2022-2023

This year presented me with many challenges and opportunities to grow as a person. I have gained experience problem solving and facing unique challenges and struggles. I have come out of this year with a newfound love for poetry, reading, and new study habits which I believe will help me carry out the rest of my degree at UC. I faced many mental health struggles this year and have come out of them stronger having identified where my problems were originating and facing them head-on.

First year

To me the song also references learning new things and going new places, which I have been this year as I navigated managing an intense course load with varying aspects of self care in order to remain healthy as well as to conquer my academics. I was able to recognize a need and to take advantage of many support resources available to me this year such as an intense amount of peer tutoring, CAPS groups and advisors which helped me feel so successful about this year. I am proud of what I have accomplished academically and personally within these two semesters, and am looking forward for what else studying at UC brings across my path.

2023-2024

This school year provided me with a chance to grow in so many ways. I’ve had countless new experiences and grown from navigating challenges presented academically, socially, and mentally. I am very grateful for the people I’ve met and struggles I’ve overcome during these past 12 months. I’ve been so privileged to not only travel to new countries, but connect with some fabulous new people, from whom I have discovered so much about myself.

During this time I’ve also experienced much growth professionally. In the fall for the first time I stepped out of the restaurant industry to start a job at the CVG airport where I learned a lot about aircraft safety and what it is like to be a part of the aviation workforce. This spring, I have finally branched out into what will most likely be my long term career field: development. This job as an Application Development Intern has challenged me in more ways than I can count. I’ve been extremely far out of my comfort zone, but have been able to overcome countless challenges which has been very motivating. It’s also been my first remote work experience, which has had its own pros and cons, but it's definitely a great experience as I navigate further into this field of work that has so much flexibility. I find it's a good thing to learn about how you can set yourself up for sucess in the future.

Another thing that I would like to mention about this past year is how I’ve been able to reconnect with my creative self in relation to computer science. I’ve always liked my major, but for a while it was difficult to become motivated to work on personal projects. This year, I have been inspired by several sources to start many projects such as my react js certification course and also to learn how to program, deploy and host my own website online. I am so, so proud of myself for taking my personal time to work on these projects and develop these skills that will be useful in my professional life.

Furthermore, I’ve learned so much about myself since last year. From being in so many new places, I am so impressed with the way I’ve be

Everyday, I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given and also made for myself. I am so happy to reflect on everything I have achieved at this point in my life, and I cannot wait to do more of the things that I am passionate about. UC has been a great and supportive environment in which I have been able to pursue many fantastic opportunities educational, professional, and personal. I am very excited to see what more I can accomplish in this coming year.

Furthermore, I’ve learned so much about myself since last year. From being in so many new places, I am so impressed with the way I’ve been able to adapt and embrace cultural differences as well as differences between me and other people in my life. Sometimes it can be hard to find the good in things that separate you from other people, but it's important to learn to take pride in the person you are, no matter who is around you and whether they are alike to you or not. This year, I’ve really taken part in my passion for language, and drastically improved my ability to speak, read, and write in Spanish. Since the beginning of 2024, I have also started the journey of practicing Hindi, to take advantage of the opportunity to actively participate in my girlfriend's culture. I am very proud of myself and the self study I have done since returning from my study abroad in Uruguay in summer 2023, which motivated me to start self-study in language after realizing how meaningful it is in real life to be able to connect with others in a language outside of your native tongue.

Second Year

2024-2025

I am proud to say that once again, I have taken the challenges presented to me this fall & spring semester and come out the other side with fresh perspectives, a longer resume, new passions, and new skills.

Last fall, I worked two jobs; night shift at CVG while also taking shifts at family-run Cafe Alma in Montgomery, Cincinnati. My return to hospitality was begrudged but also important, as young as I am it's important for me to stay grounded and be grateful for the opportunities I have to support myself. Not to mention the great food & drinks that Alma offers. Not often in my life have I worked two jobs, let alone while balancing 16 credit hour workloads, and I have to say, it is a challenge. However, my grit and determination allowed me to add to my savings, and splurge on some great experiences, namely a trip to Nashville in December and a trip to Medellín, Colombia over winter break.

Reflecting on fall and how hard I pushed myself, I have learned that sometimes it is important to give yourself a break, to give yourself credit and slack, give thanks and care to our bodies and all we accomplish. It can be easy to take ourselves for granted, and focus on what we do not have instead of what we do. I am happy for the opportunity to look back on my hard work and also to recognize that not all phases of life need to be so intense.

