Sophomore was a turbulent year, to say the least. I hit highs and lows, and learned a lot from a year that may not seem like much on paper. But, I did manage to engage with all of the GOALS of the Honors and Scholars program, which I will address below.

G. Global Awareness

I ended autumn semester over the moon as I was accepted into a study abroad program: the Multicultural Histories and Legacies of London and Rome. The program was designed to visit two of the cities that I had always wanted to visit, and it contained both historical and service components, making it perfect to allow me to help others and also fulfill my own interest in the history of these two significant hotspots. I spent spring semester studying leadership and multicultural histories at home and abroad in order to prepare for the trip and being a stranger in a different land. I had never left the country before, so I could not have been more excited (although nervous!) to explore London and Rome, both at the sightseeing spots and through volunteering with their homeless and impoverished communities. Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I had to cancel my participation in the trip this May. While disappointed, my health comes first, and I still got the opportunity to learn a great deal about cultures different from my on, which I am grateful for.

O. Original Inquiry

One of the more exciting aspects of the Democratic Erosion class I took in spring 2018 is that we did a case study on different countries around the world and evaluated the status of their democracies, and whether or not they had experienced erosion. The case studies were to be included in a meta-analysis by the graduate Political Science students at Texas A&M University, who would take the papers (and other case studies from other universities) and provide a report to USAID. The class will have a student conference in August, and I studied the democracy in the African country of Mauritius. I had never heard of the country prior to researching it, but I learned an incredible amount about it while conducting my case study on its democracy.

A. Academic Enrichment

My sophomore year brought some of the best academic challenges I have encountered so far. During the autumn semester, I took my favorite class in all of college so far: Politics of Evil. The class was a 4000 honors course, so it required a lot of intellectual rigor. We read philosophy and applied it to some of the great evils committed by mankind, and tried to make sense of what has happened in the history of humanity. It challenged me in the best way, and I enjoyed it a lot. In addition, my Democratic Erosion class during the spring semester engaged me in thinking about democracy in new ways, and all of the ways that it is vulnerable. I also added a history major this year, and began pursuing it by taking the gateway class, 2800H with Dr. Anderson. Now I will be double majoring in Political Science and History, both of which I have a lot of interest in. I’m very excited to delve deeper into my History major, where I am planning on specializing in Early American History.

L. Leadership Development

While I ultimately had to leave my study abroad class, I did take 12 weeks of the course on Leadership and Community Engagement. I learned about the Social Change Model and read theories on what makes an effective leader throughout the semester. What stuck out most to me is that we defined being a leader as not necessarily taking charge and giving orders, but being a facilitator for a group of people to make each individual shine and engage with whatever project so that all talents can be utilized. The class has definitely given me a new perspective on leadership moving forward.

S. Service Engagement

I got the opportunity to volunteer with STAR House in Columbus, which is a resource center for homeless youth. I served as a warehouse volunteer, so I spent a lot of time organizing and sorting through collections that they received. I started volunteering just after the holiday season, and it was heartwarming to see all of the things collected by STAR House that they could use to help the individuals who needed them. I learned a lot about what kinds of things the homeless need that we may not necessarily think about, such as feminine hygiene products or batteries. Generally when we think of the homeless, we think about them needing blankets and coats and gloves. While they certainly do need those things, they also need things that we also use in our every day lives, like headphones, and seeing these things humanized their struggle for me in a way that it had not been before. It helped close the disconnect that I generally felt when thinking of the homeless community. I had planned to transition from a warehouse volunteer to a resource volunteer working directly with those who came in, but I was not able to continue volunteering with them following a brief stay in the hospital. However, I am grateful for the experience and know that the door is always open to returning to STAR House should I have the opportunity!