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6-7-2006
Contact: Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385
Ohio State graduates plan to 'Do Something Great!'
Columbus - Impressive community service, study abroad, leadership activities, significant academic achievement and research projects are among the accomplishments that Ohio State graduates will take with them when they earn degrees this weekend. More than 7,000 students will earn degrees during Ohio State's spring commencement on Sunday (6/11) in Ohio Stadium. The ceremony celebrates the academic achievements and hard work that each student has put forth to earn his or her degree. Each graduate will receive their own diploma at the ceremony, a practice rarely attempted by a university the size of Ohio State. Some graduates will continue their education and others will use their education and experience to enter the workforce.
Below are some graduates who illustrate Ohio State's motto, "Do Something Great."
- Caley Baker, from Westerville, will earn an M.Ed. in Education. Baker's degree marks the 12th Ohio State education degree awarded in her family, which has had a tremendous impact on the education of Ohioans. Her grandfather was Harold Nestor, who founded Columbus State Community College. Her mother, Nancy Nestor-Baker, has three degrees in education from OSU. Nestor-Baker directs Ohio State's P-12 program and was on the Westerville Board of Education for 14 years. Her father, Frederick Baker, works in continuing education at Columbus State. Other educators her family taught students from elementary to college in central Ohio, including Teays Valley; Columbus - particularly Devonshire - and Columbus State.
She hopes to become a full-time Social Studies teacher in a district around central Ohio.
- Also known as Brutus Buckeye, Tyler Fortman from Shelby will earn a B.A. in Psychology. Fortman says, "Ohio State has been all around the most incredible experience of my life! The people that I have met as a Resident Advisor, Brutus, and in classes have been awesome. I will never forget the feeling of leading the football team onto the field. The crowd is so loud and full of pride. It is one of those experiences that can't be put into words."
Fortman transferred from Ohio State's Mansfield campus to Columbus in fall 2004. He presented his senior honor thesis "The Effects of Body Image on Self-Efficacy, Self Esteem, and Academic Achievement" at the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. He also works as a student research assistant at the Nisonger Center (in the medical center), caring for children with autism and heightened irritability.
He will enter Ohio State's M.A. program in School Psychology and hopes to become a practicing a school psychologist.
- Sarah Patterson, from Westerville, will earn a B.S. in human nutrition with a minor in Spanish. Fluent in Spanish, she helped implement a project within Columbus' Latino community for her undergraduate thesis regarding dietary patterns of the Latino population. She helped teach nutrition and cooking classes in Spanish, and analyzed the changes in dietary behavior.
Patterson worked as a summer camp counselor at an overnight camp for children of incarcerated parents, and spent another summer studying abroad through OSU in Toledo, Spain. Patterson received the Ohio State University Board of Trustees Outstanding Student Award for May. She will attend the University of Georgia as a research assistant for the Department of Foods and Nutrition.
- Amanda Hardesty, from Fayetteville, is earning a B.S. and M.S. in Natural Resources. Two recent trips to New Orleans for agriculture and natural resources relief work have inspired her to return and help rebuild the area.
She says, "My trips to New Orleans have made such an impact that I am returning to help Louisiana State University develop a volunteer program for coastal restoration. I am organizing groups, managing some funding, and coordinating everything in a multiple university attempt to rebuild the fisheries and agricultural industries in and around New Orleans. It is intimidating, but I am excited."
- Having recently returned from field research in Antarctica, April Jacobs and Liz Miller (from Bellefontaine and Cincinnati, respectively), will earn B.S. degrees in Geological Sciences. The two met commencement speaker U.S. Senator John McCain while they were there.
Jacobs says, "My research and field experiences have helped me focus my attention, talents, and energy toward my goals. I learned more through these experiences than I could have ever learned by through classroom dictation alone." She hopes work in environmental consulting and public environmental outreach.
Miller says "traveling to Antarctica was absolutely amazing...I never dreamed of going anywhere so beautiful; I was really floored when I got there, and in awe of how a place with no smells, no trees or plants, and a landscape of only brown, white, and blue could be the most beautiful place I had ever been." Miller, who documented her trip on a blog http://www.lizsadventures.blogspot.com/, will pursue a Ph.D. in geological sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
- Maureen Murphy, from Hudson, will earn a B.S. in Nursing. Murphy participated in medical missions to Kenya and Honduras and hopes to continue making trips to third-world countries.
Murphy says she wanted to practice nursing in countries where health care resources are few because of the contributions she could make. "Both Kenya and Honduras are countries where health care is poor. What the people of Kenya and Honduras taught me is so much more than I could ever give to them. I cannot reiterate how much my view of nursing and life in the United States changed after experiencing life in these countries. One experience I had while in Kenya significantly influenced my life. While in a rural village clinic, I was able to deliver a baby girl, and the mother named her after me."
Murphy received the Board of Trustees Student Recognition Award in April. She will be her nursing career in Chicago at the emergency department at Evanston Northwestern Hospital, and hopes to work toward Masters degree.
- LeAnn Faidley, who was born and raised as an American in Rome, Italy, will earn a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. While earning a Ph.D. in a field dominated by men, she has donated her time to community service projects that benefit Columbus and many other areas.
Locally, she served on the board and worked to improve Neighborhood Services Inc., the food pantry for the University Area. She also helped start a student organization, Engineers for Community Service, to provide opportunities for engineering students to serve their community by using their engineering skills. Commitment to service has also taken her to New Orleans to assist with the relief efforts by mucking out houses, to North Carolina and Columbus to help build five houses for Habitat for Humanity, and to the Cherokee Reservation to do odd jobs for elders of the community.
Faidley has specialized in the study of "smart materials" - materials that substantially change their properties due to a change in their environment. She will be joining the mechanical engineering faculty at Iowa State University.
- Victoria Reyes, from Mason, will earn dual B.A. degrees in international studies and psychology, with a minor in Asian American studies. For the next year, she will be researching in the Philippines through a Fulbright grant. Following up on her undergraduate thesis on Filipina Military Brides, Reyes will be interviewing Filipinas formally involved with U.S. military personnel to see how gender and migration ideology have influenced these unions.
- Ann Zarick, from Cincinnati, will earn B.A. degrees in political science and international studies. After graduation, Zarick will continue the work she began this year for the nonprofit organization, Teach for America, to recruit outstanding recent college graduates to commit two years to teaching in low-income areas around the country. After the year-long fellowship, she plans to attend either Graduate School or Law School. Zarick's most meaningful Ohio State experiences were "the places I went to, the people I became friends with, and the cultures I was exposed to during my two month long study abroad experience in Europe. Also, home and away football games and of course being an Ohio State student as the buckeyes took the national championship! The school spirit shown by nearly every student has made my years at Ohio State more unique and meaningful."
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