Year in Review (Summer 2020 – Spring 2021)

My first year at OSU really began in the summer, when I found out I received the Eminence scholarship. It was really amazing news, especially after school had been shut down because of Covid. I remember meeting with some of the other new Fellows over Zoom and being excited that I was already making friends before going to a college where I knew no one. I got to know the other Fellows even better during our summer class sessions, and it made me excited to actually go to campus. I was a little sad when our orientation was declared virtual, but I still enjoyed attending information sessions beforehand and eventually getting to participate in the virtual orientation activities. My family also traveled to visit OSU on our own a little earlier to pick up my iPad, which was a nice preview of campus.

I was so happy to be able to move in to campus a little early and have the ability to settle in, and while I was sad to say goodbye to my parents and sister, I was excited to meet new people and explore campus. The Eminence welcome activities really helped me get a feel for campus, take my mind away from the stress of starting something so new, and hang out with people who would soon become close friends. I was also happy to learn that the pool was open and that I could sign up to swim for a 45-minute session each day. Although I was sad Club Swimming couldn’t meet and practice, being able to swim on my own was something I was relieved to be able to do.

I decided to go random for my roommate when selecting my housing preferences, and I ended up with a really nice roommate. Although we didn’t end up being super close friends (especially since she decided not to live on campus spring semester), I’m glad I went random to have a roommate with a similar schedule to mine and to meet new people. She was from Columbus, so it was also nice to have someone who could tell me about some of her favorite parts of the city. My family was also able to visit me twice during the fall semester, and I went home twice during spring semester. It was nice to have those little breaks throughout the semester, especially since my sister and I are so close.

I found so many clubs I was interested in at the involvement fair at the beginning of the fall semester, and I ended up really pursuing involvement in Club Swimming, JUROS, Buckeyes for Canines, the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association, and the Ornithology Club. I ended up being involved in Buckeyes for Canines and the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association mostly as a general body member. In the Ornithology Club, I decided to also join the Lights Out Buckeyes group, which works to record bird window strikes and identify areas on campus where the most window strikes occur. In JUROS, I helped edit manuscripts for the journal and plan/advertise events. Next year, I’ll have an executive board position as the Marketing Chair for the club. Before coming to OSU, I was really excited to be involved in Club Swimming. While we had zoom meeting in the fall, I was sad we weren’t able to practice or have meets. However, in the spring semester, we were allowed to have practices of ten people! It was a ton of fun, and I was able to make some great friends that I’m excited to be able to spend more time with next fall. I helped out by serving as a Safety Officer (one was necessary at each practice), which also allowed me to attend more practices each week. We also had a virtual meet, and although my times were a little slower than I would’ve liked, it was great to be able to go off the blocks and race. I’m really excited to have a more regular club swim season next year!

Fall semester classes ended up being a lot of fun. My anthropology class was super interesting, my statistics class felt relevant and engaging, and although chemistry was hard, I was proud of myself for pushing through and doing well. I found spring semester to be a little more challenging, and if I had to guess, I would say it was mainly fatigue from online classes and the not-as-nice weather. However, I really enjoyed my biology class because we got to complete an endophyte research project in lab. I also enjoyed my GIS class, and taking it helped me realize that I am interested in pursuing a GIS minor. My philosophy class also forced my to really examine a lot of relevant issues and topics, and my professor for that class was amazing.

In terms of Eminence, our class has two major ideas for projects, one of which I have taken more of a lead role in. The GIS project group is working to create an environmental map of Columbus that highlights business compliance to regulations, the quality of different aspects of the environment, and some demographic information. We have some really cool ideas for the application of this project, but our first steps involved actually creating the easy-to-use, accessible map. We’re led by Dr. Elmore, who is so passionate about the project and really helps to keep us motivated and excited. There are eight of us currently involved in this project, and I’m really excited to watch how our goals play out.

Another super exciting aspect of my first year was research. I really wanted to get involved in research as soon as possible at OSU. I almost had something lined up over the summer, but because I wasn’t able to have a car on campus, that opportunity fell through. I reached out to a lot of professors whose research interested me, and eventually, I got involved in Dr. Carter’s behavioral ecology lab, which mainly focuses on food sharing in vampire bats. For a little while I was helping score bat videos for a rabies project, and I also attended weekly lab meetings. A little later, I also applied for a received an REU position in the Jarzyna Lab focused on the functional diversity of bird dietary traits. I started this position at the end of the fall semester and am still currently scoring bird diets with hopes of finishing the database soon. These research opportunities have both been a lot of fun, and I really like everyone in both of the labs.  I’m excited to continue expanding these opportunities and getting more involved in the labs.

Even though Covid changed a lot about my first year of college, I really enjoyed every second of it. I was really glad I lived on campus because I was able to get comfortable, explore Columbus, make friends, focus on my schoolwork, find research opportunities, and get involved in clubs that interested me. Things also opened up more as the year went on. I was able to swim in an amazing pool, go to the spring game, get vaccinated, and meet even more people during spring semester. Next year, I’m hoping more will be in-person and more of campus will be open so that I can experience more of what Columbus and OSU have to offer.

This summer, I’ll be taking a summer class for my major and undergraduate research credit, as well as working as an intern at the Tamarack Wildlife Center four days a week and working as a lifeguard at Waldameer two days a week. I’d also like to spend some time working on the environmental issues map for our GIS Eminence project, and we have plans to meet with Dr. Elmore a few times throughout the summer. It’ll be a busy, but fun and relaxing, summer!

Entrance Exam Credit (31 credit hours):

• Math 1151 Calculus 1 (AP Credit) (5)
• Math 1152 Calculus 2 (AP Credit) (5)
• Psych 1100 Intro to Psychology (AP Credit) (3)
• Compstd SPL Special (AP Credit) (3)
• Bio 1113 Energy Transfer and Development (AP Credit) (4)
• English 1110.01 First-Year English Composition (AP Credit) (3)
• Spanish 1101 Spanish 1 (Entrance Exam) (4)
• Spanish 1102 Spanish 2 (Entrance Exam) (4)

Fall 2020 Courses (16 credit hours):

• Honors 1891 Eminence First Year Seminar (0)
• Artsci 1100.01H ASC College Survey (1)
• Chem 1210 General Chemistry 1 (5)
• Spanish 1103.01 Spanish 3 (4)
• Anthrop 2202H Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (3)
• Stats 2480.01 Statistics for Life Sciences (3)

Spring 2021 Courses (15 credit hours):

• Bio 1114H Form, Function, Diversity, and Ecology (4)
• Chem 1220 General Chemistry 2 (5)
• Philos 1100H Introduction to Philosophy (3)
• Geog 5210 Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (3)