About Me

profileMy name is Katie, and I’m currently in Exploration Honors at The Ohio State University. Although I am undecided as of right now, I’m on a path for a major in The College of Arts and Sciences with a possibility in pre-med or pre-dentistry. I have an aptitude for science and laboratory techniques. I also have interests in leadership and music, and plan to pursue a minor in one or both of those subjects. I hope to pursue an internship or volunteer position with the URO within the next year or two.

Before coming to Ohio State, I was very active in my high school. I was a member of my school’s marching band from eight grade, through senior year. After displaying several years of discipline and a high skill level in music, I was able to advance as a leader of the saxophone section in the fall of my junior year. After completing two seasons of winter guard, I advanced as captain of the color guard for my senior year for both the fall and winter season. In addition to marching band, I also participated in international club as a board member, national honors society, art club, tigers in service, and jazz band.

After being accepted to Ohio State, I was immediately interested in getting involved at my new school. I was added to several group chats and Facebook pages for the Ohio State class of 2020 where I was able to meet new students like me. In December of 2015, I came up with the idea to start a new and exciting club for students. I had recently purchased a hammock, and loved using it when I was able to. I then thought to create the hammock club. When I mentioned the idea in the group chats I was in, the idea immediately took off. The group is currently over 100 members strong, and I am in the process of having it registered as an official Ohio State Organization.

Although I’ve been satisfied with the start of my new club, it was not the only way I wanted to be involved at Ohio State. I applied to arrive early on campus for a leadership program called R-Lead. I highlight my experience more in my Artifacts section. After participating in R-Lead, I was in the OWL program helping students move into their dorms on campus. I also currently live in the Exploration Learning Community, where I can live and connect with students that are also undecided with their major.

Since R-Lead and OWL were both short-lived programs, I have gotten involved in different ways that have a more prolonged impact. I am currently the sustainability chair for the Raney House Activities Programing E-Board (also highlighted more in artifacts). I have also been volunteering for different events such as blood drives, and R-Lead related service projects. I am happy with my involvement so far, but plan to do more in the future.

Year in Review

As my first year quickly comes to a close, I suppose I should reflect on the experiences I’ve had, and how I’ve grown as a person. I came to Ohio State with no idea about a career path, and no idea what college would be like. Now, I have narrowed down my possible majors to two, and have gotten into the rhythm of college, and am doing quite well. I learned that it is essential to study for each class everyday, because you can’t study all of the material a few days before an exam. I have also learned that going to professors’ office hours will save your grade.

This school year hasn’t always been easy, in fact, it has been the hardest transition of my life. Being away from home was a lot harder than expected. I can be independent, but sometimes I just want to be where things are familiar. I have had to learn how to cope with being away from home, and how to do certain things without the help of my parents. I’ve paid bills, done taxes, and gone grocery shopping all by myself, and it is definitely a taste of adulthood.

Through my ups and my downs, I have still managed to have a successful year in school. I am as excited to be a Buckeye today as I was on move-in day.  I am proud of all that I overcame and accomplished, and I can’t wait for another great year!

Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science Visit

I have been attempting to determine a major, and am back to deciding if medical laboratory science may be the path for me. I love medical settings, and also forensic settings. However, I have also always  had an interest in mortuary science. This major is only offered at a few specialty school, so today I visited the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science to see if I’m still interested.

It was a small school, with only a few classrooms. Everyone working there was extremely kind and helpful. A lot of information was given about the school and how to apply. There are certain prerequisites needed to apply, and I would have almost all of them. I would have to take an accounting class, and maybe one other in order to apply. The college is very hands-on, and after completion of a 16 month bachelors degree, you would be certified in embalming, and several other fields. You would also be certified to be a funeral director. Overall, I found the tour interesting, but I’m still not sure if that is something I’m interested in or not.

After the visit, I am still interested in possibly pursuing this idea of mortuary science at a later date. For now, I plan to graduate from Ohio State with a bachelors degree in either biology or medical laboratory science.

 

Leadership Delevopment

As stated in my artifacts section, I was in a program called R-LEAD this year. It was an early arrival program that was meant to help teach and build leadership skills. More can be read about the program in my artifacts section. Essentially, it was a five day program of workshops and presentations centered around teaching the essentials to being a strong leader around campus. I learned about inclusion, involved living, service, and other leadership qualities. The R-LEAD program really impacted me and how I approach being a leader in my day-to-day life.

I was lucky enough to get to use these leadership skills and expand upon them several times over my first year at Ohio State. I learned more about leadership within a team, being a member of of hall council. But I was also able to apply all of the ideas I learned at R-LEAD. I have applied to be a peer mentor for the program next year, because I hope I can spread my passion for leadership and create more strong leaders on campus.

Academic Enrichment

I chose to come to Ohio State because it is so academically challenging. When it comes to my academics, I feel that being challenged is the best way to learn. I not only have found myself taking the coursework for my possible majors, but I have added coursework that will expand my knowledge in new ways and challenge me to think outside the box.

