Admittedly I was not a very social person when I first arrived on campus this year as an incoming freshman just turning 18 years old. Typical high school social activities never interested me so I was in for a change of pace when I arrived at OSU. My first weeks were filled with anxiety mixed with excitement as I learned to navigate the vast campus life as the newest Buckeye. I met some of my first friends in the dorm and at the welcome events. I learned the schedule and pace of life in college, though it is still a transition, I feel very at home on campus now.

            One of the best experiences I have had this year has been joining club swimming at Ohio State. I have met some of my best friends at OSU through club swim. From the first practices, through the yearlong season, I have gained a great group of teammates and lasting friendships. I have spent many hours at practices, social events, fundraisers, and meets that I have enjoyed immensely. Swimming is a sport I enjoy and club swim has given me an avenue to continue to swim competitively while continuing to enjoy the camaraderie of my teammates.

            Club swimming has allowed me to travel to other universities to compete while exploring what other universities have to offer as well. A trip to the University of Buffalo allowed me to experience Niagara Falls and we also visited, UVA, Indy, and Cinci to swim. The highlight of the year was hosting the National college club swim championship meet where our men’s team got first place! What an amazing experience to have as a freshman. Even more exciting for me was when I was named most improved swimmer having obtained many PR times this year. My decision to attend The Ohio State University and to join the club swim team has been an unforgettable experience with so many awesome memories.

Throughout this first semester at Ohio State, I have learned a lot. I have met many new people and developed new friendships with many of them. I have grown as a person through the new experiences I have had in college. Over this last semester, I have had new opportunities as well as challenges that have pushed me outside of my comfort zone.

I started off this past fall coming in not knowing what to expect. I moved into my dorm after having only seen pictures of it online. I sat in traffic for 2 hours to go 3 miles on move-in day and when I finally made it to my dorm I introduced myself to my roommate’s brother thinking that he was my new roommate. After clearing that up I began to talk with my new roommate getting to know him just like I would the hundreds of other people that I met this semester.

Then my classes began. Despite having taken classes at 2 other colleges before this through college credit plus I didn’t know what to expect. The lectures at OSU were much bigger than any class that I had taken before. It was all very new to me but I adapted and became used to it. Shortly after classes began in the fall I joined the club swim team without knowing anyone on the team. Fortunately, I quickly met many of the other swimmers and formed close friendships with some of them.

Another challenge occurred part way through the semester in my physics class when we had a midterm that wasn’t graded fairly. Because of this I faced my fear of talking to the professor and went up and confronted him about my grade. He later changed it and I received full credit. The first part of the semester was hard. My engineering class especially had tons of homework. Some nights I stayed up until as late as 3 am trying to finish lab reports that we were given very little guidance on, but as the semester progressed I got better at doing these assignments and it didn’t take as long as I learned better time management.

Now as I finish these last few weeks of classes and begin to prepare for exams, I can say that I have encountered many new experiences through this first semester and from them I have learned and have grown as a person by facing my fears and adapting to college life.

I recently decided to change my major from engineering undeclared to Mechanical Engineering. After doing a lot of research and from what I learned doing the interview assignment I determined that mechanical engineering is what I want to do. From what I learned I found that mechanical engineering suits my interests in learning about how things work along and it allows me to do some hands-on work while learning.

In 2016, I went to the International Manufacturing Tools Show (IMTS) in Chicago with my Dad. At this show, there were 2,407 companies, in 1,808 booths, covering 1,415,848 sq.ft., showing off everything new and revolutionary to the world of manufacturing. Companies such as FANUC, DMG MORI, AutoCAD, Siemens, Zeiss, Mitsui Seiki, and Haas to name a few, had large displays at this show. The show exhibited everything from massive FANUC robots moving a corvette around like a toy, to machines 3d printing metal parts using lasers, to electromagnets that can be turned on and off and can even remain magnetized when the power is turned off. Even though I was still in high school at the time, this show gave me a great opportunity to see all of the jobs that I could do with a degree in engineering. This trip also gave me an opportunity to speak with people from these impressive companies and I learned not only about many incredibly innovative products but also about the companies that make them.

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation includes both a description of the artifact and a reflection on why it is important to you, what you learned, and what it means for your next steps.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]