For my 10 hour project, I want to do something that I’ve been meaning to do for a while but haven’t quite gotten to yet. I have always wanted to make / write a song because I love music and want to produce something that I can be proud of. Doing this for my 10 hour project would be a great excuse to finally do this and would push me even harder to make it a good song, considering that I have to present it and the end of the semester.

Last week, I attended an RA sponsored event called Tacos and Topics. Tacos and Topics was an event where we talked and watched videos about Halloween and cultural appropriation. I went to this event with a couple of my friends, and judging by the picture, the turnout wasn’t very great. Although there were not that many people there, I enjoyed myself and ate tacos while listening to TED talks about cultural appropriation. I think that this event is a perfect demonstration of how dedicated OSU is to spreading the message of diversity and inclusion to all of its students. When people think of diversity and inclusion events, they usually think of big conferences or workshops and things of that nature. While OSU does sponsor events like these, I wanted to focus on the little things that this university does to promote inclusion that might go unnoticed. Our RA’s are required to put on multiple programs a semester that focus on promoting diversity here on campus which really helps to keep diversity on the forefront of people’s minds. The inundation of programs and events that every part of our university puts on to promote diversity reveals how important this is to our university and to our student body as a whole.

Diversity and Inclusion plays a major role in STEM because these fields are incredibly diverse and are important all throughout the world. Without diversity, STEM would not be as advanced as it is today. The sharing and accepting of ideas and research across countries and languages to make the world more advanced and knowledgeable is the main focus of the STEM discipline itself. Without accepting, sharing, and collaborating with others unlike yourself, the world would be severely less advanced and progressive as it is today. Diversity also affects me and my classmates every day because The Ohio State University is an incredibly diverse campus with professors and students from all over the country and all over the world. Learning and working at coexisting and even thriving with people of different backgrounds helps everyone at this university learn and grow in every possible way. There is much to be learned from other people, especially from those with different cultures and ideas from yourself. In order to be successful at this university, we as students must be inclusive of everyone and be open to new ideas and opinions from others.

In conclusion, Tacos and Topics was a great way for me to be involved with a small group of individuals and learn about our differences and how I can be more inclusive toward others. This event did not change my opinions on diversity and I learned more from talking to the people at the event than I did out of the actual event. I think that this is the main point of these little events that are put on by the university. While they might not be the most informative or formal of events, they excel in bringing people together to talk about diversity and our different cultures and beliefs. I will definitely attend more events like this in the future and I encourage every student reading this to attend one too.

I recently went to the Wilce Health Center on campus. The Wilce Health Center is the medical center here on campus used for non-emergency health related reasons. I unfortunately had to go there because I sprained my wrist by falling off my skateboard(it was a glorious fall). This was during a period of time where many students started getting sick, so I heard of the Wilce Health Center through one of my friends who had strep throat. I went there the day or two after the incident, and I signed in to make an appointment. I was surprised when I found out that appointments were made in-person, and not electronically, which was much appreciated. Everything went very smoothly and I didn’t have to wait long to make an appointment either, which was a good thing because I had class in a half hour! This experience exceeded my expectations in every way besides the appointment date, which was further in the future than I had expected. When I went in for my appointment, the physician was very nice and helped get me a bandage and brace for my wrist. The appointment did not last long either which was great, and I got the help that I needed. The whole experience went great, and it gives me great confidence that other campus resources, non-academic and academic, are helpful as well.

If I could change anything about the Wilce Health Center, it would be the meeting to schedule the appointment and the employees. The employee who was scheduling me was not the kindest, and did not really ask me many questions about my injury. Also, selecting what type of injury you have was something that I needed to do when I signed in, and it was confusing trying to figure out what I needed to do. When I asked the receptionist if my injury could be considered an emergency she replied rudely to me, which was not good to see. To implement changes, I would offer more doctors on campus to accommodate for the large amount of kids getting sick at the same time. If you have something more serious which requires immediate attention, than you can schedule an appointment at a sooner date. Although I more than understand that college kids are lazy, I would make the staff at a doctor’s office to be nicer to students, especially to incoming freshman who are vulnerable and homesick. I think that Ohio State has done a good job starting many different support services which are a great help to the college community, but I think that it is missing a purely student-driven space where students could connect with others to study together and give and receive help to other students. It would be different than tutoring as it would be much less formal, and you could talk with other students taking the class with you about the work and collaborate on coming up with a solution. Besides this, I think The Ohio State University has done a great job at supporting students and trying their best to help them succeed.

I recently went to a research seminar here on campus, and it was much more interesting than I had initially thought. The seminar I went to was hosted by the department of chemistry, and detailed research conducted on “Nonradiative Processes in Semiconducter Nanocrystals”. While I had no idea what any of those words meant, I thought it sounded interesting and decided to go with a couple of my friends. I was expecting the seminar to be a formal presentation to a panel, but it was less formal than I thought. It was in an auditorium, but in attendance were many undergrad and graduate students and but not many professionals. I did not talk to any audience members, but the demographic of the audience was welcoming and made me feel like I actually belonged there in the audience. I am not going to bore you with everything I learned about this topic from the presentation, mostly because I don’t remember much of it if at all, but it delved into the research they had conducted and talked about the method of the experiment and the results they had gotten. Surprisingly, I could follow along with my limited chemistry knowledge and I understood what the presenter was talking about. He not only talked about the results and methodology of the experiment, but also the implications of the research and why it was conducted. This helped me to better understand the research and put into words that I could actually understand. I went to a research seminar that was not in my field because I wanted to gain insight into other fields and learn something which I myself may never have learned otherwise. I think that it would be very interesting to go to a similar event in my own field, and is definitely the next one up in the order.

