Making the Connection | Ohio Wesleyan College

Making the Connection

Ohio Wesleyan Celebrates Studying at Inaugural OWU Connection Convention

By Marcos Crespo ’23 and Cole Hatcher

No courses or exams occurred Oct. 6 at Ohio Wesleyan College, however a number of studying befell throughout campus on the college’s first daylong OWU Connection Convention.

The occasion was stuffed with panel discussions and displays that includes Ohio Wesleyan college students sharing how their participation within the college’s signature expertise helps them to create the private {and professional} futures they search.

In welcoming the neighborhood to the “historic, first-ever OWU Connection Convention,” President Rock Jones, Ph.D., mentioned that when he meets potential and incoming college students, he typically asks them what they care about, the place they need to go, and who they need to be sooner or later.

“Immediately, we get the solutions to these questions,” Jones mentioned.

The OWU Connection, a part of the college’s basic schooling curriculum, is designed to assist college students “Assume Massive” (perceive advanced points from a number of tutorial disciplines), “Do Good” (volunteer to assist others), “Go International” (achieve worldwide perspective), and “Get Actual” (translate classroom data into real-world expertise via internships, analysis, and different hands-on studying).

Along with the panel discussions, the day additionally included the annual Patricia Belt Conrades Summer time Science Analysis Symposium, that includes college students discussing their 10-week mentored analysis experiences and sharing posters of their findings.

Assume Massive

Through the inaugural convention, Assume Massive panelists shared their experiences and answered questions from friends nonetheless planning OWU Connections:

• Sisi Fish ’24, a Communication main, interned with the Summer time on the Cuyahoga group, finishing advertising and marketing and illustration work for the nonprofit that works to facilitate internship experiences for college kids in Northeast Ohio. Fish utilized her curiosity within the Advantageous Arts discipline, including that since taking graphic design courses at OWU, she’s “gotten quite a bit higher even when I used to be very proud on the time of my first design.”
• Lily Good ’23, a Bachelor of Advantageous Arts (studio) main, participated within the New York Arts Program and interned for 3 artists. “Getting to listen to totally different opinions actually helped me develop as an artist,” she mentioned.” Requested about what it was prefer to work in Manhattan, Good informed her friends, “It appears fairly daunting [at first], but it surely’s truly very easy. I used to be nervous, however I received via it.”
• Katie Lee ’23, a Bachelor of Advantageous Arts (studio) main, interned for the New York Arts Program, which helped her fulfill a objective to “learn the way artists dwell” as she plans her future. Lee is also engaged on a year-long Departmental Honors Challenge and acquired an OWU Connection grant to purchase supplies for portray, papier-mâché, and artwork ebook tasks. Lee mentioned the Honors Challenge is “serving to me discover what future tasks may appear to be.” Her work will go on exhibit in April as a part of the graduating senior artwork exhibit at OWU’s Richard M. Ross Artwork Museum. 
• Lily Herreid ’24, a Zoology main, labored with the Cleveland Nationwide Historical past Museum and teamed up with the nationwide Lights Out initiative to assist scale back hen mortalities. Her efforts included sharing methods to forestall birds from flying into home windows and serving to those who wanted rehabilitative care. Herreid inspired everybody to assist scale back hen deaths by turning off the lights throughout their migration season. 
• A.J. Lashway ’23, a triple main in Zoology, Environmental Science, and English, interned with the Metropolis of Delaware at its Wastewater Therapy Plant. As a sustainability coordinator, she monitored and pulled trash from waterways for chemical testing to evaluate water high quality. Lashway mentioned the internship was a “rewarding expertise” and helped her to resolve that she doesn’t need to pursue such fieldwork as a profession.
• Lee Leonard ’23, a Zoology and Environmental Science double main, traveled to Michigan to analysis how local weather change impacts crops experiencing drought. Leonard accomplished a whole lot of knowledge assortment and knowledge entry, and confidently mentioned, “I really feel quite a bit higher as a researcher and really feel like I’ve grown as an individual.” Leonard famous OWU’s Plant Ecology course offered basis for the analysis.

