My PSL mentor is Anya Chew. She is originally from Mississippi but moved to Cleveland at a young age and that is where she was raised. When applying to colleges, she initially wanted to go to an out of state University. In fact, OSU was the only in-state school to which she applied but, she loved the political science program offered here and combined with scholarships, she made a decision to stay a little closer to home. When she applied to OSU, she also applied to PSL as her top choice scholars program because of it’s connection with her major. So far she has loved it! Anya is double majoring in political science and security and intelligence with a dual minor in german and military history. Her hopes are to work for the government in some way or to work for a defense company.
On top of her impressive academic accomplishments, Anya is also very involved in student organizations here on campus. She has been in PSL since her first year at OSU and this is her second year being a mentor, which she does because she loves getting to know the new students. She is in a sorority: Kappa Kappa Gamma, the director for outreach at Buckeye Food Alliance, and a member of the Collegiate Council on World Affairs(CCWA). Her favorite thing about her student organizations has been watching them grow and come so far since the days when she had first joined. When asked to choose which of the organizations was her favorite, she claimed that she loved them all for different reasons but if she had to chose, she loves CCWA because it aligns with her majors and she has been involved in Model United Nations programs for nearly 10 years. “Its a part of who I am at this point,” she said. Anya would recommend any of these programs to new and incoming students however she highly recommended CCWA especially to new PSLers because anyone who joined PSL had to be at least somewhat educated and passionate about politics and thats what CCWA is all about. If you’re looking for some community service hours however, be sure to check out Buckeye Food Alliance. It’s a great way to volunteer and help people in your free time.
One of the things Anya really emphasized was getting involved. She said that joining student organizations really helps make connections, gets you out of your room, and can help to benefit the community. Even if you’re unsure about joining a student org, go to the first meeting. If you hate it, you don’t have to go back but you may end up finding something that you love. Her final advice for any new students was to chose one or two organizations and get really involved in them. At a school as huge as OSU, it’s easy to get lost in the people and feel like you haven’t made any connections. You want to be able to find a solid group of friends and a great way to do that is to join a student organization. Not only will you make friends but they will also have similar interests because you both joined that organization because it involved something about which you are passionate. it’s important to have social aspects as well as sleeping, going to classes, etc. There are so many organizations on campus, anyone is bound to find one that they’d love to join and if they can’t, you can make your own.
