The school year 2019-2020, my freshman year, this year was definitely one for the books!
There had been so many changes in my life that I thought I was completely ready for college but little did I know how wrong I was. I have lived in 3 different countries, spoken various languages, met many people with different backgrounds and mindsets but those experiences did not prepare me to the difficulties that I encountered during my first year.
However, even though my first year at the University of Cincinnati in the Lindner College of Business was very challenging and unusual, I could have never imagined a better first year of college. I started off the year by accepting to be a member of the Business Fellows program which is the first and only college-administered program at an Ohio business school specifically dedicated to supporting African American, Hispanic, Latino, and Native American students. My first meeting with my Business Fellows family started during my orientation day and I had the opportunity to meet with new freshman and upper-level student members. Being a part of the Business Fellows has provided me access to a network of resources and many opportunities like the Talent Preview which is an exclusive talent preview for Business Fellows students to meet employers. In addition, I had the opportunity to travel to Toronto (Canada) with my peers and we visited many companies such as Ferno Canada, BEworks and PNC Bank. I am so grateful to be a member of the Business Fellows community! I have met many students and professionals who will for sure help me to succeed.
Additionally, I was enrolled in a volunteer programs called “Buddy Program” which is a program that connects Lindner students with incoming international students in order to help them with any questions about life on campus and the city of Cincinnati. Through the program, I met Lucas who was an exchange student from France with whom I did not have a language barrier because I also speak French and he had a good knowledge of English.
I also struggled with many things like:
There had been so many changes in my life that I thought I was completely ready for college but little did I know how wrong I was. I have lived in 3 different countries, spoken various languages, met many people with different backgrounds and mindsets but those experiences did not prepare me to the difficulties that I encountered during my first year.
However, even though my first year at the University of Cincinnati in the Lindner College of Business was very challenging and unusual, I could have never imagined a better first year of college. I started off the year by accepting to be a member of the Business Fellows program which is the first and only college-administered program at an Ohio business school specifically dedicated to supporting African American, Hispanic, Latino, and Native American students. My first meeting with my Business Fellows family started during my orientation day and I had the opportunity to meet with new freshman and upper-level student members. Being a part of the Business Fellows has provided me access to a network of resources and many opportunities like the Talent Preview which is an exclusive talent preview for Business Fellows students to meet employers. In addition, I had the opportunity to travel to Toronto (Canada) with my peers and we visited many companies such as Ferno Canada, BEworks and PNC Bank. I am so grateful to be a member of the Business Fellows community! I have met many students and professionals who will for sure help me to succeed.
Additionally, I was enrolled in a volunteer programs called “Buddy Program” which is a program that connects Lindner students with incoming international students in order to help them with any questions about life on campus and the city of Cincinnati. Through the program, I met Lucas who was an exchange student from France with whom I did not have a language barrier because I also speak French and he had a good knowledge of English.
I also struggled with many things like:
- Getting used to the life on campus because I decided to commute during my first year of college and I quickly realized that it was hard to get involved as much as I wanted to because many community meetings start in the evening when I was supposed to head back home.
- Time management because one of my biggest flaws is my lack of punctuality. In fact, in the beginning, I used to always be late for my first class. I would never wake up on time and people even started noticing that I was always that one student who is always 10 minutes late. However, I decided that it was time for me to grow and change and I made a lot of efforts to not be late anymore.
- Stress management because I am the kind of person who stresses very quickly when I am out of my comfort zone. Public speaking has stressed me the most because I realized how confident I have to be in the business world and since English is not my first language, sometimes I doubted about my ability to easily speak English in front of a large public.