​Elysse Winget
Honors Experiences
First year experience:
The Art, Architecture, and Engineering of Rome study tour to Rome-
We had a three credit hour class once a week that focused on learning about Rome that traveled together at the end of the semester to the eternal city. We departed on April 27th and returned May 6th. Our trip, while brief, was incredible. I had been to Rome before but I had not seen nearly all the things I saw through the program. We had structured trips during the day, but our evenings were free, giving us students the opportunity to branch out within the city and explore at our own pace.
I will never be the same after that trip; it gave me so much inspiration for my writing as well as to continue to study abroad through the honors program and see more of the world than I ever imagined.
Artifact-
I kept a blog for the duration of my trip. Because I am a creative writing major, I didn't want to miss anything! I had two journals as well, and I wrote every hour or so! I didn't want to forget anything :)! I generally updated my blog every evening, summarizing my day and the things I was lucky enough to see! It helped shape me as a writer in the sense that I was able to write as I was experiencing the environment rather than having to recall everything later. I was also privledged enough to share these thoughts and experiences with my family and professors back home who were wishing me well on my trip! My Italian professor was very pleased with it, being that I am an Italian minor and was able to travel abroad this early in my education!
Second Year Experience(s):
Intermediate Composition Honors-
This course allowed me to develop my English skills within a smaller group of other honors students, which was very unique. I've come to find through my time in the honors program that the classes I value and connect with most are the honors courses. Typically speaking, we've all come to UC for more than an undergraduate education and we value academics, as well as connecting with one another and aspects of well roundedness that I think most honors programs at large universities lack. This class was engaging, while still being fun. Our professor understood that for most of us, English was a required course and another thing to add to our list of stressors. However, she made for a great role model in that she provided us with encouragement to get through our projects. She taught us without belittling us, and that I am thankful for.
Artifact-
I've attached my final project for the course call the multi-genre project. It was an awesome project in that it was very open ended; we were allowed to present information on our chosen subject in whatever format we chose to. For someone like me, I used writing to get my point across because that was the best way I knew how. For DAAPers, the experience was rather different and visuals were used, which I appreciate because it gave us all the opportunity to use our strengths.
Click here for the multi-genre final document.
Leadershape 2015-
This past January, I took part in the Leadershape Institute. Me and 59 other individuals from the University of Cincinnati went to Higher Grounds Retreat Center in Indiana for six days, where we learned expertise in leadership and finding our own leadership styles.
I never thought myself much of a leader, which is why I signed up; I wanted to know why it was that I didn’t see myself in that light. After the six days, I can confidently say that I was built into the leader I was always able to be.
I lack confidence in matters of change; I never assume that I can produce it. However, Leadershape showed me that I have the power to make a difference.
Since Leadershape, I’ve taken my initiatives and goals and worked on them. I wanted to expand the TAP Program at UC for students with disabilities, and I’ve recently contacted and set up meetings with their director.
I’ve also found it in myself to lead by attempting to run for student government; we’ll see how it works out but I definitely feel more confident in my ability to make a difference in our campus. I’m hoping that after this experience, my confidence continues to build and I can promote positive change.
Artifact-
Below is the photo my news article that described my ideal world. This was the change I hoped to enact on our campus, and therefore is what I wrote about. Getting the opportunity to write my own, as well as witness others, was very inspiring and showed me how important it is to dream big. If no one did, nothing would be accomplished.
Third Year Experience(s):
MATH3096 Games and Puzzles Course
This course was initially my way to get out of taking another generic math class. I get frustrated with math, as the answers are very black and white, whereas in the creative writing field, I see a lot of grey areas. This course went through a variety of card games and board games, discovering probability theories and equations. It was a kind of math that I could understand because it interested me. Nothing was boring, in fact, it was one of the most entertaining classes I've taken. And, above all else, there were NO tests! That's often where math fails me. Rather, there were projects and papers, all of which I could be creative with at my own leisure. I believe in all honesty that I learned more in this math class than I ever would've in a basic university math course. It took a subject that I don't particularly enjoy and applied it to something I did enjoy in order to help me better understand.
Artifact:
I have attached my final paper for my artifact. Our final project was meant to be about any game or puzzle that we did not explore in class but what might be fun to explore mathematically. I chose to explore the game Backgammon because it's a game that my father and I played a lot as I was growing up. I went through the game and played out different scenarios and the probabilities in different scenarios of players winning or losing.
