G.O.A.L.S.

What will my Ohio State experience be?

Global Awareness: I hope to join cultural organizations and perhaps the Bollywood Fusion dance team to foster my love for cultural awareness of my background and who I am. I completed a major part of my schooling in India and it is often easy for me to forget about my roots when I’m not there, so getting involved in these organizations. In addition, I plan to take French as my foreign language to create possible travel abroad and research opportunities for me in France.
Original Inquiry: My senior year of high school I landed an internship in a Pancreatic cancer research lab, which spiraled into a position as a volunteer research assistant. Recently, I wrote and published a scientific commentary about a research paper our lab had just submitted which really helped me get my hands wet into research. In future endeavors, I really hope to hone in on research by making my schedule more accommodating and potentially collaborating on projects that harness my curiosity about the things around me.
Academic Enrichment: One way I hope to exercise academic enrichment is by attending research poster competitions, getting involved in student organizations and surround myself with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Exposing myself to the variety of research OSU has to offer will facilitate my ability to take on more entrepreneurial roles by asking more questions about the things I experience around me. Recently, I also joined the philanthropy committee and team of bloggers in the Humanism in Medicine club, which helped me find a cause and a purpose outside of my academics.
Leadership Development: One way I hope to exercise my leadership is by finding about opportunities on campus and seizing them. Off of campus, during the summer I plan to serve as a teaching assistant/ head teaching assistant for the upcoming Mechanisms of Human Health and Disease program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Similarly, on campus I hope to get involved with student government sometime in the future and be a part of the decision making process for the undergraduate body. Such leadership opportunities will prepare me for the workforce in the future, because beyond the work ethic involved, they will instill in me what it really means to be a leader, something I am still in the process of figuring out.
Service Engagement: Through a series of events in biosciences scholars concomitant to my volunteering in the ER at Riverside Methodist hospital, I hope to experience the impact of service and the motivation to help others out of purpose. Biosciences scholars exposed me to a lot of great service opportunities that exist around me and I think placing into this scholars community has played a big role in which direction I hope to head next in the future.

Artifacts

I had the esteemed opportunity to teach a class of wonderful, bright minded kids through a program called My Brother’ Keeper! This program was started under the Obama administration and is geared towards African American boys from impoverished neighborhoods who have an interest in STEM subjects. I really like the concept of this program because I think it can really be a big game changer in diversifying the STEM field with more minority involvement. This year the classes for the program are being held at Nationwide Children’s hospital, right below the class where I participated for the Mechanisms class last year!

 I decided that for my activity, considering that the age group was between 9-14 years, I wanted to give them something to do with their hands, while still having them take away a very relevant scientific concept! I knew the perfect project to whip out of my science fair arsenal for this: a hydraulic elevator. Each kid would get to make their own Hydraulic Elevators to take home with them and show all of their friends! I learned another thing these kids really like doing is taking things that they made home with them to show all their family what they are learning through this program, and as a kid that thought process was something that I really resonated with!
The concept behind my project was based on Pascal’s law regarding how a pressure change in a confined incompressible fluid is transmitted throughout the fluid. I needed to make this a bit more easily digestible  for a third grader, so I had to make sure I defined all the jargon terms like “pressure” and “incompressible” before explaining the concept to them. To my surprise the kids took immense interest in what I was saying and were participating. First, I talked about how Blaise Pascal discovered an evolutionary principle simply by penetrating a barrel full of water with a metal pole through which he poured water. The barrel eventually became full and burst as water began to seep through holes. I poked fun at how if it weren’t for Pascal’s childlike curiosity we wouldn’t have discovered Pascal’s principle! The kids were amazed to learn how from such a simple act established the power of fluids to do work like no other state of matter can. Then I moved on to explaining the principle itself. But before doing that I knew that it was important for everyone to be on the same page.
“Does anyone here know what pressure is?” I ask.
One of the kids repeats pressure and attempts to put into words what he is thinking and says, “It’s when you push something.”
The entire room is filled with brainstorming kids when finally a kid blurts out “Force!”
I look at the kid and ask, “Is it just force or is something else involved in determining pressure?” A kids states questioningly, “size?” I nod in approval because I know they were on the right track! I press a sharp pencil against my hand, accidentally pricking myself, to explain how the area over which the force is applied affects pressure. I was so glad everyone was participating and learning from the discussion because that meant they were taking away something positive and worthwhile from this experience. Then, I discussed how this principle is used in Hydraulic brakes in cars which allowed them to discover how applicable this principle truly was even in today’s world. At the end of the powerpoint I had some complex-looking math problems to see their reaction to thinking that for the entire class we would be doing math problems! Unexpectedly, none of the students retaliated. Even one student in particular who was known to be very upfront about his feelings, innocently asking a lady giving a presentation last week, “when are we going to do something fun?” ,seemed on board with doing the math problems.
“We can do math problems this entire period, or we can make our own Hydraulic Elevators!”, I say. Everyone chose the latter. I could tell that even though there weren’t very many students in the class, the ones that were there were very enthusiastic and motivated to learn something new!
We finally started the activity. To demonstrate how pressure works I demonstrated Pascal’s principle where one syringe full of water was connected to a plastic tube and how the water didn’t fall out because of the pressure with which the syringe was pulling the water through the tube! Through simple activities like that I was able to demonstrate how pressure worked in this experiment! Essentially, the skeleton of the Hydraulic Elevator consisted of two syringes connected to each other through a plastic tube. When someone pressed down on one syringe, water flowed through the whole contraption and caused the other syringe’s piston to move up. I explained to them how they were building a simplified version of how an actual hydraulic elevator works. The kids also had the opportunity to select the characters they wanted for the hydraulic elevator! The day before I chose a bunch of minion characters from the Despicable Me movie to put in their hydraulic elevator. I was really keen on them individualizing their projects and letting them learn from their mistakes. I think it’s important for a teacher to not be too “laissez-faire” nor too controlling, because the only way for students to grow is to trust themselves and learn from their mistakes.
It was difficult managing all five kids at once, but luckily there were two Ohio State students who were affiliated with the program that helped me out! One of the kids silently sat at the back of the group, and after talking to him I discovered he was a very talented artist! Part of me understood what it felt like to feel like an outsider in the group–completely isolated– so I was eager to make him feel at home. They all created such unique elevators: the kid who shared his artwork with me, the loud-mouthed kid who told me in his own slang that he thought this project was cool, the quiet kid in the front who named his building “Hotel Transylvania” and another kid who would repeatedly say that he couldn’t do something, only to be proven wrong every time. After they made their elevators, I encouraged the kids to use their imagination to decorate and name their buildings. Like I mentioned above, one kid named his building “Hotel Transylvania” (from the movie), incorporating images of Dracula on the front and boldly printing “NOT FOR KIDS” on the door of the building. I jokingly remarked, “So you are not allowed inside your own building?” Another kid added a flagpole to his building, and another intricately cut some of the neatest windows I had ever seen onto his building. I loved seeing the kids harness their creativity, and reminded them that if they continue asking questions and seeking answers for them just like Blaise Pascal that they would get far in life. There was no shortage of enthusiasm, creativity, imagination or involvement in the class and I felt I had genuinely made an impact into the lives of some of these kids.
Just like this moment, I hope Ohio State will continue to create opportunities for me to harness my creativity and make something great!

