I shadowed a surgical nurse at TriPoint Medical Center in Painesville, Ohio for two days and this experience is what really showed me that I wanted to be a nurse. Since I was a little girl, I knew that I wanted to do something in the medical field although I was never quite sure what that was. I got the opportunity to shadow a nurse in the operating room and I saw several different types of surgeries being performed such as a double total knee replacement, a Cesarean section, and a gallbladder removal. I found everything I saw to be so interesting and I knew it was an atmosphere I would want to work in. The experience also opened my eyes about all the possible opportunities available inside the operating room, such as being a nurse anesthetist. I did not even know this career field existed until I shadowed and now that is something I am seriously considering for the future.
G.O.A.L.S.
The Ohio State Honors & Scholars GOALS include Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. These set the bar high for scholars students like myself so that we are able to reach our full potential here and and can do great things. We are very encouraged to be involved in things outside of our programs and expand our horizons in things outside of our majors, causing us to be more well rounded individuals. Although I see all of these GOALS as applicable to my everyday life, I tend to see Leadership Development and Academic Enrichment as the most prevalent.
Leadership Development encourages students in Ohio State’s Honors & Scholars programs to be leaders in their communities and for them to new role models for those coming behind them. It challenges me to be my best self everyday. I am currently a part of the Nursing First Year Advisory Board here at Ohio State. Being a part of this allows me to make the freshman experience an easier transition for incoming students by improving their orientation experience and pre-nursing experience. Also, next year I will be on the Standards Board for my sorority as a sophomore representative. This will give me the opportunity to lead by example and it will push me to be my best self at all times. I am also very excited to be a peer mentor to fellow STEM EE Scholars next year. My peer mentors have had such a positive influence on my freshman year and I am excited to do the same for someone next year. It is important that I continue to take opportunities to bolster my leadership skills so that I can be the best nurse that I can possibly be. Not only is it important that I am well-liked by my coworkers, it is also important that I am well respected. I can accomplish this by fulfilling all my duties, going above and beyond in all I do, staying out of gossip, and being an example to others. I strive to be a role model to my younger siblings and cousins, as well as my future mentee and all other that I encounter.
Academic Enrichment going above and beyond to achieve excellence in academics. I have also been extremely self motivated and this has not changed since I got to Ohio State. I strive daily to reach my full potential, especially in academics. I take academics very seriously and I show this by utilizing all resources available to me. I do not miss class and I regularly attend office hours so that I can maintain a high grade point average. I am also able to balance my school work with other commitments like STEM and membership in a sorority. However, these extracurriculars help me to expand my knowledge. For example, being in pre-nursing means that I am most typically exposed to the science aspect of STEM in my classes. I try to attend events that will give me new information on other topics so that I can become more well rounded and better able to do my job and take on the world.
As previously stated, the Ohio State Honors & Scholars GOALS are all very applicable to my life but the most applicable would be Leadership Development and Academic Enrichment. Many of the GOALS are intertwined and becoming proficient in each of these will help to create well-rounded, successful individuals. As I continue my time in the Scholars program here, I hope to improve in all of these areas, strive for excellence, and to be the best version of myself.
Career
Strengths
The StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment outlined my strengths for me and told me many things about myself that I may have seen but did not know how to describe. This will be very useful when filling out applications and resumes. Also, it will help me figure out what I do best and how I can further improve on these things. My top five strengths were achiever, harmony, learner, consistency, and responsibility.
I found that my top strength was “Achiever” after taking the StrengthFinders 2.0 assessment. An achiever is someone who always has goals and will stop at nothing until they are completed. We constantly like to be doing something. I see this theme in my life very much. If I do not understand something, I am not afraid to ask for help. I will keep working until I am successful. This means that I will get my work done, and done well, for all my classes. Also, I love to be busy. I very rarely like to sit around and do nothing. Being an achiever will be very helpful when trying to get into the Nursing Program. I say this because in order to get into the Nursing Program, I need to work extremely hard and do very well in all my classes. This program is very competitive and my drive as an achiever should help to get into this program and succeed once in it.
