Author: regenbogen.2

Sophomore Year Reflection

This year really challenged me. I struggled to figure out which majors and minors I wanted to complete, what I wanted to pursue as my future career, what clubs and activities to put my effort into, and which jobs to look for in the summer. On top of that, I was balancing lots of things: difficulties with my family at home, problems with friends, my personal health, a part-time job, homework, and my classes. This definitely provided me a lot of stress, but ultimately I still think this has been the best year of my college career so far.

I was grateful to have all in-person classes this entire year. This definitely helped my understanding, and allowed me to do a lot better in my classes as I really struggled with staying motivated in my online classes last year. I took a lot of classes that I was interested in, to try to help me determine exactly what it is that I want to do with my future career. I became really interested in some of the classes that I was taking, so I decided to change my minors around a bit. I have added a Psychology minor and will maintain the Human Development & Family Science minor as well. After the classes I took, and reflections that I did this year, I have decided that I want to pursue graduate school for a career in psychology. As of now, I am thinking either Neuropsychology or Clinical Psychology. I am very content with this being my future career, and I am excited to keep taking classes and being involved in activities that will help me progress towards this as my career.

This year I joined a few more clubs that are more related to psychology, neuroscience, and mental health. I joined NeverWalkAlone and NuRhoPsi. I also joined Project Nicaragua, where I have been able to get involved and become an executive board member. I am the Director of Public Relations, and will hold this position again next year. I was a mentor for Biological Sciences Scholars which I felt was really beneficial to help a few freshman figure out their new lives here at OSU, and I will be a mentor again next year. I am also the Event Coordinator of HDFS club, which I will begin at the start of next semester. I am still looking for research positions for next year, but am really excited to hopefully get involved in a psychology research lab!

Overall, this year has been really impactful for me. I finally got to experience ‘typical’ college experiences that I missed out on last year due to covid such as football games, in-person club meetings and classes, and other OSU events. I am excited to continue progressing towards my future career in the psychology field, and cannot wait to see everything else that I accomplish and get to experience in my last two years here at OSU!

Vision Statement

Moving forward throughout the rest of my time at Ohio State, my junior and senior year, I am hoping to become more involved in organizations and activities that will give me experience and lead towards my future career in mental health. I am hoping to join a psychology research lab during my junior year, so I will begin searching for labs that I am interested in and contacting PIs this summer. I am also looking for a new job that is a bit more related to my major and minors, and what I’m hoping to do in the future. This summer, I am going to be working at a Summer Lunch Camp in my hometown. This job will allow me to spend each day of the summer with children from a wide range of ages, and help with their development while also practicing my Spanish with some of the kids whose parents are immigrants from Latin America. This job will allow me to incorporate the knowledge I have learned from both of my minors, and give me valuable experience that I can definitely use if I choose to work with kids in my career in the future.

I also want to take the next two years to experience all that Ohio State has to offer. I am going to study abroad using my STEP funds, want to take classes that sound interesting even if they do not count towards a graduation requirement, and participate in research and other activities on campus. I don’t want to graduate with any regrets, so I want to say yes to as many opportunities as I can, and not be scared to do something because it is different from the norm.

I want to put a lot of focus into my courses, and continue to stay on the Dean’s List like I have been my first four semesters. I also want to maintain my leadership positions in Project Nicaragua and HDFS Club, and involvements in NuRhoPsi and Biological Sciences Scholars. The past few semesters I have taken 18-credit hours, but I want to reduce this number to 12 or 15, because I have plenty of room in my schedule to space all of my classes out. I am hoping to use this extra time to volunteer with the same organization that I will be working for this summer, and potentially keep a part-time job during the school year.

G.O.A.L.S.

G.O.A.L.S. is an acronym used by the Honors and Scholars program to encourage their students to take advantage of the resources at Ohio State in order to become more well-rounded individuals that strive to be active in their community.

G stands for Global Awareness which is the appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. Since high school I have volunteered for a Family ESL Program in my hometown. This experience has allowed me to meet children and families from a wide variety of cultures. In Summer 2022, I plan on being an intern for FESTA, which is the organization that runs the ESL program. I will work full-time and be able to learn more about the children in the program, and their cultures and backgrounds. Additionally, I plan on studying abroad in Summer 2023, and will be able to enhance my understanding of different cultures and places even more. 

