2019-2020 Year In Review

This school year was one with unparalleled challenges and growth. Up until a few years ago I would have jumped at the opportunity to take online classes. Getting to work at my own pace and deciding on deadlines always seemed ideal; not to mention getting to work in my pajamas from the comfort of my couch. What I found instead was that things are incredibly difficult with a lack of human interaction and working with the background of a global pandemic. Instead of relaxing and doing work at a leisurely pace, I found myself struggling academically for the first time in my life. I was faced with anxiety concerning nearly every aspect of my life for reasons I could not understand. In this situation, I didn't know what to do. In the past when I found myself having academic troubles, I would simply work harder and spend more time studying, but this time none of that seemed to work. I finally came to the realization that I needed to change how I studied and how I  managed my time and my stress. During the spring semester, I introduced new organizational techniques that worked for my anxiety and helped me to work even when I felt like it was difficult to get started. While the results weren't perfect, it was so helpful to see progress. 

Once I was able to function again, other positives started coming back to me as well. In the times where I had felt like I was drowning in stress and coursework, I was unsurprisingly not able to enjoy the things I was doing or learning about. However, once I got back on top of the water, I found great joy in my classes. One class I was taking, Environmental Policy even inspired me to do an independent research project on the topic due to interests I discovered in the class. In this time I felt more inspired and productive than I remembered feeling in a long time.

In reflection, it was silly to think I could enter into a life and schooling style completely different from the one I previously lived and expect to carry the same habits and be successful. It was foolish to assume I could work in the landscape of a global pandemic which cut down nearly all in person interaction and still function and manage stress in the same way. While this year was incredibly difficult, it taught me how to stop,  notice my failings, try new things, and  evaluate the effectiveness of the solutions I put in place. I'm not happy that I had to fail in the ways I did this past year, but I am forever grateful for the chance to fail and learn new things about myself.

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2019-2020 Year In Review

This school year was truly unlike any other in so many ways! This year I was able to witness my growth in different leadership positions, coursework and even in jobs. Additionally, I experienced personal growth through the situations presented by the Coronavirus and transition to online learning and quarantine.

One of the experiences which most shaped my year and helped me to grow was becoming Vice-President of Member Education of my sorority of Kappa Delta. Although I originally didn't think it was something I would be able to do, I stepped out of my comfort zone, applied and was elected. Since taking on the new role, I have spent time planning events and educating and retaining new members. This has included weekly meetings building relationships with the new members and teaching them about the sorority. Part of this task included evaluating the effectiveness of the programming and adapting it to best aid the new members. I look forward to continuing this next year and using these skills in my future career and coursework.

In terms of coursework, one of my courses in particular this year has been influential in my life. The honors seminar I took this year, Blind Injustice, focused on wrongful convictions especially through the work of the Ohio Innocence Project run through the UC Law School. Not only has this instilled a passion in me which I explore in my free time but has also ignited a passion in me concerning my future as I hopefully pursue a career as a lawyer. While I knew this was always an issue, this class made me truly realize the need for correction and work to be done. In the next year, I am looking for additional ways to get involved and support their work.

Another experience which helped shape my year was my job as a lifeguard at the campus recreation center. While this was not my first time working as a lifeguard, it was my first time having a job as I took classes. This taught me a lot about time management and is an experience I am thankful for. It also gave me something to work for money for while taking classes.

The final experience that has shaped the past year for me was unsurprisingly the time spent at home, adjusting to online learning. Admittedly, I thrive less in an online classroom as it often times requires me to pace my work myself. While I wish this was one of my strengths, it is not. However, given no other options, I had to develop ways to stay on task and create and enforce timelines for assignments I might not want to stick to. The result is that I am confident in my ability to complete online classes, something that will greatly impact my success in the future of my college education.

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2018-2019 Year In Review

The most impactful experience from my first year at the University of Cincinnati was my International Institutions class and the study trip attached to it. During this class, I was introduced to new concepts and ideas and forced to employ new and challenging methods of problem solving. By forcing me outside of my comfort zone at times, this class and study tour showed me what I want to be aim to be like both in my near and far future.

Through the coursework of the class, we were encouraged to come up with our own solutions to problems facing some of the largest governmental institutions in the world. This task, although daunting, was encouraging and impressive in reflection. There were many times in which I questioned how I was to handle problems that world leaders haven’t been able to tackle, but once I had proposed solutions, I always felt more confident and more passionate about pursuing solutions like these through my life. Until these, I felt unqualified to give my opinion on such large issues, but the assignments showed me that I can offer solutions that could change the world.

On the study portion of the class, the interactions with the professionals we met with provided me with a strong desire to aim towards similar paths. Until the trip, I never considered working for an international organization and I often saw them as unsuccessful and unlikely to make a difference. However, I can now see the importance of these organizations and the individuals within them. Additionally, these individuals were all extremely motivated and inspiring with their work. This brought me inspiration in a time where I was beginning to question which way I want to go with my career provided motivation to be my best self.

In addition to the experiences from the coursework and the trip, my interactions with other students also helped to make this the most impactful experience of my year. As the class was comprised of mostly Honors Political Science and International Affairs students. As I used my first year to take many of my breadth of knowledge courses, this was one of my first chances to meet other students in my majors. Because most of these students were Honors and therefore highly motivated, it was encouraging to interact with them. It was eye opening for me to be able to ask others about their collegiate experiences and how they were helpful. These conversations helped me to gauge what I should be doing in the next few years and which internships I should be trying to obtain.

In the next year, I hope to use these experiences by applying for some of the internships I learned about through my classmates. I also hope to investigate careers like the ones I learned about on the study tour and make progress towards becoming more like those professionals. Finally, I will continue to come up with solutions to problems in the world as I did in the class and make efforts to see them put in place in the world.