2017 Year in Review
Surprise! I’m still in college, although it might not seem like it to many people in my life these days. This year has been another co-op-filled one—I’ve now spent two more semesters away from campus. That makes for four of the last five, for those of you keeping count (Hi, Mom.)
In the last 12 months, I’ve lived in Washington DC, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and now Chicago. I took a two-week road trip by myself across the southeast United States. I traveled to Australia with an honors seminar in December. All told, by my best count, I’ve stayed in 28 different places this year—of interest, they include a couch for the better part of three months and my car for a night.
All this is to say, interestingly enough, that the most important relationship I’ve developed this year has been with myself. I’ve been on the road so often, seeing so many different people, and experiencing so many different places that I’ve—as counterintuitive as it might sound—grown and clarified what is important to me as an individual.
I worked multiple jobs at once for the first time in my life, learning to appreciate the value of my time as well as the true freedom I have to structure my life as I see fit.
If I could change something about the last year, I’d have encouraged myself to act more swiftly in times where I knew the right choice for me but allowed external factors to cloud or delay my judgments and actions.
As I enter my final year as an undergraduate, stewarding my time and effort through this lens will become more important than ever. As I continue to consider my post-graduation, it will become critical for me to develop a set of core, guiding values to drive my decision-making.
It stands well that one of those values be fear. Specifically, the pursuit of it. A new mentor in my life shared a perspective on this recently—that the (responsible) choices we make to do things that incite fear in us challenge us to grow the most.
Reflecting on the past year, I’ve seen this play out in spades. Two of the most fulfilling growth opportunities I’ve had include speaking in front of a crowd of 7,000 at UC’s new student convocation and penning an article on campus sexual assault for my past co-op employer, New America.
I’m quite particular—and nearly as guarded—as it pertains to the personal brand I have endeavored to build for myself. As such, I’m terribly hesitant to produce work—speaking, writing, or otherwise—for public consumption. But those two experiences, while not 100 percent positive in all aspects, provided a terrific platform for growth. I think it will be a positive growth opportunity to continue to challenge myself in this space during the remainder of my college career.
I hope that I have integrated my personal brand throughout my life as thoughtful, energetic, and inquisitive. If I have successfully done so, then I can be satisfied that my time at the University of Cincinnati and within the University Honors Program has been more than well spent.
In the last 12 months, I’ve lived in Washington DC, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and now Chicago. I took a two-week road trip by myself across the southeast United States. I traveled to Australia with an honors seminar in December. All told, by my best count, I’ve stayed in 28 different places this year—of interest, they include a couch for the better part of three months and my car for a night.
All this is to say, interestingly enough, that the most important relationship I’ve developed this year has been with myself. I’ve been on the road so often, seeing so many different people, and experiencing so many different places that I’ve—as counterintuitive as it might sound—grown and clarified what is important to me as an individual.
I worked multiple jobs at once for the first time in my life, learning to appreciate the value of my time as well as the true freedom I have to structure my life as I see fit.
If I could change something about the last year, I’d have encouraged myself to act more swiftly in times where I knew the right choice for me but allowed external factors to cloud or delay my judgments and actions.
As I enter my final year as an undergraduate, stewarding my time and effort through this lens will become more important than ever. As I continue to consider my post-graduation, it will become critical for me to develop a set of core, guiding values to drive my decision-making.
It stands well that one of those values be fear. Specifically, the pursuit of it. A new mentor in my life shared a perspective on this recently—that the (responsible) choices we make to do things that incite fear in us challenge us to grow the most.
Reflecting on the past year, I’ve seen this play out in spades. Two of the most fulfilling growth opportunities I’ve had include speaking in front of a crowd of 7,000 at UC’s new student convocation and penning an article on campus sexual assault for my past co-op employer, New America.
I’m quite particular—and nearly as guarded—as it pertains to the personal brand I have endeavored to build for myself. As such, I’m terribly hesitant to produce work—speaking, writing, or otherwise—for public consumption. But those two experiences, while not 100 percent positive in all aspects, provided a terrific platform for growth. I think it will be a positive growth opportunity to continue to challenge myself in this space during the remainder of my college career.
I hope that I have integrated my personal brand throughout my life as thoughtful, energetic, and inquisitive. If I have successfully done so, then I can be satisfied that my time at the University of Cincinnati and within the University Honors Program has been more than well spent.