O stands for Original Inquiry which is the understanding of the research and scientific process by engaging in research. To strengthen my skills in this category, I want to participate in research at some point in my four years. Right now, I am beginning to contact PIs to try to get into a Neuroscience or Psychology Laboratory during my junior year. 

A stands for Academic Enrichment which is developed through the taking of and participating in rigorous coursework and curricular experiences. I have already shown my excellence in this category by being on the Dean’s List here at Ohio State. I plan on continuing this excellence as I take more rigorous classes. The Neuroscience Program allows its undergraduate students to take graduate level neuroscience classes through the Medical School. I plan on taking a few of these courses in my third and fourth years in order to challenge myself academically.

L stands for Leadership Development which is the ability to develop leadership skills in the classroom, in the community, and in student organizations. I have already shown leadership development through holding multiple leadership positions. I am a mentor for Biological Sciences Scholars, and have a group of freshman that I communicate with regularly to help them navigate their first year here at OSU. I am also currently the Co-Director of Public Relations of an organization called Project Nicaragua, and will be the Director next year as well. Throughout the rest of my four years, I plan to continue to sharpen my leadership skills by applying to the executive boards of other organizations that I am involved in, and continue to work a part-time job during school breaks. 

S stands for Service Engagement which is the commitment to service in the community. As I mentioned previously, I was a volunteer for a Family ESL Program throughout high school, and have continued this volunteering as they have begun in-person activities again. I want to maintain this service experience, as it has helped me grow as an individual and foster some of my passions, thus helping me determine my preferred career choice for the future. 

Dementia

I have recently found a lot of things to point me in the direction of working in the mental health field or with the brain in some way. My grandfather struggled with memory loss and dementia and just recently passed away. Seeing his memory loss progress so rapidly over the past year, and doctors being unable to prevent it, really made me interested in learning more about the brain and why this happens. I think it would be really interesting to work as a neuropsychologist and work with dementia or Alzheimer’s patients to help treat them and determine the best course of action for their lives. In this career, I would also be able to work with people with other types of neurological and nervous system disorders, which is something that I have always been really interested in.

It has been really interesting to see how so many parts of my life seem to be pushing me towards a career that allows me to work with the brain in some way. This has definitely reassured me that I am in the right major, and am on the right track to figuring out exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Cheryl’s Cookies

I gained some more work experience this semester, as I began a job in November at the Cheryl’s Cookies near campus. I applied for this job as a seasonal position so that I could work a lot over winter break. I began working around Thanksgiving and worked about 15 hours each week until winter break, where I worked nearly 30 hours. This job provided me with a lot of meaningful retail experience, which I will definitely be able to use in any career or job that I hold in the future. I also held some managerial roles, which gave me some really great leadership experience. I worked on communication, responsibility, teamwork, and interpersonal skills, and this experience will definitely help me in my career in the future!

Fall 2021 Reflection

This has been the best semester of my college experience so far! I took six classes: Nonprofit Organization, Family Development, Cognitive Neuroscience, Spanish 4, Abnormal Psychology, and Gender Pop Culture. This semester, I was able to finish up all of my GEs, finish the pre-requisites for my Spanish minor, and determine what path I want to take for my future career. As of right now, I am thinking Clinical Psychology or Neuropsychology as a career path and after doing a lot of research about each of these jobs, I definitely think the mental health field is a good path for me. So, now I am pursuing graduate school and will be able to spend the rest of my undergrad determining exactly which program I want to apply to.

This semester, I began a few leadership roles in student organizations on campus. I mentored a few first-year students in the Biological Sciences Scholars Program. I had a small group of three for the first half of the semester, then began one-on-one mentoring with a different freshman. I have really enjoyed building a friendship with my mentees, as I help them navigate their first year here at Ohio State.

I also joined an organization on campus called Project Nicaragua. I began the semester with a leadership position as the Co-Director of Public Relations. This has been a great experience so far. I have really enjoyed helping to grow the organization by working on new member recruitment, and fixing up the social media pages to be more consistent and informative. I definitely plan on continuing my involvement in this organization next semester and next year, and am excited to continue being a member of the executive board.

