Summer Semester

• Took a Maymester course
• Honors Contract Approved
• Appointed Communications Director for MUNDO
• Began job as a University Ambassador for Undergraduate Admissions
• Became a Volunteer at Global Gifts nonprofit
• Enrolled in the Summer Undergraduate Research Institute
• Received the Undergraduate Research Office’s (URO) Research Scholar Award
• Ran an independent research project on the combined effects of stress-sensitization and chronic stress
• Became a URO Peer Research Contact
• Began internship with H&S Advising Office
• Began working with Emerging Eminence Cohort with Mortarboard Senior Honorary

First Semester

• Served on the Undergraduate Research Office’s (URO) Spilling the Beans Student Panel
• Presented “The Effects of Chronic Stress on Stress-Sensitization in Mice” at the Fall Undergraduate Research Forum 2015
• Presented “Marchen with the Melody” at the Fall Undergraduate Research Forum 2015
• Attended the “Bringing Leadership Skills to the Job” Bootcamp
• Joined the planning committee for MUNDO’s 2016 STEP Cohort
• Joined Neuroimmunology Journal Club
• Completed my internship project, “Navigating Controversy,” with the A&S’s Honors Advising Office
• Received Professional Development Grant from Critical Difference For Women
• Served on a panel presentation for the Leadership Initiatives for Women of Color
• Organized MUNDO and KindCarts service with Buckeye Village Fall Festival
• Assisted in the facilitation of “Excelling in Honors” with First Year Success Series
• Became a Site Lead with InspireOSU
• Take Your Professor to Lunch Program with Dr. Bennet Givens
• Became a Wellness Ambassador for the Student Wellness Center
• Made Dean’s List for the fourth time

Spring Semester

• Presented at the “Speaking of Summer Research” Panel with the Undergraduate Research Office (URO)
• KindCarts gets its official logos
• KindCarts Service Initiative celebrates its first anniversary!
• Meeting with Dr. Teresa Long, Public Health Commisioner for Columbus
• Attended Leaders Emerging and Developing (LEAD) Retreat
• Attended Annual Conference on Leadership and Civic Engagement: Life Links 2016
• Accepted to Undergraduate Research Office’s Student Advisory Council (SAC)
• Won an Undergraduate Student Government Academic Enrichment Grant
• Went on a service-learning trip over spring break with MUNDO to to Boston, Massachusetts, and New York, New York
• Served on a panel discussion for “Undergraduate Research for Honors Learning Communities” with the URO
• Take Your Professor to Lunch Program with Dr. Charlie Campbell
• Attended the 6th Annual Ohio State Women’s Summit: Power of Me
• Inducted into Sphinx Senior Honorary
• Elected President/Student Coordinator (of Communications) for MUNDO
• Recieved Undergraduate Education Summer Research Fellowship
• Elected Co-Chaplain of Sphinx Senior Honorary
• Presented “Marchen with the Melody: Uncovering the Structure and Function of Music in Fairy Tales” at the OSU/IU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Conference (Embodied Expression: The Body in Academia, the Field and the In-between)
• Made Dean’s List for fifth time

Chapter 3: How Does Your Garden Grow?

As I embark on my junior year, I can only speculate about my journey. I stayed on campus during the summer and it feels as if I transitioned immediately from second to third year. Over the summer, I enrolled in the Summer Undergraduate Research Institute and received the Research Scholar Award, using it to begin my own independent research project on stress-sensitization and chronic stress. The responsibility I was given was on such a different level than I was previously used to. Planning, ordering supplies, handling live animals and behavioral testing: I was involved in every step of the way. The experience was so incredible that I signed up to be a Peer Research Contact and plan to present my summer research, as well as my fairy tale research, at the Undergraduate research forum.

Summer also marked the start of other, personal projects. I started working as a University Ambassador and learned so much more about Ohio State. I so enjoyed spreading my spirit to potential Buckeyes, whose perspectives threw me back to my own college search. I was appointed to be Communications Director for MUNDO and began designing the marketing, revamping our newsletter and generally venturing into new venues of technology. I finished setting up the details of my internship for the Honors Advising Office and can’t wait to see where that leads me.

