As a part of my survey class, we had to participate in a diversity and inclusion event. A presenter from Ohio State’s Multicultural Center came to give a demonstration on diversity and inclusion. One of her main points was to be openminded, not only during the presentation but throughout our college experience and lives. Before she started I just really wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible so I could get back to my friends. But, I went into it with an open mind and actually took a lot from this presentation. Another reason I wasn’t too excited about this presentation is because I knew the topic of identity would be covered. I identify as gay and sometimes don’t like to talk about it, especially not when I am in Computer Science and Engineering survey with almost all guys. But, everyone I’ve met at OSU is very friendly and open minded as well, so I should have know it would not have been an issue. Sometimes, it can just be awkward to talk about. A big point that I took away from the presentation was too be sensitive to gender identity. Often, I’ve see things on social media regarding how to respect gender identity, but I had never met anyone that didn’t identify as either male or female until I was on campus.

Diversity and Inclusion makes a huge impacts on many things. In the STEM field there is a lack of representation for women. Every day, women are getting more and more recognition, but men are still more frequently celebrated. Diversity and Inclusion makes a huge impact on the lives of everyone, regardless of race, gender, income or any other identity. When people are considerate of the backgrounds of others it makes the environment more comfortable for everyone. It is very important to not only tolerate, but to celebrate our differences because the world would be a boring place if we were all the same. Also, every student at this school deserves to feel as if they belong here.

I believe there is a relatively good amount of focus on diversity here at Ohio State, but the campus isn’t as diverse as it could be. I have no idea how the admission process is done, but I saw more people of color at my high school than I do here which is strange.

During the demonstration, the presenter went over privilege and what it means. Some of the guys laughed and questioned the points she made about it. But, she didn’t hold back when correcting the remarks that they made.

Overall, I believe diversity and Inclusion is one of the most important things a college campus should focus on in order to keep their students safe and healthy. If Ohio State wasn’t;t able to provide that for their students it would be much harder for most people to be able to concentrate on their learning instead of their wellbeing. I’m very glad to have decided to attend a University that allows me to experience different people with a different background than I have.

Recently, I registered with Student Life Disability Services because I have Ulcerative Colitis. I had already planned to visit this campus resource to be granted academic and housing accommodations. But, I was putting it off because of other things I had to do. This is something I should have done within my first week of school, so I could have excused absences from class. If I had done it early enough I could have also gotten a single! I learned about Ohio State’s Office of Student Life Disability Services when I was in the hospital back in February. But, I waited too long to send in my information so I did not get housing accommodations. I have gone in to register myself with Disability Services and was approved the next day, but I still need to meet with my student advisor. Their office was very accessible and easy to find on south campus.

When I was told to sign up with Ohio State’s Office of Student Life Disability Services I just decided to put it off because I did not think I would need it. But, the office provides a lot of different accommodations to make college life easier in multiple aspects. It would allow me to easily catch up on work if I was ever in the hospital again because they would work with my instructors to make sure I get any information I needed to succeed academically. And either next semester or, more likely, next year I would be almost guaranteed a single. Which would be very nice!

The only thing that I think would make the Office of Student Life Disability Services better would be if there were more ways of getting registered for accommodations once you’re approved. I understand that they want to make sure students are doing well and want to talk directly to the person needing accommodations, but it is sometimes hard to take the extra time in your schedule to dedicate to this. But, I am sure most people who work with this resource truly need more necessary accommodations than I do. I almost feel guilty registering with this service because I feel I do not need it. But, it’s nice to have peace of mind knowing I will not fall too far behind if I ever feel too ill to go to class for a couple days.

As far as other Campus Resources go, I feel like the Ohio State University offers a wide variety of services. I really need to check out the Ohio State Wellness Center because I have been feeling sick for over a month now, but I just keep on putting it off because I don’t want to schedule an appointment. One recommendation or change I would like to see is the ability to schedule appointments, meetings, etc. from an app. That would be a really cool project that the Computer Science and Engineering department could take on and it would benefit every student at the Ohio State University.