My number two strength was “Harmony.” Someone that is strong in the harmony theme really dislikes fighting and likes to make peace instead. This has been a very prevalent theme in my life, especially in my first semester of college. There was a lot of conflict between two of my roommates and I hated being caught in the middle of it. I tried to help the girls find middle ground. Nothing was getting accomplished by the arguing so I tried to find areas of compromise. I also have always been the peacemaker between my two younger brothers. This strength is very useful for group projects in the academic world. I am able to minimize time wasted on arguments and come up with an agreement instead. I can get along with many different types of people and acknowledge their perspectives. This ability to get along with many different types of people will definitely help me as I continue on through college and as I enter the nursing profession. I will be able to work well with other students and produce the best possible project, including all of our perspectives. Also, I will be able to build good relationships with other colleagues, doctors, and patients. The best results will come when I work together with other nurses and doctors to achieve what is best for the patient.
I received “Learner” as my number three strength. Someone who is a learner loves to acquire new information and master new skills. I find this to be very true about myself. I am always interested in learning new facts and such. I really do enjoy going to school and gaining knowledge. Homework is a different story sometimes, but I enjoy the classroom environment. I like to better myself everyday. This ache for knowledge will be very helpful when it comes to the rest of my college career. It will get me going and keep me motivated when I am tired. Also, when others get tired, I will continue to work my hardest to get better, which will help me get in the Nursing Program and be the best nurse I can possibly be.
My number four strength was “Consistency.” When I first saw this as one of my strengths, I was slightly surprised because I am pretty good at going with the flow. I thought it meant that I liked everything to be scheduled and the same each day. However, according to Gallup, a consistent person tries to treat everyone equally and avoid selfishness. They believe that everyone should have to follow the same rules. Knowing that, I can see how this trait applies to me. I try to treat everyone fairly and I put a lot of effort into doing so. It really gets on my nerves when people are mean to others and do not treat everyone with the same amount of respect. This is a very important strength to have in the field of nursing. I say this because all patients should be treated with the same amount of respect, no matter who they are.
Lastly, “Responsibility” was my fifth strength. Someone with this trait is willing to own up to their actions and they do what they say they are going to do. They don’t like to let people down and they are very ethical. I hate letting people down so I do my absolute best to do everything I say I will, no matter how long it takes. Also, I am very willing to take responsibility for my actions, even if I did make the wrong choice. I made the wrong decision, but I still must own up to it. This will make me a great candidate for the Nursing Program. Nurses have to make tough decisions everyday. Once the decision is made, it is important to stick with it and back it up with your rationale behind it. By taking responsibility for your actions, you are more likely to be trusted, which is extremely important in the medical field.
Taking the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment is going to help me focus is on what I am good at and fine tune those things. It helped me to realize who I am and how I can become the best version of myself possible. Suggestions were made on how I can grow in my strengths and I am definitely going to take that advice.
About Me
My name is Alicia Perovsek. I am from Willoughby Hills, an eastern suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. I attended Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School. I am planning on studying Nursing here at the Ohio State University. I live with my parents Tom and Julie, and my two younger brothers, Sam (16) and Andrew (12). I am an avid Cleveland sports fan, particularly the Cleveland Indians, and I love taking trips to Cedar Point with my family.
I am interested in the STEM fields because I have always loved particularly, science and math. Both of these subjects are so relevant in the world around us and they are very interesting. There are so many amazing things that are happening outside our front doors and it is cool that science can explain these things, as well as things we can’t even see with the naked eye. It gives us a better understanding of the world around us. Math is used by almost everyone everyday. Math cannot be avoided and people in almost all professions need some sort of math background.
My dad got me interested in math. He is very good at math and when my brother and I were younger we would play math related games everyday. We did things like flashcard races and it got me interested because I did not want to lose to my little brother. There were times that my brother would “win” the games and it just pushed me to learn more. By doing things like this, I got increasingly interested in math. My dad and I watch baseball games together every night and we take note of the players batting average as they step up to the plate. Then after their at-bat, we both do some calculations in our head and see which one of us gets closest to the player’s new batting average. This is just another example of how math is everywhere in this world.