Most of this semester was spent on my eighteen credit hours worth of classes, and also taking advantage of all that Ohio State has to offer. I had all in-person classes, went to football games with my roommate and friends, participated in service events, and explored Columbus! Overall, it was a really great semester, and I am excited to see what life has in store for me next semester!

Family Development

HDFS 2200: Family Development is by far one of my favorite classes I have ever taken. This is a class that I decided to take because I had room in my schedule, and was hoping to try to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I learned so much in this course and learned a lot of things that I will be able to take into my future as a mother, wife, friend, psychologist, and person in general. Our final was to write a paper highlighting our top ten takeaways from this course, which is what I have linked below. We talked about topics such as gender norms, arranged marriage, consent, the gender pay gap, marriage, and familial differences based on socioeconomic status. These are all topics that I truly believe will help me be a better mental health professional in the future, as well as a person in my daily life. After taking this course, I decided I wanted to take more like it, and officially declared an HDFS minor.

HDFS 2200 Final Reflection: Top 10 Takeaways

Abnormal Psychology

Fall 2021, I took Psych 3331: Abnormal Psych. This has definitely been one of my favorite classes at Ohio State thus far, and has encouraged me that a career in the mental health field would be a really good fit for me. I really enjoyed everything that I learned in this class. My favorite unit in this course was the Panic, Anxiety, and Obsessions Disorders unit, as I have struggled a lot with anxiety myself, and I think this class has helped me determine that this is the group of disorders that I would like to specialize in as a clinical psychologist in the future. I took Fall 2021 as a semester to help me determine exactly what I want to pursue as a career in the future, which is why I took Psych 3331. This class definitely helped me realize that a career in mental health is a great fit for me, and is something that I want to pursue throughout the rest of my four years at Ohio State! I am now really excited to continue taking more psych courses, and have even thought about potentially minoring in psychology as well.

Huckleberry House Volunteering

This past week, I volunteered at the Huckleberry House in Columbus with my scholars program. It was honestly such an eye-opening experience for me; one that I will definitely remember for a long time. We went to the House to serve a meal to the teens living there and the staff that work there. Working in the kitchen, and trying to prepare the food was extremely difficult. The oven didn’t work at all, and the stovetops were very finicky. There weren’t very many teens staying at the house at that time, so we didn’t have to prepare much food, but I definitely felt like the teens could have benefited from a healthier and more substantial meal than what we were given to prepare for them. They did not have up-to-date appliances or even enough silverware for all of the teens.

This experience, paired with the knowledge I gained in my PUBAFRS 2150: Intro to Nonprofit Organizations class this semester, made me realize how important volunteering, and donating to small organizations is. The Huckleberry House clearly does not receive the funding that it needs from the government in order to carry out all of its programs.  The House doesn’t just provide the teens with a place to sleep, but instead provides them with counseling, and independent skills training so that they are equipped to take care of themselves and get out of their potentially dangerous home situation. It is such an incredible organization seeking to help a population that is often overlooked. 

I am definitely interested in continuing to volunteer with this organization in the future, or even participating in the counseling services once I become a licensed clinical psychologist. Overall, this was a very meaningful volunteer experience, and one that I will think about for awhile.

 

Family Weekend

My parents came to visit me on campus this weekend for Parents Weekend! It was a really fun two days spent eating together, touring campus and the Ohio Stadium (so cool!), and talking about how great of a fit Ohio State is for me. Both of my parents went to OSU, and despite not meeting here, they did get engaged at Mirror Lake. But, due to this, and the fact that I grew up in a suburb of Columbus, I have been a Buckeye my entire life. OSU was not my first-pick school until the start of the pandemic, as I realized I wanted to stay close to family. But, Ohio State has been everything I ever hoped for and more. I’m so grateful to go to a large school, with so many opportunities. I have been able to change my major, consider numerous options for minors, join organizations, get involved in the community, have access to great faculty, and still be in the same city as a majority of my family.

This weekend with my parents, and the discussions that occurred, made me realize just how happy I am that I chose to come to Ohio State. I really will be a Buckeye for Life!