Do Good 

Panelists shared the various methods they had been capable of volunteer in service to others, together with the college’s annual spring break Interfaith Service Week, and the way it will assist to form their futures:

• Karli Walsh ’24, a Philosophy and Politics and Authorities double main, traveled to Chicago to conduct a sequence of interviews targeted on individuals going through life incarceration. All through the expertise, Walsh found how “dehumanizing the system is [to prisoners]” via interviewing an inmate going through a life behind bars.
• Meredith Frymyer ’24, a Pre-Legislation and Social Justice double main, labored with the Lakota Youth Improvement group in South Dakota throughout a spring break service journey to assist tribal natives and produce consciousness of their rights. Frymyer is also president of Indigenous Individuals Consciousness Membership and seeks to spark conversations relating to colonization. “I’m not within the place as a white feminine to inform their tales, however indigenous voices should not heard sufficient within the media.”

Go International 

These panelists traveled the world for his or her OWU Connection experiences, conducting analysis, tutorial, and repair tasks that expanded their understanding of different cultures and customs:

• Emma Zajac ’23, a Neuroscience, French, and Pre-Drugs/Pre-Dentistry triple main, spent eight weeks working at a hospital in Senegal, West Africa, caring for kids with most cancers. She additionally accomplished the study-abroad requirement for her French main by serving as a translator for her sufferers. The expertise helped Zajac decide the kind of work setting she prefers and strengthened her love of serving to individuals.
• Zynnia Peterson ’23, a Zoology main, went to Costa Rica to volunteer and assist out with the day by day care, medical checkups, and care of endangered macaws. “Volunteering is an effective approach to journey and community inexpensively,” she mentioned. Peterson is a switch scholar and earned an OWU Connection Principle-to-Apply Grant for her journey. “All the things was a enjoyable studying expertise, and I don’t assume I might actually change something.”
• Lucas Nathanson ’22, a younger alumnus who majored in Enterprise Administration, supplied recommendation after having labored as a scholar with a advertising and marketing company in Prague. Whereas within the Czech Republic, he performed analysis on native and worldwide meals corporations and accomplished copyright proofing. Concerning his study-away expertise, he mentioned, “It’s a fantastic alternative to work in an setting the place it’s atypical to no matter you have got finished academically.”
• Nathan Zuniga ’25, a Physics and Pre-Engineering double main, is learning overseas this semester in Sydney, Australia, on the Sydney Institute of Know-how. Whereas he has struggled with the time zone and with lacking his fraternity brothers, Zuniga mentioned, “Each time I’m going outdoors, it seems like an accomplishment because it’s so totally different from America.” He tells friends considering of learning overseas “don’t be afraid” and go for it.
• Annabel Benes ’24, an Environmental Science main, is learning overseas in Copenhagen, Denmark, via the Council on Worldwide Instructional Alternate (CIEE) program. “Courses have been an adjustment,” she mentioned, however “I’ve realized learn how to dwell on my own – like learn how to plan out my meals.” Total, Benes mentioned, the expertise was the “alternative of a lifetime,” and all the panelists within the Zoom assembly nodded in settlement.
• Jenn Lee ’24, a Enterprise Administration main (advertising and marketing focus), is learning in Prague as a part of the Cultural Experiences Overseas (CEA) program. Lee mentioned the realm’s accessible transportation has allowed her to journey nearly each weekend. “It’s serving to me day-to-day to develop as a extra impartial individual,” she mentioned, including that “OWU does an excellent job in supporting your monetary wants.” Lee concluded by advising her friends who’re contemplating journey applications to “make the expertise what you need it to be.”
• Audrey Propp ’24, a Neuroscience main, is learning overseas on the Nationwide College of Eire in Galway. Whereas adapting to the “Irish angle” has been an adjustment, Propp mentioned, it’s a “very relaxed environment and there are not any judgments since everyone seems to be doing their factor.” She encourages college students to “benefit from their environment” in the event that they resolve to go overseas. 
• Jada Respress ’23, a Communication main, studied overseas on the CIEE Open campus in Cape City, South Africa, and at present is in London, England. Respress had been making an attempt to check overseas since her freshman 12 months however hadn’t been capable of till now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The method with COVID wasn’t straightforward, and it was simply getting pushed again so many semesters.” Respress mentioned an necessary advantage of the expertise has been “stepping into a special setting and discovering out what you want and don’t.”
• Helena Von Sadovsky ’24, a Medieval Research main, is learning overseas on the College of School Cork in Eire. “This system has made issues tremendous supportive and nice,” Von Sadovsky mentioned, however she suggested college students to get a SIM card from their dwelling nation to make communication as straightforward as potential. Her different recommendation is to “be open-minded as a lot as potential.”

