For our Explore Columbus, Alexis Lam and I went to Jeni’s Ice Cream in the Short North of Columbus. We went after classes on Thursday around 6:30 so it was relatively quiet in the ice cream shop, since everyone was eating dinner. We ended up taking the 2 bus down from Smith-Steeb hall, otherwise it would have been a 40 minute walk in the cold. We struggled slightly to find Jeni’s since it was surrounded by construction catwalks and cones. When we went in, there was a rush of the ice cream smell and so many choices. Alexis got the brambleberry crumble, while I got the salted caramel. We sat in the back and did the 2nd semester interview while enjoying our ice cream.  We talked about classes, what we liked about ACES and what we liked about Ohio State. We discussed our high school sizes and how that could have been difficult for us to transition into the large community at Ohio State. I really liked the atmosphere at Jeni’s and how it just seemed so friendly to be in there.

After the interview and after we ate, Alexis and I left and wandered up the Short North a little bit, trying to find a bus stop.  I have only been to the Short North twice, both times I was in a car, so I was confused about the buses and wasn’t very confident in where I was. We found a bus stop and hung out for a while.  She had gotten her housing lottery number the week before and she found a place in Hauck house on North Campus with some friends. After about five minutes of waiting, we realized that the bus had not come, so we looked at the schedule and were shocked to find that we still had 10 minutes before the bus got to us. We waited more and the bus was running even further behind.

Finally, the bus arrived and we were able to get on.  We took the bus back up tp Smith-Steeb hall. We learned that the bus system is never accurate, especially during the evening, and that it was strange to navigate through construction to find a small ice cream shop. I came from a smaller town, so the move to Columbus was a shock and it’s really cool for me to be able to share the chaos and confusion with someone else as we both navigate through the city together. I would recommend using the COTA bus app on your phone to determine when buses get somewhere so you do not have to stand out in the cold.  I would also highly recommend going to the Short North Jeni’s and trying the different combinations of ice cream that they have there.

5 Questions:

1. Which class on your current schedule do you think will be the most challenging?

2. How have you gotten involved on campus?

3. How was your first semester of ACES? What surprised you about the program?

4. Have your career plans changed since your first semester? Why or why not?

5. What has surprised you about Ohio State since arriving on campus?

Alexis Lam, a neuroscience major on a pre-med track, and I met at Jeni’s Ice Cream to do our Explore Columbus and interview. She said her hardest class right now would be general chemistry 1220. She explained that this was the hardest class because of all the math she has to do for it. She is taking general chemistry 1220, Neuro 3000, and biology 1114. We talked about her schedule next semester and the dreaded Organic Chemistry and I gave her some pointers on what she should do or not do next year, regarding schedules.

Alexis has been involved on campus since last semester and is in the same clubs, APIDA, ACES, HOSA, and RAM. She really enjoys these clubs since they allow her to get more involved in her culture, APIDA, involved in her community, ACES, and involved in her future profession, HOSA and RAM.

Alexis really liked her first semester in ACES and said it was fun with a fun group of like-minded individuals who all strive for justice and for service to the community around us.  She really liked Smith-Steeb hall and how much the community in there really gets along.  She was surprised at how small ACES was compared to the other scholars groups. She thought there would be more people that are involved in the group but she said that she liked the smaller size.

Her career plans, to be a doctor, have not changed.  Her passion and love for medicine has gotten stronger through her involvement with RAM, which is a pre-med club that was started by another neuroscience student. She is very passionate about helping those in need and is dead set on wanting to continue her career as a doctor.

Alexis told me that her biggest surprise when coming to Ohio State was that OSU was not as big and scary as everyone made it out to be. She came from a rather large high school and she said it was a nice transition to OSU because of the size.  She was able to see the same few people everyday which can help make a huge campus feel so small. I told her about my experience coming to OSU. I cam from a small rural school, so OSU in the city was a culture and size shock to me but I was able to find a few people I knew and could see everyday that would make the place feel smaller to me.

Overall, Alexis greatly enjoys Ohio State and ACES and cannot wait to use her Ohio State experience to help those in need through practicing medicine.

For this event, we were tasked with finding a place in Columbus that we really liked and to share this place with our mentee.  I picked Condados tacos and my mentee, Alexis, and I went on September 28, 2019.  We chose this place because Alexis had never been there and it’s one of my favorite places in Columbus.  I love all of the food and the atmosphere. We also picked it since it is close to campus and fairly cheap, since Alexis and I are busy and didn’t want to venture too far from campus. I was looking forward to the food and getting to know my mentee, since we combined the interview with the Explore Columbus requirements. We left around 11 am and missed the bus by 1 minute.  Even though we had this setback, Alexis and I decided to walk the 6 blocks to the High Street Condados in Short North. It was a nice morning, not too hot and it was sunny so the walk was pleasant. We were the first people in the restaurant since it opened at 11.  This was a little weird and confusing since I was concerned that the we were alone in the place.  We ordered. I got a pulled pork taco and Alexis got a pulled pork bowl.  While we waited for our food, I did the 1st semester interview (see Artifacts for the summary entry,) and we talked about her classes and my experience in these classes.  Alexis and I are both Neuroscience majors and I was able to talk about my experience in the neuroscience classes and what classes I would take in the Spring semester.  After we ate and paid, we ended up walking to Kroger and taking the bus back home from there.

