Reflection on the GOALS

The Ohio State University Honors and Scholars program has developed a set of expectations and, more aptly, goals for its students.  These goals include these five main ideas: global awareness, original inquiry, academic enrichment, leadership development, and service engagement.  These five categories encompass just about everything that a college student must focus on in order to be successful.  With that in mind, there are many ways here at OSU to get involved with each of these five aspects in order to become the most well-rounded student possible.  To start off, let’s focus on the idea of global awareness.  This part of the GOALS mindset focuses on creating a sense of diversity and cultural awareness within every honors student by opening their minds to the different and diverse backgrounds that exist all over the world.  For me personally, I’m very intrigued about this idea of growing in global awareness.  The biggest way that I wish to do this is to participate in the university’s study abroad program.  I’m absolutely fascinated with the idea of going to Europe, especially either London, Rome, or Ireland, for a brief period of time to study.  As of right now, my plan is to perhaps take a May-mester abroad in Europe as a way of experiencing this sense of global awareness.  The second aspect of GOALS is called original inquiry.  The idea behind original inquiry is to help OSU honors students understand the process of research.  With that in mind, as a biochemistry major with a passion for science, the field of research is something that I without a doubt want to get involved in extensively during my time here at The Ohio State University.  I haven’t so much thought about exactly what, but it is definitely something that is a must for me to experience in the next four years.  The third aspect of GOALS is academic enrichment.  This has a lot to do with utilizing this academic plan to scope out my next four years academically.  As of right now, my academic plan serves as a loose guide for me to follow over the coming years.  I don’t necessarily see it as something to follow religiously, but it will be very helpful and beneficial in helping me along the way.  The thing I like about this academic plan is it helped make it clearer as to what classes need to be taken for both my major and my minor.  With the academic plan as my guide, I know I won’t leave out any necessary classes.  I chose the major (biochemistry) and the minor (business) that I chose because they are both things that extremely interest me.  Biochemistry has been a passion of mine and something that I absolutely love, and I feel like it serves as a nice setup for medical school.  Business I think is just a nice piece to add on the side mainly for the usefulness of it if anything goes wrong with my medical route.  The GE course I’m most looking forward to taking is Art Education 2367.03 because I heard a lot of friends and other people talking it up as an incredibly fun and interesting class.  Its focus is on the critiquing and criticizing of television, which sounds, in my opinion, to be an absolute blast.  I’m really looking forward to it.  My course selection most definitely shows my commitment to developing a program that reaches beyond simply the minimum requirement.  Most of the courses listed in my academic plan are either needed for my major or required for my minor, so just strictly basing this off of the classes needed to obtain both the major and the minor lends it to being a rather difficult set of classes that need to be taken.  The fourth part of GOALS is leadership development.  Becoming leaders in society and in the world is one of the focal points of the college experience.  There are many things that I would like to get involved in in order to fulfill this section of the GOALS.  For starters, as a big sports fan and a former high school athlete, getting involved in intramural sports is an absolute must for me.  Taking on the leadership role as the team captain would be an added bonus.  On top of that, though, I would also like to get involved in plenty of clubs and student organizations here at OSU.  Which ones specifically, I’m not sure- definitely something chemistry related along with other sports clubs, I would say.  Finding an internship in a science related field would also be an extremely beneficial addition to my collegiate experience.  The final aspect of GOALS is service engagement, in which students are encouraged to serve society and pursue other service-related activities within the community.  I know this is something very important to my future medical school resume, so I have to get involved with all of this very frequently.  One thing I really can’t wait to get involved with is going to hospitals and hanging out with some of the sick children there.  I also want to get involved working at the James as a way of developing some critical experience.  I also want to get involved in the community itself by helping out at food kitchens and other things of that nature.  Over the next four years, I hope to put all of these activities together (and consequently put the five aspects of GOALS together) to cultivate for myself this wonderful and complete learning environment which will be indescribably beneficial for my future in the real world.

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation is a reflective description of the artifact that attempts to communicate its significance.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

About Me

[Your “About Me” is an introduction and should provide insight into who you are as a person and a learner.  This should include a picture of you that is appropriate in a professional/academic context. This information should be continually updated.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio.  Delete these instructions and add your own post.]