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For this event I attended an alumni panel comprised of previous IA scholars. On the panel was Sam Harris, who goes to Harvard Law School, Alex Northrop, who goes to Columbia Med School, Brandon Hofacker, who works for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation in DC, and Courtney Johnson, who works at the Department of Homeland Security in DC.

I enjoyed hearing from all of the panelists because they are all doing very impressive things, but it was not long ago that they were in my position. It is very inspiring to hear about their successes at Harvard, Columbia, and in DC, and know that IA helped them to get there.

One thing that was resonated with me was listening to Brandon Hofacker talk about how there were plenty of internships and jobs that he applied for and did not receive, but eventually the perfect one for him came around. As a sophomore I have spent a lot of time in the past few months applying for internships and especially with the pandemic, a lot of them have either been cancelled or gone to other people. Although it is discouraging to get turned down from internships that I really wanted, I thought it was reassuring to hear that he too had gotten rejected plenty of times, but it all worked out well for him because now he has a great job!

Friday, October 9, 2020, Professional Development, Zoom

This event was about how to find a mentor online, or in person through Ohio State’s large pool of alumni. We talked about online resources, such as linkedin and alumnifire, and how to search for alumni of Ohio State through those sites. I believe that networking is one of the most powerful skills that you can master. As a business student, I want to start making connections with my peers and with local professionals now, because those will be my colleagues post graduation. I already have a linkedin account, and I have connected with a few people, but making connections with Ohio State alumni who are a few steps ahead of me in a career that I want to go into will be super helpful.

Another thing that I learned from this event is that there are in-person resources around campus that can pair you with mentors if you just ask for one. The presenter specifically mentioned the Fisher Alumni Undergraduate Mentor Program, which she was in charge of. After the presentation was over, I was about to talk with the presenter about becoming a part of this program, which I am very excited about.

I already knew about the importance of connecting with mentors and networking, but I think that this presentation was meaningful for me because it connected me with the resources to actually accomplish those tasks. I hope to gain a mentor in the near future through the Fisher Alumni Undergraduate Mentor Program, or through one of the other resources that I learned about during this presentation.

May 7, 2020, online, 4pm

For this event, I listened to a webinar on pandemics past, present, and future. Pandemics such as the Justinian Plague, Black Plague, Influenza Outburst, HIV and AIDS were discussed by experts in OSU’s college of arts and sciences. One of the speakers brought up a point that the covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented by those who are living right now, but it is not the first pandemic to occur. I thought that this was a very interesting way to look at things. A chart was shown about the effects of social distancing during the influenza outbreak. It showed the different cities and how social distancing really did work to flatten the curve. I think that this is important to keep in mind, especially as we are easing our way out of quarantine and going back to our daily lives. We need to make sure that we are still social distancing for a while so that we do not undo all of the progress that we have made throughout the last month in quarantine.

April 9, 2020, Zoom, 7:30-8:30pm

This was my first IA event through zoom, and I thought that it was a fun way to get caught up with everyone even though we cannot be together. During this event, we played a trivia game that had to do with some international headlines. Most of the headlines related to Covid-19 and how other countries were responding. I think that it is interesting to see how different countries are handling the pandemic. These times are unprecedented and I think that it will be interesting to see years down the line, what worked and what didn’t. In addition to the trivia that got me caught up with the news, I thought that this event was nice because it connected me back to school. After sitting at home for weeks, it is always nice to see familiar faces.

February 24, 2020, Hagerty Hall 045, 6pm – 7pm

During this event I learned more about linkedin and how to use it to my advantage. Katie helped me to update my page and add in all of my information. Before coming to this event, I had a page on linkedin, but I had not really played around on it or put in a lot of information about myself. What I learned is that the more information that I have on my linkedin profile, the more accurate my job recommendations will be, and the more that potential employers will be able to assess if I will be a good fit for their company. I am in a business class this semester, and one of our assignments was to create a linkedin page. Thanks to this event, I already had mine set up and I knew how to navigate the site. Since then, I have taken advantage of linkedin. I want to be an event planner, so I was able to find a successful event planner on linked in and email her to set up a phone call. She is an OSU alum and she gave me the resources that she used to get to where she is today.

January 31, 2020, Smith-Steeb Sky Lounge, 3:00pm

For this event, I met with Katie Riczko, who helped me to update and critique my resume. This was very beneficial to me for several reasons. The first of these reasons is because I am a business student, and there are always career fairs and companies that come to campus for recruiting. It is very important to have a current resume on hand so that when an opportunity for an internship comes up you are ready and able to apply. This was also very useful to me because updating my resume has been on my todo list forever. It is something that I always say that I need to do but never actually get around to doing. Finally, this was beneficial to me because we cut my resume down from 2 pages to 1, and formatted it so that it is very visually appealing and will stand out to employers.

Aside from critiquing my resume, it was a good event for me to attend because I got the chance to meet and talk with a member of the LC. Up until this point, I hadn’t taken the time to get to know the LC very personally, but now that I met and talked with Katie for a while, I feel as though I could go to her if I had questions or needed advice pertaining to IA.

