Artifacts

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These three pictures represent how I have grown as a student and person in the past year and a half since I’ve been at The Ohio State University. I have developed as an academic student within my major, a traveler within my International Affairs Scholar program, and a leader within my sorority.

My first artifact is a picture of me when I began as a freshman here at OSU. I was an International Studies major and was exploring different classes to figure out my passion and future career path. I took an intro class to Hospitality Management and ended up switching my major to Consumer Sciences Hospitality Management. Being at Ohio State is what helped me feel confident enough to explore various classes and majors within the school, guiding me to choose what I am passionate about. As a student here, many opportunities are available to me in classes, internships, and experiences. Ohio State has helped me grow as a student by showing me what I have to offer as a future career woman and how I can become a better, more well-rounded person. When the time comes for me to graduate and start a career I know being a student here will have prepared me well.

My second artifact is a picture of the group I went with to study abroad in India this past summer. This experience will probably always be a major highlight of my life and undergraduate career. I learned so much about the culture and lifestyle of India and Asia in general, this in turn helped me learn a lot about my own American culture and how it impacts different aspects of my life. Exploring a country so different from my home was so incredibly amazing and I got to share that adventure with my friends and fellow IA peers. Traveling with a new group of people helped me grow more independent because I researched what I wanted to see in each city during my free time so I talked to my friends as well and showed them why we should visit certain places when we can. Having this study abroad experience really helped me grow as a traveler and person because it showed me what I can do with my life and how I can have more amazing adventures if I make it a priority to live life to the fullest.

My third artifact is a picture of the day I joined my sorority, Delta Zeta. DZ has helped me grow tremendously as a woman and leader. I met an entire new group of people who were now considered my sisters and family. Soon after joining Delta Zeta I was given a position on the executive board which is responsible for the chapters decisions, responsibilities, and life within the Greek community of Ohio State. I was given the responsibility of understanding the different aspects of the chapter and how to run a successful sorority. This experience really allowed me to grow as a leader because I was suddenly in charge of a lot of aspects within the chapter and was given the freedom to do what I want with the resources I had. It also showed me to appreciate the leaders in my life because they put in so much work to make things happen and make them successful, which is not easy. I earned a new understanding of different people in my life both in and outside of Delta Zeta.

My fourth artifact represents my time in the She’s the First chapter here at Ohio State. She’s the First is an international organization that raises money to send girls to school in developing countries. The Ohio State chapter sponsors two girls in Uganda and a girl in India, we put on fundraisers throughout the year and any money we raise goes to these girls to pay for their schooling. We also work to raise awareness of women’s issues around the world and educate our peers about why our cause is so important. This past year I worked as the Marketing Director on the executive board and I have been elected next year to work as the Administrative Assistant on the executive board so I am excited to broaden my leadership skills during this time.

My fifth artifact is a picture of me and my brother at an Indiana Pacers basketball game. While I have been to quite a few Indianapolis sporting events, I haven’t always been a big fan of Indy. I only moved to Indianapolis when I started junior year in high school, after only two years I came to Ohio State and was glad to be out of Indiana. As I have continued my time at Ohio State I have learned to appreciate Indiana a lot more as my “home.” I’ve learned that there are a lot of different types of “homes,” Indiana is my home with my family and its where my dog and house are and I love being with them. Ohio is my home where I’ve flourished though. The happiness I’ve found with the people I’ve met in college is something I cannot describe and I am incredibly grateful that I have them in my life, they make Ohio State my home away from home and I know I have a family in both my homes.

My last artifact is a picture of me and my little sister in Delta Zeta. Although I have already described the leadership skills Delta Zeta has given me, it has also taught me how to be a role model. Being a big sister means being there for your little sister and helping her with whatever she needs. It means integrating her into the sorority and showing her what its all about, I am her mentor in DZ and thats a responsibility I don’t take lightly. My little sister has taught me that I have a role in the sorority even when its not a leadership position, new members are still watching me to see what a member of Delta Zeta is and I have begun to take that more seriously.

All of these experiences together have helped me, and continue to help me, develop and grow into a better and more well-rounded student, traveler, and leader. I can only hope to have more experiences that can add to what I’ve already learned.

