Nicolas Jarrell

The strength that I picked was belief. I believe that belief refers to one's own thought out emotions, in which they place a lot of importance. I also feel that a belief is tied closely with religion. I picked this example because religion is something that I hold very close. I am a practicing Catholic, and as such, I feel the need to always express my beliefs, and defend them should they be attacked. This strength is also something I strive for, so I was very pleased to see it listed as one of my top strengths. This strength also impacts my life. As far as academics go, my belief is that I should maintain a respectable GPA while always trying my best. I believe that God gave me gifts to do well in school, and that I should not waste those gifts. In the sense of my personal life, while many of my friends are also Catholic, I do not only have Catholic friends. I believe that one of the core tenets of Catholic teaching is tolerance, and as such, my friends come from many cultural and religious backgrounds. My simple belief is that you should treat people how you wish to be treated. Finally, my Catholic beliefs do differ greatly with the party culture of college. However, I value my beliefs, so while I do not look down on anyone that chooses to party, I myself abstain.

The first activity I will be summarizing will be, "A Letter to Myself,". In this assignment, I wrote about my main reasons for attending OSU, namely that I am going here because of a sizable scholarship I received, and because I was recruited to run for The Ohio State cross country team. I also talked about how I hope to achieve a 3.5 GPA, and become a teacher one day. I believe this assignment has helped me establish a clear reasoning for my purpose here at OSU. It has also given me a clear set of goals to hope to achieve during my time here. I hope I will reread this document often and remind myself of all that I wish to accomplish.

The final assignment that I wish to talk about is the, "My Ohio State Tradition," assignment. In this assignment I talked about my discovery of the song, "We Don't Give A Damn for the Whole State of Michigan,". I researched the song, and found out its unique history as a song composed for a play from the 1940's. I love this tradition and know that I will be participating in it long after I graduate. What I learned from this assignment is all the rich history that OSU has, and I am so glad that I get to be a part of it.