Graduation 2020

As of May 2020, I am officially a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the Ohio State University. I am so thankful for the 4 years spent on campus and the countless memories and friendships I gained along the way. In my time at Ohio State I was able to win a Big Ten championship with the Women’s Rowing team, become the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Politics and International Affairs, study abroad in Moscow, Russia, attend every home football game and my senior year game against the team up north in Ann Arbor, work the front desk of the Slavic Department, participate in English Conversation Partners, enjoy on campus events like Taste of OSU and countless OUAB events, receive a Fulbright to teach English in Russia, complete an honors research thesis and have three internships that all contributed to my future career goals. I am truly glad to have decided to come to OSU and it has changed my life for the better. Although I am no longer in Columbus, it will always have a special place in my heart. To keep up with what I am doing going forward, connect with me on LinkedIn!

– Sydnee

 

Sophomore Year Review/ G.O.A.L.S.

Although it is the beginning of my second semester of sophomore year here at OSU, I feel as though there is already a lot to review from this past semester. As I recall the experiences from my first semester of sophomore year, I will use the G.O.A.L.S. that I have written previously and update them for this current year.

Global Awareness:

As a second year, I am opening up myself to new experiences in order to cultivate my global awareness. I currently have an internship with the U.S. State Department through their Virtual Student Federal Service internship program that pairs me with Russian high school classrooms to Skype with on a weekly basis. I teach the Russian students about American culture and also help expand their language skills. I have learned a lot about the Russian people and their culture and I really enjoy getting to speak to the students weekly. In order to continue expanding my global awareness, I have applied to spend the summer studying abroad in Moscow. I hope to not only improve my language skills but also get to have a first-hand experience with the people. I look forward to trying new foods, visiting new sites, and interacting with the Russian people.

Original Inquiry:

I have started thinking about the possibility of doing research in the coming years. I went to an event within the political science department to learn more on how to get involved in research in the future. At the meeting, I met with a member of a club here at OSU that publishes undergraduate research and I was able to start attending those meetings. The club, Journal of Politics and International Affairs, will help me see what kinds of research are being done by undergraduates in my field all across the world and may spur some ideas of my own on how to complete research while here at OSU.

Academic Enrichment:

As previously stated, I hope to one day work for the United States government, in the Foreign Service, for the State Department, or other bureaucratic agencies in the government. As an International Studies major, I hope to be able to challenge myself here so that I am prepared for graduate school after my undergraduate years here. I chose my major because I want to learn more about diplomacy and international relations in order to achieve my goals of one day working outside of the U.S. for the U.S. government. I also chose my minor as a way to prepare for this. I chose to major in Russian because of the current state of relations between the U.S. and Russia. Throughout the Cold War, Russian was a highly pursued language by government workers, to address the issues that the had on hand. After 9/11, Arabic became a highly needed language for the Foreign Service and government sector careers. I chose Russian because it is still listed as a critical need language and it will be a valuable asset in the years to come, especially if relations between our nations continue as they do today.

Throughout my different political science and international studies classes the past year, I have seen more job potential then I originally thought. I always believed the U.S. State Department was the only job I could see myself in, and while I still aspire to one day reach my goal of working for the State Department, there are many possibilities I am finding out about. In my UN System class, I learned about many NGOs and IOs that are independent of the government but still interact with not only the U.S. government but also other foreign governments on a daily basis. These could be possible job opportunities I previously had no knowledge of. As well as with those, Russian language will expand my horizons as well in the job search. Companies and international business may need a Russian speaker to help conduct business abroad and I would love to get to live in Russia and work with the people on a daily basis. I also have seen the avenue of teaching, open before me. Throughout my internship, I have developed a love for working with students and helping them learn a language. I could possibly teach students English abroad and help them to gain language skills to increase the quality of their futures.

