Let Me Show You

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 most recent project I’m working on is creating virtual tour videos for every campus building . Currently the focus is on the academic buildings. We just completed the video for the Pettit College of Law which turned out beautifully. It created a whimsical atmospheric feel to the law building and its features which fit nicely with the wooden facets of the building. My boss created that initial video and now I must copy the look and feel for the remainder of the buildings. However, with this project the approach feels like the opposite of one step at a time. Currently I am putting together two tour videos and a facility tour video for the football portion of the Taft memorial building. The facility tour is, of course, a different style from the other three videos, but thankfully is supposed to match the feel of the esports facility tour that I initially created the look and feel of. I know I will enjoy that project when I get the chance to add in the fun sporty attributes. Howe...

  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 ...