For the mentor meeting assignment, I interviewed my mentor Melissa Sutton. She is a sophomore majoring in civil engineering. In the academic category, I asked her the question “What has been your most challenging major class? What advice do you have to get through it successfully?” She told me that Physics 1250 and 1251 was her hardest class. It had a lot of concepts she had a hard time mastering. Her advice on successfully cruising through was going to office hours and getting help. She also suggested getting to know the TA more so he/she can recognize individual’s weakness and strength so TA can give more precise help on subject. Plus, make a “To Do List” so I can always remember what I need to work on without having risk the possibilities of forgetting it. The second category was involvement, in which I asked her “What type of volunteer hours, internships, etc. have you done since you have been a student at OSU? How did you first get involved with them?” She said that she hasn’t had any internships yet, but over the summer she took classes at OSU and she had two jobs (one at Lake Shore, and the other at Outlets in Columbus), plus this fall break she will be shadowing an architect. She said that she has volunteered for events hosted by ENR and a club called Women in Engineering. Furthermore, she also helped out for her mother in teaching art classes to elementary students. She got involved with those events because of her program she is in, along with family connection. Regarding ENR Scholars category, I asked her the third question, which is “What advice do you have for making the most of the ENR program?” Her response was common yet true: Attend as much events as you can. She likes the idea of knowing that she can contribute to something, to make a difference through participating those events. She like to sum up the involvement with this phrase “You get what you put into it”. Next category is careers, I picked the question “What do you plan to do with your major after graduation (enter workforce, graduate/professional school, travel, etc.)?” She told me she has an important decision to make; choosing between civil engineering or architecture, and with that decision comes two different outcomes after graduation. If she chooses architecture, she will go straight to graduate school. Because architecture is a pre-professional degree, so graduate school is required. If she stays with civil engineering, she will get a job related with her major, and if the companies pay her to get a graduate degree, she will then attend graduate school. The last category is miscellaneous, I picked the question: “How do you balance academics and involvement? Do you have any tips?” Her answer sort of builds off the academic category. She gave me advices on make “To Do List” to remind ourselves assignments need to be completed. Budget time carefully and wisely for major assignment, exams and quizzes. And most importantly, be able to make wise decisions regarding whether to do work or have some leisure.
The assignment with my mentor show me that college (especially at the Ohio State University) offers endless form of resources and opportunities. Whether I let this time period to flow right by or use it as a spring board to sling shot me where I wanted for my post-collegiate career is up to me and only me, on how I use this as a resource. There are many people and facilities that are there to help me succeed in overall form, be that in academics, social, or networking, all I need to do is to go to them and ask for their advice because those resources will not actively come to me. Right now, I have been taking advantage of office hours, math and physics lab, and evening tutoring sessions, and it has been a great help to me academically! Being as involved as I can in the ENR helps me meet new people in a diverse background with diverse goal, career wise or life wise. I can also be someone with unique traits or talents. In conclusion, having this mentor meeting, I have great confidence that I will be successful as a student in the Ohio State University.
