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Each year of college summed up!

Year 1
2022-2023

This past year has been one of the most impactful, challenging, and wholesome years of my life so far. I feel that moving forward with my life so quickly and leaving home to move 4 hours away to go to college pushed me through hoops and hiccups that I would never have thought about. However, each challenge shaped me to start to push myself to become the woman I dream to be. This year I started college, The University of Cincinnati was a completely new place for me, I knew no one, was new to the location, and had no idea what the year had in store for me.

When I first moved to college I felt very stressed, I had to start getting ready for all the work ahead of me but also I felt quite alone. This made me look into myself and push myself to start to see my independent time as something to cherish and to love hanging out with myself. Over time, I became okay with being alone and later found some amazing friends. I know that I am in the next stage of life and need to start surrounding myself with people who will help me succeed and push me to reach my goals.

Throughout the year I started to get more information about the steps I am going to have to take to reach the goals I have set for myself. I started to feel very overwhelmed with how much time it will take to get to my dream job of being a federal agent, and I started to rethink how attainable it will be. This personally pushed me into a very stressed state of if I should stay where I am and keep working toward my dream even though it will take a while, or start thinking of alternatives. Over time, I decided that I will stick with my dream of being a federal agent because even though it will take a lot of hard work and time, it will leave me feeling very fulfilled and successful when I reach it.

I grew this year not only in my feelings and behavior towards being alone but also in the direction I was setting myself up for in terms of my dreams and goals. After realizing that I need to put in a lot of effort and time for my dream, I started to talk to people in the field and teachers that could help shed some light on the steps that I need to take. This made being a federal agent more attainable and helped me build resilience to start making my resume very strong to ensure the steps I take will result in my goal being reached. I started joining more clubs and organizations during my first semester, and eventually in my second semester I am now on the executive boards of 5 out of the 6 clubs I am a part of, and even pushed myself to apply for the honors program, and well here I am apart of it!

Now that I have pushed myself to get significantly involved in my new world (college) and even with my peers, I have peers and friends to lean on if I ever feel alone or confused about my path again. The course I have set for myself is very demanding but now I have the resources to understand it. To ensure I continue this growth; new friends, teachers I share my goals with, and anyone I reach out to will push me to keep going and hold me to my high goals.

When I joined Student Activities Board

My first football game with new friends

Student Activities Board get together

Year 2
2023-2024

Compared to my past year in college this year was a time to test my leadership skills. After my freshman year, I was elected onto five different executive boards for my various student clubs. I was social chair for CECH Ambassadors, Criminal Justice chair for the CECH Tribunal, Recruitment director for the Student Activities Board, founder & vice-president of Women in Criminal Justice, and Career expo chair for the Criminal Justice Society. Of those different positions I held, the recruitment director for the Student Activities Board (SAB) was by far the most rewarding. I was responsible for the recruitment of the board and held events to make the club seem fun and a place to grow with other student leaders. I grew the club’s application numbers by 50% and recruited 12 different wonderful student leaders into SAB and student government.

In this role, I was able to see leadership in other people. I was pushed to look internally and see what qualities helped me prosper in SAB and look to find others with those qualities and even more! I also learned how to put on a very personable face, to pull people in to learn about SAB, while also ensuring that the conversation stayed professional and I was still doing my job as recruitment director. This helped me professionally in many ways, I am now able to understand when to flip the switch between being in a friendly conversation to being more professional and educated. This has helped me in my own life many times already. I started my first internship this year with the Southern District of Ohio Federal Court house - Pretrial Office, and I was able to put this newfound skill to the test.

In a couple of days after writing this, I will be leaving for my study abroad in Alicante, Spain! This future experience will allow me to use this skill even more, I will be able to meet new people every day but with an undertone of being in school. So, as I meet new people I have to ensure I am being professional and put together while also letting my personality shine. Being able to flip the switch from professional to personable, and knowing the in-between will be very important for the rest of my life. I have another internship lined up with the Department of Homeland Security, and this is a very professional federal agency where I have to fit the profile while networking and making connections for future use. I love learning new things, and I love leading and this year was the time for both of those to work in unison. Next year brings new leadership, and after being elected to higher roles in my clubs, I can not wait!

Hosting an Alumni event for CECH Tribunal

Student Activities Board last meeting

Student Involvement Awards

Year 3
2024-2025

This year was one of the hardest years for me, regarding classes, life, and internships. However, even after the years' lows, I still look back with happiness and comfort on my past experiences. I studied abroad in Spain and started my Spanish minor, worked at my top federal agency for an internship, and made a ton of new friends from work and school. In all of these experiences, I learned that being true to myself is the only way to live a happy life.

At the beginning of my internship, I was taking 18 credit hours, working a part-time job, and interning all at the same time. In this, I started to lose sight of myself and became a robot going through my daily routine. My new friends helped me see that I do not have to be on the go every second of every day, and that the future can wait. This new group of people helped me realize that I need to live in the present and let life happen. I got back into my dream to be bilingual and started my Spanish minor. I even started a new hobby of traveling when I studied abroad and got a fun new job!

In all of this, life started to be entertaining again. I wasn't waking up every day to do the same thing. When I studied abroad, I threw myself into a new country, environment, and life, all of which I did not know anyone in. Now, I have hung out with people from that experience multiple times, and I even call some of them best friends. Moving to Spain was a little hard at first; not being great at Spanish, getting to know the city, etc., but after meeting my people, I was ready to rule the country! Now, after I learned how much I love traveling, I have been to Spain, Puerto Rico, Greece, and Scotland, all in one year!

This year has shown me that I cannot allow my job and my future to dictate what my day is going to be like. I lived a life of worrying about what I needed to do next, and I know it's not for me. Now I have an amazing support network to help me in this new outlook and keep me on the path of working to live, instead of living to work. I am incredibly grateful for my success and internship, as it was a dream to receive, but now I know my worth is not based on merit, and that life is meant to be lived!