As a student in the Honors Program at OSU, it is my duty to uphold the Honors G.O.A.L.S. These “G.O.A.L.S.” refer to five key areas of personal development, which include Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. I cannot believe that in only a month, my time at OSU will be halfway complete. I have made significant strides as a sophomore in my exploration of the Honors G.O.A.L.S., and will now review my progress, as well as suggest ideas to further my experience.
The first area is Global Awareness. I have developed Global Awareness through classes, such as Spanish and Classic Civilizations of Rome. Even more importantly, I have cultivated my global citizenship by maintaining friendships with people of many different cultures. This helps me to appreciate the cultural diversity on not only our campus, but the entire world as well. It has interested me to learn about my friends’ vast differences in religious and cultural practices. I have made an effort to try a variety of new foods and discuss belief systems. I am interested in studying abroad sometime before college is over.
The next area is Original Inquiry. This is an area I have had much experience in during the past year. At the beginning of September 2018, I joined the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Kirby who conducts neural stem and progenitor cell research in the Psychology Department. As part of the lab, I have learned many advances techniques, including qPCR, cell culture techniques, brain slicing and harvesting, histology, BCA protein quantification, mouse weaning, and performing western blots. I have worked to perfect these skills. I have been encouraged by my research mentors, Dr. Kirby and Dr. Jiyeon Denninger, to apply for funding to conduct my own research project. I spent two months reading literature relating to our lab’s interests in order to write my very own proposal. Supervised by Dr. Denninger, I constructed a largely independent research project for the summer and submitted it for a grant. While I did not receive funding, I have learned an incredible amount about original inquiry and my ability to come up with scientifically unique, advanced research proposals. I will use STEP funding in order to complete my proposed project this summer. My work will help me determine which experiments I will perform next, culminating in a Senior Research Thesis. My future goals are to apply for more research grants and present my work at local, regional, and national conferences.
The third goal is Academic Enrichment. I am committed to pursuing academic excellence in my major classes, in addition to general education requirements. My planned curriculum explicitly relates to my future aspirations of matriculating into an MD-PhD program following undergraduate and maintaining a career as a physician-scientist. I selected the Neuroscience Major because of its application to my future. It is a medically heavy major, supporting the physician side of my goals, and relates to my interest in continuing part-time neuroscience research as a career. The courses I selected within the major include mainly upper-division and some honors classes, emphasizing my academic commitment. The GE’s selected demonstrate the application of my primary passion, science, to other areas of study. A few examples of this include taking Microbiology 3704 (the history of HIV) for my history credit, and Physics 3201, a holography course, as my visual arts credit. I think it is important to take interdisciplinary courses that I am passionate about.
The next G.O.A.L.S. area is Leadership Development. I am involved this year with several extracurricular activities in which I build my leadership skills. First, as part of the medical professional fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon, I was directly involved in a small task force that worked to put on an Anatomy Fashion Show to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. As part of the task force, I assisted with fundraising, planning event logistics, and researching information on anatomical organ systems. This opportunity has taught me about planning a large event and networking donors. Next year, I hope to take a higher leadership role in the planning of our next fashion show. In addition, as part of the Wexner Medical Center Cardiac Internship, I became CPR and AED certified. I help to coordinate with campus organizations to schedule hands-only CPR trainings. At these trainings, I present the hands-only CPR technique to groups of 2 to over 100 people. Presenting to large groups of people has improved my public speaking ability and made me better at leading large groups. Both activities relate to my future career, which requires networking and planning.
The final category is Service Engagement. Some service-oriented activities I have been involved with are volunteering at Grant Hospital in various departments and doing the volunteer CPR trainings. I have also done some service events with Phi Delta Epsilon to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, such as planning the Anatomy Fashion Show. I will continue to engage with the community by doing more volunteering at Grant Hospital. I would like to also get involved in some form of environmental volunteer work.
Overall, I have remained dedicated to supporting the Honors G.O.A.L.S. There are some areas in which I want additional experience. However, I am proud of the progress I have made over the last year in developing skills so necessary to my future.