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Year in Review

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Samantha Levin

Year in Review

This year I am proud to say that I have grown significantly as a person in ways that I never could have imagined I’d be able to. I can definitely say that my freshman year has changed me for the better and although I am still improving and progressing, I am delighted with where I have ended up.

I started off the year as a nutrition and exercise science major. I had always been interested in fitness and nutrition and I thought this would be the perfect path for me. Chemistry 1210 changed my view on this completely. I struggled tremendously through that class and the idea that I would have to take many more chemistry classes in the coming semesters for my major greatly unsettled me. Due to this factor, I decided this major was not for me. Fortunately, I had taken an introductory psych class the first semester as well and it fascinated me. I was always looking forward to attending that class each and every tuesday and thursday. As a result I chose a psych major with a criminology minor to be my path instead. Currently I love the classes I am taking and am very glad that I found my interest in college.

While I did learn a lot in my classes I have to admit that I learned much more outside of the classroom. I had come into Ohio State suffering from years of depression, eating disorders, and terrible confidence/low self esteem. I viewed myself as inferior to everyone else.  I could not believe when anyone said they cared about me because I could not see anything in myself that was worth caring for. I remember one night my roommate was about to about to go make pancakes with her boyfriend when she saw me crying. We sat on my bed together and I was hysterical about how much I hated myself and no matter how many times she told me she loved me I could not believe her words. She called the RA and I ended up in a psychiatric hospital involuntarily. I was mad at her for many nights until I realized that she may have saved me. I am not sure what I would have done to myself that night, if it were not for her and I am genuinely grateful.

While I am stilling battling my demons I have begun to accept myself more for who I am. I had always wanted to find a way to “fix myself” because I could not understand why I was so inferior to anyone else. I have started to challenge these beliefs about myself because I have realized that they are not rational thoughts. I have begun to see the beauty in the world and although I am far from loving myself at this point, I have made big steps in the right direction.

A favorite memory from the past year was the moment that I realized I was not being very logical and was beating myself up for reasons that were not legitimate. The day that I realized this, it was morning and I was laying on my dorm room bed. A feeling came over me and my inner voice told me that I was not good enough and never would be. I went outside with my music playing loud in my headphones like I normally do in these types of situations in a desperate effort to forget my thoughts. As I walked outside I could not believe how beautiful everything was. There were little snowflakes falling down and I had never seen anything more exquisite. My mindset completely changed in this moment. I started crying tears of joy. Maybe I wasn’t worthless, maybe I did have some purpose on this earth, and maybe I wasn’t completely unlovable. I cannot explain the immense feeling of joy that I felt when I came to this realization. It was like I had been freed from a cage that had been holding me captive for so many years. I told my roommates and my mom that night and they were also extremely happy for me. There were many hugs filled with tears of delight on this day.

Next year I am looking forward to further improving myself and advancing on the road to self love and self discovery. While I am not fully in the midst of darkness anymore I still have many insecurities to work on. Loving myself for my flaws is what I am trying to accomplish. Although my stutter does slightly hold me back I want to focus on not caring what other people think about me due to it because I know that it is not my fault and it is an unchangeable characteristic about myself. I also want to start accepting my personality for what it is. I may not be the most outgoing person and I may be a little awkward sometimes but who says that is a bad thing? I need to learn to start loving myself for who I am and not base my own judgment of myself on what other people think about me or how I perceive them to think about me.

 

Spring Break Review

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This spring break I decided to go home and enjoy time with my family and friends in Long Island, NY. Since I had not seen the extended family for a relatively long time due to college, my family and I ate at a nice Persian restaurant the first night that I was home. The food was delicious and of course it was delightful to see all my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. While at home I spent a lot of time with my mini goldendoodle Mia. She is two years old and I am her favorite person in our household because I spend the most time with her when I’m home and I take her on long walks which she loves. I love seeing her when I am home because I miss her so much while at college and cuddling with Mia is one of my favorite things in the world. I also got a chance to spend time with my two best friends while in New York. We just chilled out in their houses and caught up with each other regarding our college experiences and other aspects of our lives. I cannot explain the joy that I felt when I saw these amazing people because I do not know what I would do without them. They are always there for me and make everyday I’m with them a crazy fun time. From being away at college this year I learned how much I had took for granted previously while living at home. I had took my parents support and my family for granted and did not realize how important they were to me before not seeing them everyday. Now when I do see them I appreciate them just that much more.

