All throughout high school, teachers claimed that they were “preparing us for college”. Unfortunately, nothing I experienced in high school prepared me for what I have faced during my first semester here at Ohio State. Since the time I arrived on campus, my life has been a series of trial and error. This has been most prevalent in my academics. My first round of midterms hit me like a brick wall, especially in Math 1151. Although I had taken AP Calculus in high school, I was still struggling in the course. While I still believe I was well prepared for the first exam, I did not have the correct mindset while taking it. I was used to breezing through my exams and turning them in. I entered my first exam extremely nervous, but confident. Similar to high school, I rushed through the exam and felt confident in all of my answers. Even though I still had about 20 minutes left before I had to turn in my exam, I was so eager to get it over with that I turned it in without looking back over it. As I walked home, I felt great. I honestly believed there was no way that I did not receive an A. This feeling quickly faded when I got my score back the next day and got a B. Although a B is not a failing grade, I had wondered what I missed because I knew how to do every problem. When I received my exam back later that week, I realized every point I missed was easily avoidable. All of the questions I missed were due to avoidable math mistakes that could have been caught if I would have gone back through and checked my answers with that remaining 20 minutes. As the second exam approached, I promised myself not to make this mistake again. I once again finished the second exam with around 15 minutes left, but this time I used all of those 15 minutes to carefully check back over my answers. While checking over, I caught two mistakes that I had made. After the 15 minutes were up, I turned in my exam and eagerly awaited my grade. Two days later, I found out that I got a 96/100 on my exam! I felt so relieved. Through the experience of rushing through my first exam and not getting the grade I hoped for, I learned a valuable lesson for exams: always take the remaining time to check over the exam for errors. I hope to continue this and hopefully continue to receive As on my exams.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the Morrill Scholar Program here at The Ohio State University. Through this program I am enrolled in a course called Team and Organizational Leadership. This course has allowed me to not only reflect on myself and the challenges I have overcome, but has also opened my eyes to the importance of diversity in our society. Coming from a small town where almost everyone had the same socioeconomic status, race, and background, I was not prepared for how this one particular class would change my outlook on the world around me. I knew before coming to Ohio State that I would meet people from all different backgrounds. What I did not understand, however, is how this would affect me personally.

The purpose of the class Team and Organizational Leadership is to not only understand how to use our personal background to enhance our own leadership skills, but to also learn how to use each and every person’s background to maximize their leadership skills as well. Through the class, I have learned that leadership is not selfish. Leadership is not using other people to achieve a goal. True leadership involves recognizing each and every person’s specific strengths and how they can be used so that everyone achieves their goals. In order to determine each person’s strength, one must first consider their background. By making a conscious effort to understand people’s history, a good leader is transformed into a great leader. Throughout my experience in the class, I have met people of all different backgrounds who all have different strengths and perceptions of the world. I have learned how to utilize these different assets in order to maximize the potential of not only the group as a whole, but the potential of each person as well. This class has enhanced my leadership skills while also transforming my outlook on diversity. I have come to realize that without diversity, our society would not advance. It is diversity that allows society to develop and progress due to our differences. I plan to use these valuable lessons that I have learned through this class to continue to strengthen my leadership skills.