Honors Microeconomics
As part of the business core, microeconomics is a very practical and influential class most relative to the real world. I found the topics covered interesting and helpful, applicable to nearly every adult, since everyone participates in the domestic economy in some way. Proper knowledge of microeconomics can help one make better investments, predict economy trends, and manage finances more efficiently.
During the honors section of the course, I worked closely with Professor Marks, making sure to interact and offer up any questions that could better my understanding of the subject. Of the eight honors students in the course, all of us were required to watch and annotate videos regarding both micro and macroeconomics and attend seminars to discuss our findings. All of the videos were related to real world scenarios and scandals, examples being the blood diamond trade and corrupted oil industry. It was interesting to learn about these situations that seemingly have no impact on the public, and connect economic relationships to find out that they actually do have a noticeable impact on everyday life.
Microeconomics gave me an insight into the professional world and allowed me to critically think about economic relationships and the functioning domestic economy. The course’s practicality in adult life will help me have a better understanding of how to effectively participate in the American economy.
Honors Western Civilization
Western Civilization was both an honors and general education goal, and it was an interesting historical course heavily tying with the formations of Christianity and Europe. While not part of my major, it offered a historical timeline that started from Ancient Greece and lead up to the exploration and discovery of the Americas, covering topics such as Joan of Arc and the Crusades.
Unlike typical history classes that offer a cluttering array of sources and viewpoints, Professor Isaac relied on five texts to primarily lead the course discussion. Because there was no textbooks for the course, the texts chosen instead gave biased, personal insights on the historical timeline that made the class seem more real and engaging. Professor Isaac argued for and against the authors of the texts, allowing the class to critically analyze, defend, or attack certain viewpoints.
Overall, Western Civilization gave background knowledge on the formation of America and helped develop a more-rounded student.
Intro to Visual Arts
Intro to Visual Arts was a broad general education goal that covered the history of art as well as the types of art. Having been particularly interested in art myself, I found the course interesting and engaging; the class explored several different types of art including bronze impressions, found object sculpture, Japanese sumi painting, and human anatomy drawing.
One of my favorite projects in the class was a found object sculpture towards the end of the semester where we were required to use everyday objects to create a three-dimensional piece representational of ourselves. Being Type 1 diabetic, I naturally wanted to create a piece relative to the disease I deal with every day. I ended up creating an abstract sculpture from a month’s supply of Insulin syringes with their needles clipped off. I was very proud of my work and its design, as I had hoped my work would bring needed attention to the severity of the disease and how much Type 1 diabetics have to endure.
Honors LSEM
Honors LSEM was a required, introductory course relative to freshman students going through their first semester at Longwood. It covered much needed topics regarding course registration, study tips, and proper attire. Being an honors section of the course, all of my classmates were part of the Cormier Honors College, which helped me form long-lasting friendships.
Prior to the start of the course, all freshmen were required to read Tension City, a commentary on the presidential and vice presidential debates by Jim Lehrer, in preparation for Longwood’s hosting of the 2016 Vice Presidential Debate. Having been interested in the political process, it was a particularly interesting read that shed light on some of the darker places in politics. Additionally, we had the privilege of listening to Jim Lehrer talk about the election process as well as his book. It was enlightening to hear from someone so involved in the political process, yet outside of the political circle.
Overall, LSEM prepared me for life at Longwood and offered engaging political topics relative to the 2016 election.
Writing and Research
Writing and Research was a general education goal that prepared students for college writing. While it was a time consuming class, it greatly improved and developed my writing for professional and collegiate assignments.
A large part of the semester rested upon a final research paper, an 8-15 page report on a topic relative to children, written as if the author was an expert featured in a magazine or scholarly journal relating to their chosen topic. I chose to write about the effects that 7-13 year olds have on the American economy, since economics and finance are topics that interest me. Towards the end of the semester, we presented our papers to the class as part of the speaking element of the course. Upon submission, my paper was chosen by Professor Van Ness to compete in the English department’s writing and research competition. The winner will receive $1000. I hope to continue revising my paper, working with Professor Van Ness, and submitting it for the competition in early 2017. Attached below is the final paper submitted for grading at the end of the semester.
