Sophomore Artifact 1

Pictured above is Elijah (center) with his two older brothers on one of my monthly visits as a mentor.

Through this mentorship, I have learned the positive power of consistency, care, and trust. Elijah and his brothers have always had trust issues rooting from their rough childhood and absentee felon mother. For this reason, maintaining consistency and trust is at utmost importance; otherwise, I will have failed my responsibility as a role model and my efforts will have minimal impact. In parallel with being a mentor, I also have learned to be a cognizant friend who considers their homelife and struggles in order to understand how to work through behavioral and other issues while also maintaining discipline and respect as a mentor. Having the experience to mentor Elijah (now 9) for the past four years has given me a new perspective on life and has changed my worldview. It has allowed me to appreciate my own life and family much more and has given me more of a passion for helping others. I also feel this experience has made me more objective and also has helped me to become less judgmental. I have realized that for any person you encounter, you can never truly know what they are dealing with or what they have been through, so there is never a reason to judge or have a prejudice—for anyone.

 

G.O.A.L.S.

The Goals presented by the honors and scholars program is a great way to help students like me plan for their future endeavors whether it be for a career, extracurricular, or personal goals.

  • Global Awareness: My goal relating to this section can be seen in my mentorship work with Elijah, a nine-year-old who I have been mentoring for 4 years.
  • Original Inquiry: I hope to study abroad. I was going to this architecture program which started in Germany and ended in Italy, However, COVID-19 canceled it for this year.
  • Academic Enrichment: Through multiple programs (Mount, Morrill, Theta Chi), I feel I have multiple sources of academic enrichment and hope to continue my involvement with these programs
  • Leadership Development: Mount Leadership Society has helped me to solidify my leadership skills, and I hope to continue improving the areas which I lack
  • Service Engagement: Through Buckeyethon, Theta Chi, Mount Scholars, Morrill Scholars, and mentorship, I stay pretty busy with service engagement and hope to keep up with my service in the coming years

Artifact 2

Pictured above is me with my seven year old mentee named Elijah. As a mentor, I provided guidance to  Elijah, who had difficulty socializing, keeping his temper, and often fought with his two brothers. Each week, I traveled to the program’s facility and interacted with him by playing games and doing crafts, helping with homework, and talking about his week. He was such an energetic seven-year- old and always found a way to make me smile, usually by running away and trying to hide in the most obvious of places. I rarely had to raise my voice, but when I did, it usually was to tell him to stop laughing so loudly. Each week, I looked forward to Wednesdays when I had the opportunity to spend time with him. Over the last two years of my highschool career, Elijah taught me how to deal with sensitive people, thus improving my ability to handle difficult situations. My efforts with Elijah also gave me skills I was able to apply to my summer camp counseling job. As of now, I am currently traveling back to my hometown of Mansfield, Ohio to visit Elijah once a month in order to continue positively influencing his life. My experience with Elijah has given me an incentive to continue mentoring young children throughout my college career, leading me to join college mentoring for kids at OSU.

Artifact 1

Zara.History2710.Essay1 (1)-21kmr16

The attached document is my first college essay. The story of this essay describes my rough transition to the workload of college from high school. This essay was written for the first exam in History 2710: History of the Car. Proceeding with the essay as I did in high school, I procrastinated. My procrastination caused me unneeded additional stress and anxiety which could have been avoided through proper time management. Additionally, my procrastination reduced the quality of my work, resulting in a grade of 86%. In my future classes, and with my next essay, I will manage my time accordingly to finish the essay and any other work at my highest potential in order to receive a better grade, retain more information, and reduce unwanted stress.

About me

My name is Nick Zara, I am a Scholars student at The Ohio State University! I am a member of both Mount Scholars and Morrill Scholars. I am pursuing a career in the construction field after graduating with a business degree. During the summer, I am a camp counselor and I love to play tennis and explore the outdoors. During the winter, I love to snowboard and play video games. I am excited to finally be at OSU!

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 guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]