ACES allows us to take part in a mentorship program where the second years are paired with a first-year to help them have someone to talk to as they transition into college. This year I was lucky enough to be paired with first-year Cadence Downey, as well as another second year, Abby Mckinckle. All three of us love theatre which I believe is a big part of us getting paired. It has been hard to connect this semester without the ACES meetings being in person, or just being careful with COVID-19 in general. At first, Abby and I were planning to take Cadence to the North Market on the COTA. Cadence had never been to the North Market, and it’s always good to be comfortable and learn how to ride the COTA as well. This would allow us to show her how to get around and get to other cool places outside of campus. However, the covid cases on campus and in franklin county were rising at an alarming rate. Therefore we decided against taking the COTA, and going somewhere that was within walking distance. That being said Abby, and I decided to take Cadence to Cielo Cafe. Cielo is a new coffee shop on high street right across from the Union. Abby and I both love Cielo, and Cadence had never been, which is good because we would still be able to introduce her to something new. We all met up at Smith-Steeb and began our journey to Cielo, which was less than a five-minute walk. When we got to Cielo all of the tables were full of students studying, so we decided to get our food and drinks and go sit in the Union. We were lucky to find a seat at the Union because there seemed to be a lot of people there as well. We talked to Cadence about her semester so far at Ohio State. Cadence said that while being on campus she was surprised at how open everyone was, and there was nothing that was “taboo” to talk about. In high school, Cadence felt that people did not open up much about certain issues while at Ohio State, it was ok to speak about any sort of issues. We asked Cadence what kind of involvement she was interested in on campus. Although it has been very difficult to get involved on campus, Cadence has plans on joining the Buckeye Philharmonic and other creative clubs such as theatre. Cadence is currently involved in RISE, which is an organization started by Katie Tribe, Olivia Armstrong, and myself. We aim to provide information to kids in Columbus city schools and try to help them navigate school. Cadence has submitted articles based on topics that can help the students. Cadence says that she was very involved in high school with multiple clubs, and it is super weird that she was not able to be a part of anything this semester. We then talked to Cadence about why she chose ACES specifically. Cadence says that it seemed to be the perfect fit for an education major and that she wants to advocate for education reform and equality. Abby and I talked about how ACES was the perfect way to do that. We told Cadence that there were many second years who are also education and social work major, so this was the perfect program for her to be around like-minded people who want to enact change. That being said Cadence lives with other ACES students as a first-year. She said she enjoys studying in the common area on their floor, and on the south oval when it was nice outside of course. However, she is not a fan of the library, because it is “too quiet”, which I completely agree with. Cadence told us that she is good at working under pressure and normally does everything last minute. Which Abby and I both agreed with because we all procrastinate. Lastly, we talked to Cadence about her dream job. Cadence said that a few of her dream jobs include being a performer, a magazine/entertainment editor, or an English/theatre teacher. Cadence has a love for teaching art, and over the summer she is able to teach theatre to middle schoolers. Abby and I thought this was so cool, and of course a great resume booster. It was very nice to be able to connect with Abby and Cadence this semester, and hopefully, we will be less restricted next semester. I am glad that we were able to meet in person and just talk about school and life in general. I forgot to mention we all shared pictures of our dogs as well, which was a fun moment. I can’t wait to see what next semester has in store for us.