In his presentation, the presenter noted that the team he worked with were not all from the same discipline. To conduct this research he worked with chemists, computer scientists, and mechanical engineers. This made me think about where my career might be headed in the future, and how it might not be what I have expected. As a computer scientist, I would never think of being involved in research with a chemist, and this research seminar made me realize that I can take my major in whatever direction that I want. I would love to have the opportunity to engage in research as an undergraduate and gain experience working not only in my field, but collaborating with professionals in different disciplines from my own. In conclusion of my experience attending my first research seminar, I thought that the experience was overall very beneficial to my view of what research is like and helped me come to the realization of my career and where I can take my degree. I encourage everyone to attend at least one research seminar for a clearer understanding of what research is like, and how you might get involved.

This week, I went to MSLC Free Tutoring for Calculus 1172 in Cockins Hall. This was my first time seeking academic help, and I did not know what to expect. Although I am not personally against tutoring, I think that there is definitely some stigma about having to go and ask for help. I have never felt the need to go and ask for help, as I am the type of person to struggle through my work on my own and learn from it. However, with my heavy workload I didn’t have the time to teach myself on my own and felt like I needed help before I fell behind in the class. Fortunately, I can say that my experience went very well and that I got the help that I needed in my math class. The tutor was very kind and we went through example problems together so that I could understand how to solve the type of problems I was having trouble with. He did not solve the problems for me, but he instead guided me through them and gave support when I got stuck. I get satisfaction when I teach myself and figure things out on my own, and although I had someone helping me, I got that same sense of satisfaction. This was very surprising to me, as I never would’ve expected to feel like I figured out something independently when I had help. This experience definitely impacted how I think about tutoring, as I think it is important not to get everything handed to you. You only learn if you struggle through it yourself and not be given the answers. I support the way in which I received math help and I am very glad that they do it in this way. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely encourage students to go and get tutoring if they need to and not care about the stigma that may be associated with it. I think that I still prefer figuring it out on my own, but knowing that I can go to tutoring if I do not have the time or the energy to teach myself is definitely going to save me from headaches in the future. I think that I will go to tutoring before exams and run through the material with someone who knows it to make sure that I fully understand the content. I think that by doing this not only would I better understand the material, but I would also become more confident in my abilities in that course. In the future, I would like to become a tutor for a course that I know very well and that I enjoy to help give people the experience that I had. I think that if I have the tools to help someone, I should try to help them. I would like to become a tutor for math or computer science courses in the future because leading someone toward a right answer or helping someone’s program run correctly would be an extremely rewarding experience.

On Tuesday, September 10th, I attended the Inclusive Excellence Certificate Program Kick-off. Unfortunately, the presentation at the event would not work, and the confusion can be clearly seen in this picture. I was invited to this program via email, and I thought that it would be a great opportunity to experience and advance diversity at The Ohio State University. I unfortunately could not get any of my friends to go with me, so I had to make the trip down to Scott Lab alone. When I got there, I initially thought that I was in the wrong place, as I saw faculty and graduate students milling around. To my surprise, this program not only invites undergraduate students to join its ranks, but also faculty and staff as well. I did not know much about this program before I attended, but this was cleared up in the beginning of the meeting. In short, the Inclusive Excellence Certificate program aims to develop skills that will help people integrate diversity and inclusion not only into their college experience, but into the university as a whole. As I listened to the presenter talk about the program’s goals, mission, and personal benefits, I knew that I wanted to be a part of this organization. As someone who is not very diverse themselves, being given the chance to experience diversity and network with people of all different backgrounds and cultures will help me to further my own knowledge and understanding of diversity not only on this campus, but hopefully in society as well. There is a 25-person committee that leads this organization which is comprised of staff, faculty, and students. I do not think that I want to be a leader in this organization however, because as much as I support diversity, it is not the direction I most want to pursue. To be able to gain the certificate of completion, you must go to at least six different workshops that they host throughout the year. These workshops include activities on diversity, community outreach and cultural enrichment. Luckily, these events are spread out over the year and there are more than just six events to attend, so I will go to an event when I do not have too much on my schedule. At the end of the meeting, we had time to network with other people, and I met some other undergraduates and talked to a graduate student who is very involved in diversity on campus. Hopefully in the future, I have the opportunity to start networking with faculty and organization leaders. I found out about this program through email, and have had no problem finding other clubs/organizations that fit my interests. If you put in the minimal amount of effort to look for clubs that you are interested in, you should not have any trouble finding them. There are so many organizations on campus, that I am afraid that I am missing out on something that I would love doing. I know that if I stick with the few that I choose to be involved in and become invested in them, that in time I will feel that I made the right decision. I would very much recommend that people join a club centered in fostering diversity and inclusion because it will open you up to many new ideas and allow you to meet people that are different from yourself.

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