Throughout my time at Ohio State, I have learned that the more perspectives you can hear out, the more holistic your mindset will be. Even if you do not agree with another viewpoint, taking the time to listen and interpret their understandings is beneficial to build up your own argument and being aware of others’ thinking. In many cases, those other perspectives can shift your position after hearing another viewpoint on the matter and different facts/figures. I appreciate the fact that there is much diversity at Ohio State, and how this culmination of ideas has allowed for the campus to grow not only intellectually, but ethically and morally as well! Whether it be any project, organization, course, symposium etc, the key is not to find the first solution to the problem and work from there. It is to understand everyone’s perspectives and come up with a list of solutions. Being in the Mount Leadership Society Scholars and my ESHESA 2571S class, I have found that listening to everyone’s viewpoints not only further’s yourself intellectually, but progresses the entire group towards a common goal. Diversity is not just what ethnicity you recognize with, but the different perspectives that work together to create meaningful discussions of the topic at hand.

This year, I have had the privilege of applying my new diverse mindset to a FAA-sponsored research project. We are focusing on understanding the current Air Traffic Control training dynamic and find ways for the FAA to create initiatives for a more globalized and harmonized training environment. We strive to create those relationships with other stakeholders around the world and conduct a series of exchange programs from our findings. For several months, we have been compiling and analyzing a series of documents and conducting interviews with various global stakeholders. We hope to get a better understanding of the training dynamic in the world to find ways of fostering collaboration that is mutually beneficial! Throughout the analysis phase, we have used a form of qualitative data analysis called constant comparative method to interpret and categorize our findings into themes. From these themes, we hope to translate these into case studies that will give the FAA a greater sense of the dynamic at play currently! The academic knowledge and experience of the research process gave me an entire new perspective of how research is conducted and challenged my original thinking. You can’t successfully conduct research without challenging your own perspective, as this will allow you to accept more of what is out there. Collaborating with the students and faculty of OSU and Drexel University on this project has allowed me to embrace more leadership qualities that I have seen and translate these skills into action! I have seen throughout the course projects that I have been a part of that I can more easily delegate and lead tasks, which allows for more progress!