English 201
English 201 was a global literature course that encompassed several cultures: Roman, Greek, Hindu, and Japanese. The goal of the course was to expand knowledge through the general exposure to different cultures and religions.
We discussed similarities and differences between various beliefs and compared them to our own. Dr. Smith challenged our values by introducing opposing views as a way to teach us to be well-rounded thinkers. We read scriptures such as The Aeneid and The Iliad that gave us new perspectives on ancient cultures. The culmination of the class rested on two developed papers, both of which I enjoyed writing. We were able to challenge or defend certain beliefs both in class and in writing and the class taught me how to hold a civil debate and be more open to different cultures.
PHED 101
PHED is a general education course revolving around health and fitness. While mostly online, the class taught me various aspects of fitness and healthy nutrition. Being diabetic, I was already familiar with both exercise and nutrition, but it was a refreshing course on the topics.
We were required to track our steps with a FitBit tracker, that being the most interesting aspect of the course. I enjoy being active so it was nice to see how active I was during the day. I found that I did three times the amount of activity at college as I did at home, which was very surprising. I easily hit 10,000 steps while at school, but struggled to get 3,000 at home. This class taught me how to manage my daily exercise both at college and at home, and from it I have benefited both from a healthier lifestyle and better diabetes management.
Honors 495: Frankenstein
Spring 2018’s Honors’ special topic class was on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Written in 1818, the novel celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2018. The class explored topics Shelley wrote about, and how pop culture has been influenced by Shelley’s writings. At the end of the class, we worked with a professor to create a seminar research paper on a topic of our choice.
While I was not too fond of the class itself, I enjoyed the connections that the book made with the outside world. After taking the class, concepts in Frankenstein seem to pop up on the daily. Industries like Cyber Security and Criminal Justice both share similarities with the Shelley’s writing, which I found to be very interesting. This class helped round my knowledge out as a student, and taught me how to draw connections to the outside world.
Attached below is a copy of my research paper: Terminator, Among Other Things: A Comparison Between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Internet of Things
ISCS 373: Database Management Enhancement
In Spring of 2019, I was able to enhance my Database Management class and present my research on managing business systems effectively. I spent the semester taking two online courses offered by OpenSAP, a free and online website that teaches programmers how to utilize the latest programs to better run their business. While the first course was a general introduction into the variety of programs / platforms that SAP offers, the second course guided me through building and developing an SDK cloud extension through SAP’s Cloud Foundry Command Line Interface (CLI), Apache Maven, IntelliJ, and GitHub.
I really enjoyed being able to participate in a hands-on course that produced a functional extension that I was able to upload to a GitHub repository. Being able to actually work with JavaScript and acquire technical experience greatly increased confidence in my own abilities, as well as confidence in my field. At the end of the semester, I presented my project at the Research Symposium. My poster has been attached below for reference and is available on the Digital Commons website.
ISCS 473: Cyber II – Ethical Hacking
In the fall of 2019, I worked with Dr. Carpenter to do a forensic analysis of Longwood’s new proctoring tool: Honorlock. When it was first rolled out to students, I was immediately suspicious of how invasive the tool was, and have several bad experiences with it. Between analyzing Honorlock’s network traffic, the traces it left on computers, and Honorlock’s private policy, I was able to find several vulnerabilities that could be potentially exploited to gain access to sensitive data on the user’s personal machine.
Upon presenting my research at the Symposium Showcase, I found that both students and faculty were shocked at what the tool was capable of, as no one had really been made aware of all of the risks Honorlock presents. Cyber awareness is a necessity, especially when rolling out a tool for thousands of people to use. It’s always better to make people completely aware of the risks associated of a tool so that they can make more ethical and informed decisions. Through discussions with my ethics professor, I found that Honorlock also poses an ethical dilemma: Requiring Honorlock in classes that are required for a student to graduate leads to the unethical and forced agreement of Honorlock’s privacy policy, since the student must accept the privacy policy in order to pass the class and graduate, regardless of if he or she agrees with the terms. I know that I sure didn’t, particularly with its data and personally identifiable information (PII) collection.