Hi, my name is Abigail Mills, but I prefer to be called Abby. I am a first year student here at Ohio State, but recognized as a third year based on the number of credit hours I accrued through AP and dual enrollment classes in high school at Hilliard Davidson in Hilliard, OH. I am currently pursuing a major in psychology and am planning to continue on to graduate school to pursue a degree in Educational Psychology.
I am a member of E Row in the Ohio State Marching Band and have always enjoyed music, as I play five instruments. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, caring for kids, talking with friends, and participating in service activities. I have been an elementary Sunday School teacher for five years, a summer band counselor for two summers, and held a full-time nannying position this summer watching two children.
For most of my life, I wanted to be a teacher, but during my junior year of high school, I became more aware of the excessive amount of testing in schools and its effect on students through my AP psychology class and realized I could use my passion for working with children to benefit their lives in ways besides teaching them directly. As of now, I would like to work as a school psychologist or as a researcher in some capacity so that I can observe children who have various levels of learning abilities in different educational environments and help identify the best types of lessons that cater to their individual needs.
As previously mentioned, my interest in psychology peaked my junior year of high school when I couldn’t take a history class because it conflicted with another class and I selected AP Psychology to fill the gap. Through that class, I gained insight into the different types of psychology and discovered I have a particular interest in developmental psychology because it allows me to work with kids and as someone who is outgoing, I want to find a way to use my social skills to benefit others. However, the most influential event that helped me decide what I want to major in came halfway through my senior year. I was enrolled in French 5 and my teacher received an email from my elementary school pleading for assistance with a fifth grader who just moved from Rwanda and understood English at the level of a Kindergartner, but was fluent in French. She asked that one other student and I go over to help her, so every day, we would use our free period to go to the elementary school and communicate with her in French. At first, we just showed her around the building and helped her understand the words for basic things like lunch and school supplies, but as the weeks went on, we became her tutors for math, science, and English. In the four months I got to work with her, I watched as her excitement about learning multiplied and her abilities increased tenfold. She looked forward to our time together because she could feel like a “normal” child, one who could come to school and complete assignments. By the end of the year, she was able to communicate with her teacher and classmates in broken English and was much more confident about getting involved in activities. From this experience, I learned that every child learns differently and despite language barriers or learning disabilities, everyone deserves a chance at educational success.
I chose to come to Ohio State because the campus is so large and has so many different opportunities that smaller schools can’t provide. When I learned that the psychology programs here are ranked higher than those at the other schools I was looking at, I knew, without a doubt, that this was the school for me. While on campus, I would like to get involved in lots of research, particularly that which involves child development or the like so that I can start gaining knowledge pertaining to how kids learn and the processes their brains go through when learning and retaining information. I am a very dedicated student who works tirelessly to complete everything to the best of my ability and am very good with time management. I have grown up as part of Buckeye Nation and am so excited to spend the next few years exploring all it has to offer from a student’s perspective! Go Bucks!