[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.

For academic enrichment, I interviewed an upperclassman pursuing a medical degree. Ren Kuzmanovich was the person I interviewed. She talked about how she was taking the MCAT this June and had started studying in February during her junior year. As a biology major and Spanish minor, she stated that the hardest class she has taken at OSU was calculus 3. Ren is also involved with research based in a farm life setting. She suggested that the best way to get involved in research was to go to the website of the area of study you are interested in and email professors about opportunities within their lab. She highly recommends participating in buckeyethon as it was one of her favorite volunteering projects.

During my second year, I interviewed a third year in veterinary school. During this he talked about the structure of veterinary school, where the first two years are mainly classes with some lab work, the third year starts some rounds through the veterinary hospital and the fourth is revolved around gaining experience in different areas of veterinary medicine through rounds all year. An interesting note he made was that you are required to work through the different specialties even if it does not coincide with interests but there are extra electives where you can work certain areas again. I had asked him about large animals since that was what he was specializing in and he stated that there are ways to go off campus to work rounds with large animal veterinarians as long as it is credited by the school.

Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]r

My service engagement over the last year has included making bracelets and cards for sick children in the children’s hospital, 10 hours, volunteering to help with the presidential election and getting people to vote, 3 hours, as well as making makeshift shoes and pillows for kids in poverty stricken countries, 8 hours. Most of this time has been spent making the bracelets and cards since I was able to do this most Monday nights. In addition, I was able to spend a couple hours volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House, 3 hours of service. This was a very rewarding experience as I helped make the lives of people with extreme misfortune a little better and more bearable.

My most memorable experience of service was at the Garden of Hope during the first week. This was for 3 hours total. This is memorable to me because I have a large interest in agriculture but also because of how fun it was. Overall, the volunteers picked vegetables and removed weeds. This inherently is not fun but there was a large community feeling and energy that made working with everyone an enjoyable experience. This garden was a spot for past cancer patients to harvest fresh produce in hopes of making their lives easier and healthier. My contribution to this project gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment as I helped those people have food available to them as well as keep the garden looking nice.

During my second year, I was able to continue with Buckeyes for a Cause and make more bracelets and cards for kids at the Nationwide Children’s hospital. This was accompanied by two additional trips the the Ronald McDonald House to volunteer and make food for those staying and receiving pediatric care.