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.