Year One: 2013/2014
What a year it has been! I knew, when I accepted my admission to University of Cincinnati, that I was joining a school that would challenge me, push me, drive me to be the very best student I was capable of being. I was not proven incorrect in this. Before I even stepped on campus, I felt the challenge and accepted it.
My courses were by no means easy, the necessary side-effect of choosing to pursue pre-medical studies. Each of them, however, proved to be engaging and fulfilling. In particular, Gateway to University Honors helped me to center myself and evaluate the changes in my life. One of the most poignant assignments during that course was the significant events lifeline. I really had to think back and evaluate my past to discover what led me to where I am today. It’s funny, in a way, that, being so interested in psychology, I understand the effect(s) one’s past have on development. I even took a course on developmental psychology! However, it wasn’t until I examined my own life, with everything good and bad, my own choices, mistakes, and triumphs all held together, that I truly understood just how significant our pasts our in molding who and what we are.
In the same thread, I understood that, as important as the past is, it is equally important not to let yourself be restrained when looking toward the future. This fact was especially driven home when we received my father’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease, no matter when it manifests, is largely unpredictable and will often show periods of rapid progression interspersed with periods of slow progression. While difficult, at first, to grapple with, there are aspects that are a blessing in disguise. I, for one, understand how truly inconsequential life can be when it is not given meaning. It slips by far too quickly, even in its normal course, to be burdened with bitterness and regret, with sadness and melancholy. We should work, every single moment, to make our lives meaningful to ourselves and to everyone around us. In the end, all we have to ensure our place in the world are the memories that we create. In the end, nothing remains of us but memories, which are far from insubstantial and more powerful than anyone every fully realizes.
This realization more fully opened me up to my honors experiences this academic year. My trip to Scotland was, truly, indescribable. There may be many beautiful, breathtaking landscapes in the United States, but I can think of none that would outrank the beautiful, rolling hills of the Scottish Highlands. The Old World-feel merges directly, if sometimes comically, with that of the new. The sense of history, pride, and nobility was thick in the air. Just walking through Old Town, in Edinburgh, left me with a feeling of immensity and awe. Sometimes, I would just stop and breathe and take in the sights around me. Taking my openness in stride, I expanded my boundaries. I was even pulled into a street performance! This is definitely something I don’t think I could have done in the States, and I am sure my earned nickname from this comic encounter (Sex Pistol, it’s a long story) will be remembered by my classmates for years to come.
New York City was another adventure entirely. Going from a rural area, like I had grown up in, to Cincinnati was, to me, moving to the “big city.” I could not have been more mistaken! New York City is massive on a scale that I could scarcely imagine. For all of its immensity and ant-colony feel, there were little seeds of humanity present. One morning, I crossed the street from our hotel and purchased breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts. An older woman asked if she could share my table for a moment, and I engaged in conversation with her. An hour later, she left. As it turns out, she is a professor of literature at NYU. We had a lovely conversation, and I was struck by the proof that, even in places where we are nothing more than a grain of sand on the beach, we can find sparks of compassion and unjudging humanity.
Although not as large as New York City, the campus at UC is also large and it can seem as though I am lost in a sea of other faces. Thankfully, I have found several of those faces to ground myself to: my honors advisor, Kayti Kennard, is always willing to lend an ear to any problem or question I have. The same is true of my academic advisor, Lori Wright. My advisors in the pre-professional center are also extremely helpful, and Dr. Tissot with the Dual Admissions program has proven instrumental. All of my advisors make sure that I am aware of every available opportunity, and help me to take full advantage of them.
The Dual Admissions program has proven to be another anchor itself. The students, both in my year and in the older years, are always available for questioning and support. More importantly, we support each other. When we have grievances (and yes, we complain just as much as the next student), we are always sharing them with each other. These are probably the strongest relationships that I have forged, and I could hardly ask for a better group of friends. We have perhaps another seven years, or more, of pursuing education together, and are off to an excellent start. With their support, and the support of my classmates in each of my honors seminars, I have become much more open and outgoing.
This new openness, coupled with all of the many lessons I have learned in my first year at UC, will be one of the key things that I take with me into my coming years. Life has taken on a new and precious light for me. I will continue to seek new opportunities, push myself to meet excellent standards, and not let any negativity or ill-wishes hold me back from being happy. I will choose to be happy and to pursue every goal that I set for myself. With this new attitude, I can pave the way for a better me and become an even better friend and person.
In order to continue to grow and learn, I will take advantage of every opportunity through the honors program that I can. In fact, I have already registered for another honors seminar for the coming fall semester. These seminars will allow me to not only take a break from the rigorous science curriculum required as a pre-medical student, but also to expand my learning to develop better critical analysis and evaluation skills. I’ve already been able to put some of these skills to use, and have seen their practical benefit in daily life.
The best advice I can give myself for the coming year is to always keep my head held high, no matter what challenges or tasks I face, and to never fear seeking help if I need it. I hold myself to high standards, and sometimes holding myself to those standards creates its own stress, anxiety, and difficulty. I have to learn to take things one at a time and save plenty of time to have fun!
But I think I can safely add this piece of advice also: it’s better to love and learn deeply, than it is to love and learn widely. I heard something like this during The Fault in Our Stars. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much it applied to me. I’ve come to a point in my life where I cannot do EVERYTHING, I cannot be EVERYTHING, and I can’t make EVERYONE like me. I need to choose the truly important things, the things and people that mean the most to me, and focus on them.
All in all, I like my prospects for the next year! I have a TON of paths opening up before me, and I can’t wait to take advantage of them. I can already see how much I’ve grown in the past year, and I look forward to seeing how I grow in the year to come. I’ve made some great friends, learned all kinds of new things, and expanded my own experiences. This, I sincerely hope, will become a constant pattern for the rest of my life.
