Fall 2018

CTZN 110-58: My Honors course for this semester. I learned similar lessons as in SOCL, but I learned more how to debate and feel around a sensitive topic more than about the topics themselves. I learned what can or cannot be a sensitive nerve to hit when talking about a certain topic, and if I mistakenly make somebody upset, I learned how to work through that with them. One of my harder classes, but not bad.

Spring 2019

HONS 295: A more expressive class that explored photography, and the concept of identity in a few different forms. It was one of my less intense classes this semester, given that my GAND classes ate up all my time, but enjoyable nonetheless.

A picture of an old door that had been beaten and written all over by various people in a distant local community. This piece shows what the overall identity of this place is, through the opinions, scribblings, and exclamations of its people.

Fall 2019

HIST 222-50: This honors history class was another one of my eye-opening classes, where I had not considered the side of politics I had rarely heard about: the life of African American folks, the debates and struggles and protests of the past, and other similar things. It was another time, aside from my previous sociology class, where I really needed to consider the kind of life stories that were new to me.

I’m a sheltered child. I don’t know much about the world, and I’m lagging behind everyone else because of it. It’s classes like this that really help me see all sides, where it’s important to listen to a person’s struggles, and not just brush them aside or ignore them just because it doesn’t directly affect me. Too many people already do that. I have never wanted to be one of them. So, I paid attention in this class, learned about plenty of protests, and they’re still fairly relevant today. Same battle, different time period. I’m ashamed that it’s still taking this long to get there.

Spring 2020

ENSC 162-50: This was a pretty cool class. I’m not the biggest fan of studying things related to environmental science, but I still learned a lot of cool factoids about farming, how we handle waste, who’s on which side of the fight when it comes to environmental legislation, etc. It was one of those classes I take that helps open my eyes to things I hadn’t considered before. Sure, we all know about climate change, but there’s a lot of explanations and research that’s been done around the issue. If someone really wanted to learn a whole bunch of stuff about climate change, they’d be covered — lots of scientists have already done the heavy lifting for them.

What was most entertaining in this class was watching my professor talk. You can tell he cares! Obviously, all our professors care about their own subjects, but I don’t see very many of them that explicitly show their excitement and their anger about injustices. It felt like a breath of fresh air to get a professor who not only cared, but could make his students care too. That’s a special kind of ability. I hope Dr. Collier keeps going with this subject, he did a stellar job. Even me, an animation student who never really looks at environmental stuff, started to care about this subject now. I pay attention to papers that circulate online. A subject like the entire Earth, I think, is attention-worthy.

Fall 2020

WGST 395: This class held my interest during a time where I had very little to give. The assignments were not to my taste (so much reading…!) but what caught my attention the most was our lectures and discussions. With every class I take that touches on racism, sexism, sexuality, I learn a little bit more. I usually go in knowing that there are issues, but I don’t have specific examples. This class gives me those specific examples I need in order to fully understand the intersectional issues of race, sex, and sexuality (the 13th amendment discussion, birth control experiments in Cuba, eugenics, etc.)

I struggle to keep up with many things, but this class helped me break down these complicated subjects into something I can digest. I can appreciate something like that.

Spring 2021

SOCL 320: This class was very informative. It held my attention in a certain way as well, where thankfully we did not have dozens of pages to read every night. Her lectures were very energized and engaging, and I liked to butt in with the occasional question or comment sometimes, as that is how I keep myself engaged too. I learned a lot about the basic foundations of education, informal vs. formal education, the issues with our system today, NCLB, etc. I have a soft spot for learning about education, because I am of the belief that the education system is one of the biggest roots of how children develop into adults. Modify the schools, and you modify the children. If you add or change things for the greater good, then the students attending will be more knowledgeable about how the world works, and be grateful that they know it. (I know this because I did not get an education like that before Longwood, and am now left floundering in many subjects.) 

Our interviewing project was also very interesting, where we needed to interview one elementary school teacher per student. Mine had lots of insight and good information to share, as well as grievances but with a good attitude. Our final project was one giant collaborative effort, and it turned out pretty good, given the circumstances of less time and COVID modifying how we work.