Having the chance to be a mentor this year was one of the bright highlights of a rather trying school year. My first-year mentee was Kai Bull. Kai is from Springfield, Ohio and is currently an undecided major. She began the year as a Psychology major but has recently started considering Women and Gender Studies! As for her desire to come to Ohio State, she was looking for a big school in a city with opportunities and students who are impassioned. Overall, she was hoping to find community, despite its large student class.

When it comes to what Kai and I have in common, I think we were a bit surprised at how many similarities kept coming to the surface. We both have a bit of social awkwardness and anxiety, yet I found it comforting and fascinating that we never seemed to come across this way to each other. I think we’re both goofy people who may seem shy at first, but where we align the most is in our interests. At our very core, we love to spend our time sleeping and watching TikTok, YouTube, and movies. We both love to do art and have a passion for social justice and caring for others, as well. We love One Direction, Starbucks, and pop culture, too, so there was never a time when we didn’t have something to catch up on. I think when it comes to differences, we differ a bit in our work ethics. I enjoy scheduling and planning along with trips to the library, whereas Kai is so chill and takes things as they come. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t be surprised if we could both be found wrapping up a procrastinated paper at 4am!

I definitely saw a lot of growth with my mentee. The first semester, Kai seemed a bit more aimless and unsure of where her passions may lead her. However, this second semester, I think she branched out a bit more and had some successes actualized that validated things about herself. For example, she was really proud of herself for winning the Bob Ross painting night. Also, when we went to Clay Café, her pottery ended up making it to the Facebook page! In terms of academics, she seems to be figuring out what she enjoys and what she does not, especially in making that decision to be an undecided major and homing in on the prospect of Women and Gender studies. I can see her focusing much more on who she wants to be and where she sees her passions coming together. I can also see that she is much more social. I think it’s hard to adjust to college life, so that first semester can be a trying time, especially when there aren’t as many opportunities to be meeting new individuals. That being said, I could see that she had many more memories she wanted to relay to me this semester, and I think a lot of that had to do with being more comfortable on the campus and with her roommate.

I think I grew as a mentor in a variety of ways. Leadership has always been something I strived to enact, which my mom would gladly attribute to me being the oldest child. I was able to see myself branch out and have this desire to try new things, even in the simple stuff like the busing system. I also saw myself feel confident in leading events elsewhere, like summits or meetings through my internship at the Wexner Center for the Arts. Overall, I’ve learned how fun it is to meet new people and share new experiences. I’ve had mainly the same friends since seventh grade so branching out and trying new friendships has never been something I felt like I needed to do. However, this experience showed me how rewarding new friendships can feel. I hope I was able to guide Kai in the areas of mentoring, socialization, and orientation even in simply just being there or speaking about my own personal experiences. College can be tough because it feels like you are doing almost everything on your own. It can be hard to navigate and know things as simple as what to buy for a class. I hope I was able to be that person for Kai that she could ask questions to when she was confused or even rely on for reminders of events, even if I struggled to remember them myself! Overall, I had the best experience being Kai’s mentor, and it never felt like an extra task on my list. I had a great time getting to know Kai, and I look forward to hanging out with her the next schoolyear!

Being a freshman, I am finding it a bit tricky to be a leader in larger things yet have been able to pursue leadership in smaller ways. One of the primary ways I demonstrate leadership is in my group projects. I am normally the one to begin the work or help assign roles to individuals. In terms of leadership in my past, I was Vice President of my Spanish Club in high school as well as the backbone of my school’s Wellness Club. In both of those, I was called to create ideas for club activities, choose dates for those activities, and share them with my school. I also worked at a daycare center, in which, eventually, I was looked upon to train individuals. I hope to carry these leadership traits into college once I am offered more opportunities. As for the future, my dream job would be a prominent editor at Penguin Random House, a job that would require leadership skills such as organization, determination, and passion.

As mentioned in my About Me, I am very passionate about service work. I was first introduced to it in my Church through sandwich making or going to soup kitchens with my family. My parents have truly shown me what it means to care for one’s community, and I’m very grateful to them for leading the way. As I got older, I began to become more involved with service. A primary way of involvement was assisting my mom with Children’s Liturgy at my church. There, I would help kids to pay attention while teaching them about the readings for the week. In addition, I have been able to volunteer at Vacation Bible School over the past few summers, in which I would lead a group of children and, again, instruct them about the Bible. In my time at Ohio State, I have already been able to attend various service events, whether it be cleaning up a nearby community or helping a nearby garden. One thing in particular that I am very passionate about is my work at the hospital. I was trained to be a Eucharistic minister for the sick through the Newman Center. In doing so, I have been able to offer communion to people throughout each of the hospital buildings who otherwise would not have been able to receive it. I feel very privileged to do something so meaningful to others and have seen that simply sharing some of your time with those who don’t have many visitors or just need someone to talk to is extremely powerful. I am very excited to see what other opportunities come my way while still continuing to pursue service opportunities I am already involved with.

[ “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.]