At OSU, there is, undeniably, a plethora of opportunities to get involved in the thousands of student organizations on campus.

Unfortunately for me, however, most of those opportunities seem to take place on Wednesdays from 6-8 PM- a crucial study and decompression period after my busiest day of classes.

Having been here for about a month, I figured it was time to finally get involved. After consulting the meeting hours of several organizations, however, I began to lose hope: it seemed that every org met during the exact times I couldn’t, and eventually, I resolved myself to the fact that I’d have to wait until next semester to join a student organization I was actually interested in. It wasn’t until- ironically enough- a couple of my male friends recommended ACM-W to me that I really started to look into the organization. I was nervous, but it seemed like something that I would like, so I decided to go to a meeting to audit it. 

Before attending, one of my biggest worries had been what the other members’ personalities would be like- would they be social, or less open to meeting new people? Would they be interested in things other than coding? Most of all, though, would they like me? 

The moment I stepped into Dreese 264, however, my fears were instantly assuaged. Other members immediately made an effort to get to know me, and as the meeting went on, I knew this was an organization I wanted to be a part of. We talked about what it was like being a woman in STEM, shared our stories of discrimination based on gender, and in light of the upcoming Engineering Expo, shared tips on how to speak with potential employers and structure our résumés to make them as strong as possible. One of my favorite tips had to do with wanting to speak with a company, but not knowing quite what they do: according to an older member, if you don’t know what a company does or have never heard of them, stand relatively near to their booth and do some quick Google searching before walking over to speak with them as if you’d always known what they did. At the Engineering Expo the next day, I was actually able to apply many of the things I learned from this meeting when I spoke with various recruiters, and I have no doubt that they aided me in leaving a stronger impression than I would have otherwise. 

Overall, I’ve absolutely loved my experience with ACM-W so far. Everyone, from the general members to the leaders, is incredibly inclusive and supportive of one another, and truly wants success for all, both professionally and personally. Since going to my first meeting, I’ve also attended the organization’s first annual Eating With Industry event, which was an excellent opportunity to network with semi-local companies, such as 84.51, and companies that are less so, such as Google. With an experience as excellent as the one I’m already having, I absolutely cannot wait to see where being involved with ACM-W takes me- even if it does end up being on a Wednesday from 6-8 PM sometimes.

As the oldest child in my family, I’ve always been extremely independent. Oftentimes, this meant that I would learn how to do things on my own, which my parents would then expect me to teach to my siblings. This independence very much translated to my academic life as well. I always managed to figure out various topics by myself, and thanks to the ego boost that came in the form of “wow, you’re smart!” I actually became quite averse to asking for help from anyone. I wanted to be known as the girl who always knew the answer, not the girl who needed help finding it.

This was fine until my sophomore year of high school, when I took my very first chemistry class. I’d heard that Mr. Gray’s class was difficult, but I- to put it colloquially- blew off those warnings, figuring that I could go along as I had been with no issue.

In short: I was very wrong. I struggled with that class more than ever before, and after weeks of floundering and a nearly-failed test, I found that I had no options other than to swallow my pride and do what I’d been avoiding forever: ask my teacher what was going on in this class. To my surprise, the actual process wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d imagined, and after the awkwardness of this new-to-me-thing wore off, I attended these “extra time extra help” sessions through the rest of my high school career. As a result, my grades- and more importantly, my understanding of the content- vastly improved.

Visiting the Math and Statistics Learning Center (MSLC) on campus was a step toward overcoming the same obstacle- only, this time, it was at college. I’d never completely understood how to approach a problem that contained a limit approaching infinity, and with a midterm with them on it rapidly approaching, I decided that it was the perfect time to make my first visit. I came prepared with some practice problems just in case, and within 5 minutes of sitting down and placing my card in the notification stand, a tutor was there to help. We worked through some of them together- he guiding and I following- and before I knew it, I was solving them on my own, with little to no trouble at all. He answered any questions I had without any hint of frustration or hesitation, and I can confidently say that his patience with my “dumb” questions is one of the largest reasons that I understood these problems so quickly.

I’m still incredibly surprised that my MSLC tutor helped me understand such a difficult topic so quickly, and I am certain that I will make many more visits to the facility in the future. I’m also considering applying to be a tutor there in the next year: I already love helping people, and explaining and answering others’ questions about a subject helps me study as well. That, therefore, would make the position beneficial to both myself and the person I tutor.

Overall, learning that there’s no shame in asking for help has resulted in an impressive amount of personal and academic growth, and while it has been humbling, it has also been a very positive experience. The sheer amount of resources available at Ohio State to do so is overwhelming, and I’m excited to be able to utilize nearly all of them in the coming years.