Academic Reflection

I attended the IA mini-involvement fair that was organized by the IA chair Sam Harris and the IA Co-Chair Kelsie Parker on October 25th. This event showcased several different student organizations. Each student organization set up a booth that students, who were perusing the mini-involvement fair, could stop at and get to know more about a specific organization. The student organizations that stood out to me were Doctors Without Borders, Global Health Initiative, and Advocates for Women Of the World.

To begin, I aspire to be a Biomedical Engineering Pre-Med major here at The Ohio State University. As such, I have always been intrigued with the medical world. For this reason, the Doctors Without Borders organization was the first booth that I visited. The Doctors Without Borders at The Ohio State university is an undergraduate chapter within the International Doctors Without Borders organization.  I learned that this chapter aims to spread awareness about the different issues that developing and war-torn counties face as well as about what the international Doctors Without Borders organization does. The chapter also fundraises to further support the international Doctors Without Borders organization. And lastly, the chapter volunteers locally. This particular organization aligns itself with some of my coursework because I am pre-med and the organization focusses on several medical aspects.

The other organization booths that I visited were for Global Health Initiative and Advocates for Women Of the World. Global Health Initiative is an organization that focusses on spreading awareness and education about the different ailments and health issues faced by people. One thing that I learned was that the Global Health Initiative organization has an education outreach committee that organizes workshops that aim to raise awareness on topics like HIV/AIDS, women’s health, water quality, access to healthcare, and many other topics. A really interesting part of this organization is that they are partnered with the Peacework International, and, through the partnership, have travelled internationally to places like Guatemala, Haiti, and Peru to volunteer. Once again, this organization would align with my coursework due to its medical focus.

Moving on to the third booth I visited, Advocates for Women Of the World, I learned that this organization advocates for international women’s rights. They do this through action-based advocacy. The main focusses of this organization are on sexual assault awareness, girls’ education,  economic empowerment, and women’s health.

All in all, I gained a lot from the IA mini-involvement fair. The event helped me learn about several extremely interesting student organizations, some of which I am considering attending a meeting for. The event also made me realize that there are many amazing organizations on campus and that getting involved can be rewarding. I realized that getting involved is rewarding in both an academic and personal sense. Through many clubs, such as the ones mentioned above, academically, one’s awareness and education can be enhanced and, personally, one’s sense of fulfillment and desire to do good can be attained.

The IA mini-involvement fair was also a source for me to learn about different organizations that bring along with it an international affairs mindset. For example, the Doctors Without Borders educations members about the international program in which the organization is based off. The international Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), is an international non-profit organization that provides emergency medical services to countries in need. In fact, MSF operations in over sixty-five countries.

Attending this event has been an academically rewarding experience. I enjoyed learning about the different organizations and feel more educated about how I can enhance my experience here at The Ohio State University. There is an involvement fair at the beginning of the school year, which showcases over seven-hundred student organizations, university departments, and non-profits. In comparison to that event, the IA mini-involvement fair felt more personalized and I was able to learn more about specific organizations. So, attending the IA mini-involvement fair was really helpful.