student success

So You Want To Be a Leader

While many of our learning communities at Ohio State are focused on academic or career interests, we sometimes like to think outside of the box with our “themed” learning communities. These learning communities might be based on personal interests or passion areas of students. One such learning community is First Year Collegian. As you might have guessed (hopefully), this community is for first-year students who are interested in getting involved at Ohio State from the time their bright-eyed selves get to campus in August.

Tara is one of the outstanding members from First Year Collegian. She is a member of the Learning Community Council and will be a Resident Assistant with us next year. Tara has taken advantage of everything First Year Collegian has to offer from the moment her spunky self got to Siebert Hall in August. Read below to hear how being a member of the learning community has impacted her first year at OSU.

FYC Kick-Off Event at Whetstone Park of Roses.

FYC Kick-Off Event at Whetstone Park of Roses.

Personal growth, leadership, and service are three pillars that I hold myself accountable to everyday here at Ohio State. These three pillars define not only who I am, but who all Buckeyes are. The First Year Collegian Learning Community assisted me to strengthen these pillars in my life through service projects, conferences, and events. I recommend this community to every incoming freshmen because it helped me find a niche on this great campus with surplus friends and endless opportunities, while teaching me strengths as a leader.

Throughout my experience in the First Year Collegian Learning Community, I was able to enhance many of my leadership characteristics, as well as discover others that I wasn’t aware I possessed. With the assistance of exciting activities, I was able to learn about myself. Some of the activities included a day spent at Rose Gardens, playing kickball and bonding with other leaders while discussing traits they found important in order to be perceived as a successful leader. Another experience was spent at the Ohio State Union in a leadership conference where I was able to hear leaders throughout the campus speak about various techniques and methods to enhance your leadership abilities while still bonding with my peers and hearing their perspectives on the speakers. However, the most memorable event for me was an event called Buckeyes Got Your Back, where all the members of the First Year Collegian Learning Community were able to learn how to address everyday situations that happened throughout our lives. I thoroughly enjoyed this seminar because of the emphasis it held on striving to be a leader everyday and not only striving to be a leader when you are at club meetings, an internship, or an intramural sport. Personally, I believe this event wrapped up the ideas of leadership and reminded everyone how important their everyday behavior was, and the impact we are all able to make on our surrounding peers. I left the seminar with a little more motivation to help make a difference not only campus, but wherever I choose to go.

The application deadline for First Year Collegian is May 4, 2015. You can apply to be a member of this community at go.osu.edu/learningcommunities.

Life in WiE

This week, we are featuring a guest post from the fantastic Sara Stacy! Sara is part of the Women in Engineering Learning Community.

A little under a year ago, I was getting ready to go off to my dream school: The Ohio State University. I knew it was a big campus with a huge undergraduate population from visits, but I was still overwhelmed when I first got here. On a campus with over 60,000 students, it can be easy to feel like just another number. It can also be difficult to find a place of belonging on a campus so big. That is why just under one year ago, I decided to apply to live in a learning community. By being in the Women in Engineering Learning Community, I have found a small network of people on this large campus that have made it feel a little more like home.

My time in WiE began with an early arrival program called WiE LEAP (Women in Engineering Learning Community Early Arrival Program). All of the girls in my LC got to arrive three days before everyone else and participate in both engineering related and non-engineering related activities. We built cardboard boats that we got to race in the RPAC class pool, we got to paint mugs at a local pottery shop, and we got a backstage tour of the Columbus Zoo with a zoo engineer. We were also paired with our WiE mentors, who are sophomores living in the LC there to guide the freshman through the early arrival program and their first year. Mentors also plan programs every month for the WiE residents, which are always lots of fun and a great way to further get to know the other WiE residents.

The Women in Engineering LC is currently housed with Engineering House. This living arrangement is the best thing I could have asked for. To find a study group for a difficult class that I’m in, I don’t even have to step outside of my room! The people I’m living with have also similar schedules and workloads, which means everyone around me understands the struggles that come with transitioning to college and taking the difficult engineering prerequisites. I have made some amazing friends in both WiE and Engineering House this year, and I’ve had some of the best times of my life with those people.

My favorite event so far was a trip to Kings Island where we got a backstage tour of some of the rides and got the opportunity to talk to one of the park’s engineers. It was around Halloween, so the park was set up with Halloween decorations and plenty of haunted mazes. More recently, the mentors organized a trip to see the lights at the Columbus Zoo, which was a great event to get to know the other girls in WiE a little better.

WiE

Another part of being in WiE is that all members are required to take a semester long weekly seminar. It might seem tedious to have to take yet another class just to be a part of the LC, but in my opinion, it was worth it. We had presentations on things like study habits, stress management, Engineering Career Services, all of which have really helped with the transition into engineering at Ohio State. We also got to do some fun things with the class, like yoga and going to the planetarium in Smith Lab (although I will be honest, I might have taken a nap during the visit to the planetarium. Those chairs are comfortable!).

The best part about being in WiE is knowing that I am in a community of people who are going through the same ups and downs as me, and that there is a network of people there to help me deal with those difficulties. To be successful in engineering, or in any major for that matter, you don’t need to be a member of a LC, but I would wager that it definitely helps to live with people with the same interests and classes as you. If you aren’t a woman or in engineering, go ahead and check out some of the other LCs here at OSU. There is definitely one out there for everyone, and they can all boast that they have done amazing things for their residents. I know mine has done amazing things for me, and that’s why I’m happy to say that I will be returning as a mentor next year to hopefully help give more women an experience that was just as fulfilling as mine!

Let’s Talk About Learning Communities

In a learning community (we affectionately call them LC’s), students live together on a residence hall floor and are grouped together based upon a common major, interest (art, leadership, etc) or theme. In many of our learning communities, students take a class together, and faculty are often in the residence hall environment engaging with students.

A main reason learning communities are so great at Ohio State is because you have a community as soon as you step on campus. You are surrounded by people who have something in common with you, which saves the awkward “what do you like?” conversations. We also have found that students in our LC’s have a higher GPA than their peers, feel more connected to the university, and are better able to balance their academic/personal lives at Ohio State. Who wouldn’t want all of that?!?!

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Don’t they look like a great group?

There are a multitude of great things happening in learning communities at Ohio State. This blog will highlight many of these opportunities and experiences, coming directly from the students in the LC’s. We are proud of our learning communities in Residence Life, and we know sharing is caring. This blog will serve as our way to share.