I had never been a spiritual person, not entirely. There had always been a gap, a sense of not belonging, not believing. I knew deep-down I wanted to feel connected and feel content with my spirituality and who I was religiously, but it never came as easily as I’d hoped it would. It took activeness on my part to find the spark that would kindle my search for religious identity.

In early September I took a leap. It was during the High Holy Days: Rosh Hashanah. I messaged the rabbi at Hillel and asked to speak with him about my Jewish identity. It was not an easy email to send nor meeting to organize. I remember being so scared that I wouldn’t be enough, know enough, etc. to be accepted.

We met at Hillel and the rabbi took me for coffee, we talked briefly as introductions were shared and then the religious conversation began. I had read the Torah and enjoyed the stories. Moses had always been an inspiring figure and I related to him especially as he wondered why God would make him the way he did. The rabbi and I talked, I explained what I knew, who I was, what I wanted to know and why. For his part he was open, accepting and willing to listen – all things I desperately needed as I stepped out of my comfort zone to explore this.

He began telling me a story that I’ll never forget. It was about a Russian soldier who took refuge in a Jewish family’s home during a storm. The family offered him a bath, a bed and a meal. It surprised the soldier, as the mother was cooking, that he recognized the smell of the challah. He explained this to the family, that he didn’t know why he knew that smell but it smelled like home. The rabbi concluded the story by explaining the symbolism in the soldier’s realization. That no matter how far we stray or are separated from our Judaism we never stop being Jewish.

After hearing that story we began talking about holidays and meeting weekly to explore Jewish traditions more in-depth. He talked excitedly about Birthright and what it would mean for me to see the ancient city’s. He inspired me to explore and made me feel comfortable with exploring.

I found my Judaism and my Jewish identity. Beyond the holidays, this past year, I’ve felt at home attending Shabbat at Hillel and preparing my own with friends. It’s been almost second nature as I walk from classes to Hillel to pick up a kosher meal. It feels so right and strange to think that this was a community I was missing and disjointed from.

I recently spoke to the rabbi a week ago, speaking of a personal matter that was troubling me. It meant more than I think he knows to hear him tell me that I was, “a strong, beautiful Jewish girl who would be fine no matter what.” To be able to identify myself and feel so at-home with doing so is an experience I can’t and will not trade for anything. I can now proudly identify as unapologetically Jewish and live my life thusly.

I had the opportunity this past spring to assist a team of excellent leaders as they took charge on the change they wanted to see at our campus.  Stephen and Lauren are two fantastic people who care so much about this school that they were willing devote countless hours and resources to their campaign.  I knew Stephen through mutual friends and I am grateful to have gotten to know Lauren just as closely.

The opportunity to run for Senate came after I had been in the campaign for a while.  In Undergraduate Student Government there are several Senate positions that either connect to a person’s major or area of campus.  At the time there was no one on the campaign who could fill the Arts and Humanities position.  Because my major is both Russian Language and International Studies I was asked to run.

I’m a very involved person on campus.  I take great pride in paying attention to others, hearing what the campus community is saying and learning how everything is working together.  While I was somewhat hesitant to take on another obligation, I knew that my experiences and knowledge would be used by Ohio State within this position.

I won.  My candidates lost, and while that was bittersweet and heartbreaking: I won.  I was extremely excited to get to work and to fight for the change I knew needed to happen.  I’m currently on the Diversity and Inclusion committee planning on getting University Dining to respect and add more kosher and halal dining options while also championing the prayer spaces that we have disgraced on campus.

This journey has been hard, and it taught me a lot about myself and what I want.  I want to be in the room where it happens, I want to make the change, be in the know and get the news so I can better help others.  I’m glad that I have been able to discover that.

