Last Friday, which was November 8, 2019, I attended an Arab themed diversity event which was located on the second floor of Curl marketplace. Going into the event, I felt a little nervous (but also excited) to attend the party. I was unsure of what this event would entail and what all would take place at this party. Overall, I love to learn about other cultures and traditions, different from my own. I spent most of my life growing up in the diverse Katy, Texas. In my home city, there are people from all over the world that move to the area, and I have made many friends from different countries or that have different cultures than my own. My dad was born in the subcontinent of India and my mom is from Steubenville, Ohio. They both have had very different upbringings, celebrating their own unique holidays and traditions and are both very open-minded people accepting and embracing of other cultures and ideas. These beliefs and ideals are the core values with how they have chosen to raise my brother and I, to be accepting and embracing of all the diversity the world has to offer. Growing up with so many unique traditions and celebrations (Christmas, Easter, Diwali, and Serbian Orthodox Christmas to name a few of the most prominent ones) has led to the shaping of unique personal form of my own cultural identity. However, having a unique identity came with its own set of challenges. For instance, despite the numerous traditions and celebrations of having multiple cultural backgrounds, I never felt that there was one specific cultural group or identity that I belonged to. Even though I lived in one of the most globally diverse cities in the country, there was not one group of people I culturally fit in with perfectly. Oftentimes I would feel excluded from certain community celebrations because I wasn’t a member of each culture enough (having ties to the other identity as well). Additionally, growing up with multiple traditions has led me to realize that there is just so much to learn about each culture and practice that I do not yet know. There are so many specifications to different beliefs and divulges in each community that I would like to learn more about. That being said, attending this diversity event about a culture I don’t belong to (although have many friends that are a part of) made me a little nervous because I barely know much about my own culture, what if there are certain important aspects of traditional events or parties that I am missing knowledge on and should be aware of for this other culture that I did not grow up with (or being a part of)? When I got to the event, I saw that there was a small dance floor in the middle, along with a buffet of food, and raffle tickets being given out. Everybody at the event was very kind and welcoming and seemed glad that a group of people of a different culture were excited about learning about their world.

The world isn’t filled with people from one small town that believe and celebrate the exact same thing. The world is filled with people that have different upbringings and ideas that each provide a little flavor to the overall taste of life. Its important to accept and be open towards different ideas and cultures, its what makes the world go around. Life would be boring if everyone believed and thought the exact same thing all the time. Then no progress would ever be made. Its important to respect and embrace all other cultures, rather than remain closed off to the wonders of the universe. Overall, I think OSU does a fantastic job with its diversity and inclusion efforts. I haven’t personally found this at OSU but perhaps there should be a diversity group for people like me, who come from families with a wide range of cultures so they feel there is no specific group they belong to, lacking a sense of true cultural community. Although generally everyone here is accepting of all cultures and ideas, maybe there should be a group for those that don’t have a specific group.

On Monday, October 7, 2019 at 4:10 pm I attended a Physical Chemistry Seminar entitled, “Molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecular crystals” which was located at the CBEC Building. This specific seminar was about Nonradiative Processes in Semiconductor Nanocrystals given by Benjamin G. Levine from the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University. Going to a Campus STEM Seminar was an intimidating experience. I did not go alone. I went with my friend Ally, who is also in the STEM Explorations and Engagement Scholars Program. However, when I got to the Seminar, I noticed many of my other friends from the STEM Explorations and Engagement Scholars program in attendance at this Seminar. My past few sentences imply that I was not the only undergraduate student in attendance at this Seminar, despite the complex topic being discussed. However, despite this fact I still felt out of place being there. There were many students of higher degrees in attendance that were able to better follow the content being discussed at this Seminar. Although, being there I did feel proud of myself for stepping into a situation that was uncomfortable for me. Attending this seminar, I felt like I took initiative to learn more about the higher levels of what will be discussed and analyzed in my major. When I was there, I did not get a chance to speak to many people there. At most, I did make small talk with fellow audience members at the Seminar. Most of the people I talked to were my peers participating in the STEM Explorations and Engagement Scholars program. While I was there, it was very difficult to follow along with the content being analyzed in the Seminar. As I am still in my first year of college, it was a challenge to understand the different specifics of the data being discussed, as I have only learned a limited amount of Chemistry this far into my academic career. I was able to figure out a general understanding of the basic principles being discussed in this Seminar. Most of what helped me follow along at this seminar was my personal research of the subject matter, rather than a true academic background of the material. At the current moment, I have only had two years of Chemistry in high school (which did include AP Chemistry) and am currently enrolled in the class “CHEM 1210” here at The Ohio State University. This seminar did meet my expectations of what research in my major (of chemical engineering) area is like. To be completely honest, I was not sure of exactly what to expect. My general idea was that research in my field would revolve around some complicated scientific issue and be very specific of the area being discussed. However, I was not completely sure of which specific area would be discussed. Despite my challenge understanding the specifics of discussion and analysis at this Seminar, I believe there is great merit to being active in the academic community as an undergraduate student. It is a fantastic way to network with people that share a similar interest as me. It was most definitely not a waste of time to attend this Seminar as an undergraduate student.