As an Honors student, it is my responsibility to pursue the 5 “G.O.A.L.S.” of the Honors & Scholars program, in order to better myself and improve my future projections:

Global Awareness:

            I see global awareness as one’s understanding of how other people and places differ from those one is familiar with. By being “globally aware”, one is less likely to think only of oneself, and will have more varied ideas and solutions to problems unsolved by “standard methods”. By being mixed, I have always been exposed to a mash of different cultures, from India to Slovakia to the good old Midwest. In order to expand my global awareness yet, I am participating in the London Honors program. Furthermore, I am working towards eventually being trilingual, having studied French extensively in highschool, and now studying Japanese here at OSU. I have been to several European nations, as well as Canada, and plan on visiting Japan the summer of 2020. These trips are mostly recreational, but I try to engage in local cultures as much as possible to fully take advantage of my time abroad. I hope to find even more “global experiences” as I navigate my undergraduate studies.

Original Inquiry:

            Asking questions about the world and endeavoring to answer them, that is how I see original inquiry in a nutshell. At this point, I have not engaged in any real research beyond some very basic AP Biology inquiry labs. I do not think that I have time to start research immediately, but will work towards finding programs that pique my interest to start late sophomore to early junior year, if possible.

Academic Enrichment:

            Academic enrichment can be thought of as learning that which is not considered “necessary”, but which makes one a unique and worldly individual, and sets one above their peers therefore. I already have many credits from AP courses which do not count for specific requirements for either my major or the prerequisites for vet school, such as French as US Government and Politics. Additionally, while my major is very typical of a pre-health student, by minoring in microbiology I hope to take a step towards, perhaps, specializing in animal pathology. In regards to my GE classes, I plan on focusing especially on communication, in order to improve my own somewhat lacking communication skills, and have a better understanding of how to deal with people, in general.

Leadership Development:

            By developing leadership skills, one will be able to, obviously, better lead people towards a goal when no one else is willing to do so (or lead better than anyone else who is willing), and more properly interpret and/or critique one’s own leaders. I am currently involved in Running Club, and while it does not necessarily related to my career at all, I may eventually run for office there. Other than that, I am interested in being a Peer Leader for chemistry, and may try to fit that in the next year, if I am considered for such a position. I have virtually no leadership experience currently, save a stint of being a patrol leader in boy scouts, but I will work towards taking the initiative as much as possible throughout my time at OSU and beyond in order to remedy this.

Service Engagement:

            Service is integral to society; where money is not readily available yet a need is present, those who selflessly step up to the task allow our communities to function. In the past I volunteered at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, mostly packing boxes of meats to be sent to area food pantries. My time serving there increased my understanding of the plight of the hungry: that many people who work minimum wage or lose their job when they were already paycheck-to-paycheck, let alone those who can’t find work, live on, but do so hungry. While it will not influence my planned profession, I intend to continue volunteering at foodbanks into the future. Starting soon, I may get to volunteer in the ICU of the Vet Med Center, although I have yet to begin. That, of course, would be directly related to my pre-vet track.