I am interested in science, and science classes come easy to me. However, I am also interested in broadening my horizons and trying new things in search of a new passion. Perhaps one of my more exciting and adventurous classes was music in film. I found my schedule to be heavy in math and science, so I stepped outside my comfort zone, and what do you know, I love the class. Although challenging at times for a logical thinker that can’t easily memorize names and dates, I have found it to be utterly fascinating and it has definitely opened my eyes to a whole new world of study.

I also think that a big part of academic enrichment is to follow your interests, and integrate that into your schedule, even if it isn’t required. I have found it highly beneficial to keep athletic band on my schedule. I had a passion for band in high school, and I want to continue that now. Even though the schedule for the class can be demanding, I think it is absolutely worth it.

Original Inquiry

I haven’t gotten many chances to do formal research at Ohio State yet. However, I have gotten to participate in coming up with ways to improve sustainability at Ohio State.

Twice a semester, I meet with all of the sustainability chairs around campus and discuss what we have done to improve our residence halls. We also discuss ideas for improving the sustainability of campus as a whole. One idea was to focus on the efficiency of our food waste. We decided to conduct research in our own residence halls to see when food waste is highest, where the food ends up, and what type of food is most wasted. From this, we would be able to better determine solutions for the food waste problem. Some sustainability chairs started the process of trying ways to collect food waste. The issue is still being researched by the OSU food waste collaborative, and I intend to research more with this next year.

My Sustainability Event

        As sustainability chair of Raney Activities and Programming, I get the privilege of planning and executing some of my own events for the residence hall. For my first event, I chose to have a week long plastic bag recycling competition between the six floors in Raney House. I made the flyers for the event, collected boxes, and advertised the competition via email and groupme to residents. The incentive to participate was a floor pizza part.
        Overall, the event was a complete success. Almost 1,000 plastic bags were collected in just one week. Because the event was so successful, a permanent way for students to recycle plastic bags in Raney is being established. Plastic trash cans labeled with “plastic bags only” will be added to each floor. This could help eliminate waste in landfills from 5,000+ plastic bags a year.

Global Awareness

From the moment you decide to go to Ohio State, you know you are going to among a diverse group of people. In fact, this is one of my favorite parts about Ohio State. In my current activities, I have learned so much about other cultures and being inclusive. This is something I strive towards, and I plan to continue as I move forward on my academic path.

As a member of R-LEAD as the beginning of the year, I learned a lot about diversity and inclusion. I learned that inclusion is more than just accepting differences, but it is also an action that we as leaders take to make everyone feel a part of a group. I have found myself using this leadership skill as an executive board member in my hall council. We have to think about every event we plan and who it will be reaching. It is essential, in order to build strong community, to make sure that every event is inclusive and not targeted towards any specific group. One of our most successful events was our Black History Month Trivia event. Everyone who participated enjoyed it, and many positive comments about the event and how inclusive it was were heard.

I am so glad that I have been able to use and develop those important inclusive leadership skills. I am also so glad that I go to Ohio State because I have had the opportunity to become friends with so many people from other countries, and I have really enjoyed getting to ask them questions about their culture and expand my global awareness. I can’t wait to see what I can learn about other cultures and places in the future.

Informational Interview with Erik Vokoun

Erik Vokoun is a junior here at The Ohio State University. He is a biology major with a specialization in forensic biology and a minor in security and intelligence. He plans to graduate early and continue his work with the FBI.

I first asked Erik when decided to major in forensic biology, and why he chose this major. He came in as a regular biology major because it is so versatile. He has always had an interest in forensics, but didn’t choose a school with a forensic program because he wanted to have options in case forensics didn’t work out for him down the road. However, during his orientation, his advisor told him about the forensic biology specialization, and he declared that right away.

I then asked him if he has ever questioned his decision. He immediately said no, but then said that sometimes he thinks about it when he’s sitting in a class like organic chemistry or physics which are both hard classes. He said that there are hard classes in biology, but there are hard classes for every major, however, the opportunities at Ohio State are great and general science field is so competitive that it really gives you a leg up over everyone.

Third, I asked what his favorite major course has been and why. His favorite has been a forensic science field study that he took over the summer. He was able to work a mock case where they took the students out to a fake crime scene and taught them how to process it, and found three fake dead bodies to dig up and analyze. It was his favorite because he was able to apply what he had learned in the classroom. He said it was a cool experience where he got to meet with a lot of professionals. He also enjoys his molecular genetics lab because he’s learning how to do PCR, and different gel techniques that can be applied to forensics.

Fourth, I asked what has been hi favorite course outside the major and why. His favorites have been either forensic science intro to intelligence, which are both for his minor. His minor is security and intelligence, which covers forensics on a national level. He said it pairs nicely with his major since he wants to work with the FBI.

