I'm Dr. Melissa Beers. I work in the psychology department where I direct the introduction to psychology program. So thinking about my experience as a student at Ohio State, when I look back now, there are many things I wish I had known at the time. First of all, when I had experiences where I struggled, I tended not to seek help. I tended to be embarrassed, I tended to avoid, I started avoiding going to class, not talking to my professors, and that was the wrong thing to do because now I understand, as a professor, unless a student comes to me, and I can help them okay then you know they're just on their own. I thought oh I'll figure this out on my own, and I really needed help. So I would just encourage you, as a student, when you're having struggles, when things aren't going your way, talk to your instructors. We can help you. I took many many classes, as a student at Ohio State, that were general education requirements, and at the time, I was taking them because I was required to take them. But, I look back now, and i see that there was not a single class that I took that didn't inform me in some way. That didn't help my life, enriched my life, enriched my relationships, even enriched my career in ways that I never would have expected. Taking cultural anthropology helped me immensely when I was working with interdisciplinary teams, when I was working in public relations there were cultural anthropologists on the team. Another class that I took as a student that impacted me in ways I really never expected was art history. I took that back, I didn't even know such a field existed until I took that class for a general education requirement, absolutely fell in love with the history of art. I couldn't take enough classes, I ended up getting a minor in art history, and I've carried the things that I've learned from those courses through my whole life. Every time I go to a museum, or we travel out of the country, and we can see some of those beautiful churches or beautiful paintings or sculptures that I remember learning about as a student. I always think about my experiences at Ohio State. So I just want to encourage you as a student, to think that there is never a class that you're going to take that you can't get something out of, that can't benefit you in some way if you seek that connection, if you're open to it. Every class that you take, you can gain something that you're going to be able to use in your future whether or not you know it now. When I entered college, my expectation was that I would just take classes, there would be professors, I would take classes from them, I would get grades, but what I didn't really expect was that you develop these, you can develop these, mentoring relationships with faculty. And now as a faculty member, myself, I really understand this from a different perspective because it's very rewarding to be able to connect with a student, and to share a little bit more of your discipline, and help them reach their goals. and that's exactly what my mentors did for me. You may wonder what it means to have a mentor. A mentor is a person who can give you some advice, and guidance, and help you make choices that get you closer to where you want to go. So for example, the mentors that I worked with, the graduate students and the faculty, helped me to find classes that were better aligned with my interests and that would get me closer to my goals of pursuing graduates to school myself. And these were classes that I never would have looked for or known to take. On the surface, they didn't really sound like something that was interesting, but as it turned out, they were some of the best classes that I took, and they also helped me understand what it would take for me to get into graduate school. They helped write letters to support me, helped look over my materials as I was applying, and even while I was in graduate school, they continued to provide some support and encouragement even though we no longer work directly together. So a mentor is part coach, part cheerleader, part support, and a good mentor really changes your life. [Music]