This year I had the opportunity to meet two freshman Disha Patel and Daniel Adamson. Disha Patel is from Hilliard, Ohio and she is majoring in molecular genetics. Daniel is from Cincinnati, Ohio and he is majoring in history.
Disha picked mol gen because she wanted to be a genetic counselor and she was also interested in the content she was learning. She also had the opportunity to become heavily involved with school her first semester by joining OUAB, one of the largest organizations on campus. As she started off the school year, like any other freshman she was getting to know the college life while also balancing tough science classes. Disha and I both commuted this year to college and our passions for what we wanted to do and our similar involvement in school strengthened our friendship and mentorship experience. I had the opportunity to get close with Disha within a month of meeting her and as a mentor I got the chance to guide her through struggles I also went through my freshman year, especially as a commuter. At the same time I learned a lot from her as she also guided me through new challenges. Starting from the first weeks from school to now, Disha has grown academically and quite personally. I remember discussing with her how to tackle the coursework from college because we were also in the same physics. We also worked on how tackle personal problems in the college lifestyle like socially and as a commuter.
Daniel is a student that I usually do not have the opportunity to meet on campus. His unique personality and passions interested me and being a mentor, I got to guide him but I also learned a lot from his unique take on life. I am mostly surrounded by students who are pre med or in the sciences/business or have similar passions to me, but knowing Daniel showed me a unique perspective. Even though we were different in many ways, the strong similarity we had was our passion to do/learn what we want. Daniel started off as a political science major and he took calculus his first semester here. Mentoring him in the fall, I remember telling him how to tackle coursework, especially calculus at OSU as it is known to be notoriously hard. He was also unsure about his major and what he was learning. I always told him to learn what you are passionate in because thats how you will be successful in whatever path you take. Daniel also got heavily involved on campus from the beginning by joining OSU’s comedy club. He gained a lot of friends through it who share his passion and he also got to express his talent at shows. When we would meet he would catch me up on his latest work. I have seen Daniel grow tremendously from first semester. He switched his major into history and started to learn more about the criminal justice system which led him to think about going to law school or graduate school. He also started to publish his comedic work in the sun dial magazine and when we would meet he would show me some of his articles. As a mentor I am glad Daniel is starting to learn and do what he loves. I can see that he has learned a lot throughout his first year at OSU.
Being a mentor taught me more than I expected and often I found myself learning from my mentees. During the fall semester, whenever I spoke with Disha or Daniel I found myself referencing my past experiences and mistakes I made to guide them. I understood that coming to a large college like OSU can seem daunting and hard to adjust to but as a mentor I assisted them to adjusting to college. That is what your freshman year is about, getting used to this new lifestyle. As a mentor I learned how to interact with different types of people, core to being a leader. This experience helped me become a better leader in other leadership positions like BuckeyeThon. Knowing how to speak and present to all types of people is something I am trying to learn.
Overall this experience has taught me a-lot while I had the opportunity to guide and make friendship with Disha and Daniel. Looking back, I can see ways I would have improved my mentorship, but I know that coming into second year Disha and Daniel will have their own insight and perspective for their mentees.