FACES OF OMD
Sherine mathew
"I NEEDED GUIDANCE AND OMD BECAME THAT GUIDANCE... IT'S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP BECASE THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH I CAN MANAGE."
Sherine joined OMD fresh out of high school, and entered life as a college student without the guidance she needed. It was initially hard for her family to recognize her needs as a college student: “I had a lot of trouble . . . balancing expectations my family had for me and the expectations I had for myself as a student. I didn’t know how to explain to my mother or grandfather that I need time and space for studying, and I thought I could balance their needs and mine, but I couldn’t.” With the support of OMD, Sherine began to realize that it was okay to recognize and address her limits: “I don’t have to help out everyone else before I make time for myself. . . OMD convinced me to be persistent when it came to talking to my mother about my needs as a student. OMD showed me how to become a self-advocate.”
Her favorite moment at OMD was meeting and speaking with engineers during a Wisdom from the Workplace event. After graduating from Truman, Sherine hopes to intern at Argonne National Lab and then transfer to a four-year university. Eventually, she wants to land the OSA-SPIE Congressional Policy fellowship, and has further goals of serving on the Chemical Safety Board.