Hello! My name is Ryan Corn and I am currently a freshman at The Ohio State University.

My top 5 strengths according to StrengthsQuest are: Harmony, Futuristic, Maximizer, Competition, and Consistency. When looking at my strengths I am not surprised that Harmony is at the top of the list because I feel that I fit the definition of Harmony quite well. To me Harmony is keeping peace and exhausting all measures to avoid confrontation. For example, over Thanksgiving break my group of friends and I went to a party and another group of guys were at the same party. Tensions flared and a fight almost broke out. However, my friend Sean and I wanted to keep peace as a result of us not liking confrontation. Consequently, we diffused the fight and continued our night.

During my first semester I completed an assignment called My Ohio State Tradition. This assignment made us describe our favorite tradition at OSU. The tradition I chose was one that my friends and I created, the tradition of ordering Buffalo Wild Wings after every Ohio State football game. To us it was a superstition because every time I ordered it the football team won the next week. So we continued to order it throughout the season. Furthermore, from this I learned that such a simple tradition can bring so many people together to connect with. Every time we would order, a large portion of our floor would join in and it would create a family like atmosphere. I will use this in the future in the sense that I will do small, simple actions in order to connect with people. This will ultimately expand my network as well as increase the amount of friendships I have.

Another assignment I completed was Lessons from a First-Year Buckeye. For this I had to describe 5 lessons that I had learned throughout the semester. The 5 most important lessons that I learned were: do not judge people based upon first impressions in regards to appearance, take advantage of TA’s and office hours, do not procrastinate, build good relationships with your RA’s, and finally staying connected with those at home. From this assignment I learned these lessons, but most importantly staying connected with those at home because they are a support system through thick and thin. I will use what I learned in the future both academically and socially. For example, I will take advantage of office hours because they have proven to better my grades. I will apply the other lessons to my life in a similar fashion.