I would definitely go back to Condados because of the atmosphere, people and food. I like how it’s relatively cheap and a good amount of food for a cheap price.  I learned that Columbus has a lot of small, locally run restaurants that have good food for a good price near campus and that it’s really hard to think about what places I go to around campus since all my volunteering opportunities or everything I do outside of campus is far from Ohio State and/or hard to get to without someone who’s been here for a while. I learned that going on a tourist website, asking friends or just wandering are the best ways to learn a new city and to get new experiences.  I recommend googling food places, or other events that are going on in the city to get an idea of what you want to do. I also recommend doing research, where the place is, when it is, how much, etc, before going to it since that can be a concern for people.  Food places are always a safe bet when trying to explore a new place since you can ask the servers what they like about the area and where they like to go.

Name: Alexis Lam        Major: Neuroscience Pre-med

Questions:

1. How do you like to study? Have you found a good place for studying on campus?
2. What kind of involvement are you interested in?
3. Why did you choose ACES?
4. What do you plan to do with your major after graduation? Graduate or professional school? Enter the workforce?
5. How will you balance academics and involvement?

My mentee for ACES for my second year portfolio assignment is Alexis Lam. She is a spunky, fun young woman, from near Cincinnati Ohio, who has a lot of enthusiasm for volunteering and medicine. Alexis is a first year Neuroscience pre-med student.  She enjoys studying alone in a quiet area, especially in classrooms with chalkboards to write all her notes on and to get the thoughts organized outside of her head. She says that she is still trying to find the perfect study spot on campus and one of her harder classes is General Chemistry.  She is interested in more volunteering opportunities on campus and is currently involved in a medical club and two cultural clubs, HOSA (Future Health Professionals), VSA (Vietnamese student association) at Ohio State and APIDA (Asian pacific Islander Desi American.) She did a lot of volunteering in high school, including a peer counseling position. With all these extracurricular activities and a hard major, Alexis has devised a plan to balance her academics and involvement throughout the year.  She has a daily planner to keep track of homework, and she has a monthly calendar to write down every event that is happening during the month and to stay on top of things.

Alexis choose ACES because of the volunteering opportunities that ACES gives its’ scholars and she joined because ACES does a lot of events with younger children, which is the audience she plans to work with when she graduates. She looks forward to these opportunities working with children through ACES.  After graduation, Alexis wants to go to medical school.  She is not sure if she wants to go to Ohio State medical school, and is torn between in state and out of state schools. While in medical school, Alexis wants to focus on pediatric neurology and working with children.

Using this information, I am able to better mentor her throughout this year.  As a fellow Neuroscience major, I understand how hard the major and science classes can be.  I plan on helping her study and give advice every chance that I can.  I can also be there as a friend and be there for her if things ever get tough, mentally and emotionally.  I have been through my first year and, armed with that knowledge, I can talk to her and help her in any way that she may need.  I am very excited to have Alexis as my mentee this year, and I cannot wait for future encounters.

Every first year ACES Scholars has to present a film that embodies the ACES pillars of community, service, positive social change and advocacy. My group presented the film On the Way to School, which is a documentary about the struggles that 4 children face on their journey to school. This film project was important to me because it allowed me to see how passionate about school these children are and how their passion drives them to travel these long, dangerous journeys. Through this film, I learned how to be greatful for my education and to not complain about a 5 minute walk across campus.  This film opened my eyes to a harsh reality that many young children face and their struggle to get ahead in life via education. Since this project, I have become more interested in how I can help these children and have started to search for mission trips, or volunteer work, in the United States and other countries, that will allow me to help these children with their education.

Attached is a copy of the presentation given in class:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/

This October, I had the opportunity to go to the Mid-Ohio Food bank with a large group of other ACES members to help organize and sort food for the pantry there. We sorted fruit and vegetables that were given to the Food bank from grocery stores near Columbus. Much of the produce was not good for consumption so it had to be thrown away and we went through each box of food items to make sure only the eatable food was given to the pantry.  This experience humbled me by making me grateful for the food I have every day and that I do not have to wonder where my next meal comes from.  In the future, I hope to volunteer my time to this organization to help the ever-growing hungry population.

Attatched are pictures from the event: