Environmental & Natural Resources Scholars has changed my life and college experience in ways that I did not expect. Most importantly it brought me my roommate. The required live in policy, which I thought would hinder my experience at OSU, inadvertently led me to find my best friends in college. Aside from friendships and meeting other great people in the program, I would say the best experience I have had was through ENR was with the OAC on the spring break 2016 sea kayaking trip last year. I wasn’t at the best place with my life. I had just entered a relationship that wasn’t good for me, my classes were tough, and it seemed like everyone was having fun without me because I had to write lab reports and papers every week. Sea kayaking got me back to myself and saw the simplicity in things that had been consuming me.

This trip brought me back to nature and connected me with people that live adventure and challenges just as much as me. It has inspired me to go to Australia with the OAC next summer on a leadership adventure trip. I don’t think I would have found these experiences without ENR nor the people that made them so great.

ENR has taught me a lot these past two years. Aside from knowledge that throwing an apple core on the ground isn’t beneficial at all, I learned a lot about sustainability in life. Esther and Amanda emphasized a balance of social, economic, and environmental factors to create sustainability. I also learned about navigation through the sea kayaking trip. One of my favorite memories was the ENR Sustainable Thanksgiving where I learned how to cook vegetarian and vegan meals sustainably and still implement those recipes today!

My Spring 2017 project was focused on service. I raised money and danced at BuckeyeThon, I was trained and volunteered at St. Joseph’s Hospice as a companion, and I joined a developing program at Ohio Living Westminster Thurber for music therapy and memory. My spring project got me involved in a lot of different avenues of service that I might not have applied myself to had I not had a push from this project. It helped kick start opportunities for me that I plan to be involved in throughout college. From this project, I have gained direct patient care that is helping me prepare for my future career in the medical field as well as insight on starting programs and fundraising.

Advice I would have for incoming sophomores is you’re only as involved as you want to be. ENR is a great resource to have throughout college whether it’s career driven, as a support system, or even an outlet from school. The events are fun and not something that you’re going to find out of college so enjoy them while you can. I would say pick a project that you are passionate about and that can benefit you down the line. My project helped set up volunteering opportunities for me as well as connections to people in my future field. Not only do I get to help people but I am gaining experience on how to work with patients professionally. Overall just enjoy the time you have in this program and know that you can always stay in touch after it’s over!

My second year project this past semester I participated in the Birmingham, Alabama Buck-I-Serv Habitat for Humanity trip. I had never participated in a Habitat or Buck-I-Serv trip before so I was definitely unsure what to expect.

            The first day of work was mainly painting but I was able to work on making trim, cabinets, base boards, and a foundational post for the house we were working on. I really found that I liked this work much more than painting through the entirety of the trip.

Every day we went to a different site with new challenges at each house. On the last day we got to work back at our original house that we started with though and see all the improvement. Every group finished working at my site on the last day whether it was installing locks, laying tile, or placing sod down we all hustled to get this house ready for a new home owner.

I learned a lot of valuable and transferable skills about managing a house and building things needed for it. It was really cool to be thrown into a situation with no knowledge on anything and having the supervisor trust that you would do it right. This gave us a sense of responsibility and made us want to do the work the best we could.

We had attended a dinner one night where we were able to talk to people that were receiving houses built by Habitat and people that were already homeowners of Habitat homes and this was one of my favorite events. I talked to a homeowner and we learned that people who receive Habitat homes have to volunteer for 300 hours for Habitat! Also they still do pay for their homes, what they owe is determined by how much of their income is to the average salary and then that percentage is applied to how much they pay for the houses’ supply costs, the labor is free from the volunteers.

