Hi, I’m Madison! I’m a first-year accounting and finance major at The Ohio State University. Before I became a buckeye, I was a student at Ursuline Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio. While in high school, I swam, played water polo, life-guarded, taught swim lessons, and spent the majority of my time in or around the pool. I have spent a considerable amount of time working with kids ages 3-6 at my swim club and helping them learn to be competitive swimmers. I began swimming when I was four-years-old, and I really enjoyed being in the seasoned swimmer and role model for younger swimmers in recent years. It has been a great opportunity to combine two things I love: working with kids and being around water.
When I wasn’t in the pool, I was a member of student council at Ursuline, where I found my niche representing others. Inspired by the loss of a gay family member to AIDS, I took my love of leadership and co-created a club called Spectrum. Spectrum is meant to bring awareness to LBGTQ+ issues and as serve as a safe place for people to discuss issues regarding sexual orientation, gender, and identity. Starting a club in support of nontraditional families and relationships in a Catholic school was a challenge by definition. Every step of the way was incredibly treacherous, and there was a constant fear of agitating the school’s board of directors, the Cincinnati Archdiocese, the Ursuline sisters who founded the school, and the schools teachers, students, and families. Through the cloud of worry, we got our club approved by both the president and principal of the school. It is the first club of its kind to be started in an Ohio Catholic school, and through it Ursuline is setting an example of how to love and accept others. I am extremely proud of the changes in the community that have already come from it.
In addition to being a representative for others, math is another passion of mine. I graduated from high school with five math credits under my belt, and my love of math is what motivated me to become a member of the STEM EE Scholars Program. The program’s title stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Engagement and Exploration. Although my specialization on fits into the math part of STEM, I have enjoyed learning more about fields I’ve spent significantly less time studying, such as engineering, medicine, and other sciences. Since I won’t be taking many science classes as a business major, I look forward to the well-rounded education I am receiving from my peers. STEM not only gives me the opportunity to learn more about things outside my specialization, it also gives me a chance to make friends outside of my specialization. Without having lived on the STEM floor, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet premed, science, and engineering majors. While I find what they do fascinating, my love of math is the reason I am majoring in accounting and finance. I look forward to having a career where I can work with numbers every day, hopefully in an environment similar to STEM where I can meet more people with different specializations than me.
For a long time I had no idea what I wanted to study. I knew I loved numbers, but science just wasn’t my forte. I really like writing and research, but I didn’t want to spend all hours of they day behind a computer screen typing. I’m also very interested in politics, which led me to develop a very close relationship with my high school American history and government teacher, Ms. Michele Walters. She practiced as a lawyer for quite some time before deciding to teach at my high school. It was she who first suggested I consider getting into law, and I’m very grateful for her role in helping me figure out what I want to do with my life. So to combine my love of numbers and my love of representation, I’m planning to earn a law degree. This would open up numerous opportunities for me, including corporate law and government positions. I plan on living in Cincinnati when I am finished with school in order to stay close to my family and to the numerous companies that operate in Cincinnati, such as Proctor & Gamble, Great American, and (my personal favorite) the Cincinnati Bengals. Working for a big company in Cincinnati is along way away, so for right now, I’m just happy being a buckeye.
Strengths Finder Analysis
The summer before my freshman year of college I had the unique opportunity to attend the First Year Experience Leadership Collaborative. The most meaningful part of the conference was our evaluation of strengths, what ours were, and how we could use them to excel. My top five strengths (in order) are competition, focus, developer, individualization, and woo. My whole life I have felt competition as a driving force in my life. I am constantly striving to be the best in school, work, other activities. Competition go hand in hand in the sense that I am always intently focused on winning and being the best. My other three strengths (developer, individualization, and woo) are all fairly similar. As a person possessing the developer strength, I am always looking for the potential in people. Even though I want to be the best, seeing other people succeed makes me just as happy. My individualization strength is a manifestation of my love for getting to know people on a deeper level. Put these two things together with woo (Winning Others Over) and you have me: a person who lives for building and maintaining connections with other people. As a business major, I will be thrust into a world where my job is to connect with people. I look forward to using my strengths to get to know people and work with them. I’ve also decided to make competition my job and become a lawyer. Becoming a lawyer will give me the opportunity compete in a court room on a regular basis. Law has always appealed to me, and I believe I will do well in it because I hate to lose and I’m good at winning others over. By using all five of my strengths, I know I can succeed in the corporate law world.