G.O.A.L.S.

The G in G.O.A.L.S stands for global awareness. Being globally aware means that you have an appreciation for different cultures and an appreciation for other individuals and their differences. Students can work on this section by studying abroad, being involved in cultural organizations, and by taking courses that expand their global perspective. I’ve shown global awareness by traveling to different places and experiencing different cultures and lifestyles. Over the summer I traveled to Mexico and got to experience the diverse culture there. This experience taught me about how people in other parts of the world live their daily lives.

The O in G.O.A.L.S stands for original inquiry. Original inquiry means that students are using their own curiosity in order to come up with original questions. Students can work on this section by learning about the research process and by developing their own, uniques ideas. This can be done by doing research and advanced coursework.

The A in G.O.A.L.S is for academic enrichment. Academic enrichment is shown through excellence in advanced and rigorous academic classes.

The L stands for leadership development. Leadership development is shown by developing leadership skills both in and out of the classroom that will benefit the students throughout their lives. Students can work on this section by taking on leadership roles in the community, classroom, and work. I have shown leadership development by taking on a leadership position in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo teen volunteer program during my senior year of high school. This experience helped me become a better leader and taught me valuable skills like communication and organization.

The S stands for service engagement. This is contributing to the community through volunteering and service projects. On November 17th of 2019, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Columbus Hot Chocolate Run with some of my fellow Scholars members. Before the run started, we helped set up one of the many water/energy drink stations along the course. This included setting up the tables and filling the cups before the runners got to the station. When the runners arrived at our station, we handed out the cups of water and cheered them on. We also helped tear down the water station after the race was over. I had a lot of fun cheering the runners on and assisting them by handing out water during the event.

Career

Resume

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Volunteer Experience
From June 2016-April 2019 I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in their teen volunteer program Zoo Crew. In this program I interacted with zoo guests through games, animal handling, and interpretive activities. Throughout the program I learned how to handle a variety of animals including snakes, lizards, tenrecs, and armadillos all of which were used to help better connect the zoo visitors to wildlife. We also helped enrich the animals used for education by feeding them different foods, changing their environments and interacting with them.

Artifacts


My artifact is my 10 gallon reef tank that I had throughout most of my high school career. I set the tank up late in my freshman year of high school because I’ve always been interested in fish and I’ve been keeping freshwater tanks since around fourth grade. Keeping a reef tank seemed like a logical next step for me, however, a saltwater aquarium always seemed too hard to take care of so, until my freshman year, I had only kept freshwater aquariums. The step up from my freshwater aquariums to a saltwater reef tank showed me that if I put enough effort into something, I could be successful in things that might seem hard at first. In addition, taking care of my reef tank taught me to be more patient, hardworking, and consistent. Reef tanks aren’t successful if the parameters of the tank fluctuate a lot so I had to learn to consistently do water changes and to check the parameters to make sure they were stable. Also, taking care of the reef tank has taught me to be more patient because coral grows relatively slowly and it takes a long time to see the payoff for all the work put into the tank.


I’ve always been interested in working with animals, either as a marine biologist or as a veterinarian. Because of this, while I was in high school I started volunteering at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in order to gain experience communicating to a wide variety of people, something I knew I would have to do if I intended to become a vet, and handling different animals. This picture was from the summer of 2018 when I was volunteering at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in their teen volunteer program, Zoo Crew. This was my third year in the program where I was also acting as a Zoo Crew lead. My three years volunteering at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo gave me a lot of experience interacting with different species of animals and it also taught me how to effectively communicate with zoo guests, which will help me in my future career as interacting with people is a large portion of many jobs. In addition, my last year in Zoo Crew, in which I acted as a Zoo Crew Lead, taught me a lot about leadership, how to effectively communicate, and how to work as a team.

About Me

Hi, my name is Austin Krupar and I’m from Avon Lake, Ohio. I graduated from Avon Lake High School in 2019 and am majoring in Biology at The Ohio State University. After college, I plan on attending vet school or attending a graduate school for a degree in marine biology. Outside of school, I’ve always had an interest in fish, coral, and reptiles. Because of this I have a turtle and a coral reef tank.

Year in Review

End of Second Year Reflection
The global pandemic has made my past two semesters at The Ohio State University very challenging. Many of my classes were switched from meeting in person to only meeting online. In addition to the online classes, I was taking more credit hours and more difficult classes including organic chemistry 1 and 2, biochemistry 5613, and math 2177 to name a few. During the first semester, I struggled to get used to online classes as I ended up inside for most of the day watching lectures, however I eventually got used to the change and adapted to the new style of teaching many of my professors were employing over zoom. During the second semester of online classes, I started to lose my motivation to attend lectures, but I was able to power through and reach the end of the semester. While this year has been challenging, online classes have taught me a lot about discipline and time management which will be useful in my future career. In addition to making my academic career more challenging, the pandemic also made finding research and summer internships more difficult. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a summer internship for the summer of 2021 as many of the places I applied to decided to cancel or reduce the number of interns they were hiring to their programs. With my remaining time at The Ohio State University, I hope to find a research position, as I will be emailing more faculty over the summer, and I hope to get an internship for next summer.

Biochemistry 5613 Review
Biochemistry 5613 is the first of three biochemistry classes that are taken by biochemistry and other related majors. In this class, we learned the basics of amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids along with different laboratory techniques used to purify and identify them. The class had three different graded portions, take home quizzes which helped solidify the information we learned in lecture, midterms which tested us on what we learned and our ability to apply the topics to more complex situations, and the final exam which tested us over everything we learned throughout the semester. I am looking forward to taking biochemistry 5614, the next biochemistry course in the series, to apply what I have learned in biochem 5613 and further my understanding of biochemistry.

Semester in Review
Overall my first semester has been a good experience in which I’ve learned important life skills and made new friends. My first semester started with the OWL program during which I made new friends and met some of my roommates. In addition, I was able to make connections with other people that lived on my floor, thus making the start of my first semester go smoothly. Once classes started, I was still procrastinating like I did in high school however I soon found out that there was much more work in college. Because of the increased workload and my busy schedule, I had to learn better time management skills to get all of my work done before it was due. In addition to using my time more efficiently, I also had to learn better study habits instead of cram studying the night before the exam. Also, by attending different Scholars events and volunteering, I was able to meet new people, altogether making my first semester a good learning experience.