Introduction Blog #1

Hi everyone! My name is Shelvi Shah and I am a junior here at The Ohio State University. I was born and raised in Louisiana and came all the way up to Columbus to go to OSU. After two and a half years, you can still say that I am still adjusting to the winters! I am a biology/pre-optometry major pursuing to become an optometrist in the future. I really have a strong interest in this part of the medical field which would allow me to help people when it comes to one of their major senses of sight. I want to be able to help people see and experience things that they usually would not through clearer vision. I recently saw a video of a baby wearing wearing glasses for the first time and seeing things clearly. Her face lit up when she saw her parents clearly for the first time and that is the kind of help I would want to give to my patients. I also love to dance and have been practically dancing my whole life. During my freshman year at OSU, I was on an Indian/American fusion dance team called Buckeye Fusion. While being on this team, we competed against other collegiate teams around the nation. I also love to paint. Even though I have not be able to do it as much as I would like, I still find it calm and soothing when I do get the chance to paint and I always love seeing how my paintings turn out in the end. I also love to travel and experience new places, cultures, and their histories. I have traveled to many different places around the world but I still have other places like Greece left on my bucket list which I hope to go to in the future.

A leadership experience I have had that has shaped me was in high school when I founded a club my sophomore year and then was president the next two years I was there. The club was called Indigo club and it was a club that was primarily a way to help students in it learn more about Indian culture. Anyone could join and we had great success in membership. The club studied, discussed, and read about culture events and cuisine. Various Indian culture related events were put on throughout the year for the rest of the student body to get involved. All proceed from the events and food we sold went to Lion's Blind Girl's School in India. I learned a lot from this leadership experience. Since I was president, I was involved in event planning and overall experience in making sure everyone involved in the club and board has a role. I gained experience in working with others efficiently and effectively. I also learned that I can not do everything myself. This shaped me into the person I am today, because I realized that without the help of the other members of the board, as well as the members of the club, the events would never have been as successful as they were. I learned that working together is the best way to achieve better success. I always made sure everyone was involved and no one was left out. This aspect is a big part of who I am today. I always want to make sure no one feels that they are left out in any situation. I learned leadership skills in how to deal with conflict as well as learning how to resolve them. I loved being involved in an organization that was fun and charitable. That leadership experience as a whole helped guide and shape me to the person I am today.

Also to leave you feeling happy and smiling today here is that cute video of the baby wearing glasses for the first time! :)