Annie Warrens is a freshman from Jackson, Ohio. We met for lunch in the Union Market. Throughout our first semester interview, Annie expressed to me her love for Agriculture, and it was easy for her to answer how she ended up in her major of agriculture science education. Jackson is a rural area where she had the opportunity to participate in FFA and 4-H throughout her high school career. Her toughest class thus far has been chemistry. I was very impressed with her dedication to the class, as she has had to study for hours on end. On the bright side, she is really enjoying her online rural sociology class. The curriculum is very interesting and the online layout is easy for her to work into her schedule. A lot of her classes are over on west campus, so she has had to familiarize herself with the Ohio State bus system in order to save time. She also uses the bus system when hanging out with friends, as she has many friends on North campus, and she lives with the Advocates for Communities and Education Scholars in Smith Steeb. Annie chose to come to Ohio State because she received a really amazing scholarship that helped with the cost. Also Ohio State University is the only school in the state with her major of ag education. Her goal with this major, and dream job, is to teach a Future Farmers of America (FFA) class. To help her gain experience in her future field, she has joined the Agriculture Education Society where she helps teach at Metro Middle School.

Annie chose to be a part of Advocates for Communities and Education scholars group because she wants to be an educator in the future. She feels confident in her success with the program, as she has already completed all of her events, (one academic event, one service event, one social event, and one choice event). Annie also feels very comfortable with where she is at in her service hour requirement. She has gotten involved both on and off campus to earn many service hours. She worked as a collegiate Future Farmers of America camp counselor. She also went home for her county fair where she was able to earn some hours by volunteering in the setting up, execution, and tear down of a haunted house. She is also able to use her teaching outings with Ag Ed Society as service hours. In addition to Ag Ed society, and the volunteer project Annie works with, she has gained a lot of relevant experience for her future field throughout high school by participating in 4-H. She is headed to Atlanta, Georgia at the end of November/ beginning of December for the National 4-H Conference after earning a spot this past year through Ohio’s 4-H program. Annie has learned a lot about staying organized in her first semester at Ohio State. To help her keep track of all of her commitments, Annie uses a calendar found on her dorm wall, and a planner she can carry around with her throughout the day.

I chose to meet my mentee for lunch in the Union Marketplace after our Earth Science course we share. She signed up for earth science to fulfill a general education requirement, but she is starting to really enjoy the class. Jadyn Shipman is a first year from Mt. Gilead, Ohio, a town not too far from Columbus. She is currently studying math education, because she had a real interest in math coming into college. Now however, she is starting to rethink her major choice and possibly wants to switch to the exploratory program next semester. This is because her most challenging class thus far has been calculus, a class required for her major. She was a little discouraged because she used to love math and was really great at it, but at the college level, she has come to hate her course. I assured her that we all have those tough classes, but that doesn’t make us bad students. Still, she is thinking of switching her major, but she is not sure what she would be switching to yet. Some of the career centered questions were a little tricky for Jadyn to answer. When asked what her dream job would be, she said acting would be fun! But she isn’t sure that is realistic. For now, she wants to explore other options. When she figures out her major though, she does think she may be attending grad school to earn a masters in her field. 

When choosing a scholars group when applying to Ohio State, Jadyn’s first choice was a STEM centered scholars. But, seeing as how she was going into math education, she thought Advocates for Communities and Education was still a pretty great fit for her! This semester, Jadyn has band on Wednesdays from 6:30 – 8 pm, so she has not yet made it to a community meeting. Her schedule next semester will be more open. She felt good about where she was at with the required ACEs events (one social, one academic, and one choice), but she was a little nervous about getting all of her service hours this semester. I reminded her that she would have an opportunity to make up the hours that she doesn’t have the next semester, and that eased her mind! We also spoke about the wide variety of service opportunities here at Ohio State. Sometimes, coming from high school, you aren’t aware of all of the different ways service can be done. This was the case with me, so I wanted to make sure Jadyn was aware of all of the options. Jadyn is thinking of getting more involved on campus by joining a service fraternity next semester in order to have more service opportunities. Aside from her in ACEs, Jadyn is also a member of the athletics band, ukulele club, and Lighthouse bible study. As a member of the athletic band, she has class two nights a week and then is asked to play at a certain number of athletic events throughout the semester. So far, she has played at a volleyball game, a hockey game, and a soccer game. She also plays her trumpet at elegant events like banquets and reunions. Jadyn enjoys this because she is paid $10 an hour (including transportation), usually gets a free meal, and gets to play the instrument she loves while doing it! Organization is very important when you are as involved as Jadyn. In order to balance academics and involvement, she uses her planner to organize events and the calendar on Carmen to keep track of assignments. It was a joy to sit down and chat with Jadyn, and I cannot wait to see how she succeeds at OSU in her next semester.

The past three summers I have volunteered at a camp for foster kids who have been abused or neglected. This camp is known as Royal Family Kids Camp. At camp, I have served as a junior counselor, but I hope to be a regular counselor this summer. My responsibilities were just to spend all of my time with the kids, and help them forget about their troubles. This is one of the hardest weeks of the year because these children have lived through horror stories, and they are not shy about telling you about the. But it is one of my favorite weeks of the year, because we get to comfort these vulnerable kids and give them new, joygul memories to cherish. My involvement in this amazing program is what encouraged me to go into the non-profit sector. After spending my time with these kids, I can’t think of doing anything else with my future, other than finding a way to help them out.

My senior year I was co-president of NHS with another boy in my class. Being an officer required collaboration with other officers- the secretary treasurer and sergeant at arms- but being named co-president added another layer to the puzzle. Before I could work with the other officers I had to work with my co-president so that we could approach situations as a united front and accomplish what was in the best interest for our chapter of NHS as a whole. The collaboration of co-presidents, and officers then turned into collaboration between officers and members, which ultimately led to the collaboration of the NHS club with our surrounding community. For our national service project, we worked together to make 300 tie blankets for the patients at our local hospital. The officres then had the honor of delivering these blankets to the patients of Mercy Medical Center. My whole NHS experience taught me the importance of team work, and the impact a group can make if they focus on a collective goal. 

2017-2018 Advisor and Officers of Jackson High School’s Chapter of NHS (Co-president not pictured)