During my first three semesters in the SGC Scholars Program, I have learned many useful skills as well as much new information about past and present happenings around the world. One of the topics we covered in the first semester of SGC was logical fallacies and critical thinking using Sagan’s toolbox. This has been a very useful topic to learn about as a college student. Almost everything in college revolves around solving problems with extensive thinking and reasoning skills, and sometimes, there are problems that do not have a concrete answer already established. When these types of problems and topics come up, knowing how to spot logical fallacies and apply Sagan’s toolbox become extremely useful pieces of information that allow me to valuably participate in serious discussions about them. Even in settings as simple as hanging out with friends at lunch, these skills can be useful. There have been many times when I have had discussions with my peers about various topics, but these skills also help me with my classwork. In English 101, we had to write a Position Paper which included coming up with a position and defending it with relevant research and data. Knowing how to spot logical fallacies and think critically helped me through the process of writing this essay and making It effective. I was able to perform research that would target important points including counterarguments of my position. Also, when I was writing, having knowledge of logical fallacies allowed me to avoid them and create a scientifically sound claim which was of higher quality than I could have written without having learned these important skills from SGC.
Outside of SGC colloquium, the messages we learn in class are still present. In my FMSC110 class during Spring semester, I had to write a paper about Brazil. A very pressing issue in Brazil is the current deforestation going on in the Amazon rainforest and how it affects the surrounding area. During this class, I focused mainly on the impacts that deforestation and degradation had on Brazil. The knowledge I gained from this research was very interesting and included information about how biodiversity was falling in the rainforest as well as the integrity of the local ecosystems. The research touched on how Brazil and the Amazon affect the global climate, but not nearly as much as how SGC taught me about global climate change. In SGC classes, we learned on a much broader scale how different human activities can affect the climate, including climate change. This helped me to be able to contextualize the information I was gathering for my essay and understand why a seemingly local problem has much broader implications. In addition to the climate, SGC also taught me about the importance of biodiversity and climate resilience. While researching for FMSC110, I learned that the biodiversity and climate resilience were being lowered, but in SGC I learned why these are bad and why I should care about it happening. The information I gained from my research was valuable on its own, but the additional worldwide context I gained from SGC allowed me to develop an even deeper understanding of why the issue is so pressing.
The living learning community that SGC provides helped me to build bonds with my classmates and have fun experiences that I might not have had otherwise. The community allowed me to be close to other students, especially on the excursions that were provided to us during the first three semesters. In my first semester, I went on the New York excursion to the American Museum of Natural History. In addition to being very informative, I got to make some new friends and meet new people in other scholars programs. With my new friends, I got to explore New York, which I had never been to before, and have a lot of fun with some people I would not have met without SGC. I had another similar experience with my second semester excursion to the National Air and Space Museum. I went with friends I became closer to through SGC and once the excursion was over, we explored D.C. I have not been to D.C. A lot so this was a cool opportunity to visit our nations capital and have some fun. I went to the Chinatown for the first time and got to see many other cool places before returning to College Park thanks to the friends I made in SGC.
I think that I personally contributed a good amount to SGC. There have been the excursions offered to us that I have participated in as previously stated. In addition to those, for my third semester excursion, I attended the climate art workshop offered. This was a new experience that I had never heard of before, so I was excited and nervous to participate in it. While I was there, I participated in the art stations as well as the discussion about the experience. Also, in class there were often group discussions or assignments that had us collaborate with our peers. These were some of my favorite assignments as they allowed me to get closer with my SGC classmates, as well as share the knowledge I had learned from the previous week while learning what others had learned over the same time.
SGC has brought me into contact with many different people and ideas that I am glad to have been introduced to. One of the biggest ideas that SGC has taught me is that climate change, although a pressing issue that is sure to cause change, is not an insurmountable degradation of our way of life. Before SGC, I had a very basic understanding of climate change, and I was also very worried about it. I thought the world was just going to keep heating up until it completely changed our way of life to an unrecognizable degree. After going through this course, I have learned more about the processes that drive it, and the steps people are taking to limit its affect. I now realize that climate change is still a very pressing issue and will change the way humans live, but it is not unsolvable. With the right management, we can create a way of life that will counteract some of the worst affects from climate change and create a more equitable society for people around the world.
I think that my SGC Scholars experience will make me a better bioengineer due to the knowledge I have learned about logical fallacies and critical thinking as well as the hypothetico-deductive method. These topics are helpful no matter what I will end up doing in the future, as they can be applied to almost anything. They will make me better at coming up with ideas and allow me to have a more objective view on things in the future. This is very important for me not only as a person in everyday life, but as a bioengineer. It will help me to create more equitable innovations by noticing gaps in knowledge that may have previously gone unnoticed. My experience in SGC has given me so much useful information that I may never have gained elsewhere, and I am truly grateful for it as I believe it will make me not only a better worker, but a better person.