One sustainable thing Habitat is currently doing that I was able to take part in is refurbishing old homes and turning them into Habitat homes. This is awesome because it’s basically recycling a house! 2 out of the 3 houses we worked on were being refurbished. These houses were still a lot of work though because the tenants had been evicted and there was a ton of trash and furniture that needed to be thrown out and cleaned up. By flipping old homes and turning them into livable Habitat houses, Habitat for Humanity is cutting down on the supplies they need, reusing land instead of buying new land for a new home, and conserving laborious jobs that would otherwise needed to be done, like building a foundation which they pay professionals to do, not done by the volunteers.

Overall, I’m really happy I came on this trip. At times it was freezing (believe it or not, I think we brought the Ohio cold down with us) and at times I was tired and hungry, but seeing the impact I made just be giving up a week of my winter vacation was entirely worth it. My roommate wasn’t able to go on the trip last minute which freaked me out because I knew really no one else going personally but I quickly made new friends because if there’s one thing college students bond over it’s food and card games.

Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? New Year’s day is just like the day before, nothing special besides a number given to a day to dictate that the Earth has made a full rotation around the Sun. If you want to make a change in your life, you have to wait for a certain day to make it significant. I believe the most significant changes are not timed, an opportunity presents itself and it effects one so much to cause an immediate change, one that doesn’t have to wait for the first of January.

Going into my freshman year of college, everyone assumes that they will change. A new lifestyle is thrust upon you and how you embrace it determines who you are. Or at least that’s how it feels. Welcome Week was especially an anxious time for me because it felt like I had to be apart of everything and school hadn’t even started yet. Soon enough I adjusted to college life and made changes to my habits, behavior, and interests.

This past year I have really tried to not stress out so much. Stress is my tragic flaw. I will be cool as a cucumber but when a lot of assignments and obligations pile up I generally crumble. Trying to manage my stress level was especially hard with general chemistry; which dictated most of my time this past year. However, I think the added challenge helped me become better quicker. I am still working on controlling my stress level but I found a few things that helped me along the way. Working out and a hot cup of mint tea always seem to ease my mind. It’s ironic that by doing these things I’m procrastinating more, but it helps me relax. Practicing yoga, playing volleyball with some friends, or just watching Daredevil on the elliptical seem to be personal favorites. This may sound strange but by not stressing I have developed a better relationship to those close to me. Usually when I feel a lot of pressure I get very irritated any minute. I definitely don’t snap at people anymore which helps to keep me calm and I stress less. Also the events that Morrill Tower and ENR Scholars hold are very fun and help take my mind off things. My favorite event was the Lucky’s cooking workshop. I learned a lot of valuable skills from that.

I am also currently working on being mindful. The OAC Sea Kayaking trip prompted this thinking. I find my practicing mindfulness, just by a daily prompt or journaling, that I appreciate things in my daily life a lot more and it’s a great way to relieve stress and collect thoughts. It’s also great to go back read previous journal entries and see what past me was thinking.

My two main targets that I want to work on now are motivation and patience. A lot of times I am unmotivated to do things like workout, clean or do homework. I realized that by making lists I am instantly more likely to do things which helps with motivation and procrastination but it is no where near strong yet. Also the older I get the more impatient I become. It’s probably because I am not considering other people’s perspectives and needs. I believe if I work on that then I will be more understanding leading to more overall patience.

I believe the changes in my life that I have made this year and are still trying to make are inspired by the simple need to be happier and live the best life I can. Although that sounds cheesy, why wouldn’t anyone want to me more relaxed and at peace? Also living with a mix of different people has opened me up to a lot new things that I wouldn’t have been exposed to without them.

ENR Scholars Earth Month allowed me to explore a part of myself that I have been hesitant to change; my diet. Over the course of the month I progressively practiced veganism. This allowed me to try out a diet that was completely new to me. I want to practice this in full over the summer now because it’s easier to make vegan options at home opposed to finding them in dining halls. Along with veganism I want to try a couple other diets that I have done research in. By diet, I mean a lifestyle of eating. I want to find what’s the healthiest for me, what effects my body and mind best, and what helps the environment, animals, and humans.

