During my sophomore year at Ohio State, I have made a lot of progress toward achieving my professional and personal goals. In autumn, I attended weekly meetings with my STEP (Second-year Transformational Experience Program) cohort. At these meetings, I talked with my peers and explored different project ideas that would enhance my experience at Ohio State. I decided that an Education Abroad trip would be very beneficial to help me make progress toward my degree and expand my world-view. Next summer, I hope to travel to North Queensland in Australia to learn about the human impact on the natural environment, which can be clearly seen in the Great Barrier Reef.
This summer, I am returning to the Cleveland Clinic to work in a lab on main campus. This lab, which I have been involved with for the last two summers, has helped me develop professionally and has given me great hands-on experience in the field I wish to enter. I also hope to take part in research on campus at Ohio State, hopefully before the start of my junior year.
As a biology major, many of my classes can be very science-intensive. This is why I chose a history minor. In high school, I thoroughly enjoyed history classes, especially American history. This spring, I took my first history course at Ohio State, History of HIV. This course brought together both my major and minor, as it takes both a scientific and historical approach to HIV/AIDS. I also have enjoyed one honors GE that I took in autumn, Intro to Theatre. Throughout the semester, I attended six live performances at the Wexner and the Drake Center.
During my junior year, I will be a peer mentor for the Arts and Sciences Honors Program. I hope that the training and the peer-to-peer experiences will help me become a stronger leader here at Ohio State. I also plan on being on the Executive Board for a volunteer program that I have been involved in, Scientific Thinkers. For this program, I travel to local elementary schools to provide a hands-on science experience for young children. Becoming more involved in this program will also help me develop as a leader.
As mentioned before, I will continue to volunteer for Scientific Thinkers at Mansion Day Elementary and Innis Elementary. My experiences volunteering for this program have been very enjoyable and valuable to me. This year I have also participated in the Wishmakers on Campus club. One of the goals for this club is to fundraise for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants children with critical illnesses a wish. One fundraising activity that I recently took part in for this club was a basketball tournament at the RPAC.