Saplings Mentor Meeting

I recently met with my ENR Scholars mentor and asked her several questions about her OSU experience thus far. I learned a lot from my conversation with Chelsea. Chelsea Cancino is an environmental science major, and she is a second year student at the Ohio State University. I asked her five questions in total in our meeting, but I gathered far more information that I had expected. Chelsea’s goal in life is to become a restoration ecologist. This involves ecosystem restoration, in which ecosystems are restored naturally. Chelsea was extremely excited when coming to OSU because the school offers ecosystem restoration as an Environmental Science specialization. She thinks that it is amazing how, even in a booming city like Columbus, ecosystem restoration is possible, and even underway in some parts of the area.

Chelsea’s most challenging class at OSU was General Chemistry 1210. This class was difficult because it is what many know to be a “weed-out” class. This means that a competitive major, such as nursing, will give a difficult class to get rid of the people who, for lack of better phrasing, are not willing to put in the necessary work to be successful. Chelsea got through the class by doing every small thing possible. She exposed herself to as many different methods of teaching as she could. This included notes from lecture, notes from the book, watching videos, etc. This gave me a stance on what to do if I am to come across a particularly difficult class. I will keep these words of advice in mind as I get deeper and deeper into my major classes. Not all professors are created equal, and so if I am struggling in a class and the professors are not helping, looking up videos online could help me enormously.

Chelsea put a lot of emphasis on the fact that ENR Scholars has given her enormous volunteering opportunities. Her first volunteer experience at OSU, the river clean-up, was done through ENR. Environmental and Natural Resources Scholars had been Chelsea’s first choice, and she was extremely excited to have the opportunity to be a part of not only the outdoor experience, but also for the experiences of volunteering and helping with the local community. From this, I learned to take advantage of the many volunteer opportunities that ENR Scholars offers. If possible, I would like to exceed the 10-hour requirement for volunteering. I also want to engage myself in volunteering opportunities that I truly care about. With ENR Scholars, that should not be a problem. I want to help both people and the outdoors, and it seems like the opportunities that I have heard about thus far involve both of those aspects.

Chelsea loves all of the opportunities and events that ENR Scholars put together. Last year, she adored all of the camping trips, hiking trips, and backpacking trips. She also put a lot of emphasis on the little activities, such as painting flower pots and planting herbs in them. I learned that there is something for everyone in ENR Scholars, even if it was not a person’s first choice. Personally, ENR Scholars was my first choice and I was so excited to get into the program. Hearing about all of Chelsea’s experiences with the indoors, outdoors, and everything in between has gotten me excited all over again for the opportunities that are awaiting me. I would like to take advantage of the many opportunities for adventure that ENR Scholars is providing me with in the months to come.

The most important thing Chelsea has learned, and is still learning, thus far at Ohio State is time management. She is very involved around campus, and still has days where she feels extremely overwhelmed. This calmed me down a lot because balancing the different aspects of my life was one of the biggest concerns I had upon entering Ohio State. It has made me a lot more comfortable to hear that, even in their second year at OSU, people are still learning how to balance the college lifestyle. I also learned that, just because I want to be involved in something does not mean that I should be. There are a limited amount of hours in the day, and I have to be sure to leave time for what is truly important to me.

Questions:

  • What has been your most challenging major class? What advice do you have to get through it successfully?
  • What type of volunteer hours, internships, etc. have you done since you have been a student at OSU? How did you get involved with them?
  • What ENR Scholars opportunities are you glad you participated in?
  • What do you plan to do with your major after graduation?
  • What is one of the most important things you have learned thus far at Ohio State?