Global Awareness:
To me, global awareness is the acknowledgement, understanding, and celebration of the variation of the culture and behaviors of people. I believe that it has a lot to do with respecting and appreciating diversity among people; both people I have met before and those I have not. I think that great ways to become more globally aware are through travel, meeting different people, and being open to new ideas.
As a freshman at Ohio State I have already begun to become more globally aware. I have experienced different cultures and traditions first hand. My RA is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church and he welcomed us to learn more about his religion as well as to help him and some members of his church to make ceremonial bread. I am also living with someone who practices a different religion than I do and has different family traditions.
In the future I would love to study abroad so that I may learn about the customs of people in the country of my visit. I hope that I can pair this visit with something in the education field as that is my major, but if not the experience itself will be education enough. Ohio State being such a large grouping of people fosters global awareness. I feel that it is my job to educate some of my friends about my religion as I am often told that I am one of the only jews they have every met. I love that I am part of an environment that I can share my cultures and they are mostly met with respect and I can learns and enjoys the cultures and behaviors of my peers.
Original Inquiry:
ADD
Academic Enrichment:
Academic enrichment is the furthering of education that surpasses what is expected through the addition of extracurricular activities and service. It is usually achieved when a student puts forth a will to strive passed what is expected of them. In high school I enriched my academics by taking advanced placement courses, joining clubs, and volunteering over the weekends. I believe that I am a more well rounded person because I have participated in so many activities. I learned to manage my time, maintain an extremely organized locker, desk, and compilation of school work, and fostered people skills with children, teens, and adults, unlike those who I would normally come into contact with.
One of the reasons I chose Ohio State was because the school promotes scholars programs like ACES that enable students to learn with a group of like minded people in addition to taking normal classes. I am majoring in Special Education which is a highly competitive field. When apply to the major next year I will need to prove that I am a better candidate than those I am up against because of my enriched academics.
In my first semester at college I have chosen classes that are a combination of what are necessary pre-major courses and what interested me. I feel as though I am never satiated when it comes to learning new things. I am taking a Norse Mythology course this semester because it sounded really interesting. I believe my craving for more knowledge will serve me well in the future because as a teacher, specifically one who works with children with special needs, I will constantly need to be learning about updated information and practices as well as the best ways to communicate with and teach my students.
Leadership Development:
Summary of Mentorship Experience
I was lucky enough to be a part of a mentor/mentee family that was bigger than that of most of my fellow ACES members. My co-mentor Wonjung and I shared the mentees Daniel Ku and Siyang Zhou. Daniel is a pre-nursing major residing in Columbus, Ohio. He is enjoying the difficulty of his major and is a part of the archery club and ROTC. Siyang was originally a health and physical education major, but has recently changed to accounting. She is happy with this decision because she is enjoying her accounting classes and the order that the major brings. Additionally, Siyang is considering staying in the United States for a few years after graduation to gain work experience before returning to her home in China.
Daniel and I both enjoyed discussing medical stories and I was intrigued to hear what he had learned in his classes. The most recent time we spoke we discussed seasonal allergies and how glasses can change the shape of your nose. The latter of which I had never considered before. I enjoyed talking to Siyang about fashion because she was always dressed very well when I saw her. Our family also spent a lot of time discussing good restaurants we had been to and making recommendations for each other.
I found both my mentees to grow significantly over the course of their first year of college. For Daniel I believe this stems from his participation in ROTC where he learned to endure hardship and remain brave. Listening to him talk about his experiences was always enjoyable because he spoke about the program with so much passion. It was particularly interesting to hear him speak about a weekend trip he went on with his cohort. I found Siyang to become more outgoing during the second semester. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been to come to a different country for college and have to adapt to new customs while attending classes and making friends. She is always warm and friendly and it has been a pleasure to get to know both of my mentees.
My mentees were both pretty confident in their abilities to make decisions about their futures. Wonjung and I attempted to mentor them by answering any questions we could as they arose. After all, we are only one year older than our mentees so we are all pretty much at the same stage in our lives. The four of us socialized through text messages and met up for the explore Columbus assignments. I really enjoyed these occasions because it was when we were all together for an extended period of time and could really see what interested the members of our family. Particularly, when my group went to see Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them I found that Daniel was a much bigger Harry Potter fan than I had realized. I think Wonjung, Daniel, and I bonded over this fact. In terms of orienting our buddies the only occasion where I believe Wonjung and I were helpful was when talking to Siyang about her decision to switch her major to accounting. Hopefully, we were able to make her feel more confidant about her decision.
I found the mentoring program to be beneficial because I became close with two freshmen who I most likely would not have spent time with. It was nice to walk into the meetings and say hello to may ACES family and my friends from last year. It also allowed us to remind each other of when events and deadlines were coming up via our group chat. I really liked being in a family of four. It allowed me to meet more people discover new ways to find things in common with others. Additionally, I joined this family after my original buddy dropped the scholars program in the first month so I was assignment buddies rather than matched with them. I really liked this because I was able to talk to people that I probably would not have gravitated to in the first place. I think in the future, the speed dating element may not be necessary to matching mentees and mentors.
My time as a second year mentor taught me that I did not need to be as stressed out about ACES as I was at the beginning of last year. Seeing the first years who are taking the ACES class from my perspective has made me realize that I was probably only stressed because it was my first semester of college and I was adapting to a new environment. Being a mentor has given me practice as a leader. Wonjung and I had to be in charge of facilitating meetings with our mentees and reminding them of upcoming events and meetings. This program was a good practice for future responsibilities when we enter the working world.
Service Engagement:
I believe that service engagement is the commitment by people to put forth an effort to help others who are both known and unknown to them and to better the community. I think in this definition, the word community is used very lightly as it can mean anything from the area one lives to the entire world. ACES places a strong emphasis on helping the community which is something that I really appreciate. We learn about ways we can help during class which is refreshing as many people seem to hold the attitude that if he or she does not do anything to help it does not matter because someone else will.
In high school I volunteered every weekend at my synagogue as an an assistant teacher. I really miss having the children look up to me and knowing that I was making a difference. It is strange to me not having a volunteering commitment that I am a part of every week. I really miss it.
Now that I am settled into my college routine I plan to volunteer more frequently. I would like to work with children again as I feel that field is a strong-suit of mine, however anything that is helpful would be wonderful to be a part of. I think that volunteering with the community will give me a better understanding of social issues since I will be working first hand with people who are experiencing struggles and/or discrimination. I am eager to continue helping and bettering the community.