Being a part of Science and Global Change has truly shaped my University experience. I have made friends and become aware of topics that can be important to utilize in my future career as an educator. Reflecting on all 3 semesters of the Science and Global Change Colloquium, I have taken part in many activities and acquired a deeper understanding of climate change related information that have made my college life not only better, but more advantageous in my future career as a student and teacher. Knowing all the causes, impacts, and solutions to climate change provided to me throughout these three semesters in SGC, my passion for teaching the youth of America has increased. I want to disperse my knowledge to as many people as possible to mitigate the effects of climate change and increase the longevity of our survival on the planet. I especially desire to make children aware because they are the future and they will be impacted the most by climate change. SGC has prepared me for my future in teaching and influenced my mission statement to teach in the first place. In my social psychology course, we were discussing various studies and how to identify correlation versus causation in scientific studies. Through the investigation of different sources, we determined which relationship was likely factually causal and evaluated whether news outlets were properly using this data as evidence to support their claims. This aligned with a couple activities performed throughout the 3 semesters surrounding pseudoscientific ideas being perpetuated through misusing correlational data. The prior knowledge gained throughout my SGC courses equipped me to understand how essential the scientific method and ideas revolving around truthful experimental evidence is when determining the reliability of statements. Understanding the utilization of logical fallacies throughout SGC has enabled me to become more successful in debates in which I have needed to participate throughout my other courses. I am able to point out fallacious examples from my opposing team, catching them off-guard, while also invalidating the basis of much of their arguments. Logical fallacies are a weak method of persuasion and being able to detect them prevents you from being swept up in the many inaccuracies around us. Debates as a college student are simple when you know about the logical fallacy tactics people, at times, subconsciously employ and I owe this knowledge to the SGC course content. Although this may not be from a direct news source, I encountered a documentary entitled, "Before the Flood", directed by Leonardo DiCaprio and it touched on many aspects of the climate change issue, especially involving international policy. The content in this documentary aligned with the content covered in SGC and I could fully comprehend the deeper science behind the material presented through the movie. In the second semester of SGC we focused more on the science behind climate change and the impacts of it, so knowing this, the documentary was more impactful and comprehensible. Throughout the past three semesters, I discovered many "scientific" articles, but one that stood out to me was an article stating that marijuana increased the susceptibility of someone contracting COVID-19 based on a scientific study. SGC taught me to simply not accept the reliability of the study, but to be skeptical enough to investigate its validity. After using the analysis skills of a scientific study gained throughout the semesters in SGC, I could easily discover that the study was observational and could very likely be attributed to several confounding variables. SGC allowed me to identify the potential faults with claiming that marijuana increased COVID-19 susceptibility and led me to understand the real science behind the statement. The supporting classes for SGC eligibility have also increased my passion for teaching and helped me expand my knowledge in relation to climate change. The main course that aided in my understanding was BSCI160 as it covered much of the material outlined in the colloquium courses. The content in both semester 1 and BSCI160 helped improve my experience in both classes and actually made me perform better in both as the concepts reinforced each other. Another class taken during semester one was BSCI160’s lab course, BCSI161. This lab enabled me to see several of SGC’s information in action, especially the course’s themes regarding deforestation and decreasing biodiversity due to climate change. The supporting courses of SGC were important in my comprehension of the colloquium’s focus and I am appreciative that they were a requirement. I did not get to experience much of a shared living experience with my fellow scholars, but having a smaller community of students that I saw each week made me feel comforted in my academic struggles and successes. My major was outside of the predominant majors of the program, so my learning was not necessarily improved with the specific students of which I was surrounded. Hardworking students in my scholars community did help me maintain my focus when school sometimes became overwhelming. The various discussions and in-class activities spread throughout all three semesters allowed me to have deep conversations with other students who didn’t necessarily contradict my beliefs, but expanded my perspectives. Hearing other’s experiences with certain topics gave me the ability to have a better understanding of the course material. I learned the most when hearing others’ presentations on both the effects of climate change and its solutions. They placed information in a way that I could understand and I know it will stick with me for a long time. I have most contributed to scholars through becoming a peer mentor. I used the experiences gained throughout the first two semesters in scholars to provide advice to freshmen and guide them into having a successful freshman year. I helped them through service day and avidly participated in the cleanup of the aquatic garden. Additionally, I spread support and positivity to the community in a strong and influential way. Immersing myself into Scholar’s peer mentor program was the best thing for me to do as it prepared me to behave as a guide, improving my skills as an aspiring future educator. Science and Global Change has led me to many opportunities that I feel like would not have been available to me without being a part of the program. Advantages in external courses and scientific understanding, friendship building, and major discovery were only some of the amazing things that the scholars program has led to me to experience and for that, I am quite grateful. My faculty advisors, Dr. Holtz and Dr. Merck, pushed me to continue learning by constantly challenging my view of the world through their discussions, questions, and lectures. Without SGC, college likely would’ve felt completely different and I feel very fortunate to have taken part in this incredible program. Thank you.