Fisher Impact Day

Many may think business students are greedy and only care about profits for companies and their shareholders, however at Fisher we take great pride in giving back to our community. Social responsibility is a growing interest in firms. Now, the struggle of finding a healthy balance between social responsibility and maximizing value for shareholders is bigger than ever. According to Milton Friedman, shareholders are the economic engine behind a firm’s success. As a result, the goal of the firm should be to maximize profits and give shareholders their deserved returns. In today’s culture, many companies have a greater mission: to do good in society. Think of Starbucks and their mission to not only provide sustainable coffee, but to do it in a positive way that benefits all of the stakeholders like coffee planters in Central America to advancing their employees education by providing college education through Arizona State University. Certainly their profits are not going to their shareholders, but rather their profits are being invested into the community and the many stakeholders mentioned above. But by participating in Fisher Impact Day as the picture above portrays, we as business students are dedicated to giving back to our community because we believe there is more to business than simply creating the highest net present value possible for a firm.

Summary of ACES Mentorship Experience

I had the privilege of getting to mentor two first year ACES members, Emma and Brea. Emma, from Liberty Center, Ohio is an early childhood education major and Brea, all the way from North Carolina is a fashion major with an emphasis on the business side of the industry. From the start, we all had a few things in common. Emma’s brother and her boyfriend are both in finance like myself so she could relate to some of the stuff in my life. On the other hand, my mom is a teacher, so I knew what Emma’s classes and aspirations were to a certain degree. We are also from very small towns. Brea and I both love fashion so I could relate to some of her motivations.

 

At the beginning of the semester, me and my mentees were a little shy. We had to develop the psychological safety required for effective teams and relationships. After we had a few community meetings, attended multiple events, and got food, we were able to be more comfortable around each other to have a mentor-mentee relationship. Being a mentor has been a very valuable experience. As college students, we are always focused on schoolwork. This has given me the chance to focus on a different aspect of college. Taking classes comes at a price but building relationships and developing valuable connections is priceless. It is so important to build relationships in college from your floor mates, classmates, sorority friends, to relationships built through mentorship so we can leverage them when we graduate and enter the real world. But building relationships requires more than what our classes do. Instead of using our intellectual abilities to solve math problems, building connections and developing relationships with peers requires us to use something called emotional intelligence. I had not heard of this concept of using intelligence on an emotional level until we talked out it in one of my leadership classes this year. Emotional intelligence definitely tied into my mentorship experience. Further, it is critical to successful leadership. Many suggest that “EQ” is two times more important than “IQ”. So what is emotional intelligence? It consists of factors like working with others and personal maturity. Emotional intelligence analyzes the areas of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivations, empathy, and social skills. I learned from this mentorship experience that I first had to be self-aware. This meant realizing my strengths and weaknesses as a member in ACES. Being a second year, I knew more about the program and the aspects I was good at, and the areas I could improve upon. From there, I was able to help me mentees not make the same mistakes I did, such as procrastination. Next is self-regulation. Being open to change and new ideas is a big part of self-regulation. As a mentor, I had to be open to new ideas that my mentees brought into play. The next dimension of emotional intelligence is motivations: having passion for the work and energy to persist toward goals. As a mentor, this area was very important to emphasize. Having a strong drive to achieve the goals of the ACES program and being committed to helping the greater community of Columbus was something I put great emphasis on and strived to do. It takes passion and motivation to successfully complete ACES and truly learn lessons from it. Through this mentorship experience, I was able to develop my empathy skills as well. This included understanding the emotions of others, being others oriented, and listening. I had not taken into consideration empathy before this year. Being in ACES, it is critical to have that cross cultural sensitivity. But on the mentorship level, I was not so good at it. So simply having this experience to develop my empathetic abilities benefitted me. Lastly, social skill is the last dimension of emotional intelligence. Having friendliness with a purpose was a major factor in being a mentor. Being a mentor is different from being a role model. As a mentor, I was a friend to guide the two first years throughout their first year journey. The purpose behind our friendship allowed the mentorship experience to be successful. From making sure Emma and Brea knew the requirements of the program and making sure they knew of ways to get service hours to getting food off campus and just talking about our days and socializing, I was able to help them through their first year of college. This mentoring program is a good route for first years to become more adapted to ACES and the college life by giving the first year a firm connection and immediate guidance.