Usually I am taking in lots of things from the world around me. I am constantly observing people and things. Lately I have been taking in nature because of the springtime and nice weather. I have also been just trying to enjoy every moment I get with a person because everyone is leaving for the summer. I think that I am giving the world back service and honesty. I do a lot of volunteer work because it feels like I am making my time valuable compared to just watching Netflix. Also I always try to be honest with others, a skill I have definitely strengthened in college. It is very hard sometimes but in the long run it makes everything easier and helps with communication. This rages from relationships, to teamwork, and even being honest with myself.

During one of my first classes with ENR scholars, the definition of service was contemplated among my peers and I. We learned that service is a lot more than just blindly helping an organization or cause. The difference between helping, fixing, and serving is all perspective. When you serve your community, it allows you to not think of life as a set of problems that need to be fixed, but yet an opportunity that you can be apart of. We learned that when you serve your community, you should consciously consider what you are doing and how it is beneficial. I kept these postulates in mind as I volunteered with ENR scholars this semester. This semester I worked with FLOW and the Fawcett Center. The first time I volunteered, I worked with Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed, also known as FLOW. This involved picking up trash along the Olentangy River and sites near the road that had been infested with litter like cigarette butts, plastic bags, and old construction site materials. My other experience involved removing invasive species at the Fawcett Center to help restore the indigenous species. This area near the Fawcett Center is continuously used for tailgating during football season. This is detrimental to the environment so ENR scholars is working to help better the area by removing invasive plants in the hopes that the newly restored area will be enough cause to stop tailgating here.

My service this semester addressed littering, environmental restoration, and invasive species. In the future I wish to pursue these issues. Since my service involved the environment, there are many other opportunities available to allow me to continue serving Mother Nature. In the future I can continue to help restore the Olentangy River and the land near the Fawcett Center. I can also help to raise awareness about invasive species, littering, and the importance of the Olentangy River in Columbus.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when on the first day of college I was told I would be helping restore the Olentangy with FLOW, a river and an organization I had never heard of. However, I was told there would be free food, so I just went with it. I figured that it would be some light work helping pick trash out of the river. This was pretty much completely opposite of what I expected. It was hot outside, there was a lot of trash, and actually most of the work I did wasn’t even near the river. My trash bag grew heavy as I collected more and more abandoned trash. A piece of metal in my bag kept scraping kept scraping my leg and I often had to stop to allow the lucky ones who didn’t have trash bags to deposit their trash into mine. I was growing hungry and I felt like no matter how much trash I collected, nothing was changing. However when I finished and reflected on the work I did, I felt like I had actually made a difference, it wasn’t easy but it was worthwhile.

My other experience, I was a little more prepared for. I expected that there would be a lot of physical work and that it wouldn’t be easy. This made it easier for me to comprehend even several hours outside clipping plants down made a difference, even if it seemed like there were still infinity many trees and shrubs that still needed to remove.

Throughout both these acts of service I learned that making a difference in the environment is hard work, physically and mentally. Physically it’s obvious to see why climbing an invasive tree to chop off it’s branches one by one could be demanding, but the hardest was mentally. This is because after working for several hours and still looking out on all the trash left by humans and the invasive species dominating an environment, you feel like your work was worthless. However once you look at how much you have made a difference, how many bags or trash you have collected, how much land you have cleared of invasive species; your work becomes rewarding.

If I were to do anything differently regarding my service, I would definitely bring headphones to keep my mind busy while I work and bring more people to help. Many hands lighten a load and if more people get inspired to do work within the community, the faster it goes and the bigger the impact!

Not only did I learn about environmental restoration and invasive specie removal, I learned a little about myself. I learned that I can persevere and that I am strong willed. I kept a positive attitude throughout my service to encourage others to continue working and to consider the purpose of our work. I also learned that I like helping the environment out. Next semester I hope to continue working it FLOW and the Fawcett Center. It will be rewarding to look back at these areas in a few years and see how far they have come.