Back in February, I had the opportunity to participate in Buckeyethon, Ohio State’s 24 hour dance marathon benefitting cancer research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. I started my journey in November when I began to fundraise for the cause. I knew I had to raise at least $250 to participate in the dance marathon, but I made it a goal to surpass that amount. I started by posting on social media about the dance marathon, and people began donating almost immediately. I was overwhelmed by the amount of support the cause received, but I still had more work to do. I posted a fundraising bingo board on my Instagram account in order to encourage my friends to donate a few dollars. This worked really well, and I ended up raising around $50 from that alone, which was enough to get me to the $250 mark and allow me to participate in the dance marathon. The day of the dance marathon finally came, and my friends and I participated in the night shift from 7pm to 7am. During the dance marathon, I continued to fundraise and I ended up raising a total of $453, nearly double the amount required. Buckeyethon was definitely one of my favorite memories from this year, and I can’t wait to do it again next year.

One of the clubs I have joined since being at OSU is STEM Outreach. STEM Outreach is an organization that travels to area schools and libraries to get kids interested in STEM fields. I was recently able to volunteer with the organization at the Parsons branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. I spent about an hour there helping teach a group of kids how to build there own flashlight using nothing but a box, an LED, a battery, a paperclip, a few wires, and some tape. At first, the kids were not very interested in the STEM aspects of the project, but as they were building, they became more and more curious about how the circuits worked. It was so much fun to see how excited the kids were about the flashlights they had made. They were eager to show them to their friends and explain how they worked. I am looking forward to volunteering with them again!