This spring, I completed an internship rotation at Siemens, as a software development intern, which presented my learning, growth opportunities, and challenges in itself. Not only have I been able to widely expand on my technical skills, but I have gained professionalism, confidence in my work, friends, a workplace that I genuinely enjoyed, and also while focusing only on work with for the most part a pause in academic focus, some additional free time due to lack of homework off work hours.

Free time and I have a complicated relationship. I am a person with a lot of drive, I like to accomplish, and on the other hand, I can get a bit too ambitious. My worst fear is wasting time. However, there is a healthy balance between taking time to rest and recover from life and “wasting” time (which looks different for everyone), which I certainly struggle to find.

Third Year

However, I focused a lot of my free time this semester on my physical and mental wellbeing, which I am so proud of and thrilled that I’ve been able to show myself the care and love I deserve this semester. I have practiced my meal prepping skills more successfully than ever before; finding and saving new recipes, preparing weekly meals, desserts and snacks on Sundays allowing me peace of mind about what to eat during the week while being able to enjoy and look forward to what I have prepared. Also, a surprising benefit of meal prepping has been saving money on groceries, as shopping exactly per the chosen recipes led to only buying exactly what I needed, resulting in less food waste and a smaller grocery bill each week.

The other leap of faith I took this semester was training with a personal trainer. I traditionally use aerial sports as my workouts, and I still do, however getting into lifting to build muscle and mobility for strength and injury prevention has been in the back of my mind for a while now. As soon as my best friend, Ella, showed interest, we immediately signed up with a trainer widely known by friends at my aerial gym. I am proud to say that this has been one of my biggest successes this semester as not only have I noticed less pain in certain parts of my body from aerials, I have noticed increased strength and stamina, which is extremely rewarding especially after coming out of a prolonged plateau.

All in all, I am overjoyed to look back at this year and how I have grown from it. I am so proud of what I have done, and the person I am becoming. I am so happy to view myself as unstoppable and be able to achieve my goals, thanks to my headstrong personality and all the people in my life who have helped to make me that way. I think my biggest “theme” of this semester and year is independence, and the practice of sourcing your happiness from within yourself.

2025-2026

What an intense semester full of break throughs, hard work, boundaries pushed, risks taken, expectations exceeded. Not only in my professional life did I explore completely new terrain, but I was pushed academically the most I have been in 4 years. I am a hustler,

and I will grind and give my all to tasks I have taken on. This was proved this semester as I navigated 2 demanding jobs in a new industry with a 17 hour credit semester. Additionally, a strain was placed on an important personal relationship of mine. It is so important to get a reminder that I am too young to be putting myself through so much with another person while I myself am under so much weight and responsibility. In the past, I have often lost sight of being able to prioritize myself over relationships I perceive to be important.

This year, my sister and I started Pole It Together, a pole dance organization here at UC to provide free pole dance classes to UC students. The club exploded, reaching 60 members in the first 4 months. Classes of 20 people would be full within 20 minutes of sign up release. I participated in teaching these classes and was elated by the joy and the love my friends and club goers found in the classes. We tried a couple different studios, I experimented with class style, music, and different tricks for each class. We had "regular" members who were always first to sign up for each session, which made me so happy that some were finding the same joy in pole that I do.

However, the most important discovery I have made this semester has been finding a safe space in my two best friends, who have supported me through my recent breakup and have all been brought closer by personal circumstances. We spend almost every day laughing, enjoying each other's company, or co-working. There is no one I'd rather take advantage of the opportunity to be around, especially when life after college (upcoming fast) seems to be right around the corner. It is very easy for me, like many others, to take things like good friends for granted, so I am extremely grateful that I have been able to get in touch with my heart and express a lot of gratitude and love for the most quality people currently gracing my life.

Fourth Year

Another aspect worth mentioning is not only how much I worked and my professional growth, but the ambitions I have gained from exploring so much career wise. I have found a potential business partner in a colleague and we have plans to brainstorm and develop several online retail fronts and take advantage of other online monetary opportunities over the coming semester. I am extremely excited to experiment with some potential business ideas and create something bigger than I ever had before, or learn from a potential failure.

Once again, I am overjoyed to look back at this year and how I have grown from it. I have been through so much this year, and have so much pride and self love from what the year has brought to me and what I have created for myself. The next year will bring big changes as I graduate and navigate my next steps. I am beyond ecstatic to see what lies for me outside of the USA in terms of full time job opportunities after graduation, something I have been looking forward to my entire life. Thank you for the opportunity to look back and turn forward to what will be another amazing year full of new opportunities.