 

Explore Columbus Spring Semester

This semester my mentees and I explored the Grandview neighborhood. While none of us are big coffee drinkers, we decided it would be good to get outside of our comfort zone and try one of the unique shops in the Columbus area. From the Angry Baker to Fox in the Snow Café to Stauf’s, Columbus is filled with lots of fun cafes that give it its charm and character. After class one evening me and my mentees, Emma and Brea, headed over to Stauf’s Coffee Roasters in Grandview Heights; a close drive of only about ten minutes. I drove us there. It was very challenging finding a parking spot on Grandview Avenue. There were lots of other fun restaurants and shops in the street that would be fun to explore and try out as well such as The Avenue, Balboa, and the Candle Lab. Luckily, Brea found a parking area behind the restaurants. Once we looked at the menu and asked questions about the different types of coffee we ordered. I am not sure if I will ever understand the difference between a mocha, frappuccino, latte, expresso, and macchiato. Eventually, I ended up ordering a mocha because I needed to stay up late to study. The barista suggested it would be best for me since I don’t like coffee. Emma also got a mocha and a muffin. Brea played it safe and got a hot chocolate. Despite being a large café, it was packed. We could not find a seat for five minutes. Finally, we snagged an area to sit and talk. As the end of the semester approaches, we were all very anxious to start finals and be out of school for the summer. Brea will be going back to North Carolina and will be going on a few trips this summer. One of this trips will be to New York City with her mom. Since Brea is a doing a business fashion major, this will be a fun experience since New York is one of the fashion capitals of the world. Emma will be going back to her hometown to work and save up money. I have noticed that the common trend for college students is to work as much during the summer to build up a large bank account and then slowly spend all of the money throughout the school year until it’s time to go back to finding a job. Living away from home, it’s our first chance to be somewhat financially independent. I catch myself really thinking if I need to buy a Domino’s pizza. Even though it seems like it’s only ten bucks, after buying several pizzas they all add up. Both Emma and Brea are content with their major choices as their freshman year comes to a close. It was a very fast year with their busy schedules. As I move off campus next year, Brea and Emma will be staying on campus. They will both live in Smith Steeb Hall again.  Emma got the wonderful opportunity to be a Resident Advisor for next year. And lucky for her she was placed in Smith Steeb. As an RA she will get paid as well as receive free housing. I am sure she will learn a lot of lessons in this role. It takes a special person to be an RA. Being there to lead a floor of underclassman is very challenging but comes with rewards. There is no doubt in my mind Emma will be there for all of the students on her floor and will offer her advice and friendliness. Hopefully the weather warms up in the last two week of class. It is always refreshing to go outside and study with the sunshine in Siebert Lawn or the Oval or just go out and get some fresh air in the stressful finals season. Going back to Stauf’s is something I would definitely do. Lots of people there were having soft conversations while others were studying or doing work on their computer. It is a nice change of atmosphere for studying and getting out of the dorms. Sometimes it can feel toxic only going to the Union for food and coming straight back to the dorms to study in your room. If I were to go back again, I would recommend going at an off time. We went at seven o’clock in the evening. When we left at eight o’clock, tables were freeing up. I would either go later at night or during the afternoon at two o’clock. I will be sure to recommend it to my friends, even if they are not a coffee drinker.

2nd Semester Mentee Interviews

My first mentee, Emma Babock, is staying very busy this semester. She continues to push through and work hard to receive good grades, as the education program here at Ohio State is very selective. This semester, she gets to be in FEEP, which stands for First Experience Education Placement. Through this program, she gets real life experience in a third grade classroom in a local elementary school. Participating in this program has broadened her career goals. Coming into college, Emma wanted to teach younger children in first grade, but now that she is in a third grade class she appreciates the maturity the third graders possess. The hands on atmosphere FEEP delivers is a big perk of Ohio State’s education program. Her tough class this semester is education psychology. This class requires lots of memorization about people and educational theories which is challenging because of its different nature.  Emma is staying very involved outside of school. Aside from classes, she works about eight hours a week. In addition, she continues to babysit and is also part of Your Night Out which is a program multiple ACES are in. Through this, she goes to watch autistic kids to give their parents a date night. Emma is also in OSCA, or Ohio Student Education Association. This group talks about current education issues like standardized testing. She will continue to be a part of this organizations to get experience and build her resume. She is doing everything possible to get into her major. As far as ACES, it is somewhat different than what she was expecting. Coming in, she thought it was going to be more group service rather than individual service efforts. This is a good thing though because it allows everyone to go their own way and pursue their passions. Living in Smith Steeb continues to prove great feedback. The scholars group living together help unify the cohort and puts greater purpose into the scholar’s experience. Emma’s favorite memory thus far has been the Penn State football game when Ohio State come out victorious and the fans rushed the field. She strives to get all A’s and continue to participate in activities that will help her get into the education program, which she applies for during her sophomore year. Since being here at Ohio State, she is continually surprised at how small the campus actually feels. Coming in, everyone would say how big of a campus it is, but every day she bumps into several familiar faces while walking through the Oval to class.

