Pathway
Reflection

The two pathways I have been the most involved in are community engagement and leadership.  I found these as a recurring theme in the experiences I was pursuing.  Throughout college, I was a part of The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Alpha Phi Omega (APO).  I sought out leadership experiences in both organizations, but more specifically, I wanted leadership positions where I could incorporate volunteer work.  The two positions that had the largest impact on my overall experience in college were being the service chair for APO and the philanthropy committee chair for SWE.  In these positions, I found myself reflecting on both the leadership and community engagement pathway. 

 

I was the service chair for APO during the heat of the pandemic, as well as when everything was beginning to go back to normal.  This posed numerous challenges because I had to find copious amounts of volunteer opportunities that were completely online, as well as in-person events once places began making the transition back to normalcy.  As for finding online events, I was very worried at first that I would not be able to find opportunities that could still impact the community.  However, I collated a long list of projects that ranged from transcribing for the Smithsonian to writing e-cards for children at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  The e-cards were my personal favorite during COVID because I knew that a little child was going to receive my message and it could potentially brighten their day.  I always wrote a cheesy pun and an encouraging message to go along with it.  Finding events during the transition to normalcy posed a harder challenge than finding online opportunities.  Although the university was back in person, there were still many places that APO originally partnered with that were still shut down.  This led me to look outside of existing partnerships and find new places where APO could make a mark.  This led to me finding the Southeast Ohio Foodbank & Regional Kitchen, where I volunteer every other weekend.  I have made many great connections there, and their volunteering events always have a large impact on me.

 

Being the philanthropy committee chair for SWE was my favorite position held in college.  The people on my committee were excited about volunteer work and always showed up to the events I had planned.  The most popular event was at the Foodbank, where we packed boxes of food for the elderly community in Southeast Ohio.  Another popular event was making dog toys out of old t-shirts for dogs at the shelter.  Through the philanthropy committee, I learned a lot about myself as a leader.  I realized that I like to lead from behind because that is when I saw the most engagement and excitement about opportunities.  It was very rewarding to see other people light up at volunteering events because it is something I am so passionate about.   

 

What sparked my excitement about volunteering in the Southeast Ohio community was my freshman Honors Introduction to Engineering (ET 2800) class.  We had a service day during Halloween weekend where our class partnered with GoodWorks.  I learned a lot about the Athens community and experienced firsthand how much joy volunteers can bring to people’s lives.  One of the people I helped with cleaning and doing chores just wanted to have someone to chat with and lend her a listening ear.  I was happy to be that person for her.  After that day, I knew I wanted to find more opportunities like that one because I truly love helping others.