Year in Review

Overview

My sophomore year has been turbulent in both my academics and personal life. These was probably the toughest two semesters academically that I have had / will have and it feels like I haven’t had time to take a breath and relax all year. Organic chemistry lecture and lab, physics, statistics, and upper-level WGSS classes for my minor ate up a lot of non-class time and there were many opportunities I had to pass on in order to finish my work for them. However, my big goal this year was to get involved in extracurriculars and I definitely achieved it. I went to meetings for several clubs first semester, but focused my involvement to just a few for second semester: Planned Parenthood Generation Action, Students for Diversity in Education through Service (SDES), and Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). I now hold leadership positions in the latter two organizations and look forward to helping them gain more momentum in the coming year.

After a rough summer, my mental health has been fairly stable this year. I’ve continued seeing my therapist off-campus and began couple’s counseling with my partner this semester at CCS. Couple’s counseling isn’t necessarily something we need, but it’s been helpful in improving our communication both with each other and with others. I’ve been working on making more friends and reaching out in general this year, and I now feel I have more of a support system outside of my family. Friends were who helped me realize that I should change my major to English. Although I liked neuroscience, the pre-med side of things caused me to constantly feel like I should be doing more than what I  was — even though I was already stretched pretty thin — in order to even hope to be a decent med school candidate. Always worrying about how I was measuring up to my peers and how what I was doing would look on an application was the way I spent my high school years and I realized I haven’t really enjoyed my two years here because of that. My parents have been fully supportive of my switch, and I feel like next year is going to finally be fun for me.

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness: I’ve developed my global awareness through my WGSS classes I’ve taken this past year: U.S. Lesbian Writers in the fall, and Reproductive Rights and Justice in the spring. The former taught me about 20th century lesbian history and exposed me to lesbian literature from different decades that I hadn’t yet read. The latter taught me about all the reproductive justice issues (not just abortion!) facing women across America and the rest of the world, including historically forced sterilization, the disability rights factor, and the implications of transnational surrogacy. I’ve also attended a few one-time programs at the Multicultural Center (MCC) in addition to their biweekly Queer Dialogues for LGBT people and their allies, where we discussed bigotry in the LGBT community at large, representation in media, and coming out. It was eye-opening to hear other LGBT people’s opinions on these topics since we all came from a variety of backgrounds. I plan to continue working towards a goal of further global awareness through my coursework (my other WGSS classes, the Sociology 3463H class I’m taking next semester and my other GEs) and attending a wider variety of MCC events.

Original Inquiry: My Reproductive Justice class had a service learning component, and my group worked with Columbus Public Health. We were attempting to map what sex education looks like across Columbus, but hit a number of obstacles in the process. Our final project for the class, rather than an actual map, was a summary of our experiences with community and school-based research and what we learned about the process along the way. Looking forward, I plan to continue in research through joining a project in the WGSS field. 

Academic Enrichment: This Honors Contract demonstrates a commitment to academic enrichment for the sole reason that I’ve been through several drafts of it in order to ensure that I’m taking classes that are interesting to me but will also be adequately challenging. It was also while first working on the contract that I switched majors from neuroscience to English. An English major will help me work towards a career as a professional writer and editor. The Professional Writing minor I’ve added is also a stepping stone to these aspirations; the neuroscience minor I’ve added is salvaging the two years I’ve already poured into neuroscience and getting the most I can out of the subject. The GEs I’ve selected are intended to enhance my view and knowledge of the world as well as challenge them. All of my course selections demonstrate a commitment to excellence as I’m pushing myself to finish an entirely new major and three minors in only two years in order to graduate on time and have my tuition covered by my Morrill scholarship.

Leadership Development: As previously mentioned, I’ve recently taken on leadership roles in SDES and YDSA. As a member of each organization’s executive board, I attend planning and organization meetings and help run general club meetings. I was also a mentor for Ohio State Queer and Questioning Mentor Program and intend to continue my involvement next year; it was incredibly rewarding to mentor younger members of the LGBT community. Finally, I attended the fall and spring LGBTQ+ Youth Safety Summits put on by the Kaleidoscope Youth Center and got a chance to speak with other youth about plans for movements and events in their high schools and communities. All of this involvement relates to my personal goals of having a hand in my local LGBT community and mentoring those younger than me, as well as to my career goals of promoting inclusivity wherever I end up.

