Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
For my STEP Signature project, I studied abroad in Warsaw, Poland, where I conducted independent research in the social science field and also took a class on Data Analytics and a class about the history of Eastern and Central Europe. My research project studied how opinions about state paternalism have changed over the last 30 years on the basis of age, gender, education, and income, using the Polish Panel Survey, or POLPAN.
What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.
Even though the duration of my study abroad trip (5 weeks) seemed short to me prior to leaving for my trip, a lot changed during that time! The number one change I would say is how adventurous, fearless, and confident in my own abilities I became after successfully studying abroad. I truly could not have expected a smoother trip and being able to navigate myself both geographically and also through my classes (with tons of awesome support from my professors, peers, and program coordinators of course) showed me that I am capable of a lot more than I previously thought I was capable of. My STEP Signature Project also helped me to re-evaluate what “home” really means. Before this trip I still considered “home” the house I grew up in but in just 5 short weeks Warsaw felt like home and once I got home, my childhood home felt foreign. The confidence I gained on in this trip translates not just to my desire to travel more in the future but also in my ability to feel like I can take on any challenge now.
What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.
Many aspects of my program led to the changes and transformations I talked about in the previous question. First and foremost, the supportive professors and program coordinators that I had in-country played a huge role in me feeling confident to step out of my comfort zone and take on new experiences. This is because I always knew that any time I needed advice, support, help, or guidance as a I experienced new things, I could turn to them. During orientation for my trip, held at OSU, one of the professors from my study abroad trip came to go over the program with us and told us, “while you are in Poland, we will look out for you like our own children”, and I couldn’t think of a better way to describe the level of support I received from my professors while I was in Warsaw. I think it is possible that if I didn’t have professors I could always count on during my program, I would’ve felt more afraid to step out of my comfort zone. I feel like I truly gained a new family amongst my Study Abroad peers and professors and this is why I feel like my understanding of what “home” truly means changed from this trip.
My newfound confidence comes from various aspects of my STEP Signature project and a major part of that was the content of the program. This program required six credit hours of independent research as well as a Data Analysis class. I have previously taken Data Analysis for my other major on campus and found the class quite difficult and I had never done independent research before. Needless to say, I was fairly nervous about the classes. But, my professors went above and beyond to explain concepts in a way that made sense to me and with a class size of 8, I felt comfortable to ask questions until I understood the concepts. Successfully completing the Data Analysis class and watching my Final Research Paper come together showed me that I am capable of more than I previously thought I was capable of and this played a huge role in how confident I am now in tackling new challenges.
Lastly, traveling through Poland also played a huge role in becoming more confident in my ability to literally navigate. Prior to this trip, I always felt that I had poor navigation skills and being in a foreign country on my own forced me to work on these skills. As a part of my program, there were weekend trips to different cities in Poland. During the day, we visited museums and other historical sites with our professors but in the evening we had free time to explore on our own. During our first weekend trip, I felt nervous during our free time and always stuck with someone else to do the navigating. By our last weekend trip, I was the one navigating the group around and taking the lead on figuring out how to get from one place to another.
Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.
The changes and transformations that I experienced are significant for my life because I can honestly say, as cliché as it sounds, that I am a different and better person after going through my STEP Signature project. Being abroad pushed me to face fears and take on challenges that I wouldn’t have had to had I not participated in this project and I have grown as a person because of it. Traveling to a new country and experience its culture made me fall in love with experiencing new cultures and traveling is now very important to me. In fact, I have already booked tickets to travel to another location in a few short weeks. Further, as the new school year starts, I am more confident that ever in my ability to take on challenging classwork and succeed at it because I can remind myself that I was able to do just that in the summer. Moreover, studying abroad has made me begin to think more so about where I may want to go to graduate school. Prior to this experience I planned on staying near Ohio but I now want to explore options in other parts of the country and possibly even abroad.