Let Me Show You

Entirely thanks to my mother, I am a foodie. I used to be a super picky eater as a kid, but thankfully I’ve expanded my horizons. Last week was Thanksgiving break which means lots of good food in good company and I’m not talking about Thanksgiving Day- turkey is not it. My mother also happens to be an incredible cook. The first day I was home she prepared ricotta stuffed chicken breast served over polenta, garnished with a homemade tomato sauce and spicy Italian sausage. My grandfather lives with us and grew the tomatoes used to make the sauce in his garden this season. The dish was absolutely delicious. I finished all of it but the sausage, which I passed to my grandpa, it was way too spicy for my taste- my nose was running. The second night, she made pork enchiladas with a homemade enchilada sauce. This was only the second time I had ever had enchiladas as I didn't like them as much the first time- they were not made by her. The enchilada sauce was just the right amount of sweet ...

We are officially in week 13 of the semester, making next week Thanksgiving break, followed by two more weeks of class! This semester has flown by so quickly yet so slowly at the same time. August to the end of September went by in the blink of an eye. October to now has felt fairly slow, but with lots to do. The past two weeks have gone fairly quickly with more evening tasks and more hours at work.  So far, the last two weeks of class are going to look a little bit like: paper, presentation or pitch over the paper and thankfully only one final. I’m currently in three classes and capstone. One class is principles of finance which only has a final exam to wrap up the semester. My other two classes are in public relations: issues in PR has a reflection paper on our CliftonStrengths with a five-minute presentation; while social media strategies and campaigns- the class I write these blogs for- will be writing out a planbook for our client and doing a pitch presentation on what we thin...

As a little treat and way to unwind, on Thursday mornings, my boyfriend and I go to Dunkin’. Going to Dunkin’ has been a bit of a tradition since we first started dating- I have a video of us going “cheers” with donuts in hand. Over the summer, I discovered that I actually enjoy breakfast sandwiches when I thought I didn’t. This is thanks to croissants being the top notch form of bread for a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. The first time I had tried a breakfast sandwich from Dunkin’ was on normal bread. It was a no from me and the texture actually made me quite nauseous. It was until I tried the Starbucks Version of the sandwich that I realized I would like it. That trial was just by chance on a day Starbucks was out of all other food.  Just like Starbucks, we’ve got a go-to order for Dunkin’. We get two strawberry dragon fruit refreshers with green tea, my boyfriend's sandwich- the sausage, egg and cheese croissant- and my sandwich- the bacon, egg and cheese croissant with extra b...

I will stand by the fact that in high school, homecoming was lame. I went to a smaller early college high school right next to the fairly large “normal” high school as we called it. What that means is I didn’t really know three quarters of the people in my grade. Which is okay because as the introvert I was, I didn’t really want to either.  Moving into college, one of the first ways I got involved was through Greek life. As a new member, I got to take part in walking in the parade through Ada. This is still one of my favorite memories and annual activities. Unfortunately, this Saturday will be the last day of walking in the parade with all my favorite people, but it certainly won’t be the last homecoming for me!  Part of the reason we celebrate homecoming is for our alumni both of ONU and their involvements during their time as an undergraduate student. We typically celebrate this through a luncheon. Last year, I remember some of our sorority alumni telling us about their off ...

Fall break was this past weekend and I will say: it was beyond overdue. The weekend prior, I briefly went home to visit my brother who was in from Seattle, but that wasn’t long enough of a break. This weekend was full of time well spent, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a schedule. Friday night, my boyfriend and I visited my house to spend time with my mom. This was done the best possible way we know how: eating food on the couch while watching Grey’s Anatomy. Mom and I were five episodes behind on the last season… so obviously we binged all five of those episodes including the two-hour season finale. All this while my dad was blissfully socializing with some old friends at a retirement party. Saturday morning my boyfriend and I went to First Watch for a delicious pancake breakfast. I always enjoy going there when I’m around and it’s never gotten old in all 21 years that I’ve been going. Mom and Dad had taken us there since the siblings and I were just babies, but I remember be...

