Throughout the first 18 years of life, a lot of people are told to work towards college. Going to university is supposed to be miniature culmination of the all the hard work a person has done in the first 18 years of their life. Even more than that, college is supposed to be an incredible melting pot of educated persons from all over the United States, and in some cases, all over the world. In reality, I've found that even though college is somewhat the culmination of knowledge, learning is only an infinitesimal part of the whole college experience. In some ways, the Science and Global Change course in the College Park Scholars program exemplifies this subversion of expectations. Whether it's the service day on our very first meeting, or the general environment of Centreville Hall, SGC does serve as a microcosm of the entire college experience.
Over the last four years, I've heard unbelievable stories about the stress and pressure put on STEM majors in college. As a result, I was extremely anxious about my chosen classes coming into the semester. I was mentally prepared for an insane workload, but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of free time I had which allowed me to grow and make changes in other facets of my life. Even when teachers assign copious amounts of work, it has actually created greater comradery among students. I guess misery really does love company. However, workload was not the only new development in college and the structure of all classes felt completely different. The incorporation of a unified syllabus throughout the year was a welcome addition. Though we did have these previously, I found that these were a lot more useful and important in college. Knowing what assignments will be due and test dates weeks ahead of their due date makes time management much easier. In many ways, college was the next natural progression of high school with a few changes which is something CPSG also worked towards.
From our very first meeting, I recognized that SGC was very different from many of my other classes. Wading through aqueous weeds, smelling like fish feces and plant life was not what I envisioned for my first college field trip. In fact, SGC was the only class where I had field trips at all which demonstrates how the class stood out among many of my other courses. However, though the class had some special quirks, its core was the same as many of my other classes. The style of lecture was very similar to all of my other classes with a professor giving a presentation to a large student body and students breaking up into groups to complete assignments. The weekly quizzes were also a welcome addition as they were a solid refresher of course materials at the end of every week. As far as course material, the first half of the course was very unexpected. I did not anticipate a focus on pseudoscience and logical thinking and it caught me off guard. This part did blend will to the second half of the semester so I do think it is a necessary addition when dicussing climate change. Once the class switched to reading the Sixth Extinction, I felt it kick into a higher gear. I do also think this was the perfect book to add to the course because it's very widely known as one of the great modern nonfiction books. Compared to a regular textbook, reading better known books are much more interesting. I also found this emphasis on HTML webpages unexpected, but I do appreciate how it forces students to learn a skill they may need in the future. SGC ended up being a welcome addition to my schedule, adding a refreshing twist to the end of my Tuesdays while mantaining some of the structure that makes other courses effective.
Life in Centreville hall is not exactly the image of refined intelligence. My friends here and I are quite honestly... idiots (not for the lack of a better word). Compared to the other dorm buildings nearby, Centreville seems pretty standard. After talking to some of the RAs, I do believe that this building may be more manageable than some of the others. I also appreciate the friendships I made here as many of my close friends happen to live in the same area as me. This is part of the advice I would give to a potential incoming SGC participant: make friends with the people in your building because these people will end up making college life and SGC lectures much more fun. In general the hall is comparable to a very typical college dorm and so leads to a college experience similar to those in other colleges.
I am very thankful for getting the typical in person college experience. I do believe that SGC elevated that experience while providing me the ability to expand my skillset. This growth in skills is what college has really been about, and I hope I can continue this progression over the next four years.