Year in Review: First Year

Before I began my involvement with the STEM Scholars at The Ohio State University, I cannot say that I was similar to myself now. This seems obvious, as change in character is one of the most prominent aspects of developing one’s maturity. However, I say this because this change has been monumental in my life. After my first year of university, I can confidently claim that I know so much more than I did last year, or even at the start of my first year. That is, of course, not to say that I will not mature even further (well, I certainly hope so) and I look forward to any other experiences in the following years that I will take to heart.

My willingness to attempt new things has increased rather significantly this past year. As a student in a relatively new environment, I was forced to adapted in any way to fit how I had operated as a student before. I soon realized that being the same student as I was last year was probably not the best choice, and in fact, this whole year has been a series of trials and errors that have made me who I am today. While I don’t think that my demeanor as a student is impeccable, I certainly think that my failures throughout this year have made me altogether a stronger and smarter student. My openness to change most certainly stems from these failures and while I did experience an unfortunate series of events in my first year, the positive outcomes from these instances were rather satisfying.

While I did not enjoy logging the events that I attended each week, I am very glad that I had attended as many as I did. These events gave me new perspective on quite a number of topics, most of which I had no idea had much depth or expressed any initial interest to me. However, after witnessing how many topics I knew so little about and the passion that these lecturers had, I attended as many as possible to expand my horizons to not include my class topics. I remember a particular event that I attended involving the theory of math and how applicable it was to the way that our universe was formed. Not only had I thought about this at a younger age, but it was fascinating to see someone make a career based off of this topic and presenting it in such an intriguing way was really phenomenal to see. Through these events, my gratitude for such obscure topics grew and my humility grew to match the amount of lectures I had been to. I developed a new appreciation for what people loved and I certainly hope to find something that I can be half as passionate about.

Overall this year has taught me worlds of information, ranging from trying out new study habits to listening to people present on topics I know little to nothing about. As an individual, I hope to take these lessons and these pieces of information and apply them to my own life. It is my hope this will lead me along a path of becoming a better person.

Artifact #1: Choolaah

My senior year of high school I developed an interest for business that stemmed from an entrepreneurship course. Throughout this course, we were assigned to conduct extensive market research for Cleveland based startups. After several weeks of research, we presented our findings to a panel of their executives who, in some cases, used some of our ideas. Provided here is a presentation I gave to executives from Choolaah, an Indian fast casual restaurant located in Beachwood, Ohio. In the presentation, my group offers market advice ranging from expected customer segments to promotions we proposed to increase public attention. Overall, this course uncovered an unknown passion I have and I plan to pursue such ambitions with my major.

Final Presentation

My life GOALS

From a young age, I can clearly remember wanting to do things for others and lead others. My desire to lead has directed my life in a particular direction and I would not be the person I am today without everything that I have experienced today. Since at The Ohio State University, I have developed my leadership skills in the classroom and out among my peers. During my time at university, I have also seen numerous presentations in which experts present seemingly uninteresting or obscure topics. These presentations change my perspective on not only the complexity of such topics (as evidenced by the professors’ passion), but the fact that these individuals work on their passions speaks to me profoundly. I recently discovered a passion of mine and plan to pursue it through my own original inquiry. It is my goal to continue my leadership development as I engage in original inquiry in a field I truly enjoy working in.

I recently came across newfound passion of mine in which I took a chance to initially discover it. My senior year of high school, I made the decision to take an entrepreneurship course that was not taught through a traditional classroom setting. The teachers urged me to expand my horizons when it came to my studies in the class. I discovered that as much as I enjoyed doing market research and other mundane yet essential tasks, I became attached to the market, particularly the business aspect of it. During my first year at university, I have witnessed wildly though provoking presentations on some of the most arbitrary topics. These presentations have provoked me to find a career path of my own that combines my engineering track and my passion for business. I plan to graduate with a degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering with which my ultimate goal is to become a consultant to prestigious companies through extensive research of their company and market.

I feel comfortable leading a team to a common goal. Growing up, I held several leadership positions in which I have collaborated with leaders of teams or organizations. I have experimented with different types of leadership, ranging from tough love to leading from the back and over time have honed my leadership skills. I thoroughly enjoyed working with in teams on local Cleveland startups, especially from a leadership position. Additionally, I have led helped lead swimming teams to conference titles and national titles. I have been involved within my community, through outreach programs and community service hours. I have the drive and the motivation to pursue my ambitions. I plan to take my career to an unexpected place and I’m starting by earning my Bachelor’s degree.

My drive to expand my educational horizons and my leadership have made me who I am today. My ambitions to work businesses while integrating engineering has shaped my path as I work towards my Industrial & Systems degree. I’m currently involved with a tube and valve fitting company and my communications with startup experts is ongoing. I do not plan on stopping anytime soon.

Resume

Resume

During my time in the scholars program, I have studied extensive case studies ranging from the impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the surrounding environment to the impact of the MMR vaccine on the current generation. While these topics do not focus on one particular area of study, spending time with these studies has allowed me to become well versed among an array of scientific topics. My STEM Scholars program is centered around the education of STEM fields, particularly with younger generations. My previous experience with volunteer work and marketing research has given me a solid foundation upon which I am using the skills I have acquired over the years to complete STEM’s goals.

My Top Five

My top five strengths, in order, are self-assurance, belief, analytical, intellection, and focus. Though I possess strengths in all five of these disciplines, the order in which they were given to me signifies which ones are the most important to me. According to my evaluation, my most prominent strength is my self-assurance. While I whole-heartedly agree with this strength, I don’t think that it is my most defining character trait. In fact, although these strengths are noticeable throughout my life, I don’t think that any of these strengths surpass the other – I have used these strengths equally.

