DIVERSITY HORIZONS
November 4, 2007 Having myself been raised Jewish and my roommate having been raised Baptist, I thought it would be interesting to go to church with her and see what it is like for other religions when they come together as a community. The Berwin Baptist Church, just down Greenbelt Road, was not the best of churches, and did not have the largest congregation, but the service was nice and I felt as though, at the end of the day, that I had a better understanding of my roommate and more of an appreciation for the structure and traditions of other religions.
RECREATIONAL-CULTURAL
November 15, 2007 My participation in a counseling event this semester was not something that I expected myself to be writing about in my Web Memoir. About half way through the semester, I was unfortunate enough to have to experience the death of a friend, Lance Healy. Having been personally involved, it was asked of me, and a some of my friends, to attend a group counseling session, sponsored by the counseling center, in the hopes of helping us to deal with our emotional distress. The session was held in the CCC, which is right where our dorms are. While the intentions of the session were of in the best nature and meant only to help us, I personally found the entire thing to be unbeneficial. Without going into detail about questions asked or people’s answers to them, the entire situation, in my opinion, could have been handled better. 1st, I would have liked it more if I did not feel as obligated to be there (as my RA practically forced me to be there). 2nd, the questions posed seemed to me as though they were structured so as to gather as much information about the night as possible, not to help us come to a deeper understanding of what we experienced. However, despite the fact that I don’t approve of how the meeting was handled, I do feel as though I benefited from the entire thing. It is now as though I have found some closure, and no longer have to feel emotionally upset when thinking back about what I experienced.
CITIZENSHIP
October 29, 2007 I went home for the homecoming game at my old high school, Winston Churchill HigH School, and even though I had only been out of college for a few months, I felt I had a lot of wisdom to impart. While there I met with old friends that have not yet graduated, and told them all about the University. Even though I had only been in college for 2 months, I found myself able to do nothing else but preach about how amazing UMD is and how worth it it is to be a part of the Scholars program. All I can hope is that I convinced some them!
ACADEMIC
October 22, 2007 For the academic portion of the Web Memoir, I attended a Women’s Studies lecture with my roommate. As she has not yet declared a major, she has the opportunity to take a more broad range of classes, an opportunity that I unfortunately cannot have as science majors have very set class schedules. To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember what the lecture itself was on, because about 10 minutes into it I began to doze off. I have no idea how my roommate has the ability to stay awake through those lectures. My opinion, however, has noting to do with the professor, as she seemed to be very intelligent and well versed in her subject. What I found to be my downfall in this class is the fact that I am now convinced that the History of Women is the most boring subject EVER!