About Me

Hey everyone! My name is Anusha Singh and I will be joining the Buckeye Family as a Freshman this Fall! Though I consider myself a Cardinal, I’ve lived in an amalgam of unique places, from Dayton to Mumbai (MH, India), and Columbus to Hyderabad (AP, India), not to mention each state I moved to in India had it’s own language, food habits, cultures, festivals, school systems and education systems!

Amidst all that change, my passion for Medicine was persistent. I plan to major in Neuroscience on a premed track. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what gave birth to this dream; Maybe it was being intensely captured by the flashy symptoms of rare diseases on Mystery Diagnosis, or maintaining a blog where I would attempt to analyze everything from the ingredients in my dad’s protein shake, to understanding how Supplements worked. Naturally, this curiosity spiraled into internships, volunteering opportunities and competitive programs in high school. During my senior year of high school I started a research internship at OSU in a Pancreatic Cancer lab, and now I am a research assistant there. My experience in the research lab made it possible for me to serve as a Teaching Assistant this summer for a program called Mechanisms of Human Health and Disease at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a program that mentors high school students interested in pursuing medicine and research.

Apart from being a nerd, I am a long distance runner, a ping pong player and a blogger. I have a pet parrot named Matru (pronounced: Muh-troo) who is featured on 95% of my Snapchat stories because of his creepy ability to mimic my laugh amongst other strange sounds, and a brother who is going to be a Junior in high school.

I am so excited to be in the Biological Sciences Scholars Program, and I look forward to all of the exposure I would get from all of the cool volunteering opportunities and events that are there! In addition, being part of a Scholars group really helps me feel like I am part of a tighter-knit community and I am pumped for the intramural sports between the different Scholars Programs!

In addition, one of the things I am looking forward to the most right now is the Club fair, because there is so much that I want to get involved in my first year at OSU. I hope to get involved with a cause that I am really passionate about and be able to work towards during all four years of my undergrad. Some organizations and clubs that peak my interest are Buckeyethon, He for She, My Brother’s Keeper, Humanism in Medicine, Running Club, Improv Club and Ping Pong Club amongst many others.

This year, I really hope to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone and I think OSU will really help me do that!

Go Bucks!!

 

Welcome to my Honors & Scholars e-Portfolio

Welcome to my blog! My name is Anusha Singh and I am a rising freshman at OSU in the Biological Sciences Scholars program. On my page you will see me try to wrestle through a wave of confusion as I figure out where I belong on Campus. Each experience I share on my blog somehow molds my professional and personal goals, and I hope we can all find things we want to learn about each other 🙂 And of course, GO BUCKS!!!

My first Semester in Review

My first semester at Ohio State has had its ups and downs, but here are some of the highlights!:

  1. I authored and published my first scientific research commentary!
  2. I completed over 200 hours of volunteering in a hospital that I had been volunteering at since highschool!
  3. I’ve continued my passion for long distance running and have even picked up some new hobbies like boxing! Next semester I plan on joining the running club.
  4. I have sustained my involvement with a program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital called Mechanisms of Human Health and Disease!
  5. I am participating in my club’s, Humanism in Medicine’s, Buckeyethon Team and collectively we have fundraised over $1300! As an active member of the philanthropy committee, I am also collaborating with the Medicine and the Arts committee to plan a Henna tattoo fundraiser for Buckeyethon in January where we will be tattooing what Buckeyethon and Humanism in Medicine means to us. I am also part of the Team of Bloggers of this committee.

Those were my top 5 achievements for my first semester, along with barely surviving general chemistry. This semester I woke up to the reality of time management and have realized how essential prioritizing can be when balancing school and other passions. I hope to continue my drive second semester and slowly begin to find my place of belonging on campus!