This year has certainly been a big one for my personal growth. I had the opportunity to thrive, explore, and try new things. I am not sure how I am a rising senior now; I still feel like a freshman in many ways!
It has been really nice to get back to some normalcy this year. As a result, I had some unique experiences I never would have guessed would have happened if you had asked me a year ago. One big struggle I had this year was trying to figure out my graduation date. I do not have a lot of classes left to take and could have graduated a couple of semesters ago now. However, I did a lot of reflecting this year, and realized COVID took away so much of my college experience. I do not want to graduate early in addition to the time I feel like I already lost. I feel extremely confident in this decision, however it did create a bit of a quandary as to how to spend my time if I am pushing off my classes. Fortunately, the wonderful thing about the University of Cincinnati is our amazing co-op program! More on that later.
My friends and family have helped a lot in building my resilience and in making some of these huge life decisions. I decided in September to get a job at a local bar and restaurant, and learned a lot about the food service industry while meeting some cool people along the way. Most of all, I gained quite a lot of customer service experience. I think this is a skill that can definitely apply to other aspects of my life. Whether it be a businessperson to their clients, a doctor to their patients, or a server to their customers, these people skills are essential in any job where you are interacting with other people, especially people who are paying you for your expertise and/or service.
I also added a certificate to my UC studies and took a few classes towards that. Lastly, I spent my Spring semester working at the restaurant as well as interning at a finance firm in Kenwood. This experience has made me realize I learn a lot more quickly when doing versus when learning the same topic in a classroom. Thus, I cannot emphasize the many benefits of co-ops/internships enough! I also gained a lot of experience talking to clients in my role as a Private Client Associate Intern, so I definitely feel like my people skills have grown a lot over this past year as a result of my job and my internship. In the future, I plan on continuing to utilize UC resources (especially career advising and co-op advisors) as well as advice from my loved ones in holding myself accountable for my future.