Month: May 2019

Statement of Action

Here’s my plan of Action!:

Goal 1: Get in shape via boxing club. Next semester, I hope to make less excuses. That means attending boxing class even when I’m tired and not overburdening myself with last minute school work, which is often a barrier for me.

Goal 2: I hope to contribute more to research. One way I hope to do that is by putting in more hours into research. Next semester, due to my lower course load, I have the ability to put in more time into research. This summer, I plan to be a lab rat as well and help out on projects and potentially bring my own project to life.

Goal 3: One way I hope to grow the periodmovement is by recruiting more people on the team and delegating people to lead important projects. I plan to get more organized in how I lead PERIOD@OSU and cultivate a community here.

Goal 4: I Hope to meet many more amazing people and seek mentors. I plan to do this by creating spaces for networking through my Scholars program and attending events on campus that I find interesting. I am a firm believer that ideas are the currency of today, and one of the things I am most passionate about is meeting amazing people, bringing ideas together and allowing some of those things to come to fruition.

Goal 5: I plan to organize more events via my role as Academic Chair to best support students academic goals in my biosciences Scholars program. I actively test ideas out in the GroupMe for my class and am open to collaborations with other scholars groups too!

My Vision Statement

It’s crazy to believe how fast this year has flown by and that I am already halfway done with college. These are some of the things I hope to accomplish in my next few years here: 1. By the end of next semester’s boxing club I hope to be able to do at least one push-up! I have definitely pushed myself out of my comfort zone and decided to take up boxing as a hobby this past year. 2. I hope to make contribute more to research and potentially garner a few publications by the end of my time at Ohio State! 3. I hope to continue to grow the Period movement not just on a school level, but on a state level and National level! 4. I hope to make more friends and explore more interests before my time at Ohio State ends! I’m surrounded by such fascinating and inspiring people who motivate me to be a better person. 5. Lastly, I hope to giveback to my Scholars program because I truly believe that Biosciences Scholars (under the leadership of Melissa) has made an exceptional impact in my life and I am so proud to contribute to it through my role as Academic Chair.

The PERIOD Mission

One of the biggest things I’ve learned my sophomore year is importance of getting out of my comfort zone. This meant introducing a movement to campus, enduring some criticism for it along the way (especially on reddit!), creating and organizing a team and learning how to lead from scratch. A year ago, I wouldn’t have imagined I would be in the spot I am now. That’s when I viewed a TedTalk on Youtube and decided to cold-email a girl in Portland, Oregon to interview her for a blog post. That interview lead me to interning under the non-profit and eventually to starting my own chapter her at OSU. Through research, I became interested in how period poverty was rooted in policy and how that leads to systemic gender inequity. Our team decided to collectively focus on tackling policy and we have made huge strides ever since starting last October. From making and delivering hundreds of carepackages to women’s shelters such as the YWCA; organizing a press conference at The Ohio State University focused on bridging the policy efforts being made on a school, city and state level; advocating for policy change in DC with members of our OSU Chapter; making menstrual hygiene products free and more accessible around campus (with a pilot starting next fall to get products into the residence halls)! We have worked on a state level with the issue of the Pink Tax and partnered with the Co-Sponsors of the bill. I had the amazing opportunity to testify on this issue at the Statehouse as well and I am currently leading a National campaign aiming to end period poverty in schools along with my male, non-menstruating friend Ameer. I am excited for what the future holds, but my sophomore year I’ve learned to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I encourage everyone around me to take a few risks because one email and one conversation may lead to something larger down the line.