Year in Review

While this year has certainly been unprecedented, I have learned so much in just a short time. In early March, I was sent home from my high school to graduate online. On August 18th, I moved into my dorm at The Ohio State University for the start of a crazy hybrid semester. While I was worried about starting college in such different circumstances, I am truly thankful for my time at Ohio State this year.

The friends I have made supported me through the year and made it a lot of fun. I was able to meet my roommate when moving in and we quickly became great friends. I was also able to connect with people living on my same floor in my dorm. We complained about having no AC in Bradley hall and sweat through the first few weeks of the fall semester and last of spring. Yet, no AC gave us an excuse to spend less time inside and more out, hanging out together. When we hanging out on the oval we were able to meet at the libraries to study or get dinner off-campus. Whenever I needed a break from classes or a supportive ear I knew I could always walk through Bradley Hall. Through my friends, I was able to begin indoor rock climbing at the Adventure Recreation Center (ARC) in my free time. I began climbing each week as a fun escape from classes. 

One fun time this year was being able to see the (socially distanced) spring game.

I was also able to get involved on campus! I joined the Deaf-Hearing club at OSU where I met many new people and was able to practice my American Sign Language (ASL). I joined the microbiology club as well where I was able to listen to guest speakers and learn about news in the microbiology community. I look forward to staying involved in both of these clubs next semester.

My classes this semester were academically challenging but rewarding. I felt I have learned so much in the past year. I have made great progress on my ASL minor and fluency by taking ASL 1103 and 2104. These courses have been my favorite as I was able to connect with other students passionate about ASL. These courses were largely discussion-based and allowed me to practice ASL each week in conversation. ASL 2104, American Sign Language Conversational Discourse invited native signers to speak with the class. I have been able to grow both my receptive and expressive signing skills. I look forward to taking ASL 3105 in the fall of 2021. My physics and chemistry courses this year proved to be a challenging yet valuable experience. I was able to grow as a student to learn new study skills and find help on campus. Ultimately, my classes have taught me so much in just a short year. 

A large interest of mine is research at Ohio State. I was able to join two research labs this semester to work on two different research projects. In Dr. Matthew Sulivan’s lab, I was able to work under Ph.D. candidate Marissa Gittrich to design a high-throughput CRISPRi library for P. aeruginosa. This gave me experience working with many bioinformatics programs and basic Python. Additionally, I joined Dr. Justin North to research ethylene production and R. rubrumI will be continuing my work with Dr. North in the fall. These experiences have given me an early look into my career as a microbiologist. I am excited about where my project takes me next year!

Finally, the Eminence service projects have made a lot of progress this year. I am lucky to be a part of both class of 2024’s projects. The larger project, focused on connecting OSU student tutors to incarcerated students, is beginning work this summer. A smaller group of Eminence fellows has also moved forward with a project focused on mapping Columbus environmental data with ArcGIS. This group is beginning to create a website and mapping over the summer after collecting data and connecting with the Ohio EPA this spring. 

This summer I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and getting some rest before the fall. This semester has been amazing, I cant wait to see what the future holds.

Happy Summer Everyone!