This semester, I joined the National Society of Black Engineers. The specific program within this picture was the Mentor-Mentee program kickoff, where I was allowed to meet my mentor and begin to bond with them through different games and conversations.

The overall experience was actually very helpful because we went through the event talking about different resources that we had, such as the tutoring and the supplemental instruction programs, and my mentor helped me with a few math problems when we had extra time. At the beginning of the event, everyone was playing card games so that we could have somewhat of an ice breaker to get to know everyone. They had Uno, normal cards, and a game called “apples to apples.” After getting to know my mentor, we went into one on one sessions where I was allowed to ask him more personal questions, which was really nice because now I know he has had experiences that I can learn from, and he’s from the same major as me. Now I also know that he can help me in certain classes, such as Computer Science and Engineering 2221, as well as the class after that (Software 2). This also goes to show me that I am not alone in my endeavors, and I have others who can help me throughout my college career.

As a whole, the experience was very interesting because I really enjoy meeting new people, and since this person will be helping me out throughout the semester (or year) then I would like to make a good first impression. He’s a very nice person, and we have very similar interests when it comes to schooling and the future, such as struggling to pick between specializing in artificial intelligence or in software development, having trouble finding people to study with in calculus, and trying to balance a social life along with school, and even a job on campus. After we did one on one sessions with the mentors, we came back together as a big group and played a game called “Two truths and a Lie” that was about the mentors and the mentees had to guess which one was the lie. My mentor’s lie was that he had 2 dogs, but he told me he only had a pit bull, so I won that round with my mentor. After that, we had another break to talk to everyone and congregate with other groups of mentees and mentors, and I had fun meeting new people that are first years like me, and I was able to make a study group for calculus with a very nice group of students, and we made a specific time every week to do work together.

Overall, this academic resource will help me very much throughout my career as a first year, as well as my career as a student as a whole. I appreciate this help very much, and I hope to give back to this program in the long run by becoming a mentor myself.

The Ohio State National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is a STEM-based organization that I met during the student involvement fair. I went with two friends, but we were split apart by the busy traffic going on at the time. I had very slight troubles finding an organization that I could fit with at the time, and people advised for me to make my own, but that’s not my kind of thing unless I know for sure that it will work. I picked the National Society of Black Engineers because I could relate to them the most and I wanted to broaden my awareness on campus, as well as make better connections throughout the university. The first meeting we had was very small, and it was just to meet the students and faculty running NSBE. Since I was one of the only ones to go, I actually became decent friends with everyone that was in the room at the time. The first meeting where everyone was there was also quite fun, but I didn’t have any friends to go with because I was the only one of my high school to come to NSBE.  That meeting informed its new members about different resources that they could use, as well as have a few games to play. Afterward, we were allowed to talk to others to connect with them, and I met with Dr. Edwin Lee. He is the director of the tutoring/supplemental instruction program at The Ohio State University, and I have signed up for the tutoring program so that I may succeed in the future. Here’s a picture of when we were playing the game.

Overall, I think the benefits of student organization membership is that you will have someone to turn to whenever you need something while also keeping your own independence. The student leaders are very kind and don’t mind helping anyone out in any way at all, and I could definitely see myself becoming a leader some time down the road. Time management is very easy for this organization, as they only have meetings every other Wednesday, and my Wednesday’s are very open, but I can always incorporate those dates into my calendar so that I can make sure I have time. Lastly, I think the size of the university and the crazy high number of student organizations will impact a students’ involvement in a positive way because that means there will be more chances for each student to relate to an organization if they truly want to. Even if they don’t really want to, it’s completely possible that they will have friends who join student organizations, and those friends will ask them to join so that they can have more time together or something like that. Although some people don’t enjoy social situations, I believe that they are very healthy to have, even on a daily basis. So much so that I think everyone should join a student organization at some point in their educational career.