My other mentee, Brea Smith, continues to get involved here at Ohio State though ACES. She is enjoying her major while taking some classes that challenge her. CSE, which stands for Computer Science and Engineering, is a class that keeps her on her toes. She admits that she probably has not devoted enough time to this class. Like all of us, we have a few classes that we enjoy more and put more time into. She also plans on getting involved with other clubs next year in pursuit of building her resume with activities that are closely related to her major. Brea expressed positive feedback about the living community in Smith Steeb as well. She explained that simply living together makes it easier to complete the ACES requirements, such as social and academic events, because there are always people to go to events with. Having like-minded individuals in ACES makes it easy to turn to for support. So far in her freshman year, Brea’s career plans remain intact. She is still in the process of choosing the direction that is right for her, as many college students are. She is not sure what her favorite memory has been thus far.

Each mentee leverages ACES as a way to help her succeed here at Ohio State. I am confident the program will benefit these girls all four years of college through direct and indirect impacts. I am glad I can be there to support them as we continue our events together this semester.

Explore Columbus First Semester

The explore Columbus assignment is an opportunity for mentors and mentees to interact outside of the world of ACES. I believe it is important for mentors to be there to guide a mentee through school and around areas of ACES, but to do that, it is important to get to know each other on a personal level to reach full potential. To explore Columbus, me and my mentees went down to the Short North to eat at Condado Tacos – one of my personal favorites. Condado is a hip taco eatery located just south of campus down High Street. After texting back and forth to coordinate our three hectic schedule, we found the perfect time on a Friday evening before just before finals started. Emma, Brea, and myself met up at the dorms and Ubered down to the restaurant. We thought about taking the COTA but because it was cold, but chose the convenience of the Uber app. Once we got to Condado, we had to wait about fifteen minutes to get seated because we went there at prime time, so we walked down High Street to the boutiques in the Short North. Brea is a fashion major so she got to see a taste of the styles and trends displayed in these shops. Emma and myself enjoyed the browsing. As time passed, we got notified our table was ready. Finally, we got seated. If you are not aware, Condado is a unique place also located in Easton. From the queso and guacamole to customizing tacos, the restaurant has its own special tastes and charm. We opted for the chips and guaq for an appetizer. Both myself and Emma had been the Condado before but it was Brea’s first outing. We showed her the ins and outs of creating a great taco and after much deliberation, we placed our orders. While we ate we were able to catch up on how our first semesters went. Last year at this time I was very overwhelmed by finals. College is a big transition from high school and the term “Finals Week” is pretty daunting. From my previous experience with finals, I suggested for Emma and Brea to relax but also keep an organized schedule of what they need to be doing to prepare for their finals. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and anticipation of going home. Emma was excited to go home and be with her family as she was about to become an aunt and Brea was ready to go back to North Carolina where she lives. In terms of finals week, Brea had less tests than me and Emma, so it was really important for her to not get off her study routine. Finals week is challenging because the structure of having your regular class schedule is gone. Thus, it is easier to stay up later and sleep in longer. My advice is to treat your day as you normally would and stay on the same schedule to ensure optimal performance on finals. But also, treat yourself as we did at Condado. My favorite break from finals as a first year ACES was to walk to Panera with my ACES friends. My favorite thing about this experience with my mentees was eating non-dorm food and getting to know my mentees outside of the scope of school. Getting away from the hectic life of school was also another perk for us as we indulged ourselves in chips and tacos. The experience got me even more excited for the Christmas season as we ventured out in the cold and talked about our ugliest Christmas sweaters. We will probably try to do something different next semester. Columbus is a developing area especially for young adults. We have discussed heading over to Easton for some shopping on a Saturday afternoon since there will not be football games. Another interesting experience is COSI. Another idea is to coordinate an event with with another pair of mentors and mentees. But for anyone craving some chips and salsa, I highly recommend going to Condado, but make sure you have good ears because it is a very loud environment. We are very privileged to go to a school located in one of the best cities in this country. None of us are from Columbus so exploring it’s many areas and activities is very enlightening. With first semester wrapped up, I look forward to what spring semester holds for me as well as my mentees. Spring semester has a complete different feel to it at Ohio State. Best is ahead for our many events we have planned.

2nd Year Mentor Experience

It is a great honor to be a mentor to not only one but two first year ACE Scholars. I am looking forward to getting to know these girls more and help them throughout their first year of college here at Ohio State, as well as learning more about myself through these bright young women.

