Like many students, Caitlyn did not know right away what she wanted to do. In highschool, she had thought she would become a detective and be able to serve the public and do good for the world that way. However, she had a life changing experience when she was a 4H counselor one summer and worked with many underprivileged children. Instantly, she knew she needed to go into a career where she would be able to work with children and have a positive impact on a generation. Many of the children she worked with did not have much parental support and she wanted to be someone who could show those kids that they could do anything. She wanted to be a force for good in these children’s lives that allowed for personal growth.
Caitlyn has already done a great job of getting involved on campus. She is part of the organization Smiles with Styles, where we goes to places like the Ronald McDonald house and gives women makeovers and brings toys for the kids. She’s also found another group called Recipe for Good. With this student group, she helps prepare and serve a meal for various nonprofit centers around Columbus. One that stood out to her was Huckleberry House, which is a youth crisis center. This made a lot of sense to me as she is passionate about working with children.
ACES stood out to Caitlyn because she really liked the service aspect of it. She wanted to use her time to help others and make her community a better place and felt this program was an excellent way to be able to do that. She was originally looking at Mount Scholars but with her passion for education and service, ACES was home for her. She is excited to be a mentor next year and thinks mentorship is a really great aspect of ACES. Interacting with a younger ACE and being able to give advice and insight about OSU is something she is really looking forward to.
Caitlyn told me about a dream she has for herself after she graduates. One day, she hopes to open up a ranch in a rural area and provide educational/day care services for underprivileged children. We both agree that time outdoors is vital to positive development and she wants children in struggling homes to be able to have experience in nature. She also hopes to work to improve common core. She dislikes common core because of its rigidity and says that education and children are always changing so the curriculum should be allowed to have some fluidity. Her dream job, although, is to be the President of the United States— because she would have a lot of power to do good!
Something that surprised her about OSU was the amount of diversity. Coming from a small, rural town, the residents there were predominantly white. There also was not a lot of sexual or gender diversity, meaning most of the people where she was from identified as cisgender and straight. She has loved seeing and being a part of this diversity and it is amazing to her than there is so much diversity in our small fraction of the world!
The thing that stood out to me about Caitlyn was how open and compassionate she is. She has no problem letting people into her life and is very warm to the people around her. This makes me think she is going to be a great educator. Her compassion is clear in how she talks about her experience with children and the underprivileged. I also learned that she loves service, which is an important part of being in ACES but also an important part of being a part of a community, wherever that may be. Throughout the year, I plan on using what I learned about Caitlyn to help benefit her experience here at OSU. I’ll keep my eye out for service opportunities involving children that she might be interested in. I also mentioned Ohio State’s undergraduate student government since she has an interest in government. OSU also has many events showing off the diversity of our campus such as Taste of OSU in February, which I will be sure to let her know about. I will also make sure to check in with her and make sure she is doing well. She is very motivated and has gotten very involved but sometimes things can become overwhelming, and I want to make sure she knows ways to destress and take care of herself. This was a wonderful experience getting to know Caitlyn more and I look forward to learning even more!
Questions
- How did you decide on the major you have chosen?
- What has been your most challenging class so far and why?
- What kind of involvement are you interested in on campus?
- Why did you choose ACES?
- What are you most looking forward to in the ACES program?
- What do you plan to do after you graduate?
- Dream job?
- What is one of the most important things you’ve learned at OSU?
- What has surprised you about OSU?