Honoree: Ana Berrios-Allison

>>APRIL CALKOVSKY: I will be speaking about Ana Berrios-Allison, who is an associate director with Career Connection at OSU. My name is April Calkovsky, I am an internship advisor with the College of Arts and Sciences Careers Office. I met Ana in Autumn, 2006, when I registered for her course "Career Exploration: A Personal Growth Course." I'd returned to Ohio State after 11 years to complete my undergraduate degree in English, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. So I took career exploration and was immediately inspired by Ana.

My relationship with Ana started as a student-instructor relationship and after I completed the course it continued on, especially once I became a colleague of Ana's because I became a career services professional at Ohio State. She is definitely a mentor to me and has been ever since I took the course with her in 2006.

My first memory of Ana was that she was very excited and enthusiastic. The first day of class was really inspirational because she really had a great energy and a great vibe. She is very passionate about helping people find their career path and find their true self. I really enjoy any conversation with Ana. We had several conversations as part of the course and through those conversations it was clear that Ana was a deep listener. She really listens to you when you speak and when you are having a conversation with Ana she is completely focused on you and you're the only thing in the world.

She is very patient and very kind, very understanding, and very compassionate. One of her greatest gifts is helping people make connections. She listens to you and she's immediately starting to make connections about what major you should be in or what career path you might enjoy, or what your strengths are or what your weaknesses are and how you might improve upon those. She's just an inspiration, because of the way that she thinks about things and the way that she makes connections.

The big thing with Ana is that she directly influenced the career path that I'm on right now through the course that I did with her. We had a conversation one day and during that conversation with Ana there was a switch that flipped. There was a recognition that I really enjoyed helping others and I enjoyed advising others and helping them find direction in their life and I settled on really being interested in the career aspect and exploring your path and your purpose in life.

Ana's positive energy and passionate way of speaking about the importance of living our best life is truly contagious. She's realistic and grounded, she's hopeful and driven, and she's enthusiastic about leading a good life.

I feel akin to Ana because we both enjoy finding connections in things, but also because we're both single mothers; she's come here from Lima, Peru and she has two beautiful sons that she has been raising on her own for the last several years and she's at times worked three jobs. So I feel akin to her in that regard because I have also worked several jobs and tried to raise my own son on my own. We have a lot of things in common and that has helped to forge a great bond between us.

I also would like to say that Ana is empowering; she really...because of the tools she gives you, because she is such a good listener, because she is so thoughtful and really evaluates everything you're saying and takes everything into consideration, she really empowers you to move forward with your life and make good decisions.

Ana is truly an unappreciated blessing at this university. She has inspired so many students and inspired so many of her colleagues. Thank you, Ana.

Transcription by Transcribe OSU