I’ve consistently been confident with all of my abilities; three of my top five strengths, self-assurance, belief, and intellection all contribute to my confidence in that they coincide very nicely with one another. By approaching any situation with confidence, my actions end up one of two ways: either I complete whatever task I assign myself or I fail and learn from my mistake. My intellection and belief give me the drive to pick myself up while my self-assurance reassures my waning confidence. For most of my life, I’ve attributed these strengths in the classroom, particularly in the past couple of years throughout high school and my first several months of university. My analytical character is especially noticeable in my academic life – while learning something new is undoubtedly important, I’m not entirely convinced with something until I completely understand it. Whether it may be a new concept or even a different opinion, I don’t like to stop learning about it until all of my questions are answered. With this, my focus keeps me on track – I hesitate to veer off track of anything that I’ve started. Along with my self-assurance, I approach any situation with the intention of finishing it. My focus contributes to my persistence and throughout my academic career, I’ve used this only to my advantage.

I’ve been using my strengths to help me accomplish my goals and I will continue to do so with whatever future goals I might have. As of now, I can’t find anything wrong with how I use my strengths although I’m mainly concerned with using them in my academic life. I’d like to branch out and use them in my everyday life. Additionally, I’d like to find other positive uses for my strengths as I’m sure that I can hone my strengths to anything else that I might come across. Now that I know what my particular strengths are, I’d like to approach any problem with the intention to use any (or preferably all) of my strengths to solve the problem. I’d like to continue learning from my mistakes and ultimately use my strengths for what they were intended for – making me become a better person.

How to make toast

I loved this project retake so much more than the previous one. We worked together as a group and came up with a much nicer and clear cut idea that satisfied everyone. I thought that this was harder than our toast in class but the outcome was much better as a result. Our biggest challenge was planning everything out and arriving to a consensus. We were able to articulate what we wanted better and the entire process seemed to have a purpose and flow to it. I would want to change the groups up next time to see what other people might have to contribute to the project. All group members were contributing to the group in a way that bested the previous project. I enjoyed this project much more.

About Me

My name is Stephen Pioro and I just recently started my education at The Ohio State University. But that doesn’t quite sum up my personality, my skills, and my passions – in fact, I don’t think that I can accurately describe those through a written personal statement. This is partly because I believe that in order to truly get to know me, I should explain it face to face. Not only does my expressive personality come out but I’m arguably much funnier, cleverer, and more genuine in person. The other reason why I don’t think that I can explain everything about myself is because I simply don’t know everything about myself. Let me rephrase that – I know a lot about myself, particularly what time I like waking up and what kind of burrito I like at Chipotle. But I’m most certainly not flawless and my lack of knowledge about myself leads me to question whether or not I will truly ever know myself later in my life. For the sake of this portfolio, however, I’d like to take this opportunity to explain what I do know about myself and how my character and personality has shaped my life thus far.

 

I want to say that I’ve always been good at math and science, but unfortunately that’s not entirely true. I remember from a young age noticing a pattern in my math and science studies, with each year alternating from doing well in the courses to doing poorly. I felt miserable whenever I couldn’t do something I had done so easily the year before and I suppose that this struggle inspired me to pursue my math and science academic courses. In this pursuit, I found myself enjoying math and science that much more and discovered a newfound passion in addition to my other hobbies which of course included playing video games and trying new foods. Throughout high school, my desire for math and science grew, while (not entirely, but almost) dreading my other classes – the jazz band for which I played the alto saxophone was an exception. So far the concept of having purely math based or related classes is still somewhat foreign to me but if my sophomore self knew that my university experience would be as such, I would have started writing my university entrance essay then.

 

My senior year was by far my favorite year of high school but not for the stereotypical senioritis reasons (though yes, in second semester I had a “mild” case of not wanting to do my homework). Rather, I took a new course my first semester of senior year that allowed me to talk to start up businesses in the Cleveland area and advise to them on how to best expand their concept. Though this course was appropriately named Entrepreneurship, I found more joy in talking to people, doing research, and finding the best solutions for my short term business partners. The concept of starting a business seemed somewhat risky to me without the proper education and funding while the process of advising and overseeing management was a safer and an overall more enjoyable alternative. Before the course, however, I distinctly remember signing up for the course and then wanting to drop it. By the time I wanted to drop it, the request had already gone through and dropping it would have proved to be very difficult. I was scheduled to meet with the course director, a very successful entrepreneur and incredibly influential woman herself; I went into the meeting knowing that I wouldn’t be swayed and that my decision would stay firm. I left that meeting more confused than I had ever been: part of myself still believed in the drop while the other part of my mind that had actually been listening was so impressed and nearly moved by the passion of this professor. I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to stay in that course, for through that class, I found a new passion.

 

When investigating programs for my university education, I came across the STEM Scholars program that offered nearly everything that I was looking for in the next four years. I’m currently an engineering major and though undeclared, I look forward to taking my knowledge from my courses and applying it to the Scholars program. I’ve been an avid volunteer throughout my entire life (accumulating over 1000 hours through my four years of high school) and I really look forward to reaching out and helping the community surrounding Columbus and beyond. Overall, I’m incredibly pleased to be a STEM EE Scholar and I look forward to what else the program can offer me.

 

 

 

 

 

Picture of me

Landing Page

Hello, and welcome to my page! My name is Stephen Pioro and I’m a freshman at the Ohio State University. I’m currently in engineering but am still undeclared in that regard. I’m really looking forward to what the Ohio State University can offer me and I’m pleased to be part of the STEM EE Scholars program. This is my Landing page and I will continue updating my blog throughout the year! Within these blog posts, you’ll learn about my G.O.A.L.S. and what I hope to get out of my experience at Ohio State. I hope you enjoy it!