with a variety of service projects.
- I want to accomplish my Year of Service for Mount by serving at the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center and helping tutor for another program, Kindergarten Corps.
- I hope to find at least one service site this year that I can commit to serving at for longer than the year.
Year in Review
This past year has been an eye-opening experience for me that has taught me so much and helped me evolve. Even though my year in Mount Leadership got cut short by the situation going on in the world, I was still able to gain so much from my Scholars program. There are many areas of my life such as being a student, leader, and community member where I have improved over the year.
As a student I have taken classes where the rigor has been higher than I have experienced before coming to college. I have learned new time management skills that have allowed me to complete all of my schoolwork and still have time to spend with my friends and doing other activities. I have tried over the year to better focus my time on tasks that are easy to complete first to decrease the amount of work I have to complete. I have also learned through Mount that the things you do should be something you are passionate about. For this reason, I have tried to take classes that peak my interest and are something I genuinely want to do.
As a leader I have grown a lot as well, especially by learning how to become a better leader through Mount. Before joining Mount and coming to college, in my various activities I didn’t usually organize projects ad I didn’t try to actively take on leadership roles. My goal this year was to put myself in situations that were different and try to learn how to be a better leader. I wanted to gain more confidence in taking a lead on projects. Throughout this year, I had the opportunity to help be more involved in the planning process of projects in Mount. For example, I was a member of Summit Committee, which was a committee that planned a leadership event for my scholars program. Furthermore, as a member of Mount, I participated in Legacy Week, which is where each first year in Mount helps plan and create various service projects to help a social issue in the Columbus community. As a leader for my team, I helped my team plan two environmental events in Columbus. I learned how to manage a team and communicate effectively with different types of people to get a shared goal completed. These opportunities in Mount were imperative for me to develop my leadership skills.
Through these experiences, I have also gained a lot of confidence to put my leadership skills in other areas of my college experience. During second semester, I became a Chemistry Teaching Assistant, which was another opportunity for me to develop my leadership skills during my first year. I have been able to lead and teach a lab to a large group of students and learn how to help students who need different things. I felt like this experience has benefited my communication skills and ability to think outside of the box. I have been able to learn the best ways to help others based on their needs and to always be sure I am thinking about what they need. This sentiment is also applicable to my community leadership/participation. Through Mount, I learned that it is important to look for what the community needs not what you want to do for the community. This impacted me a lot because throughout the year I have participated in community events and saw how intentional they were in meeting the needs of the community. I learned as a community member to help those with their specific needs.
This year has taught me a lot and made me evolve as a person. I am excited to continue to develop and grow more next year during my second year in college and as a member of Mount Leadership Society.
Artifact #2
A new experience that I have had in the past few months is working on my Legacy Week project with my team. I am a part of Team Environment and one of the lead builders 
in our group. Through this project, I have learned a lot especially in terms of service project creation. I have never had to create a service project where I am coming up with the details of the event and planning all the steps. In high school, I would sign up for an event and then go to it. I never thought about the process of creating events and all the different things you have to think about to get a project to completion. Through Legacy Week I am learning how to not only create an event but also come up with a lesson plan and thinking of all the details that go along with a project. Legacy Week has impacted me in many ways. It has taught me a new perspective on how I view service projects. I used to only look at it from the point of view of “I am helping somebody who needs it,” but through this project, I have learned that when you go into a project you need to think of how a project helps the group’s needs. The project that you do needs to align with what they need and fulfills their goals not just what you want to do do help. This experience has provided me also with a new understanding of how to approach a service project because there are different steps to follow in order to successfully organize a project starting with talking to agencies, then determining their needs, then coming up with project ideas and finally working on a lesson plan of the event. My artifact is the first part of our lesson plans for the projects our group are creating. I chose this part of our project development because this was the first time where I saw how all the parts of our project development came together. We took all of our brainstorming and created our basic plan of the event and started to come up with a plan of items we had to finish to get the project done. This part of the process showed me how much thought you have to give creating a project and how there is so much more to project development. I hope to gain more knowledge of how to create projects and am able to use these skills in various other areas of my life whether it be through creating more service projects or creating other projects for classes/other jobs in my future.
Artifacts
I have always enjoyed reading and “A Prayer for Owen Meany” was one of the final books I read in my high school English class, but it had a profound impact on my understanding of the world and on my learning. It was written by John Irving and is about two boys and the effect one of them, Owen Meany, had on the other boy throughout his life. It impacted me because it was one book that brought together how people’s actions and beliefs drive them and how it in turn impacts those around them. I selected this book as my artifact because it taught me this lesson and it was one of the few books I read in school that I couldn’t put down and loved reading. I enjoyed reading the book and seeing how John Irving used specific writing styles to to be able to connect every little detail back to one another. He put so much thought into how the book was written to have everything connect. From reading this book, I have learned how sometimes it is the little things that can make a book or your work stand out and have a much bigger impact. This book was also significant for me because it introduced many different topics into one setting such as religion, politics in the 60s and 70s, and normal life of two kids. Reading this book allowed me to apply my knowledge in history and English together to better my understanding of the book. It taught me that there is always a way to connect my learning from various areas of my education to better understand a particular topic. I was able to understand a lot of nuances of “A Prayer for Owen Meany” because I knew the history and politics that was integral to the story. In the future, I want to be able to connect my learning in various areas of study to have a more well-rounded understanding of whatever I’m doing and how it impacts others.