Get Actual

College students taking part in these panels had a number of useful recommendation as they mentioned their internships and different hands-on studying experiences with friends nonetheless planning OWU Connections:

• Nilu Deb ’25, an Astrophysics and Laptop Science double main, inspired college students to be open to studying new expertise, networking, and creating their presentation expertise. He additionally advocated for college kids to “all the time be ready. Don’t depart something for the final minute.” His expertise concerned finishing biophysics analysis targeted on “Enhancing Prediction Accuracy of RBPBind by Together with Variable Footprint” at The Ohio State College.
• Blake Johnson ’24, a Politics and Authorities main, additionally famous the significance of networking, in addition to the advantages of “surrounding your self with individuals who know greater than you,” and dealing with OWU’s Profession Connection workplace to determine alternatives and to be ready to efficiently pursue them.
• Kara Cannon ’25, a Laptop Science and Advantageous Arts main, is rethinking her path and planning so as to add a Enterprise Administration main (with a advertising and marketing focus) because of her internship expertise. “It actually helped me to determine what I need to do with my life,” she mentioned of her internship with Philadelphia-based Sports activities Reference. Her position included working as a consumer expertise/consumer interface intern and conducting consumer interviews and focus teams. Cannon additionally inspired each scholar to create a LinkedIn web page in the event that they didn’t have one already. “Private branding is every part within the digital age,” she mentioned.
• Kennedy Watkins ’25, a Laptop Science main, offered details about her firm, Gilded Teas, at a particular “OWU Does Entrepreneurship” panel held on the Delaware Entrepreneurial Middle at Ohio Wesleyan College, the place she has an workplace. Watkins offers a portion of her proceeds to assist one other of her passions. “I need to educate individuals about how STEM fields want extra minorities,” she mentioned, “extra minority ladies like me.”
• Nathan Scott ’23, a Enterprise Administration and Well being and Human Kinetics (Sport and Train Administration) main, shared employment and internship data throughout an HHK panel. He has labored with the Columbus Recreation and Parks Division and Columbus Crew, amongst others, and earned his spot with the soccer workforce after making his preliminary outreach by way of tweet. His get actual recommendation included “get used to listening to no” and all the time “take the interview,” even when you aren’t positive whether or not the job is the proper match. He additionally really useful that college students “apply in every single place to get a baseline of the place you’re” within the expertise you have got and people you could develop to get the place you search.
• Lauren Reich ’23, an Accounting and Finance Economics main, labored over the summer time as an funding operations intern with Capital Group and has accepted a full-time place with the agency. She credit the Profession Connection workplace with serving to her to shine her resume and interviewing expertise and inspired college students to “be sure you are protecting an eye fixed out for connections,” together with campus occasions, audio system, and alumni in your required discipline. She additionally famous the necessity to make skilled displays, including that that is “a talent OWU teaches rather well.”
• Savannah Domenech ’25, an Environmental Research and Geography main, accomplished a summer time internship serving to to look after animals and crops as a sustainable agriculture intern at Delaware’s Stratford Ecological Middle. Her hands-on assist included amassing eggs, feeding chickens and cattle, and even fixing electrical fencing. She recommended protecting in touch with OWU advisers and professors when in search of alternatives and to all the time “preserve an open thoughts … put your self on the market, and overcome worry.” As for her most memorable second, she used meals to maintain a goat calm throughout milking and sooner or later when the animal escaped, it headed proper for the milking station and the deal with bucket. “I educated a goat,” she mentioned.
• Anna Edmiston ’23, an English (Artistic Writing) main, participated within the New York Arts Program, working as an editorial assistant for the Video Artwork Experimental Movie competition. “I wished to discover profession alternatives in my inventive discipline that had been sensible,” Edminston mentioned, including that “the security web of going to New York via this system made it extra of a chance.”

The subsequent OWU Connection Convention will likely be held throughout spring semester, once more inviting college students to share experiences and to plan the place they need to go and who they need to be.

Study extra about Ohio Wesleyan’s signature scholar expertise, the OWU Connection, and the primary OWU Connection Convention at owu.edu/connection and extra in regards to the Summer time Science Analysis Program and annual symposium at owu.edu/ssrp.