I am finally in the home stretch! Beginning last Thursday was the three formal rounds of sorority recruitment. As the vice president of membership for my chapter, I was in charge of everything encompassing each night. From selecting outfits to house decor and conversation topics to pairing who from our chapter the potential new members would talk to. Recruitment is truly a science and while I certainly enjoyed it, I’m glad it is over.  Planning recruitment had to come close to what it’s like when planning a wedding. I only made that connection when going into work and talking with a newer employee whose wedding is in 10 or so days. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with any food, but many aspects are just as rigorous. When planning a wedding, seating arrangements are extremely intentional. You don’t want to pair anyone who you don’t think would get along. In recruitment, this same principle is applied to pairing potential new members (PNMs) with current members. We try our best to ...

  Recruitment is finally here! Which means- after this week, I can breathe again! That fact itself is really keeping me going. This semester has felt like it’s been moving in slow motion leading up to this point. There’s been many late nights of planning, meetings and stressing over if I’ve thought of everything. What’s reassuring is having two advisors who have done the role themselves, but I wouldn’t have thought about how much this position relates to my major.  This position itself teaches a few obvious skills: event planning, delegating and time management. But I ended up using a lot of the skills I already had. For example, part of this role is being aware of the brand and what we stand for. Delta Zeta has six core values at the center of this brand, they are: friendship, belonging, community, curiosity, generosity and empowerment. As the name of my blog is “Let Me Show You,” I thought I’d do exactly that to show our audience our brand. I had our members participate in a...

Coming into college, I never thought I would be as involved on campus as I am, but I also never thought I would learn so many skills outside of class. Sure, I’m a marketing student- I can tell you the importance of the 4P’s, knowing your audience and maintaining brand awareness. I’m a PR minor- I can tell you how what you post on one platform isn’t going to translate to another or how important it is to post consistently if you want to start gaining a following. But I’m also a videographer/editor and all 4,000 hours I’ve put into learning and doing that the past three and a half years didn’t come from a class. I know I still have a lot to learn there, but what I’m talking about isn’t just where I want to push my career. I’m talking about how Ohio Northern has played a pivotal role in curating me into a leader- which is still weird to me.  Over my past three years I’ve set different goals for myself. Freshman year, it was to make ONU home. I did that by joining a sorority, figurin...

Senior year brings many challenges- all of which I’ve willingly signed up for. I used to always say as a kid that I love a good challenge and that statement has translated into my adult self being extremely busy.  Going into Junior year, I was expecting to graduate early but when scheduling classes for the fall semester, I realized two of my final classes are only offered in the spring. At first I was bummed, now I had to pay for a whole additional semester of class but I quickly turned my narrative to realize that I could keep my fall semester light. I am only taking three classes and the senior capstone project- totaling a whopping 12 credit hours. Not bad. Now let’s start adding.  Last year was my first year as a peer mentor, which I greatly enjoyed despite my mentees not enjoying it so I am continuing that. After taking a brief pause for a semester from my sorority for financial reasons in the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I came back last fall and ran for a position on o...

It is the day before Welcome Weekend starts at Ohio Northern University. You’re frantically opening an Amazon package to find out what goodies you will using and how to set it up. You put a phone harness on your chest but the video isn’t stable! It’s bouncing all over the place and you can’t see faces! What’s next? There’s a harness that goes over your head? But the weight of the phone is too heavy! It’s grabbing your hair and falling! You think of an idea- “if it is falling because it has nothing to grab onto, why don’t we get a helmet to strap it to?” THAT’S IT!  You rush to Walmart with your coworker. You’re in the bikes and helmets section when… there’s so many choices. You were told to get a skater helmet, but you know it would move around— not stable enough. You see other adult helmets. This one has a gear on the back to fit the shape of your head! You put it on, desperately trying to figure out if this is the one! You fasten every strap and you mount the phone to the helmet....

