Through two semesters of my first year on campus, I’ve learned more about myself and the type of environment I work best in. My weeks were dedicated to my classes and the weekends were dedicated to homework. From the beginning of the year, I found that a constant dedication to schoolwork had a negative effect on my focus and dedication towards school. I realized that I couldn’t continue working without throwing in some breaks in-between. Luckily for me, I enrolled in a college located near the heart of the biggest city in Ohio. Whether it was finding a coffee shop in the short north, or going to Gateway to watch movies for $5, I realized I couldn’t live here for the next four years without exploring a little.
Although my theatre obsession is new, the past two years of studying had been accompanied by playlists of Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers and more playing in the background. Ever since joining drama club for my high school’s spring musical, I had been trying to see my first Broadway show. I started expanding my knowledge of theater, and started listening to new soundtracks just as a way to take a break from studying. It started to become a quality of mine that I would share with others when asked questions about my favorite music or how I spend my time. During my first semester at OSU, while meeting new people, I started learning more about how theater had an impact on others lives as well.
The day finally arrived when I was scrolling through social media and came across a post by OSU’s Residence Hall Council. They were giving away tickets to see Aladdin at the Ohio Theatre down on High Street. It was official, I saw my first Broadway show on November 4th and I was amazed at the experience of watching a live performance. Although I’d never listened to the Aladdin, the score, actors, and amount of glitter on those costumes couldn’t compare to anything I’d seen before.

I started paying attention to all the musicals and shows visiting the Ohio Theatre for any chance that another program on campus was giving away tickets. At the end of the semester I learned about Hamilton’s visit to Columbus throughout the month of February. Although my week long wait for the D-Tix lottery didn’t end up working out, I received an email offering extra tickets to see the show for anyone interested. After calling my mom with the good news (both of us thankful that we could stop looking for tickets) I sat down and realized what a big deal this was for me. Not only had I been searching for tickets since Hamilton performed on the 2016 Tony awards, but I had been failing multiple times at finding tickets.

When February 13th came along, I sat through three hours of a history-inspired, rap-influenced musical surrounded by a crowd of people mouthing the words and reacting to an appearance of their favorite character. Not only was I watching another Broadway show, but I was finally experiencing in person what I had been fangirling over while studying. Columbus had immersed me in the possibilities of living in a city. This past semester has been filled with trips downtown to grab coffee, to seeing Harry Potter accompanied by the Columbus Orchestra, to taking a trip around town with my friends to celebrate my birthday. I’ve grown to love living in a big city, and I appreciate the ability to escape campus and take a COTA bus downtown to explore “a whole new world”.

Although I wasn’t sure about a major until the week before I applied to Ohio State, I knew that research had to be a major part of it. An experience that had a large impact on my decision to do research was observing my grandmother’s battle with dementia over the years. Since the year I started middle school, my grandmother had been in and out of the hospital for several reasons including breast cancer and colon cancer. Her treatments were long and tough, but through my young eyes, she was still the same loving grandmother. It wasn’t until my high school years when I began to notice the physical and mental toll it had taken on her. Not only had she lost weight during the process, but the medication and treatments had been slowly affecting her memory. Around my freshman year of high school she was diagnosed with dementia and from that moment I knew I wanted to help.

I chose to major in biochemistry so I could develop a background for research, hopefully, in a field that involves neurological brain diseases. Being around my grandmother constantly meant I observed most of the instances that helped/harmed her memory. While the doctors tried different medications and trials, our family tried new adjustments. From the time she ate, to her diet, amount of sleep, and brain exercises,  we continued to make small changes to her routine in order to see what worked best. We wanted to give her any chance to help her brain grow stronger.

Through the past couple of years we have seen small amounts of improvements. Although with each improvement, a set-back seemed to not be far behind. The summer of my senior year she fell off of a small step ladder and broke her hip. After a few months of recovery, rehabilitation, and constantly reminding her to not cross her legs when she sat, we had her home for the end of the holiday season. The pain and dementia were not a good combination, especially when she didn’t remember the accident or why she couldn’t get up to walk to the kitchen. As she healed, we noticed how her condition had grown worse when she started to forget names.

