G.O.A.L.S.

The University Honors & Scholars Center at The Ohio State University serves high-ability, motivated undergraduate students. While embracing diversity in both ideas and people, the Center fosters purposeful learning communities that enhance students’ academic and social experiences. The Center facilitates impactful, rigorous, and unique opportunities that further student success and involvement in our G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement.

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness

As a Hospitality Management major, I believe that having a worldly perspective and interacting with others who have different perspectives than my own is important. Therefore, I am aiming to further immerse myself in different cultures throughout my undergraduate career. I am planning to study abroad at some point during my four years at Ohio State. While I don’t have a concrete plan on when or where I will travel, I hope that through this experience I will learn more about the practices of another culture, especially as they pertain to hospitality. Through my study abroad experience, I hope to find some cultural aspect that will influence my view on hospitality and how I can best serve my internal and external guests.

I also hope to explore other cultures through some of my coursework. For example, next semester I am taking German 3353H, which focuses on important German figures such as Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud and their lasting impact on today’s society. I hope that this class is able to give me more of a worldly perspective on where certain ideas come from as well as their importance.

Original Inquiry

After reading a student thesis as a part of my survey class, I realized the importance and impact of student research. I specifically observed Kelsey Ring’s research on the Hospitality Program’s Big Dish event, and how such events should be created and improved around guest feedback and satisfaction. At some point in my undergraduate career, I hope to contribute to furthering Ring’s research, either in a formal or informal manner. OSU’s Hospitality program runs many other events, such as Hospitality Listens, and has the potential to start other annual events as well. I’d aim to focus my research on finding ways to improve Hospitality Listens specifically, based on observations at the event as well as guest feedback. Whether the resulting research becomes a thesis or is simply used as feedback to improve the impact, I hope that it would positively impact the event as well as the Hospitality Management program.

Academic Enrichment

My current and future curriculum pertains greatly to my end goal of working in the Hospitality Industry. I chose the Hospitality Management major because of my desire to serve others. Thus, I hope that through my major-specific classes that I will be able to better serve others and align myself with the practices of the industry. I also chose to complete a Business minor as it overlapped with the requirements of my major and contained many classes, such as accounting and business management, that I feel would be useful in my career. I aim to use my business minor to differentiate myself in the Hospitality field. I selected many of my GE courses, such as Classical Mythology and Economics, to give me a better view of how other disciplines cross over into Hospitality. While I didn’t expect to find such similarities at first, the content in these classes often reminds me of content that we discuss into my Intro to Hospitality class. In the future, I aim to find lessons that can tie back to my major in each of my classes, whether the class pertains to my major or not.

Leadership Development

Currently, I am involved in BuckeyeThon, Cru, and the Hospitality Management Association. While I have yet to reach a leadership position in any of these organizations, each of them has taught me wonderful lessons on how to be a leader, and has given me several people to look up to. My involvement in BuckeyeThon represents my aspiration to serve others, which I aim to do this year by raising at least $250 for children who need it. Cru has given me opportunities to grow intellectually through a further understanding of Christianity and the Bible. I aim to use this knowledge to enrich the lives of others, and potentially become a study leader for Cru. The Hospitality Management Association has allowed me to network and enrich myself in what my major represents. I aspire to assume a leadership role in the association in the coming years. I feel that my involvement in these three organizations has allowed for significant personal growth and understanding of who I am. I would describe myself as a situational leader, adapting my leadership style to best fit the specific situation I am working in.

Service Engagement

As I’ve discussed, the primary reason that I chose my Hospitality Management major is my desire to serve others, which is something I have always enjoyed at a young age. During high school, I participated in five summer mission trips, spending a week each year in a different part of the country. Each trip provided memorable experiences and lessons that I’ve carried with me to college. For example, on my trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, I found myself in a food desert for the first time in my life. Observing how this environment affected the Pine Ridge residents opened my eyes to the privilege I had, and how I could use it to better the lives of others. I hope to continue with mission work in college, likely through BUCK-I-SERV, so I can continue to acquire these lifelong lessons that are applicable to my career and daily life.