stuvo_comfest

ComFest draws a crowd at Goodale Park. The festival took place June 27-29 and is known to be the largest volunteer-run and administered fest in the United States. Credit: Muyao Shen / For The Lantern

The thing about college is it’s finite. We’re only here at Ohio State for so long before we graduate or leave, moving onto new jobs, new cities and new adventures. 

For those of you who have come to OSU as a freshman in the last three years, you know that OSU practices a sort of partnership with Columbus, shown off after Convocation with the Columbus Welcome event. You know Columbus is a major metropolitan city with a wealth of opportunities, entertainment-wise and career-wise. But you’re a college student — you have class obligations, work obligations and social obligations, most of which are likely in the University District area.

How much can you take advantage of those opportunities when you’re swimming in commitments?

That’s why you should spend at least one summer of your four (or less, or more) years at OSU in Columbus, whether that be taking classes, working or interning. 

This summer, I was a business news intern at The Columbus Dispatch. I had the opportunity to write business news stories ranging from a profile about a local granola company to a feature about area apartment-rent trends. I loved it, and I learned a lot about what I want to do in the future from it.

And I also got to see Columbus for all that it is. I headed to Columbus Commons to get lunch at the food trucks there on Thursdays during the summer. I covered ComFest (Community Festival) and kayaked on the Olentangy River. I visited festivals and markets downtown during my breaks and for work itself.

When I wasn’t working, I visited exhibits at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library, read on the Oval and walked around a nearly empty campus. I went to festivals around the city — the Dublin Irish Festival, the Ohio State Fair and the Columbus Arts Festival.

I loved getting to see and experience this city for all that it is, which is a vibrant community with its own personality and its own quirks, and I know I didn’t even do a fraction of everything that Columbus offers. There really is so much to do here, and I think everyone should get the chance to see that.

So while you’re at OSU, spend a summer here, and you’ll see what I mean.