The student organization I decided to look into this semester is Engineers Without Borders. The group works on the local and international level to solve issues involving problem solving. The international level is currently working in Gambia to provide irrigation and install a garden with fencing for a community. The local branch, which I am a part of, works on multiple local projects at once. The options for projects to join are installing bat houses, working on an irrigation system for an OSU garden, and fixing water collection cisterns for a nursery, which is the one I’m involved in. I went to this first meeting alone, but halfway through I noticed another student in the room was also in STEM. It was nice to see a familiar face in the room. It’s very beneficial to be a part of a student organization to build your network and meet people who are very different from you with the same interests. It’s also very important to join an organization that revolves around your planned major to see if it interests you.

The student leading the local branch of Engineers Without Borders seemed very professional and knowledgable about the group. I’ve only been to one meeting this far because I prioritize my school work over this organization, but I hope to learn to complete my day’s work ahead of time so that I can be a part of planning the project I’m involved in.

In the first local meeting, we split into three groups and begin research on how to best fix the problem we were working on. My group researched efficient water collection systems. This gave us information on the best ways to collect rainwater so we knew how to fix the problem with the cisterns at the nursery.

I found it very difficult to find a student organization I was interested in, even though I went to the student involvement fair and spent several hours at the event. It wasn’t as hard to find one I was interested in actually, but there were almost too many to choose from that I became overwhelmed. Which is a very good problem to have. I think there are so many organizations that I probably wouldn’t want or need to start a new club. But, if I was looking for something within my major that didn’t have a club tied to it I would have no problem trying to start a new club. Most likely, there would be other students wanting the same thing. The number of organizations at this school impacts student involvement in a powerful way. No matter your interest, you should be able to find people at this school that share it.

I really enjoy the projects that Engineers Without Borders works on, and I was planning on leaving the group earlier this week because I am changing my major to architecture, but I realized that architect often work alongside engineers to get projects done. So, it would actually be very beneficial for me to stay in the club to network with engineers.

Every week in CSE 1223 (Programming in Java) we have a project due to test what we learned in the chapter. This past week the project was a simple arithmetic program that output addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and the average of two numbers that the user inputs into the program. I made it about halfway through the project and found myself struggling with how to get the right output. I tried to figure the problem out on my own for a couple days and could not make progress. Luckily, my professor set up hours where undergraduate students, who did well in the class, are available to help current students out with code they are struggling with.

Throughout middle school and early high school I never experienced an academic problem like this to where I could not solve a problem using a textbook or my notes from a class. I knew college would definitely be a change in which I would need to seek help, but I was not planning on having to look for guidance this early.

Seeking help on this assignment was very easy since my professor made it so accessible to meet with undergraduate students that were very knowledgeable on the class I am taking. Last Thursday when I went to get help I was nervous I would not have time to actually understand the problem I was having because I had a physics lab about 30 minutes after I went to get help. But, the student that helped me knew what I was there for and at the time I went to get help there were two other students that I recognized from my class that were having the same issue as me. Having familiar faces helped a lot. When I told the undergraduate student what my problem was I almost expected him to just tell me what my issue was, but he helped me understand the concept I was missing by practically reteaching the material to me. This helped a ton because I understood right away what I needed to fix and I would be able to get past this problem in the future if it came up again.

Being able to get help has been a big problem for me in my middle school and early high school years. I felt that getting help meant I was not as intelligent as I thought I was and held myself up to be. But, as I moved through my last two years of high school I found out you cannot do everything by yourself and it is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged to work with teachers and other students to improve your learning and make you a better student. I’m glad I was able to understand that before I got to college. There is no way I’d be able to get through these first couple weeks of college without asking a classmate, friend or my roommate to explain a problem or help me understand a concept I am missing.

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