If there’s one thing Becky Slavik is good at, it’s making friends.  I knew coming to OSU that it likely wouldn’t be hard to find a group of people to call my friends and family… and I was right!  Joining the International Affairs community here has helped, it means that my friends that share the same interests in the world as me only live a door away (and that when I need some Korean translated there’s someone who can do it just down the hall).  I’ve formed many close relationships with the people in this program.  Whether it be seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show on Halloween night:

Or organizing a gigantic dinner for the entire floor where we can all cook together, eat and laugh about classes:

I’d say it’s a great community to be a part of.  Sure, there are people who are studying Diplomacy and Relations which might clash with my Security and Intelligence, and my understanding and interest of Eastern European crime might not even remotely be on someone else’s radar – we’re a family.  And all the socials (because free food always sells), interesting lectures on worldly issues and meetings that we attend together only add more great faces to recognize, knowledge to share and experiences to learn from.

There’s something special about being at a huge university like Ohio State.  I think it has to do with all the amazing speakers, talent and people it brings to its campus.  I have gotten involved with so many events around OSU that catch my eye just because they’re so different from what I would normally seek out.  Earlier in the year the Vice President of the United States visited to present an amazing speech on the It’s On Us campaign (an anti-sexual assault initiative for college campuses).  Naturally when I heard about it I wanted to go – it’s not everyday the VP stops by, afterall.  I stood outside for four hours, got a great standing spot and had the honor of hearing this man speak on an issue that affects women like me around the country.  My major does not involve sexual assault in any fashion and fighting it has never been a passion of mine – but one of the amazing things about being a Buckeye is that it doesn’t have to be.  I can find any topic, any ailment, any idea or concept that is influencing any group of people and find someone at OSU who will talk to me about it and help me understand.

This year I also applied for an on-campus job.  There was something very appealing about the Office Assistant job where I could walk down from my bedroom and be at my work in less than two minutes; but it became more than that.  It became a place where I was able to sit myself in the middle of my community.  Where I could meet the faces of everyone who lived in Smith-Steeb and form new relationships.  I formed lasting bonds with my coworkers and developed new skills that I hadn’t noticed needed work.  I learned what it meant to be dependable, what it meant to help someone out when they needed a shift traded.  I learned what it meant to be creative, how to offer new ideas that made a giant campus feel like a home to many.  I learned how to focus my leadership skills into more finite task management skills, how to offer my strength to someone else and ask them to fill in where I had a weakness.  Working on a team of other Buckeyes led to my own personal development that I look forward to continuing work on in the next year as I take on this position once more.

Not as cool as seeing the Vice President or meeting Brutus at my job but I also learned a new language at OSU.  After years of being fluent in German I decided to throw caution to the wind and pick up a third language: Russian.  I was thrilled to learn Russian even before going off to college (actually, OSU was one of the few schools that even had a Russian program, which narrowed down my selection pretty quick).  It has been a challenging pursuit, especially since it is so different from the two languages I already know but I am so excited to continue my language studies.  Being slavic myself this also influences me on a personal level.  So often the slavic languages are overlooked and it means something special to me that I am able to pursue this language in such a way.

I have truly been honored to have had the opportunity to work with OUAB this past year and look forward to more great years with the organization.  From sitting down with a diverse group of students and having in-depth discussions on where to allocate student funds so that every student feels represented in their student activity fee to organizing amazing events and working closely with a host of great people to put on a spectacular singers, actors and speakers for all OSU, this group has awarded me with an amazing experience.  At no other college would I be able to work directly with my school to put on massive free events like this.  It has been a learning opportunity to write proposals for talented guests to come and speak, voice my opinion and point of view in meetings and represent such a huge group of students.

In September I joined OUAB and from there on I have worked a multitude of events, implemented crowd control, answered student questions and gauged safety concerns for all.  I have loved working on the Comedy Board where we hosted Nick Offerman, SNL, Ellie Kemper and (as of today the event will be tomorrow) John Mullaney – and will have more great talent to come.

It has been an experience I can’t trade for the world: getting to work with such a great, intelligent group of students to put on these events is something I never saw for myself before coming to OSU, but something I am so glad has become an integral part of who I am here.

Edit (4/19/2016): The John Mulaney event went wonderfully.