 

Brea is a fashion major from North Carolina adventuring away from home. She has always had a passion for fashion and particularly has an interest for the business side of the industry. Enjoying her class schedule so far, the only main challenge she has encountered is math: a typical struggle for many freshmen. She has taken advantage of tutors and has persevered through the class; a great quality I too pride myself on. Brea maintains a healthy balance of studying between the laid back study rooms in the wonderful Smith Steeb Hall and the more intense, non-distracting atmosphere of Thompson library. Getting involved is always a great way to get away from the books for her. In high school, Brea frequently volunteered at the local elementary and middle schools by helping teachers and tutoring students. In addition, she volunteered at homeless shelters. Now that she is here at Ohio State, she spends time volunteering with a recycling club to clean up the environment and raise awareness for the issue. She is also looking to get involved in the Girls Circle Project where she would learn how to facilitate girl groups. Her commitment to service is evident upon her decision to join Advocates for Communities and Education Scholars. She realizes the importance of giving back to the community when it’s time to get a job and employers look at her resume. One of the biggest challenges she is anticipating is creating a balance between ACES and school. This means getting her service hours in without feeling the stress of school barging in. Upon graduation, Brea hopes to get an internship and make her way up in the fashion industry and potentially go to grad school. She has an interest in how different the fashion industry is in different countries and wants to gain a better understanding of how to protect workers in the fashion industry. Ultimately, she just wants to let life take her where it wants to and then everything will work out in terms of finding a dream job. She is adding a business minor to her degree which will be beneficial since business is a fundamental aspect to not only fashion but all industries. Brea is handling college very well so far. Her success can be contributed to her organization, calmness, and her sense of awareness. In other words, she knows not to get overinvolved. Getting involved is good, however education and classes are her main priority here at college. She has also learned that she is capable of being successful away from her family. She is independent but still likes to call home and talk to her parents a few times a week. Ohio State is everything she has expected and more. There’s opportunities waiting around every corner and always something to be doing in her down time.

 

Emma is an Ohio native. Ever since she was nine years old, she has known teaching was her calling. She thought about finance and engineering as her older siblings pursued careers in those fields, but having a mini classroom growing up in her basement instilled her love for teaching. Now here at college, Emma is one step closer to actually becoming a teacher and having her very own classroom in an elementary school instead of her basement. Working hard toward her degree, she frequently studies in the basement of her dorm and enjoys going to the 18th Avenue Library to do homework assignments in her challenging math class. She explained that her elementary math class gives her a run for her money because it is not like regular algebra or calculus class. Not that it is hard for her to understand, the class is simply a lot of work because she actually has to know the material well enough to explain to a child. She has definitely been learning how to spend lots of time studying. Emma is very involved and has learned to manage her time pretty well for just being in her first semester of college. ACES has allowed her to jump into community service events and meet other students with the same passions and interests as her. She hopes to find the perfect club where she can have close interactions with kids. She also devotes time to her job at the teaching and learning department. In addition to working with kids, Emma is also interested in working with diverse students around campus and the city of Columbus. Emma’s love for service is also evident in her high school involvement. She was in National Honor Society and Student Council where she worked closely with Adopt a Highway and helped with other community events. ACES is very important to Emma as she strategically chose this group of scholars to mesh with her early childhood education major. She looks forward to working alongside other ACE Scholars who share the same passions as her and feeding off of others’ positive energy. Ultimately, serving this great community is her greatest desire. Her only concern is getting all of her service hour requirements in, as it is hard as a freshman to jump into the college coursework while trying to get involved in the community. Once she graduates from Ohio State, Emma would like to get her Master’s Degree as soon as possible. Her dream job is to be a second grade teacher. Some friends and family members ask her if she would want to make her way up to the administrative side of education, but her main goal is to be a classroom teacher and interact with the kids. She explains, “it will be rewarding to see them learn,” and she wants to work in a fun atmosphere. Emma has some job experience in the HR field so if teaching does not work out for some odd reason, she would be happy working in that industry so she could still work alongside lots of people and have an interactive work atmosphere. Overall, Emma has a great vision and is surrounded with many opportunities to succeed. Her organization and time management skills will take her even further. She has learned so far here at college that it is important to be outgoing. Since she is from a small town and knew everybody, it is quite a change to be at one of the largest universities in the nation. In order to reach out and make new friends, it is critical to be outgoing. One major change college has been from high school is the significant differentiation in amount of schoolwork here. She exclaimed it is so surprising how long a single assignment can take.

 

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness

In the future, I hope to acquire a global internship through the Fisher College of Business. Not only would this allow me to gain more experience in the field of finance, but I would also gain an appreciation and greater understanding of the world outside of the United States. By living in an unfamiliar area with new norms, I would be able to come back to Ohio State with more knowledge about an individual’s uniqueness.

 

Leadership Development

My goal is for the students at Graham Primary Middle School to view me as a leader and role model. Volunteering each week, they can depend on me to be there to assist them. Many of these kids do not have a strong support system at home so my leadership and guidance is very beneficial to them. I plan to continue to be a leader in many activities here at Ohio State.