 

Columbus To-do List Event 2

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My latest experience was going to Lavash cafe in the Old North. Lavash cafe is a Mediterranean place where you go up to the counter to order and pick up your food and then sit down to eat. I walked here for dinner with other members of ENR including Chris, Molly, Matthew, and Alex a few weeks ago. There was a wide variety of options and place had a very inviting and warm setup. They have both booth and chair options for seating and it is a decently spacey environment. I decided to order a dish with lamb kebabs and yellow rice. This was the first time that I tried lamb and I discovered that I love this meat. I am looking forward to visiting other Mediterranean places in the future to try other types of Greek dishes. This was a very nice dinner because this experience also served as a bonding experience with friends. My friends and I shared jokes and laughed for the majority of the night. That night I learned that the bus system is slightly confusing. We ended up taking the wrong number bus and then walking most of the way since the bus did not bring us to the right location. Next time we need to pay more attention to what bus we get on so that we do not freeze walking for 30 minutes. I would recommend this place to a friend but not for a daily meal. I would consider this place more of a special occasion location. Lavash cafe was on the pricier side with most of the dishes costing about fifteen to eighteen dollars. While everybody’s dish was extremely tasty, as college students most of us do not have the money to spend on this type of dinner more than once in a while. While I did enjoy this experience, my visit to Scioto mile was definitely a more fulfilling experience. I went with a bigger group last time and we spent a whole day exploring Columbus as well. We ran through the large water fountains, got on the bus soaking wet, visited the convention center and saw adults dressed in interesting costumes, and visited a large pink church. I am looking forward to doing more things on the columbus to do list next semester and in my remaining years of college. I feel that many of these experiences enhance friendships and allow us to broaden our horizons and learn more about the city we now live in. I am an out-of- state student so this list helps me to discover which places are best to visit for people who do not yet know much about this area of Ohio.

Career Exploration

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Currently I am not exactly sure what my career path will be. I was originally majoring in Health promotion, nutrition, and exercise sciences but I have an appointment to change my major to Psychology and pick up a zoology major as well. The psychology class that I am taking this semester sparked my interest in pursuing a psychology major because I find this class extremely interesting and I can relate much of what I learn to my own life. I am not certain what I want to do with my psychology major but I have a few ideas. I may pursue a field relating to eating disorders or mental health issues such as an eating disorder and mental health therapist.  I feel that I would be able to relate to my clients and help them since I have experienced these issues first hand for much of my adolescent life. I have had a bad experience with professionals that did not suffer from an eating disorder and could therefore not relate to my feelings. I think that my experience with an eating disorder will make me less judgemental and more supportive of my clients. I am also an empathetic person which will allow me to put myself in their shoes to connect with people and to understand the obstacles they are battling.

In order to pursue this career I will need to acquire a minimum of a masters degree and a doctoral degree is recommended to increase job outlook after college. I will also need to partake in a supervised clinical internship where I will work with individuals battling eating disorders. I want to try to find an internship either during my sophomore year or the summer before going into junior year so that I can gain job experience and successfully compete with others in the same field. To become certified, in most states, I will need to acquire a license from The International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. After becoming certified, I can either be employed by in-patient or out-patient programs or I can open up my own company.

Researching eating disorder therapist jobs and their requirements did not affect my interest in pursuing this career path. Although I would prefer not to have to get a PhD, I will complete all the necessary requirements in order to have the best job outlook and to acquire a job more easily in this field. Eating disorder therapists/psychologists with a Phd have many more opportunities compared to those without one.