My courses were by no means easy, the necessary side-effect of choosing to pursue pre-medical studies. Each of them, however, proved to be engaging and fulfilling. In particular, Gateway to University Honors helped me to center myself and evaluate the changes in my life. One of the most poignant assignments during that course was the significant events lifeline. I really had to think back and evaluate my past to discover what led me to where I am today. It’s funny, in a way, that, being so interested in psychology, I understand the effect(s) one’s past have on development. I even took a course on developmental psychology! However, it wasn’t until I examined my own life, with everything good and bad, my own choices, mistakes, and triumphs all held together, that I truly understood just how significant our pasts our in molding who and what we are.
In the same thread, I understood that, as important as the past is, it is equally important not to let yourself be restrained when looking toward the future. This fact was especially driven home when we received my father’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease, no matter when it manifests, is largely unpredictable and will often show periods of rapid progression interspersed with periods of slow progression. While difficult, at first, to grapple with, there are aspects that are a blessing in disguise. I, for one, understand how truly inconsequential life can be when it is not given meaning. It slips by far too quickly, even in its normal course, to be burdened with bitterness and regret, with sadness and melancholy. We should work, every single moment, to make our lives meaningful to ourselves and to everyone around us. In the end, all we have to ensure our place in the world are the memories that we create. In the end, nothing remains of us but memories, which are far from insubstantial and more powerful than anyone every fully realizes.
This realization more fully opened me up to my honors experiences this academic year. My trip to Scotland was, truly, indescribable. There may be many beautiful, breathtaking landscapes in the United States, but I can think of none that would outrank the beautiful, rolling hills of the Scottish Highlands. The Old World-feel merges directly, if sometimes comically, with that of the new. The sense of history, pride, and nobility was thick in the air. Just walking through Old Town, in Edinburgh, left me with a feeling of immensity and awe. Sometimes, I would just stop and breathe and take in the sights around me. Taking my openness in stride, I expanded my boundaries. I was even pulled into a street performance! This is definitely something I don’t think I could have done in the States, and I am sure my earned nickname from this comic encounter (Sex Pistol, it’s a long story) will be remembered by my classmates for years to come.
New York City was another adventure entirely. Going from a rural area, like I had grown up in, to Cincinnati was, to me, moving to the “big city.” I could not have been more mistaken! New York City is massive on a scale that I could scarcely imagine. For all of its immensity and ant-colony feel, there were little seeds of humanity present. One morning, I crossed the street from our hotel and purchased breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts. An older woman asked if she could share my table for a moment, and I engaged in conversation with her. An hour later, she left. As it turns out, she is a professor of literature at NYU. We had a lovely conversation, and I was struck by the proof that, even in places where we are nothing more than a grain of sand on the beach, we can find sparks of compassion and unjudging humanity.
Although not as large as New York City, the campus at UC is also large and it can seem as though I am lost in a sea of other faces. Thankfully, I have found several of those faces to ground myself to: my honors advisor, Kayti Kennard, is always willing to lend an ear to any problem or question I have. The same is true of my academic advisor, Lori Wright. My advisors in the pre-professional center are also extremely helpful, and Dr. Tissot with the Dual Admissions program has proven instrumental. All of my advisors make sure that I am aware of every available opportunity, and help me to take full advantage of them.
The Dual Admissions program has proven to be another anchor itself. The students, both in my year and in the older years, are always available for questioning and support. More importantly, we support each other. When we have grievances (and yes, we complain just as much as the next student), we are always sharing them with each other. These are probably the strongest relationships that I have forged, and I could hardly ask for a better group of friends. We have perhaps another seven years, or more, of pursuing education together, and are off to an excellent start. With their support, and the support of my classmates in each of my honors seminars, I have become much more open and outgoing.
This new openness, coupled with all of the many lessons I have learned in my first year at UC, will be one of the key things that I take with me into my coming years. Life has taken on a new and precious light for me. I will continue to seek new opportunities, push myself to meet excellent standards, and not let any negativity or ill-wishes hold me back from being happy. I will choose to be happy and to pursue every goal that I set for myself. With this new attitude, I can pave the way for a better me and become an even better friend and person.
In order to continue to grow and learn, I will take advantage of every opportunity through the honors program that I can. In fact, I have already registered for another honors seminar for the coming fall semester. These seminars will allow me to not only take a break from the rigorous science curriculum required as a pre-medical student, but also to expand my learning to develop better critical analysis and evaluation skills. I’ve already been able to put some of these skills to use, and have seen their practical benefit in daily life.
The best advice I can give myself for the coming year is to always keep my head held high, no matter what challenges or tasks I face, and to never fear seeking help if I need it. I hold myself to high standards, and sometimes holding myself to those standards creates its own stress, anxiety, and difficulty. I have to learn to take things one at a time and save plenty of time to have fun!
But I think I can safely add this piece of advice also: it’s better to love and learn deeply, than it is to love and learn widely. I heard something like this during The Fault in Our Stars. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much it applied to me. I’ve come to a point in my life where I cannot do EVERYTHING, I cannot be EVERYTHING, and I can’t make EVERYONE like me. I need to choose the truly important things, the things and people that mean the most to me, and focus on them.
All in all, I like my prospects for the next year! I have a TON of paths opening up before me, and I can’t wait to take advantage of them. I can already see how much I’ve grown in the past year, and I look forward to seeing how I grow in the year to come. I’ve made some great friends, learned all kinds of new things, and expanded my own experiences. This, I sincerely hope, will become a constant pattern for the rest of my life.