Erik is involved in several clubs and extracurricular activities such as, off the lake productions, beta theta pi fraternity, honors and scholars, working at the Newman center, and an acapella group. These activities keep him busy when he’s not working on work for school.

When it comes to advice about scheduling and classes to take, Erik advised to take as many general education classes up front and make sure you’re covering all prerequisites and try to overlap as much as possible. He said to use minors as the classes that you really like and are interested in. With your major, you have to take classes like chemistry and physics that aren’t fun, but with a minor, you can really choose classes that you are passionate about and enjoy.

Erik currently has a job with the FBI. He was involved in a law enforcement club in high school, and the advisor for the club worked at a police department and knew that Erik was interested in the FBI. He sent him for a job shadow, and was able to get contact information and asked about internship programs. Over the summer he was just a general intern, working on cases and doing different projects. Now he’s working on the cyber squad. Erik hopes to work with the FBI longterm.

If he is unable to stay with the FBI, his longterm plans would be looking into the BCI, which is the state level of the FBI. The lab in Ohio is located in London, and they focus on mostly biological testing. The FBI is less science focussed. When it comes to graduate or professional school, he currently doesn’t have plans for it, but he plans to get established in a job first and then consider more school.

After asking these general questions, I asked a few more questions that I was curious about or that related to the major. For the forensic specialization, there is a list of classes that you have to pick three from. I asked which ones he chose, and he took, microbiology, anthropology, and molecular genetics. I then asked if he took calculus 1 or calculus for the biological science. Erik actually did not have to take a math course in college because his AP credit covered the requirements.

We then had a pretty long discussion about scheduling, and random topics related to advice for college. The highlights include how to get through organic chemistry, how to plan my schedule, his AP credits, different classes and overall suggestions. His last piece of advice was to stick with your gut and don’t let anything get your hopes down. In the harder science classes, you often fail a few midterms, but as bad as it sounds, it’s normal.

Post-Interview Questions:

I found Erik on the Honors and Scholars Weekly email under the student spotlight section. He had this article to talk about how he is working with the FBI and doing really amazing things with his major in biology with the forensic science specialization. I had been thinking about this exact major, so I immediately emailed him to ask for an interview because I hadn’t been able to find any other students in the forensic science specialization.

After my interview with Erik, my plans to declare a biology major and forensic science specialization have been solidified. After hearing how much he has enjoyed it and all of the opportunities he has had, I am more excited about this possibility than ever!

From this interview, I didn’t learn anything unexpected about the major. However I did learn some unexpected things about classes in general. For example, I did not realize that the organic chemistry classes are separate from their labs. You can take them at the same time, but most students take them in different semesters. This changes what my current year-to-year schedule is right now because I thought they had to be taken together.

I feel that after this interview, I have all of the information I need to make a confident decision in declaring this major. The only additional information I may need is if I am currently on the right track schedule-wise in making adequate progress towards this major.

From this semester, I think the survey class itself was very helpful in discovering this major and helping me decide about a career path. Each resource was helpful in getting me to this point of decidedness. The most helpful was the college overview quizzes paired with the lectures. They helped me get a better feel of what each college and major is about, and helped be discover the forensic science specialization. For the informational interview, the senior bank was helpful in finding possible students to interview.

Lecture Reflection: Public Affairs and Social Work

Going into this lecture, I was most interested in social work because it had appeared as a major that might fit me well on the surveys at the beginning of the year. This major is a good fit for me because I am interested in helping people in many different situations and locations. I chose to attend this lecture to learn more about social work in particular to see if it something I am interested in. Also, because I was not sure what public affairs was.

From this lecture I learned what social workers do and where they work. They work pretty much anywhere that there are people in need, from schools to prisons and hospitals. They can help people cope with loss, and other tragic events. The woman who spoke at the lecture worked with victims of sexual violence on campus. Social workers mostly empathize with their patients because oftentimes there isn’t anything they can say to make them feel better. Most students in this major get a hands on internship their senior year.

From the lecture, I also learned a lot about public affairs. I wasn’t completely sure what you could do with a major in public affairs. The student panel talked about why they love pubic affairs, and it helped me learn what it’s all about. Where social work is more about the emotion behind certain situations, public affairs is the policy behind it. It often combines government and healthcare, and its versatility is why students tend to love it so much as a major. Students can choose between a bachelor of arts in public management which has to do with community building, or a bachelor of science in public policy which is more analytical. It was interesting to hear that about 86% of students in this program have an internship during undergrad, and one of those opportunities is to work in Washington D.C..

I don’t have any further questions about these programs because I have decided they are not for me. Social work fits several of my interests, but it is not the direction in the sciences that I want to go. My thoughts about the programs have changed however. I wasn’t entirely sure what each major was and what you could do with degrees in those fields, so now I know and have a better understanding of the career paths for both. I also thought that social workers made less money than was presented at the lecture, so it is interesting to know that my preconceived notions about something are not always correct.