An alternative career path is an animal behaviorist. An animal behaviorist studies how animals interact with their environment and each other by applying animal behavioral science principles. I have always had a love for all animals and I can definitely see myself helping animals by studying their behavior. This field would mix my passion of psychology with my passion for animals.

I have my appointment with a psychology major advisor on November 19th to change my major.  I am planning on completing two psychology courses next semester. My next steps are to figure out what the requirements are for eating disorder therapist/psychologists internships so that I can be prepared to apply when the time comes and be a competitive applicant in the large pool of other applicants.

 

G.O.A.L.S- Columbus to do list

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For this semester I have chosen the Nature and Outdoor recreation list. Out of all the locations on this list I am most looking forward to visiting the Whetstone Park of Roses. I have heard about this park and seen pictures online but I cannot wait to see the park’s beauty in person. It seems like a wonderfully relaxing place that can take my mind off of any stressors and allow me to enjoy all that nature has to offer. I think this assignment is very rewarding especially because I love the outdoors and observing nature. This assignment will allow me to explore many of Columbus’s large and beautiful parks as well as learn the history of each one. I think that visiting each park could be a very enjoyable experience with a bunch of friends. We could explore the parks, picnic, and do everything that each park offers its visitors. I think that it is very important to get accustomed to and gain knowledge about the place that I live. This assignment will definitely help me to gain insight about Columbus, especially because I am from New York and I do not know much about Ohio. The place that I have visited on this list so far is the Scioto mile. On one of the first weekends of college, one of my friends who is from the area showed about ten people (including me) around the city and told us that this was a significant landmark of Columbus. We gathered around the deer and asked a random person passing by to take a picture of us in front of it. Then we walked over to the Scioto fountains and a couple of us ran through the water not caring at all that we would have to ride the bus after in completely soaking clothes. I would recommend this place to a friend and go back because, overall this was a very fun experience and a great chance to get to know people. The people that I went on this “tour” have become the friends that I continue to hang out with ten weeks into college.

 

Mentor meeting assignment

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Through this conversation I learned a lot about my mentor Bryce, Ohio state, and life in general. Bryce explained to me that she is very interested in working as a teacher for inner-city kids in the future due to her love of working with children. She is following her dream and basing her career on what she loves, rather than picking the best paying job. She is pursuing an education major. I think this is a very inspiring decision and I completely respect it. Previously, I was thinking about following my dad’s path to become a chiropractor since it is a stable and better paying job. After this conversation I think I may focus more on my passions and become a personal trainer or nutritionist for my career instead. Organization-wise, Bryce is involved in a club called “Buckeyes in the Making” as well as “Movement OSU”. Buckeyes in the making is a club that helps inner-city kids in poverty in various ways such as clothing drives. Bryce’s involvement in this club is based on her future career interests and this has taught me to join one or two clubs that are related to my career path, rather than only joining clubs that seem interesting or fun. This can apply to my own life because joining clubs related to my future career can help to teach me if I am actually interested in what I think I am interested in before I major in it. Also career-related clubs can act as a resume-booster when employers are deciding which person to hire. Through this conversation, I have also learned about the ENR leadership council and the benefits that it provides its members. According to Bryce, being a part of the leadership council has helped her to develop planning skills and think logistically. It has also helped her to open her eyes to people’s different perspectives and approaches to environmental sustainability. One of the benefits she achieved from being a part of the leadership council was that she learned about freeganism and dumpster-diving. Another very important thing that I learned through this conversation is to keep my mind open to other people’s ideas and to suspend judgement based on your own beliefs. There is so much diversity at Ohio State and every individual has something to offer. People are going to have perspectives that are different from my own. I can learn something new from everyone if I listen to what others have to say without judgement or bias.

 

Year in Review

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[ “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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

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[ “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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

  • Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc.
  • Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
  • Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
  • Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
  • Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]