Since becoming a Terp in Fall 2019, my three-semesters at College Park have been full of great memories, as well as uncertainty for the future. Having to go through a worldwide pandemic has been a troubling, but reflecting time. As I come to an end to my three-semesters, I now see that Science and Global Change has been a big contributing factor to my thought process and I have learned a lot about the environment and how we impact it both in and out of our colloquium. Not only when it comes to academics, but Scholars has given me a second home where I have met new people and made so many new connections.
One class that has been instrumental in my learning has been my Organic Chemistry lab this semester. In this class, we learned a lot about, chemistry obviously, but we also learned a lot about natural cycles such as purification and separation of elements, toxins, and compounds. This has led me to continue to want to learn about air purification and the environment to see what we are inhaling in our air and how to make it the best it can be as it is now riddled with toxins and other unwanted elements. Another class that has intrigued me into learning more about our environment and climate change was my CHBE101 class (Intro to Chemical Engineering) in which we learned about various chemical procedures and processes to create products from chemical reactants. This specific class has made me realize the reality of the carbon emissions we are expanding into our air and has made me want to dig deeper into how we can reduce the amount of carbon that is emitted into our air from these processes. It has also made me want to learn more about ways to make carbon negative or neutral processes.
In addition to learning about what intrigued me through these classes, I also encountered SGC material outside of the classroom. This included techniques we learned in scholars. One of the techniques was the hypothetico-deductive method which is a description of the scientific method. I was able to use this method and see how it works during my General Chemistry lab during Fall of my freshman year. During this class, I was able to deduce hypothesis and collect data to go through the scientific method process described by the hypothetico-deductive method. This allowed me to understand the scientific method in a new way and see that it is used in all sciences from chemistry to engineering to scholars. Additionally, I also encountered logical fallacies throughout my coursework outside of scholars. This was seen in a lot of my Classical Mythology class where we learned about many fallacies used by the ancient greek and roman philosophers and mythologists. The use of these was introduced to create a barrier between the stories and their beliefs. For example ad hominems were used to attack someone who questioned the greeks beliefs in the gods. Whether in colloquim or not, I was always able to make connections between lecture and outside of the classroom.
Although stressful and full of work, I was able to cope and balance out classes with the help of other activities, especially from being in the living-learning community during my 1st year. I would go to the lounge on my floor almost every day and meet other SGC members who were in differing but similar majors as I was. This helped me a lot as it gave me a spce to vent out my frustrations with classes while knowing that they are all going through the same hardships. It also gave me the opportunity to make new friends and work in groups. However, being in the environment with other hard workers made me rethink about what I was doing. I felt that I was constantly lacking behind my friends and that they were being more effective in doing their work and studying while I was taking more time to go to sports games and take breaks. This was very challenging for me as I felt like I was falling behind the curve that I have always been on top of. I came from a school where I was always in the top 1% of my class academically, achieving high honors and always being involved in school activities. I dont say this to gloat, but to compare the way I felt during my first semester, feeling very down and as if I was way behind the standards I put on myself back then. I decided then that it was time to change my beliefs and put my pride to the side to do better for myself. I decided to join them more frequently to study and do work at nights instead of going to the football games, and decided to put more time in at the library and miss some basketball games. This would end up helping me and g
Scholars has given me so much since I came to College Park. It gave me new friends, a new perspective on life, and a new sense of community. Because of this, I decided I wanted to give back to the Scholars program by becoming a peer mentor and helping new freshman acclimate to college life and introduce them to scholars. I have taken 6 mentees onto my watch and have tried my best to welcome them to college life and give them someone to talk to. Although not all of them have reached out to me/ continued to communicate with me, there have been 2-3 mentees who I have been in constant contact with and have had great conversations with. Being a Peer Mentor has allowed me to grow to know how it is to be a role model for others and be a hand to others. I felt that my peer advisor was not there for me and I wanted to change that so that others had someone to be there for them.
The Scholars Program and specifically Science and Global Change has changed the way I think and the way I feel about our earth. It has taught me a lot about our environment, out planet, and how things have to change. It has also taught me about organization, structure, and progressing in college. All in all, Scholars has given me a new home at College Park and I am proud to be in SGC and hope that many after me can experience everything I have been grateful to have learned.