Author: ross.1626
Career
Artifact
This semester I auditioned and was accepted into an a cappella group on campus called Majors & minors (logo below). I love to sing, and as a STEM major chances for musical expression in my day are few and far between, so this group has been amazing for me. A cappella means singing without any instruments, so the group members act as the “instruments” when we sing by singing the background chords on different vowels and words. I’ve been in choirs my whole life, but this is my first experience with a cappella and it is so fun trying something new! Another difference between a cappella groups and traditional choirs is that a cappella groups tend to sing much more popular, well known music. Taking songs from the radio and changing them to be performed entirely by a group of singers is super interesting, and in my opinion the outcome is very cool. We compete in a competition called ICCA (which stands for International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella), which has gained a little recognition recently because it’s featured in the movie Pitch Perfect. We submitted an audition tape back in October, and we found out recently that we have been selected to move on to the quarter final round, which is very exciting. We are going to keep working hard on our preparations in the hopes of making it as far into the competition as we can.
G.O.A.L.S
This year at Ohio State University is going to have a particular emphasis on the Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement aspects of G.O.A.L.S for me. I am an engineering major, so academic enrichment is usually very present in my life. I am taking challenging but interesting courses, both in and out of the engineering department. Specifically my Statics and Mechanics of Materials course feels relevant because it applies concepts of physics to real world problems that engineers are faced with. Unrelated to engineering but broadening my experiences, I am taking a course on Leadership and Community Service. This class focuses not just on service, but on the greater context behind serving and understanding the circumstances that lead to a necessity for service in the first place. This class ties in directly to leadership development and service engagement. We are also assigned a service site for the course. My site is called Kindergarten Corps, and we tutor kindergarten students learning to read to improve their comprehension skills. I have an additional service site on my own, as a part of the Year of Service project for the Mount Leadership Society I am a member of. I serve regularly at the Clintonville Community Resource Center (logo pictured), which is a food pantry but also offers lots of other services for community members. Both of these sites have already given me very enriching experiences, and I look forward to spending much more time with them over this year to continue growing in my G.O.A.L.S.
Artifact
The image below is the logo for the team I am on in something called Mount Legacy Week. I am in the Mount Leadership Society Scholars group at Ohio State, and a major part of our first year experience is participating in Legacy Week. Legacy Week is a period of time in late January and early February when Mount Scholars do service projects to try and impact our community. We split into six teams to design service projects in six different categories: Abuse, Education, Environment, Global, Health, and Poverty. Mount Scholars design, budget, market, and implement the entire projects ourselves— obviously we receive lots of help, but the idea is that we are the catalyst in every step of the service project. It makes it so much more impactful when we complete every aspect of hosting a service project ourselves, rather than just showing up and volunteering at an event hosted by someone else. This way, we really get the time to understand the reasoning behind any given project, and do everything we can to best serve the needs of the agencies we work with.
I am a member of Team Abuse. Our motto is “fighting harm, giving hope”. This is a message that really speaks to me because Team Abuse is all about treating every person with the dignity and respect they deserve. There is obviously not much we can do in the way of preventing abuse, unfortunately, as we don’t really have the necessary qualifications to work with emergency organizations. We can, however, work with survivors of all sorts of terrible abuse, and our goal is to make them feel “normal”, and that they are appreciated and have worth. I am proud to be a member of Team Abuse and proud of the projects we’ve developed for Mount Legacy Week.
Artifacts
The image above represents a lab that I did in my Fundamentals of Engineering course. The lab was particularly impactful to me because it guided me towards what I think my future major will be. In FE, we explore a different major in each lab to give first year pre-engineering students an idea of many different disciplines and help them choose one to pursue. Prior to this lab, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to stay in engineering, but after learning what Integrated Systems Engineering (ISE) entails, I think it’s something I will enjoy. The objective of ISE majors is to optimize efficiency. It’s a lot of problem solving and logical thinking, which are the skills I possess and tasks I enjoy completing. I was feeling very overwhelmed by the options engineers have and the new skills I needed to learn to be one at the beginning of the semester, but I felt more at peace after this lab. Obviously a single lab will not make or break my future, but just knowing there was something out there I was interested in doing as a career was a reassuring thought. I am excited to take more classes in ISE and explore career options.
Year in Review
My first year at Ohio State (though cut short) was an amazing experience. For the first time, I was truly “on my own”, with all the freedoms and responsibilities that brings. I think one area that I grew in more than others was learning about myself as a student, and understanding how I learn best. I have learned (through unfortunate circumstances, but it’s valuable information nonetheless) that I am not very much of an online learner. I do much better with face-to-face interaction with my instructors. That is absolutely something I can keep in mind for scheduling future classes, but also for my life in general: I know that if I don’t understand a direction given to me through email or something else, I should follow up in person to clarify. I have also learned about my study habits and how I best prepare for class. While I am able to work in groups very well, I find that when studying for a big assignment I do better on my own. That way, I feel that I can go my own pace, and I don’t have to worry about being too distracted to help those around me. I have also learned that I am actually ok about studying in my room. I know that for some students, they need to leave their room and get a change of scenery for their studying to be effective. While I sometimes like studying in the library to change it up, I find that I am actually very productive in my own space as well.
Though I’m a little sad that my first year at OSU was cut short, I know based on how wonderful this year was that I have so much to look forward to in years to come! I’ve made great new friends that I can’t wait to see back on campus in the fall, and I’m excited to return to Columbus and Ohio State to spend more time in those amazing places!
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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. 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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]
About Me
Hi, my name is Kelly Ross! I’m a first year pre-engineering undecided major, and I’m hoping to pursue a music minor. I am a Mount Leadership Society Scholar. I am from Hudson, Ohio (which is between Cleveland and Akron). In high school, I was a National Merit Finalist, the recipient of the National High School Choral Award, and I graduated with honors. I was also captain of my swim team, a choir section leader, and I served as secretary and head of blood drive committee in my high school student government. I plan to get involved with similar activities on campus; I am already a member of the Ohio State University Women’s Glee Club, and I hope to join a blood drive club and a musical theater group as well as some extra-curriculars related to my major. I am so grateful to have the chance to be in glee club, because being a member of a choir has been a huge part of my life, and I’m thrilled to continue that. I also hope to participate in events at the Newman Center. I’m not sure what type of engineering I want to pursue yet, so I’m not quite sure which career I will have yet. My goal is to have some type of internship or co-op related to my field of study next summer (preferably near my hometown).
I am pursuing engineering because I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my life, and the people close to me encouraged me to use my math and logic skills for an engineering degree. I have always loved math and solving problems, so being able to do that and help others as a career is my goal at this point. My previous work experience was working as a host in a restaurant. While it was not my favorite activity, I think hosting taught me important life skills about communication and hard work, which will help me in my future career and many other areas of my life.
I am really looking forward to helping my community through the Newman Center and the Mount Leadership Society, both of which I think will provide many opportunities for service. My faith is very important to me, and so I value the chance to practice it by helping others.
I hope my ePortfolio will be a record of my time at Ohio State and everything I am part of through my years here. Hopefully it will show the growth of where I start from to where I go.