Leadership Development:

This year I am involved a lot more on campus than I was last year. I am a member of the Journal of Politics and International Affairs, which is a club that produces a journal of undergraduate research bi-annually. I am learning about research and other students as I review undergraduate work throughout the year. In addition, I am looking to join the Russian Club at OSU. I would love to be apart of the club and get involved with the Russian language community on campus. I am still involved with CRU, one of the religious organizations on campus, and attend weekly bible studies with my peers throughout my building. As well as on campus activities, I have my internship with the State Department weekly, as I take time to make presentations and prepare materials for the students in Russia. All of these activities are helping me learn time management skills and the importance of starting projects in advance. I always meet deadlines as I have had to learn how to make use of my split time between classes and out of the classroom activities. This will help me one day balance a busy career and future.

Service Engagement:

My internship can be considered part of my service engagement as I teach students on a weekly basis. I love knowing that I am helping them achieve their goals of learning English and perfecting their skills. As well s with my internship, I recently enrolled in a conversation group that places English students and international students on campus together to help them learn more about America and help them to work on their conversational skills. I hope to make an impact on the lives of these international students as it is already hard for them having to come to another country to attend school. I want to make them feel welcomed and help them merge well with the community we have here on campus at OSU.

Double Major

At the beginning of my 2nd year here at OSU, I decided to declare my Russian minor as my Russian major. Throughout my first year and beginning of second year, I developed a deep appreciation for the Russian language, culture and people. Due to this, I declared Russian as my second major! I look forward to the opportunities this major will bring me to learn more about the country and people of Russia.

Year in Review

The 2016-2017 school year was my first year at The Ohio State University and it was one I will never forget. I came into the year challenging myself with learning Russian, a new language for me, and by taking classes I never expected to take. Throughout the year, I truly believe I grew a lot as a student. Many of my individual skills were fostered within my coursework. During my first semester, I worked on my public speaking skills in my Ancient Civilizations class on Ancient Rome. I also expanded my knowledge on current events and struggles to find peace in our world in my Introduction to Peace Studies class. I challenged myself in Pre-Calculus and learned that hard work and dedication are needed to really understand material, especially when it is something you are not typically comfortable with. Throughout my second semester, I was also able to grow in many ways as I continued to take classes related to my major and for my general education requirements. I learned to love Earth Science during my Earth Through Time Honors class, something I never would have developed knowledge on had it not been for this class. Online, I took Global Politics, a requirement for my major, and was able to improve self-discipline and technological skills through a class offered in an online format. In a GE course called Women and Gender in Christianity, I was exposed to new ideas on Christianity that had never before been brought to my attention and helped to open my mind to unexplored thoughts. Overall, I would call this year a year of growth as I not only learned what it takes to live as a college student on campus but also as an honors student taking courses to better myself for my future endeavors.

Artifacts

My first semester at Ohio State, I took a class called Ancient Civilizations: Rome that focused on the history of Rome surrounding the time period before and slightly after the death of Julius Caesar. My expectations for this class as an average history class were shattered when we learned that the main focus of this class would be researching the time period and acting out events that occurred. We played a series of “games” in which we would have a goal and were assigned a character. Each character had personal goals and worked to achieve their goals. For many of the games, we acted out sessions of the Roman senate as senators and influential people of the time period. The games took a lot of research and creative writing skill as you had to present speeches in the point of view of your character. I enjoyed learning in a way I had never done so before and this class helped my public speaking skills improve greatly. It was a very valuable and fun class to have at the beginning of my college career.

I have attached an example of a speech I gave for our game on the Ides of March. In this game, I portrayed Publius Ventidius Bassus, a senator and friend of the recently deceased Julius Caesar. I gave this speech to the other senators following Caesar’s untimely death at the hands of fellow senators.

Ides of March Speech

About Me

Hello!

My name is Sydnee Wilke and I am a current International Studies major with a focus on International Relations and Diplomacy, as well as a minor in Russian at The Ohio State University. I chose to attend OSU as it seemed to be the best place for me to foster connections, have access to research, explore opportunities throughout the school and the city of Columbus, and grow as a person. With a degree from OSU, I have plans to attend graduate school after college and pursue a Master’s degree in International Relations. In the future, I hope to one day enter the U.S. Foreign Service or do work with the State Department abroad. What sparked my interest in International Studies was my love for other cultures and seeing how different countries interact with one another. The relationships our government has with other countries plays a huge role in the stability of the international environment and I hope to one day work alongside our government and assist in relationship building.

