During my spring semester, I spent a lot of time raising money for Buckeyethon, which is a dance marathon at The Ohio State University that collects funds for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Downtown Columbus. After months of asking family and friends to donate, February 9 was finally the day of the dance marathon. I helped to raise to raise over $34,000 as a part of the Dunn Scholar’s team and over $1.7 million as a university. Though the 10 hours that I spent in the Ohio Union on that Saturday may seem like it was all fun and games, it was as a result of hard work towards a good cause. I spent my time playing Gaga ball will the Buckeyethon families and busting a move in the silent disco, not to mention taking in all of the hard work and fundraising that it even took for everyone to get to where we were. Volunteering at Buckeyethon helped me as a leader because it allowed me to directly see who it was that my fundraising was affecting rather than having no clue where it was going or who it was helping – we were able to build bonds and actually get to know some of the children who have received treatment at Nationwide. As a result of this experience, I am a better leader because I have now seen first hand the people that I am helping and this can help me in the future when it comes to being a leader in a group and working together to reach a goal, which was what I did when raising money with the rest of the members in the Dunn Scholars Buckeyethon team. Overall, my first Buckeyethon was an experience that I will never forget and I’m already counting down the days until next year’s!

During the Autumn semester, I spent time volunteering at both the Columbus Marathon and the Allstate Hot Chocolate 15k/5k. The Columbus Marathon is an annual half marathon and marathon and it has been linked to Nationwide Children’s Hospital for seven years. By participating in the race, you are given the opportunity to raise money for the Children’s Hospital and over $7 million has been raised so far. I learned about this service opportunity through the Dunn Sports and Wellness Scholars program and joined the group of scholars so we could all volunteer together. Our volunteering took place on October 21 and I spent a total of 5 hours helping out beginning at 7 am. For that time, I helped set up the water stop that the Dunn Sports and Wellness Scholars group was stationed at, which included setting up tables with water cups as well as filling them with water or gatorade. Once the race actually began, we spent the time handing out cups to runners and cheering them on as they completed the race.

On November 18, I volunteered at the Allstate Hot Chocolate 15k/5k for 6 and a half hours, waking up at 4:30 am in order to arrive at McFerson Commons Park at 5:30. The Hot Chocolate Run first began in 2008 and it is the fastest growing race in the country. The official charity of this particular race is Make-A-Wish, and if a runner chooses to raise money, that is who it would be going to. My job was in the Chocolate Tent at the Post Race Party, where I assisted in assembling the finisher’s mugs, which consisted of hot chocolate, chocolate fondue, and various sweets.

After taking a survey and coming to realize that my “true color” is gold, I didn’t think much about it. However, once I learned the qualities of those in my color group and talked to people with my same color, I came to realize how something as simple as a color could help me become more aware of my own strengths and weaknesses. Someone who is “gold”, likes to have their life planned out – they value organization and dependability as opposed to spontaneity and impulsivity. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m boring or that I don’t know how to have fun. Needing events and activities is something that I can most definitely relate to, however, that isn’t always what I need and that’s where my friends and families who have different “true colors” come into play. Sometimes, I need someone who is daring or more vivacious to get me out of my shell and do something every once in a while without having to have it planned out to a T. However, in some cases they may also need someone to bring some ms such as Dunn Sports and Wellness Scholars has such a diverse grouping of people with different sets of values and “true colors”, because at the end of the da, we all balance eachother out. If the entire scholars program was filled with people of the same true color, it would very quickly become boring and people would be difficult to be around. Especially in our environment in which almost all of the Dunn Scholars live together at Morrill Tower, it is important that we are able to coexist and learn from eachother so we can all grow as a group. By having a blend of personalities and values, we are able to stay interesting and keep our core values while still learning from those around us and becoming better versions of ourselves.

In my three years of throwing shot put for my high school’s track team, I’ve seen many examples of people displaying leadership both on the field and off. When I was in my senior year, a graduated member of the track team found out that he had cancer and would have to come back home from college in order to receive treatment. His best friends on the team came up with an initiative to raise money for his treatment by making bracelets with the words “Miles for Mike” on them. This is the perfect example of leadership because these students saw a problem, Mike’s ever growing hospital bills as a result of his cancer, and came up with a solution and a way to help. Not only that, but they were able to get the entire high school involved and the next thing you know, half of the students were wearing yellow wristbands, signifying that they donated money towards Mike. It also represents leadership because the act was completely selfless, these students were not gaining anything from the sales of the bracelets, however, they continued dedicating their time and effort in order to help someone who wasn’t able to do so himself.