One of my main strengths from StrengthsQuest is Empathy. To me, empathy is being able to understand how other people are feeling, and helping them be able to overcome negative emotions or celebrate positive emotions. I think that this strength is the most important to me because I care deeply about other people. I always want to make others happy and often pt others before myself. This impacts my personal and social life in a positive way, because I am very caring and considerate of those around me, which helps show that I care. This is also useful in an academic environment because it helps me to listen to and appreciate the ideas of people around me. This helps me to grow academically by understanding things in a new way.

One assignment we have done over the course of this semester is the “My Ohio State Tradition,” assignment. In this assignment, I wrote about Carmen Ohio, and how it is my favorite tradition here at The Ohio State University. I gave some background information, such as that it was written by freshman Fred Cornell in 1902. I also included how OSU students, staff, and alumni come together with our athletes to sing Carmen Ohio after every sporting event, win or lose. At the time, I talked about how I felt so much pride in my school singing Caren, and how we had not lost a football game since I started going here. However, since I wrote this paper, OSU lost a football game to Michigan State University. I think that singing Carmen after this game was especially important to me, because it showed me that win or lose, we are still proud to be Buckeyes. This moment will be ingrained in my mind forever, because it taught me how deeply the love of our school runs inside everyone who goes here. This will help me in the future, because whenever I feel discouraged, I will remember my Buckeye pride, and it will empower me to continue.

Another assignment we did this semester is the “Lessons from a First Year Buckeye,” assignment. In this assignment, I wrote about advice or lessons that I would share with another Buckeye who was just beginning their journey at The Ohio State University. I wrote that I would tell them the following things: it is easy to find people with the same interests as you in college, you won’t be as homesick as you think you’ll be, build a schedule that matches with your personal style, budget your time, get enough sleep, and work towards realistic academic goals. Looking back with my first semester coming to a