This past year has presented me with more challenges than I could have ever imagined. Going into the year, I was excited to be diving into business related classes and realizing the academic challenges that made me want to come to Ohio State. Along with beginning to experience the academic challenges, I set a goal this year to expand and develop myself into a more well-rounded individual. Specifically, that included working on skills such as leadership and communication. Throughout this entire year, I have set many small goals, both academically and professionally to guide me along the way to my major overall goals. Looking back on the year, there have been three moments where I have seen my process of goal setting and dedication to success culminate into reaching a major goal that I had set early on.
The first of these reached goals was to obtain a leadership position in a student organization. In my search for a leadership role, I did not only want a to find a position, but more specifically I was hoping to find a position in an organization that I felt could have a potential linkage to a career that I might pursue. Because I had an interest in a possible career in wealth management or financial planning, I joined the OSU Student Financial Planning Association. After a few meetings, I knew this was the organization that I wanted to pursue a leadership position. I applied for a position for the spring semester and secured the role of co-program coordinator. In this position not only did I have an opportunity to grow as a leader, but also to work on my communication skills since my main role in the position was to contact the speakers we bring in for our meetings. Starting next autumn, I will be the programs new Vice President.
Another goal I set for this year was to get more involved on campus in something larger than just a student organization. Recognizing that I had an interest in financial planning, I looked into becoming a Scarlet and Gray Financial Wellness Coach. Scarlet and Gray Financial is a nationally recognized prestigious organization and presents a great opportunity for me to not only help students with their financial needs, but also to work on my own personal development. After applying and interviewing for a place in the organization, I was pleased that I did indeed get accepted. Since being chosen for the program, I have been involved in the Leadership Development Program where I have developed my leadership skills and focused on unearthing new and refining other communication skills such as, active listening, using open ended questions, and controlling body language. I have grown immensely from this program and I am looking forward to putting these skills to use in future client appointments next year
My main goal for this year was to obtain an internship for this summer. Throughout the year, I struggled with deciding which career field I wanted to explore in my internship search. However, through my BSP Project informational interviews, I discovered that public accounting and auditing was the path I wished to begin pursuing. Through the connections I made, I was able to acquire an internship for this summer. I will be working for GBQ Partners on the credit union audit team. Attaining this opportunity is the culmination of all that I have accomplished during my school year. I believe I have earned this opportunity due to my dedication to self-improvement and academic hard work. I am definitely looking forward to this experience this summer and further developing myself for a successful career.
This year has been an exceptional growing experience for me. Though I may not have hit every single small goal that I set for myself, I believe I have achieved all the major, overarching goals that I strived for. In the classroom, I challenged myself to be as successful as I possible in maintaining a 4.0 GPA in more advanced classes. Not only have I done that, but I am also closer to reaching a decision between majoring in accounting or finance. From a development standpoint, I pushed myself to grow and I believe that is exactly what I have done. I now feel more comfortable with my abilities and believe that I have found two excellent roles for me to continue my growth as I settle in to my place at this university.