Over the course of the past two years at The Ohio State University, I have experienced more than I thought I would over the course of four years of college. At the beginning of last fall, I had many misconceptions on what college would entail. Often, I thought that I had finally made it, after going through many years of education, I finally had the opportunity to do what I wanted: live on my own, pursue my own interests, and be successful on another level. And, of course, I thought it would all come easily.

However, after a few weeks, I began to realize that the road might not be all rainbows, unicorns, and Buffalo Wild Wings. School was tough, life was tougher. I found myself struggling to develop study habits that would lead to success, struggled to prioritize things in my life, struggled with homesickness, and ultimately failed to find things that would make me happy. This definitely showed itself in my schoolwork, finishing with, what I considered, a weak GPA.

Over the course of Winter Break and Spring Semester, I began to discover that I had been viewing life from a skewed perspective. Throughout the Fall, I had been attending a Christian organization called H2O on campus, but I had often been irregular and was not very involved. However, over the course of Spring Semester, I began to become more involved and discovered a spiritual void in my live that needed to be filled. As a result, my life began to change drastically and, with that, the way I approached college changed as well. Ultimately, I recognized the true opportunities and experiences my time at Ohio State would offer me, with each of those being displayed well in the G.O.A.L.S.

In terms of Global Awareness, in addition to being involved with one religion, Christianity, I have also had the wonderful opportunity to learn more about various views on religion, politics, and a variety of social issues. Often, many of these opportunities have come through classes, both in the coursework itself and in the relationships I have developed in those classes. For example, in Introduction to Folklore (Comparative Studies 2350H), I had the opportunity to examine folklore from both the past and present, which helped me gain insight into what various cultures value and what stories they value, which provide a brief snapshot into their culture. However, the discussions I had with my peers were almost even more valuable. Through discussion, all of us were able to actively and comfortably share our experiences that have brought us to the values and beliefs we have today. As a result, I hope to continue to pursue these relationships in my classes in the future, in hopes of gaining a larger awareness and appreciation for the world around me and where I fit in that world.

In addition, with Original Inquiry, I have had the opportunity to learn more about the research, creative, and innovative process through interning with Central Insurance Companies during the Summer of 2016. During my time with Central, I was able to participate in the project the Actuarial Department was undertaking to change their rating system on insurance policies, which had the potentially to affect every insurance policy Central had written. As a result, I had the opportunity to learn more about conducting the scientific method in terms of forming a hypothesis, implementing an “experiment” with the rating system, and analyzing the results and data to determine the appropriate next step in developing an efficient and effective rating system.

Furthermore, in terms of Academic Enrichment, the curriculum I have selected demonstrates my commitment to academic excellence and a desire to learn. By majoring in Actuarial Science, I have given myself the opportunity to pursue rigorous mathematical, statistic, and business coursework, which both challenges both my intellect and my desire to continue pursuing a career as an Actuary. In addition, my choices in minors (Computer and Information Science and Economics), further demonstrate my desire to challenge myself academically and ensure that I will be well-equipped upon graduating and pursuing a successful career. Furthermore, through taking a wide variety of upper-level and Honors General Education coursework, I believe I am allowing myself to gain a wide range of knowledge that will ultimately serve me well both in my career and in my personal life. Finally, through pursuing and passing both Actuarial Exam P and FM, I believe I am furthering my knowledge of the career I wish to pursue and equipping myself well for the future. Over the course of the next two years, I plan to continue to pursue more difficult coursework and exams, which will ultimately serve to prepare me and enrich me academically.

Outside of the classroom and academic endeavors, I have found leadership and service to be extremely vital to obtaining a well-rounded college experience. However, my involvement in H2O has demonstrated to me greatly that leadership and service are often one and the same. In turn, it would not be fair to talk about one without referencing how it relates to the other. Since becoming involved with H2O, I have taken on a variety of leadership roles, such as becoming a Small Group leader at the beginning of the year, and beginning to help lead a Team at the beginning of the semester. Both of these roles involve a fair portion of administrative and relational responsibilities, such as, planning weekly meetings, leading through weekly meetings, meeting up with members of the Small Group and Team throughout the week in order to better know them, and ultimately pursuing our own spiritual lives. As a result, in some ways, this may resemble more of a leadership role, such as the administrative, planning, and decision making that occurs when planning team each week. However, these resemble service activities as well, such as meeting with members and helping to take care of the week-to-week operations of the team, which is ultimately serving them and the community as a whole. In addition, I serve as the Treasurer of the Archer-Torres Activities Board. Furthermore, there are some more purely service based roles I hold in the community, such as serving on both the Greeting Team and Refreshments Team, which greet those coming to church on Sunday morning as well as setting-up and serving refreshments to those attending service. Also, I often participate in Community Engagement Saturdays throughout the semester, where, for one Saturday each month, H2O sends those who are interested out into the community to serve a variety of organizations who are working to help the poor or marginalized. In the future, I hope to continue to be involved in these ways, as well as find more ways to both lead and serve.

As a result, since the beginning of my first year at Ohio State, many of my experiences have changed my perspective and the way I view myself as well as the world around me. The G.O.A.L.S help to provide a snapshot of how my life has changed since entering college and provide an outline on how I am working to achieve my academic, professional, and life goals, but one cannot merely describe all of these experiences in a few paragraphs. Regardless, I look forward to what the next two years hold and how these G.O.A.L.S will continue to develop.