January 16, 2020, Hagerty Hall Room 180, 5:30-6:30pm

For this event I participated in a skype call with Sam Harris and listened to her experience as a first year student at Harvard Law School. This was really interesting for me to hear and it gave me tips as to how make the most of my time in college and on the outside. She talked about the things that she did while she was at Ohio State and how that helped her to get into law school. Her tip was that it is not necessarily about what clubs you are involved in, it is more important that you are passionate about them and seeking leadership positions. She said that a lot of people think that in order to get into Harvard, or another very big school, they have to be the president of USG, but this is not true. She talked about some of the smaller clubs that she was involved in and how those were so impactful for her.

Another topic that Sam talked a lot about was networking. She said that at Harvard she has learned that networking is so important, and that that is part of the reason why going to Harvard or another big name school is so beneficial. She keeps up with the heavy course load by supplementing her classes with lots of networking events and dinners. This way she has a break carved into her studying, and she is making important contacts that will help her get where she wants to go. When she goes to the networking events, she makes sure that she dresses in a presentable way and is polite to everyone that she meets. This way she can represent herself in the best way possible.

November 20, 2019, Archie Griffin Ballroom – Ohio Union, 10:30am – 6pm

I intend to participate in the STEP program next year, so I attended the STEP expo in order to gain inspiration and ideas. At the first poster that I visited the student went to the Australia New Zealand Leadership Adventure. I thought that this one was interesting because it is a trip that revolves around exciting excursions such as surfing and snorkeling. I would love to use my STEP money to go on this trip or a similar trip. This relates to international affairs because the trip involves traveling to and exploring Australia and New Zealand. Similar to this trip, I also visited a poster that was about the High Sierra Leadership Expedition. This poster interested me because it is a backpacking trip and it is similar in nature to the Australia New Zealand trip, but it is in California rather than out of the country. While I prefer the idea of leaving the country I would consider doing something similar if it were abroad. Another really cool poster that I saw was titled Yoga Gathering: Ritual and Rhythm. For this one the girl travelled to California to go on a yoga retreat. This one was really interesting because she said that she only spent $13 over the entire trip and her step money covered the rest. Although a yoga retreat is not exactly what I am looking for, I like that she was able to use her STEP money to cover almost the entire trip. Next I saw a poster that was about a London Summer Global Internship. I liked this one because the student got to travel and explore London, but also work an internship and gain valuable experience. She told me that she still had plenty of time to explore with her travelmates on weekends and holidays. I would def consider doing something similar to this because I would like to spend my summer gaining the skills from an internship and the experience from a travel abroad at the same time. This has to do with international affairs because the student was working internationally and forming business contacts with people in another country. Finally, I stopped by a poster that was titled European Architecture Studies. This caught my eye because I am thinking about switching my major to architecture. This project was really cool because the student got to travel to 22 different cities in 25 days. I would love to do something as fast moving as this so that I could make the most out of my time abroad. This has to do with international affairs because architecture varies by location and this student got to admire the workings of many different European architects.

October 16, 2019, Ohio Union East Ballroom, 11:30am-4:00pm

Although my major is marketing, I attended the science career fair in order to gain experience and comfort going to career fairs and interacting with companies. This event was interesting for me because although my major is in business, each of the companies that I talked to had a marketing department as well. This made me realize how diverse a degree in business really is. When I attended the business career fair a few months ago, all of the companies were major business firms. The marketing positions that are available at a small science company are very different from the marketing opportunities available at a company such as Huntington Bank, or American Eagle. This event relates to the topic of International Affairs because it taught me a valuable lesson. If I hadn’t have attended the career fair, I would not have learned about the marketing opportunities that are available in the realm of science. Likewise, if I do not stop to explore international affairs issues and topics, I may miss out on unique opportunities for me to get involved. Also at this career fair, I got an opportunity to see how people were dressed. This will help me for future career fairs because I will have an idea of what is acceptable to wear.

October 16, 2019, 18th Ave. Plaza, 12pm-2pm

World Food Day was an interesting event for me. It was a campus event that featured several student organizations and local food companies, and gave them a chance to showcase what they have been doing and ways that I can get involved. During this event, I met with the Global Water Institute at Ohio State. They help to provide sustainable village water systems for poor families in Tanzania. They showed me an example of the types of large jugs that the children have to carry to and from their houses each day full of water and it was so heavy! Water is something that I take for granted, and I could not imagine having to work so hard just so that my family could have semi-clean water to drink. This makes me want to get involved and help more people not only in Tanzania, but all over the world to gain access to clean water. As an International Affairs Scholar, and as a human being in general, it is important that I am educated on the issues that other countries are facing so that I can help spread awareness and look for a solution. This event served as a reminder for me that I take for granted the food that is available to me, but there are plenty of people who suffer from food and water insecurity, and I need to also think of them.