Service Engagement: The organization I co-chair, SDES, is a service-based organization that focuses on sustainable service within the Columbus LGBT community. We volunteer with Equitas Health, Buckeye Regional Anti Violence Organization (BRAVO), and STAR House at least once a month and have been building relationships with these organizations over the course of the year. We also participated in the one-time service event, MLK Jr. Day of Service, and intend to participate in the autumn service day as well. Recently, we were part of the planning committee for the Lavender Graduation the MCC held for graduating seniors and volunteered to set up / take down decorations and host the ceremony itself. This coming year, we plan to involve ourselves with more organizations around Columbus. In addition, YDSA plans to involve ourselves with the volunteering Columbus DSA does, which will lead to a wider variety of service engagement for me.

Timeline

Fall Semester

  • Joined the pilot year of Ohio State Queer and Questioning Mentor Program as a mentor to two younger mentees
  • Made the Dean’s List for the second time
  • Returned to my summer job for a week during winter break

Spring Semester

  • Changed my major to English a few weeks before finals
  • Picked up a professional writing minor and changed my neuroscience major to a minor
  • Took a reproductive justice service learning class for my WGSS minor and worked with Columbus Public Health on a sex education mapping project
  • Elected co-president of Students for Diversity in Education through Service
  • Elected president of Young Democratic Socialists of America and worked on our Fight For 15 referendum that passed in the USG election

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness: I would like to try studying abroad at some point when it fits into my schedule. Having taken four years of Spanish in high school, I still have an interest in travelling to Spain (even if just for a week) or other Spanish-speaking countries in order to enrich my understanding of the language and culture. My teachers always said that it taught them a lot, especially about colloquialisms and other intricacies, that they didn’t learn in the classroom. Since I’m not currently taking Spanish, it would also be a great way to make sure that I don’t lose the language in my time here.

Original Inquiry: I have an interest in pursuing research opportunities in the neuroscience department at OSU. One of the main reasons I wanted to major in neuroscience in the first place is there’s still a lot about the brain that we just don’t know. Research would be a way to satisfy some of my own curiosity while helping make strides for the medical community as a whole. It would also be a nice way to apply some of what I’m learning in my coursework to real life.

Academic Enrichment: I’m pursuing a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) minor, which involves 18 credit hours of classes. This is a minor that I’m very excited about, so I’m sure I’ll do extra reading and research outside of what’s assigned. I’m also taking 79 upper division credit hours, which is over twice the required amount for honors students. And, above all, I plan to start study groups early on in the semester in order to make sure we’re all staying on top of course material and homework.

Leadership Development: I’m interested in becoming a peer mentor for the Multicultural Center’s First Year Q*munity program. As a first year, I’m currently a member, and it’s a nice support system to have in place. I always love to see older LGBT people, and I know that others do too – I want to be one of those people for them. My neuroscience major also offers an ambassador program that I’d like to eventually join in order to talk about the major to interested students and their parents.

Service Engagement: Since I’m in need of a high number of volunteer hours to apply for medical school, there’s a lot I’m interested in doing to meet that requirement. Not only do I want to do clinical work in some of the local hospitals, I also want to take part in LGBT activism in Columbus. Stonewall Columbus and GLSEN are two great organizations that older friends of mine volunteer and intern with, and I think it would be a great way to give back to my community. They have many outreach opportunities with local schools too, which makes me want to try and be the difference in someone’s high school LGBT experience. I really just want to be the person that I wish I’d had in high school to someone else.

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

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation is a reflective description of the artifact that attempts to communicate its significance.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

About Me

[Your “About Me” is an introduction and should provide insight into who you are as a person and a learner.  This should include a picture of you that is appropriate in a professional/academic context. This information should be continually updated.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio.  Delete these instructions and add your own post.]