About Me

IMG_4201Here at The Ohio State University I am a second year Hospitality Management major. I am from Carmel, Indiana, am a part of the International Affairs Scholars program, and can honestly say I have no idea how to start planning my future. I know I am supposed to write about what type of “learner” I am and how my educational path right now will lead to my aspiring career, but this is only my third semester in college and I am still figuring it out along with many other students. As for being a student, I think I am a very diverse learner. There are so many different ways one can learn and I have enjoyed all of them, though some more than others. Being an International Affairs Scholar, for example, has allowed me to learn in so many different ways. I lived with other students in this program last year and got to learn all about them through being social. I also learned in the classroom in our seminar class about world affairs and what we could come to expect from the program. And I was lucky enough this summer to travel to India with this program and experienced learning through travel, culture, and people.

I don’t think learning can be pinned down to one specific definition and I don’t want it to be. My college experience so far has taught me so many things and I’m excited that I go to such a great school where I don’t need to be stuck in a classroom all day in order to learn. People learn best through experience and I want to experience it all. As for my future plan, I’m still working on it. But I’m not worried because I have a great school to support me and provide me with more opportunities than I could even imagine. Being an International Affairs Scholar has shown me how to explore the world and understand how much bigger everything is than just us. I can’t wait to continue my undergraduate journey and see what Ohio State has in store for me because if its like anything I’ve experienced so far I know it will be great.

Year in Review

In this past year I think the most growth I have done is myself personally. I have grown a lot as a person in many different ways. I have gotten more into my major which has shown me a lot about what I want to do as a future career and what goals I want to achieve while in this program in college. Also, I have had multiple different leadership positions that have helped me understand how I work as a leader and what it takes to be successful in a position. I learned that it takes different skill sets to be successful in various positions because the goals may be different and your audience will change depending on the organization. This year has taught me a lot about what I need to improve on and what will help me succeed as a leader in my future career path.

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness:

I have definitely excelled in this area of the GOALS. Last summer I went on the study abroad trip to India for two weeks and it was the most amazing trip I’ve ever taken. It showed me so much of the world that I never knew and it taught me so many things about a culture different from my own. The global perspective I gained from traveling to India with my peers was incredibly beneficial and taught me so much about the world around me.

Original Inquiry:

Being in India and experiencing the culture first hand is definitely something that I would say was an original inquiry personally. I am not a science or art-type major so research or creativity is not something included in my curriculum. However, traveling is my own type of inquiry into other cultures. I did a lot of research on Indian culture before going on the trip and it definitely led me down different paths to understanding a culture separate from my own and understanding it when I was there.

Academic Enrichment:

When I first began at Ohio State I was an International Studies major and didn’t know what type of career path I wanted to take in my future. After being creative with scheduling I managed to find myself in an Intro to Hospitality Management class my second semester. I ended up falling completely in love with everything I was being told in the class. I found it so interesting and enjoyed hearing about all the different opportunities I would have in the hospitality industry. I decided to switch my major and have never doubted my decision. Learning to explore different areas of interest is a skill that will definitely help me in my future career.

Leadership Development:

Although I have not had any leadership positions within the International Affairs Scholars program, I have been fortunate enough to gain leadership experience elsewhere. The position I believe has developed my leadership skills the most however is being the VP of Programming on my sorority’s executive board. This board basically runs everything in the chapter and I was lucky enough to be on it and learn so much about my sorority while helping it improve at the same time. In this position I needed to communicate with the chapter a lot so it boosted my communication skills and taught me how to work with people and meet their expectations when it comes to programming events for a 200 member sorority.

Service Engagement:

The service I am involved in is an international organization with a college chapter here at Ohio State. It is called She’s the First and what we do is raise money to send a girl to school in a developing country. We also work to raise awareness about how important women’s education is and why we work so hard for the cause that we do. Throughout the year we do multiple fundraisers and send the funds to our “scholar” in Uganda to continue paying for her education. This organization has taught me so much about my own education and issues in the world that need to be addressed and understood by our community.

Career

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This coming summer I will be gaining a lot of experience in the hospitality field through an internship. I live in Carmel, Indiana where there are a lot of hotels that cater to the overflow visitors and business travelers of Indianapolis. I will be interning at the Hilton Garden Inn of Carmel, Indiana and gaining experience in the hospitality industry from a personal perspective. My hopes for this internship are that it gives me a view of what a future career in this industry could be like. One of my favorite things about hospitality is that there are so many different careers that can come from it; hotels are just the beginning of tourism, resorts, and whole corporations. This internship will teach me about working in a smaller, midwest Hilton and show me what it takes to run a successful hotel. I am excited to gain experience and learn skills that I can take with me into my future career.