As an avid foodie living in Ada, I’ve got to say, times are tough. Back home, my mom is always making something new or the family is always finding a new restaurant to bite into. Luckily, Columbus wanted to be renamed “Flavortown” for good reason. Some of my personal favorites are the delectable burgers from The Pint Room or a good porky fig pizza from Dewey’s Pizza.  But Ada isn’t all bad. There’s a solid four pizza places, two Chinese restaurants, a Mexican fiesta and a few run-of-the-mill fast food joints. Also, it wouldn’t be a college town if it didn’t have a few bars. Viva Maria’s, the Italian restaurant in town is known for absolutely massive portions of food. A kid’s size spaghetti may be served on a smaller platter, but it forms a small mountain. Thankfully, it is delicious too. With an extensive menu and virtually any pasta dish you can think of, it’s hard to be dissatisfied with your visit. This is also one of the four pizza places in town. Served on their signature thin...

  The funny thing about the textbook and my life as a current multimedia student specialist is that social media is a large part of what we do. Meaning a lot of the items the textbook states my reaction is “wait I do that now! I didn’t know that was a textbook element of social media.”  An example of this is in chapter 4 of Karen Freberg’s “Social Media for Strategic Communication” she mentions several definitions of key social media roles. A few examples being a social media strategist, content creator, multimedia/video producer and writer/editor which all happen to be aspects of my job. Oftentimes in the creation process for a person who wants to use our services, they will come to us either with an example video in hand or a general idea of the tone and goal of the video. Personally, my favorite is when they give us the general idea and tone as this allows us to be a little more creative.  For example, every year the Greek life sororities are required to create a video...

  Because I opted to not be an orientation leader this year, I applied to be a mentor for incoming students in the Dicke college of business. The mentorship program specifically looks for sophomore or higher student leaders of the business college. The background required for this includes leadership positions held in campus organizations, in the workplace or the general attitude of a leader in the classroom. Personally, this is something I really enjoy and hope to get even more involved in on campus this year. This week I found out that I was accepted as a mentor and I couldn’t be more excited to get involved!  The Dicke mentorship program is incorporated in the freshman year class- Ethical Leadership, taught by the mentorship program director Dr. McHugh. I had the pleasure of being in her class this past spring (my sophomore year) and luckily was paired with an awesome mentor, leading me to get involved. The mentorship program holds several events in order to get to know the...

As ONU prepares for new student orientation here in the next week or so, things are looking pretty different. To start, this year is ONU’s sesquicentennial anniversary- also known as its 150th birthday. To celebrate and promote the occasion, various colorful banners have emerged on campus. These include ONU colors, fonts and images like we’ve never seen before. Meaning, we want this year’s branding to stand out.  For the past two weeks, I have had the honor to create and edit together the videos being used for orientation. I am super excited for the incoming class to view these videos and get hyped about becoming a part of the polar bear family. The orientation theme this year is ONE ONU. This is to emphasize the close knit polar bear pride felt by all our current students and alumni. With 150 years under our belt, we've developed a university built on collaboration, community, excellence, diversity, faith, integrity and service which we’ve emphasized in the video. This video was ...

Since being in college, I’ve taken on a whole new view of what the experience is, and I’ve concluded that being a college student is character development . The popular social media platform TikTok has thousands of viral posts about being “the main character,” and “romanticizing your life” all with edgy voice-overs and building music. And I think that by the end of college, I could absolutely curate one of those viral posts that show how much I’ve changed and made myself the main character in my world.  I am now a junior at Ohio Northern University, and I can say with total confidence that I have dramatically changed within these past two years. My freshman year, I was still finding my groove, as most other freshmen are doing. I was independent already, but I was finally independent on my own, living in a space mostly my own, and navigating what I wanted to do next, on my own . At first, I had no clue how in the hell to do that. But then, the first semester passed, and I changed m...