Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

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: I would like to do study abroad and I appreciate the differences everyone brings to the table but it’s just a matter of understanding and getting to know someone which might be a problem. For example, all this unnecessary division with football I can understand both sides but it’s annoying how people focus on only one side when there are two sides of the story.
Original Inquiry: taking Intro to Psych this semester gives me an open opportunity to learn more from the research of others and how it may be able to benefit people. I do not think I would feel comfortable actively researching a topic because I’m afraid that I might get poor information and either get the backlash for terrible data or I will influence terribly someone else’s life.
Academic Enrichment: I used to be able to achieve grades at a high level but that was because of parental intervention when necessary. Now on my own although I am now doing well my GPA is uncharacteristically low for my usual performance but I hope to be able to as before achieve at a high level
Leadership Development: Personally I feel uncomfortable in the capacity of being a leader but MOUNT has shown that if done right all the pressure of a decision or the weight of the success of the project doesn’t necessarily have to fall on you as the leader. When I think of a leader it’s someone who is comfortable talking with others and handless pressure well as well as if necessary delegating tasks and being well equipped to handle anything (ask Zach I was not ready to handle Buck-I-frenzy as a captain with the walkie-talkies)
Service Engagement: Unfortunately (ask Jill) I’ve been wicked delayed on YOS so i’m very behind on that so but MOUNT and all it brings is still important to me so I don’t plan on not doing a YOS it’s just a matter of finding the site and getting the hours for me at this point

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

eagle-scout-badge

The Eagle Scout badge (as seen above) is a culmination of years of work.  A boy can start as a Tiger Cub in first grade. then for the next five years they progress through the Cub Scout ranks

Tiger

Bobcat*

Wolf

Bear

Webelos I

Webelos II

Each of the 5 badges, (Webelos, Bear, Bobcat, Wolf, Tiger) is a little diamond shaped patch that can be sewn on one’s blue Class A uniform. But towards the end of one’s 5th grade year they are given a choice: Bridge over or quit. I personally started late in my first grade year so I never achieved my Tiger rank; That’s okay I just began my journey earning my bobcat and wolf badges together like the rest of my year(I just was the oddball who didn’t have an orange Diamond with Tiger on my Class A since I started to late into my Tiger Cub year to earn the badge). I had lost where the fun was in Scouting. So my Dad, the wonderful man he is, gave me an ultimatum, thus making my choice for me; it was for the best though; “Give me a year.” So I bridged over into the Boy Scouts. here one trades in the Blue Class A of a Cub Scout for the Tan class A of a Boy Scout; the only Cub Scout thing allowed on one’s BSA Class A is the Arrow of Light-> the highest achievement of a Cub Scout.

Here things progress at your own pace(but be wary of how slow you go)

Scout*optional

Tenderfoot

2nd Class

1st Class

Star

Life

Eagle

The Ranks of the Boy Scouts are achieved no longer one a year but at your own pace. So you could be working on 4-6 different ranks simultaneously. The ranks I like to think of in 3 segments

  1. orientation
  2. Progression
  3. Culmination

Orientation is so named because you learn a lot of skills which can if applied properly (or remembered) can help you later in your journey. Tenderfoot, 2nd Class and 1st Class are the three orientation ranks

Progression is named such because it is built upon Leadership, Service and the freedom to chose what badges you earned. Those badges are merit badges which are classified in two types the white-bordered Eagle required ones(of which you need 13 now(12 when I was going through it) and the green-bordered non-Eagle required ones(of which you need 8 now(9 when I was going through it). the reason those numbers are different is because in January of 2014 Cooking became an Eagle required merit badge thus the Eagle required badges went up by 1 and the non eagle required went down by 1 keeping the sum equal to 21. Star and Life are the two progression ranks.

and finally culmination is the Eagle rank. It is the culmination of ones long journey but it is optionally not the end. You can achieve Palms which require more leadership to your troop and the same other requirements besides service hours although it is encouraged you still help out and give back. Even though Eagle rank has the same requirements as the Progression ranks it is separately categorized for three reasons

  1. it is the end of the required path to scouting the end goal
  2. everything further is optional->not required but if you want to you can it means nothing different
  3. most people don’t achieve it because they either
    1. quit

    -or-

    1. aged out(turned 18 before they achieved it)

I was one of the 5% or so to achieve the Rank of Eagle; I did so 0n February 12th, 2014.

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.]