I wanted to become a STEM EE scholar because I wanted the chance to hear about possible opportunities throughout the field for me. I also heard that STEM EE scholars worked with children and that really intrigued me. I was an assistant coach for my younger brother’s basketball team and I really enjoyed doing that. The kids are great and it was cool to see them get so into something that I was also passionate about. I imagined that it would be a similar feeling when working with children on things in the STEM field. I am very excited for this opportunity.
Welcome to my Honors & Scholars e-Portfolio
Hello! Welcome to my Honors & Scholars e-Portfolio! I am Alicia Perovsek, a first year student at the Ohio State University and a STEM scholar. I am a nursing major. My aunt, who is a nurse, has always encouraged me to follow in her footsteps but I knew that I wanted to be a nurse after I shadowed a scrub nurse in the operating room during spring break of my junior year in high school. I am outgoing, perseverant, and diligent. I will work until the task at hand is done to the absolute best of my ability. In my profile, one would find out a bit about who I am and what I do. One will find out how I got interested in the STEM fields and why I wanted to become a STEM scholar.
Year in Review
When I pulled up to Taylor Tower at the end of August, I was experiencing an intense variety of emotions. I was so excited for all the new people I would meet and all the opportunities available to me here at The Ohio State University, but I was also very nervous to leave my family and be on my own. I come from a very tight knit family and group of friends and now I was officially on my own, ready to dive head first into great things.
I was under more academic stress in the first year of college than I ever have been. I was fortunate to go to a high school with a rigorous curriculum, because it would have been a lot more difficult of a first year had that not been the case. Although I feel that my high school did an outstanding job of preparing me for the work load that I would undertake here, the pressure was extremely high to do well. I am “pre-nursing” here at Ohio State, meaning that I had to apply to get into Ohio State’s very competitive nursing program. Only 166 students get admitted into the program each year and the average grade point average of admitted students is extremely high. This level of competition pushed me to do my best but also was very stressful and debilitating in some situations. However, I eventually decided that I could not let negative thoughts about nursing control my life because it would cause me to not do my absolute best. All I could do was give one hundred percent effort and I believe that is what I did this year.
There have been times when I’ve struggled in a class and I’ve taken steps to make sure I do my absolute best. For example, Human Physiology has been one of the most difficult classes that I have ever taken. I noticed that I was struggling and began to utilize every resource available to me. I visit the tutor room almost everyday for long periods of time, I record and re-listen to the lectures, and go to all review sessions offered. My recognition and adjustment of my action plan for this course is something I am very proud of.
My plan coming into this year was to get involved but not over involved so I would not spread myself too thin. I feel that I accomplished this goal fairly well. Along with STEM EE Scholars, I am also on the First Year Advisory Board for Nursing (FAB) and I am a member of the sorority Delta Zeta. These three things have al helped me to find smaller communities in a massive campus. STEM has helped me to meet other people with similar interests to me, but not necessarily taking all the same classes as me. Being a member of FAB, I feel that I have formed a closer bond with many students that I will, hopefully, be spending a majority of the next few years with. Lastly, being a part of Delta Zeta has helped me to meet many people, with a variety of majors, that I have similar values to. These are some of the things that have made me feel most at home at Ohio State.
Lastly, I feel that I have grown immensely as a person since coming to college. I solidified my ability to make responsible decisions. I also feel that I have learned to handle conflict a lot better. Bickering is not something I was used to but living with new people who may have different habits and ideas than you can bring about some interesting situations. However, I feel that I learned to handle things very maturely by the end of the year.
Overall I had an absolute blast in my first year at The Ohio State University. I have met so many great people that I cannot wait to become closer to in the upcoming years. I am also very proud of myself for how I handled things academically and socially. I am excited to see what the future holds for me here at Ohio State.