Thankfully back into a normal routine, we now take it one day at a time and observe how tricky the mind can be. What I found most interesting was her ability to forget a conversation from five minutes ago, but still have the ability to perfectly recite a famous song from her childhood. Her stories started to constantly mix in parts of her life from when she was younger and the conversations never grew dull (although they were sometimes repetitive). She has always pushed me to do my best and inspires me each day. I believe it’s important to have a larger goal in mind when choosing your future. No matter where I end up after college I plan to continue to follow my goal. Currently, I’m focusing on finding undergraduate research here at Ohio State and completing my studies in biochemistry. I hope to eventually get involved with medical research over at Ohio State’s Medical Campus where I can explore my possibilities for studying neurological diseases. I continue to talk to my grandmother each week and remind her of where I am and what I’m doing. With each conversation she gets more amazed that her granddaughter is already in college and I don’t mind when she repeats how proud she is of me.

Buckeye Girls State was a weeklong event hosted at Mount Union University with about 1,000 girls from schools around Ohio. The purpose of this event was to set up a mock state government where each girl could run for different positions in office, and if elected, perform the tasks of that position at the end of the week. There were two parties, the Nationalists and the Federalists, and multiple cities residing in 4 different counties. For a whole week, participants were expected to campaign for their positions, give “elevator speeches” to their respective party, and vote for their choices. Entering the week with no prior knowledge about the happenings for the upcoming week, I was concerned about my performance in front of strangers. I’ve been told that when I was younger I was very outgoing, and as I grew up those around me noticed how my attitude towards meeting new people changed as my anxiety grew. I never expected to excel in an event where I’d have to talk about myself or sell my ideas in a way to make people vote for me. However, elections weren’t possible without first getting your name and purpose out to the voters. Eventually, I found myself minutes away from presenting my “elevator speech” in a room full of girls I did not know other than those in my city who I met only a day before. While waiting for my turn to speak for the position I’d chosen to run for, I found myself scanning over my speech trying to memorize it. Before it was my turn, a position opened up that only had one girl running. When the room was asked if anyone else wanted to run, I jokingly mentioned myself to my friend sitting next to me. Her, apparently liking the idea, decided to volunteer me. As all eyes turned to face my direction and cheer me on, I felt pressured to stand and walk to the front of the room. While I stood in front of the other candidate my mind went blank from my speech that I previously tried to memorize, and instead a brand new “elevator speech” spilled out. The minute passed, and it was over. I don’t remember what I said, but I remember the feeling after I realized what I’d accomplished. Although I didn’t get the position, I had girls coming up to me after complimenting me on my speech, and as my confidence grew, my sense of accomplishment grew with it. From that point on, I couldn’t help but feel a change in the way I spoke to others. I made eye contact and I didn’t worry about the opinions of others. As the week went on, I continued to put myself in new situations that challenged me to feel uncomfortable.  And as I returned home, I realized how important it was for me to continue to be outgoing and talk to new people.

It was the summer before senior year, the most important year of high school, and it was time that I learned how to leave my comfort zone. Buckeye Girls State actually made such an  impact on me, that when asked to make a “thank you” speech to the group of people who funded our week at Buckeye Girls State, the first thing I thanked them for was my new ability to call and order pizza instead of asking my mom to do it. While this comment received laughs from the crowd, I meant it with sincerity. I could now stand up and talk in front of large crowds, without needing to rehearse it a thousand times in the mirror beforehand. I could properly introduce myself to others and make a good impression during an interview. During my senior year, I spoke at Baccalaureate as the class representative, I spoke at the National Beta Convention in Columbus as President of my Senior Beta Club,  I spoke at a National Honor Society event as the Vice President, and I spoke at graduation, my biggest crowd yet, as secretary of the class. Each time, thinking about how difficult it would’ve been before Buckeye Girls State to stand in front of a group of people and not stumble over my speech. I had a new confidence. Currently at college, I have been jumping at the opportunity to meet new people, and join different groups. I don’t feel anxious anymore and I couldn’t think of an experience that has impacted my academic career more. Buckeye Girls State taught me something I couldn’t learn for myself without jumping out of my comfort zone and trying.