The above picture was taken right before our team’s intramural Broomball game. Broomball combines elements of soccer and hockey and is played on ice for a slippery and fun time. I had no experience playing Broomball in the past, and was excited to try a new sport. My team made it to the quarterfinals of the playoffs, and even though we did not win it all, had a successful season learning how to play and bonding as a team. However, the reason I chose the above picture was not to talk about our Broomball successes and failures, but to talk about the people represented. Both teams in that picture were comprised of first-year Mount Scholars. The Mount Leadership Society was founded about 20 years ago to honor the legacy of Ruth Weimar Mount and the students accepted into the program demonstrated leadership qualities and a willingness to serve others. Some things that I have been involved with since joining Mount include making ceramic bowls to sell to help a food bank in Columbus, helping a local community put on a large Halloween jamboree, and my personal favorite, helping run a wheelchair basketball tournament for paralyzed veterans.
My favorite element of being in Mount aside from the service aspect, is getting to live in a community with my fellow Mount scholars. These are some of the most driven, goal-orientated, and focused people I have ever met and we all push each other to our limits in order that we may become as successful as possible. Beyond that, I enjoy living with them because everyone shares similar values and ideals. These people, in just a few short months, have become some of my best and closest friends. As seen above, we can all be competitive and have fun at times, and at other times support and comfort one another. I wrote in my first artifact about the Buckeye community at-large. While I still feel the same about the large community, having a much smaller group of people (Mount is only about 110 people) with similar values and goals keeps me focused and pushes me to be successful both inside the classroom and outside.