It’s only the first week of the new semester and already everything seems so new. As I look at my schedule, a mix of undergraduate and graduate classes, as well as my personal schedule, I’m so excited to see what growing and progress is in store for me!

First Semester

• Began volunteering at James Cancer Hospital
• Started working in stress and immunology lab, learning new techniques and concepts
• Accepted into SHADOW Program at OSU
• Added an English minor
• Organized the OSU Blanket-Making Drive Collaboration of MUNDO and ResLife
• Established Kindness on the Carts (KindCarts) Service Initiative
• Completed a research project about the intersectionality of the Black/African-American and LGBTQ+ communities-deposited in the OSU Folklore Archives
• Went on a service-learning trip over winter break with MUNDO to New Orleans, LA

Second Semester

• Joined OSU Sexual Violence Committee
• Participated in Women in Medicine Mentoring Program-Mentee
• Won an Honors and Scholars (H&S) Academic Enrichment Grant
• Attended Annual Conference for Civic Leadership and Engagement
• Presented with the H&S Advising Office at 2015 Ohio State Advising Conference
• Received Emerging Eminence Award
• Served as “A Day in the Life of a Buckeye” Host
• Re-elected Action Team Leader for MUNDO
• Applied for and accepted into Peers REACHing Out Program for suicide prevention-unable to accept position
• Promoted to Honors Lead Mentor for H&S
• Completed a research project examining the form and effect of music in fairy tale adaptations-deposited in the OSU Folklore Archives
• Switched to a Folklore minor during finals week
• Completed my Honors Contract
• Made Dean’s list for third time

Chapter 2: Growing Upwards

The first word I think of when I remember second year is enrichment. As my focus became narrower, my findings became richer. I explored my passions, my curiosities. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope or venturing into Oz. You find so many colors and facets that you didn’t know existed, but it seems just right that you had found them.

Many of my defining experiences came from expanding upon different interests that I found freshman year. Time and time again, I heard of incredible opportunities—from listservs, advisors and friends—and took advantage of as many as I could, whether it was attending/presenting at a conference or finding new shadowing possibilities. From applying to be an ambassador for suicide prevention to joining the OSU Sexual Violence Committee, I also sought to take a more active role in the issues and activities that I believed in.

Academically speaking, I was taken aback by the rigor of the course load that I had. Although a period of transition from high school to first year definitely existed, the gap I spanned was infinitely smaller than the chasm from first to second year. I started getting into my major classes, like Neuroscience 3000 and into harder sciences, such as Organic Chemistry. It was no longer sufficient to take notes, attend lecture and do the homework. After struggling initially for a foothold, by second semester, the ground had settled beneath me. I attended office hours for the first time; I changed my note-taking style; I joined more study groups. My new study habits will definitely continue through my college career, until another transition gives me the opportunity to evolve it once more.

Research entered my life sophomore year in a big way. I began going into lab 10hrs/week to learn more about stress and immunology. qPCR, immunohistochemistry, cryostat. My everyday life filled with techniques that once only existed in textbooks. But, neuroscience wasn’t the only research that captivated me. While fulfilling a GE requirement, folklore research entered the picture. As we learned more about different communities, traditions and customs, researching that field became interesting. Always interested in different identities, I decided to focus my end-of-semester project on examining the intersectionality of the Black/African-American and LGBTQ+ communities. I enjoyed the class, and research, enough to enroll in an upper-level English class, focusing on fairy tales and reality. The class cemented my love for the discipline and I switched from an English minor to a Folklore minor. I continued the research project that I began in that class, studying the form and effect of music in fairy tale adaptations, into the summer and began to seriously contemplate undertaking an honors undergraduate thesis.

In a more subtle way than research, volunteering also began defining my sophomore year. It started with weekly shifts at the James Cancer Hospital as a Restful Nights volunteer. Every Friday and Sunday, I had the opportunity to visit the patients and make them more comfortable through hand massages, handing out amenities or just conversing with them. Seeing the impact, firsthand, that a few words and a few hours could have, I unknowingly started directing my time towards service. I organized a campus-wide blanket-making drive for a local homeless shelter, planned and attended a service learning trip to New Orleans. Yet, my largest project, and achievement to date, has establishing the Kindness on the Carts Service Initiative.

