I have been and will continue to be involved in many community service events in or around campus including the World Kindness Day Meal Making event, volunteering at the Kroger Food Bank, and helping out at events like the Jingle Run and Clean Up Columbus. I plan to continue to engage in the community by getting involved in clubs on campus and getting involved that way. On top of this, I will continue to use ACES as a means of learning about new service events to get involved in because all experiences with service events and opportunities I have had have been not only fun but rewarding in the work we did. In particular, the Kroger Food Bank contributed to my understanding of the low income, unemployment, and homelessness problems that exist right here in Columbus. I learned that there are multiple food pantries in Columbus alone, and the day that we volunteered at the food bank for just 5 hours we provided meals over 200 people. That is an incredible number for just one day of operation of a food bank which relies heavily on donations and volunteers in order to continue its operation. This is a social issue that must be addressed and that I will do all I can in order to help those struggling to make ends meet.
Month: November 2017
What Carmel, NY means to me
The PDF file link attached to this post will lead you to a copy of an assignment I did for my Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition class about our hometown. I take much pride in and am very thankful to have been raised in the town that I was and expressed these thoughts in this assignment. In writing this assignment, I found that no matter how small my hometown felt and how much I thought that there was “nothing to do” in my town when I was in high school, the experiences that I had, the people I met, and the things I learned have all had a lasting impact on my life and molded me into the person that I am today. Before leaving for college, Carmel, NY is the only town I knew. I was born there, I went to all of my 13 years of schooling there, and I left it behind when I came to Ohio State. And now being away from home, I have even more of an appreciation for where I grew up and am extremely proud to be a New Yorker.
file:///C:/Users/MaddyRiddle/Downloads/What%20Carmel%20NY%20means%20to%20me%20(1).pdf
About Me
I am a passionate learner and a goofy risk taker. Over my 18 years, I been working to find the perfect balance between my academic life and my social life because I believe these are both extremely important to have incorporated into every day life. I am doing well finding this balance and am extremely happy and grateful every day for being able to live the well rounded life that I live. I graduated high school in the top five percent of my graduating class, ranking 15th out of 350 students, at the same time being voted by my fellow classmates for the Best Girl Friends Senior Superlative in my high school’s yearbook with my best friend Molly. Not to mention that every Friday my best friends and I would suit up for the Friday Night football game under the lights to cheer on our team, never disappointing in our war painted faces and our over the top noise making abilities in the front row of the student section. All the while, I do firmly believe that there is a time and a place to have a little fun and that these times are only when all work is done and responsibilities are taken care of. I mean, seriously, you can have more fun out with your friends after knowing all your work is over with anyway, right?
In high school, I took much pride in being Vice President of my high school’s Interact Club, a member of my school’s elite Concert Choir, and a part of the establishment of a club called Teens N Kids Mentoring. These were the three most important activities that I was involved in in my eyes. I always seemed to be out and about serving and being involved in my community through the Interact Club, which I absolutely love. With the Concert Choirs, we had the privilege of venturing to Italy to perform a concert tour during my sophomore year. This trip fueled my adventurous spirit and my love for travelling. I was also selected by the Vice Principal of our town’s middle school to be a mentor in the, at the time, brand new club called Teens N Kids Mentoring. In this club, we assisted 5th graders who were overwhelmed by their transition from the elementary school to the middle school and were therefore struggling academically and socially. We helped them get through this big change by offering them a warm and welcoming environment to be in with their peers after school got out, and I extremely enjoyed working with the kids very week.
Overall, I take much pride in everything I do. From performing community service, to singing in an internationally recognized choir, to helping the younger generation, to screaming my head off while cheering on my friends on the football field, I always do what I love and love what I do. I have found that I bloom where I’m planted and make the most out of every situation, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Welcome to my Honors & Scholars e-Portfolio
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Year in Review
I have matured more in the past four months than I did in all four years of high school combined. College is the living embodiment of “pedal to the metal”. It seems as if everything I have done in college, from academics to social life to extracurricular activities including sporting, community service, and social events, have been not only brand new experiences, but experiences that you need to fully immerse yourself into in order to truly reap the benefits of it. And this new college life is one that requires lots of time management, planning, and energy in order to fit everything in and do every task to the best of my ability. With this said, the initial expectations I had at the beginning of the year were coming from a person who had never experienced college before and who seamlessly breezed through high school level courses and with my first four months of college under my belt, I can say that I most likely fell short of a few of these initial expectations. But that is more than okay. College academics has shown me the biggest challenge I have ever faced. But, I have come to realize that a college education is more than worth the time and dedication put into it. I have also learned that developing this type of work ethic and learning the material presented in lectures are some of the most important parts of the college experience, not so much the letter value that shows up on your transcript. We must not forget that there is a person who exists behind every transcript and that that person has a personality all of their own and is made up of the events that have transpired throughout their life. And it is up to us which experiences we chose to include in our lives. Looking back on my time at Ohio State so far, the experiences I have had have been nothing short of incredible. All that I have learned and all who I have met in my short time here have been astounding and incredible and I cannot wait to see where my next seven semesters of study lead me!
Academic Enrichment
I am extremely excited to be on the academic track that I’m on and to be taking the coursework that I chose. I am a Computer and Information Science Major, taking additional coursework in Design, Communication, and Computing Ethics. My future aspirations are to work for a company where I can use my creative skills along with my developed skills in programming and computer software knowledge to develop cell phone applications, software, or other digital media platforms for use by the masses. I paired GE courses like Design 3505 Presentation as Thinking and Philosophy 1338 Introduction to Computing Ethics and Effective Presentation to keep the right side of my brain awake and working. I have a new found love for computer programming, but it is very algorithm heavy, systematic and analytical. So, I wanted to incorporate some “artsy”, or at least more creative, coursework into my schedule to keep my head on straight. And, so far, it has shown to be the perfect balance and has even proven to complement my Computer Science coursework very nicely. Outside of class, I can see where the two realms of computer science and design could overlap, and learning about them both and then making these connections is very fascinating for me. I am extremely passionate about computer programming and am very excited to see what I will continue to learn in the coming years and where that knowledge will take me!
Career
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The Positive Effects of Failure
The PDF file link attached to this post will lead you to an artifact that was an assignment that I completed for my Advanced Placement English Language and Composition class in high school. The topic of this assignment was whether or not we believe that failure in life hinders or encourages positive development of a person. As can be seen in the evaluation of this artifact, I believe that failure greatly encourages positive development of a person’s character and I believe that it is a necessary part of life that we not only must battle through, but we can learn essential lessons, skills, and information from an experience marked as a “failure” that we wouldn’t have if we didn’t go through with the experience and combat it head on. We develop characteristics such as resilience, confidence, and determination while working through any sort of difficult situation and I believe that these qualities are a necessity to achieve success in life, whatever success may mean to you.
file:///C:/Users/MaddyRiddle/Downloads/The%20Positive%20Effects%20of%20Failure%20(1).pdf