In my four years at OSU, I plan on partaking in as many educational opportunities as possible. I would like to study abroad in a Russian speaking country, whether that be Russia itself or possibly Kazakstan. Studying abroad happens to be an amazing opportunity for college students and one that I shall take advantage of. I would also love to get involved with research within the field of International Relations. As a student, I hope to be able to work under professors with expertise in the field and gain as much insight and knowledge that they can share. Experience in research would be a great start to building my foundation for a future career in International Relations.

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness:
As a student with a major in International Studies, one of the main focuses of my time here at Ohio State will be cultivating my appreciation for diversity and everyone’s differences. In my course work, I am going to study many different regions of the world and I am minoring in Russian which will help me to explore new cultures. There are many organizations and events on campus as well that I plan on attending in order to become more cultured and aware of the world. Hopefully during my four years here, I am able to take a trip to study abroad. Since I am minoring in Russian, I think it would be useful to study abroad in Moscow or St. Petersburg, any major Russian city. There I would be able to fully immerse myself in the culture and the language.

Original Inquiry:
Throughout my undergraduate years, I do plan on getting involved in research. As I learned in my survey class, there are many opportunities for students to get involved with research. I would like to do research with my major but there is always a possibility I may decide to do research outside of my major as a way to expand my knowledge and challenge myself. Another way I plan on challenging myself is through my curriculum. I plan on taking challenging courses as a way to make myself grow as a student. As an Honors student, it is highly encouraged to take challenging classes, and they make it easy for us to do so. I also hope to take classes outside of my major, as a way to continue to become a better learner and student. It would benefit me in the future to have a vast expanse of knowledge.

Academic Enrichment:
I hope to one day work for the United States government, in the Foreign Service, for the State Department, or other bureaucratic agencies in the government. As an International Studies major, I hope to be able to challenge myself here so that I am prepared for graduate school after my undergraduate years here. I chose my major because I want to learn more about diplomacy and international relations in order to achieve my goals of one day working outside of the U.S. for the U.S. government. I also chose my minor as a way to prepare for this. I chose to minor in Russian because of the current state of relations between the U.S. and Russia. Throughout the Cold War, Russian was a highly pursued language by government workers, to address the issues that the had on hand. After 9/11, Arabic became a highly needed language for the Foreign Service and government sector careers. I chose Russian because it is still listed as a critical need language, and seems to have less people learning it than Arabic. It will be a valuable asset in the years to come, especially if relations between our nations continue as they do today.

Leadership Development:
Although I have not been at Ohio State long, I have already begun to involve myself with activities on campus. I joined the Ohio State Novice Rowing Team which is a part of the NCAA program. As a walk-on member of the team, I really put forth a lot of effort into everything I do. At practices, I help to encourage the other girls and we all work together to get our conditioning done. It has taught me more about being an encouraging and supportive leader. I am also involved in CRU at Ohio State which is a religious organization. Other residents of my building and I attend church together on Sunday evenings and we have small group time on Monday nights. This has taught me to be a responsible leader as I have to make sure to devote time to this each week. That means I must complete my school work promptly and make sure to allocate time to CRU. Overall, I feel as though my time here has already helped improve my leadership skills and I will continue to work on that as time goes on.

Service Engagement:
As a student athlete, it is hard to make time for service engagements within my community. I hope to get more time out of my season to participate in the many things offered on campus. I want to make sure to do Community Commitment at the beginning of the year next year, and I hope to join a club or organization that does charity work. One issue I care about deeply is children. I hope to be able to work with children and be a mentor to them. As a kid, I benefitted from being mentored by college students and I hope that I can somehow return the favor here while at Ohio State.

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]