As a Restful Nights volunteer, I saw the impact of the donations on the cart. While eye masks and ear plugs made the patients more comfortable, a card or decoration lifted their spirits. I began incorporating projects into my Random Acts of Kindness position, making cheerful pick-me-ups for the patients. Sometimes they were notes or cards; other times it was decorations for their rooms to brighten their environment. I loved doing it, and I loved that the patients’ smiles. Every time someone told me that their pick-me-up brightened their day, a little light sparked inside me. I started the Kindness on the Carts Service Initiative and eventually was awarded an Honors and Scholars Enrichment Grant in order to expand my plans. To date, KindCarts has created over 200 donations and volunteered for over 120 hours. Our projects have been able to diversify, allowing us to offer everything from simple cards and handmade bookmarks to mini Hope Gardens and stress-relief DIY kits.

If first year was a sprout, second year was a shoot. Everything—my academics, my social life, my organizations—grew upward, strengthening what was already there and starting to sprout new leaves and new buds. As I stretch and reach out, I can’t wait to see where I go and what new connections I’ll  make.

• Joined MUNDO and Pre-Med Club
• Worked part-time at Morrill Commons as Student Assistant
• Switched majors from Biology to Neuroscience
• Began the search for research labs

Second Semester

• Joined Rotaract
• Became an Office of Disability Services Notetaker for Biology 1114H
• Inducted into Mirrors Sophomore Honorary
• Elected Random Acts of Kindness Chair for Mirrors
• Elected to MUNDO’s executive board as Action Team Leader
• Accepted into Dr. Sheridan’s Stress and Immunolgoy lab at the IBMR
• Applied for and accepted the role of Honors Peer Mentor for H&S Advising Office
• Made dean’s list both semesters

Chapter 1: The Girl I Mean to Be

When I look back at my freshman year, I think about discovery. The new. New school, new independence, new choices. The decisions weren’t just “hanging out with my friends” vs “doing my homework.” It was “what will my career path be? How much does what I do now actually affect my future? What will I be? Who do I want to be?”

Much of my time was centered on finding the answer to that last question. Academic-wise, I switched majors, finding that my interests were more specific than Biology, and that my home was in Neuroscience. My path on the pre-med tract was cemented after looking further into both it and pre-law. Yet, a majority of my self-discovery came through the organizations I joined.

I first joined MUNDO at OSU, a multicultural organization also focused on service and leadership, because I constantly received the emails. Soon, however, MUNDO uncovered a passion within me for learning about different communities, be they religious, ethnic, geographic, cultural or any other category. I loved the hands-on quality, the interactive discussion about issues that I rarely encountered, the community. I ran for their executive board to become closer to that community, and have a hand in sharing my perspective and learning more about others’. Another part of myself I found was my wish to be a resource. Everything first year seemed so big, so insurmountable, and I wanted a roadmap, a tour guide, anything to help me find my way. I applied for and was accepted into the Honors and Scholars Peer Mentor Program in order to help incoming freshmen with their questions and serve as that proverbial guide, should they ever need it. Lastly, I found that I want to make a difference. I want to leave a mark on Ohio State that says, “I’ve been here.” I came and when I go, I’ll leave something of myself behind for the next person to find, and hopefully, it’ll make them feel something. Whether it’s to laugh, disagree, dismiss or inspire, it doesn’t matter. But I want a piece of myself to stay behind at Ohio State, because I will, always and forever, be a Buckeye.

Fun fact: I keep a diary. Every year, at the Involvement Fair, I grab my OSU planner, throw it in my bag and promptly forgot about it in the chaos of flyers, buttons and the occasional hot dog. But once the event is done, the ever-handy planner is there like an friend, welcoming me back to campus, to classes and to Ohio State. Written between, around and sometimes over my assignments, is my stream of consciousness-the thoughts that ran unabated through my day as I worked through my schedule. Each new year, I read over the previous one and I’m astonished at how much I grow. From how I speak, how I handle my problems, to what my problems actually are. My dreams, my heart, myself. They evolve every year. Different, but still, at the core, me. I can’t give you my diary, but I can give you my journey, from my first “OH” to my last “IO.”