Three Semester Review

Throughout my three semesters as a student as a part of the College Park Scholars: Science and Global Change program, I have learned many things and had many opportunities that I would not have otherwise as a normal student at the University of Maryland. We learned the foundations of scientific practice to explore the evidence, causes, and implications of past and present global change, examine the use of scientific knowledge and communication when making decisions for the future. My experience as a Science and Global Change Scholar helped in my understanding of news-related items and the topics taught in SGC have been effective in connecting with my major.

For news-related items, I have learned that all news articles are based on factual scientific papers or reports. Although it seems like it should be self-explanatory, I never thought of news articles like this. For example, the news regarding new vaccines or improvements within science are all based on scientific research and new discoveries. In addition, I never realized how much is not reported, such as the validity of the fact that news articles are sometimes never reported. For example when I read that China has discovered how to administer vaccines orally instead of through the traditional intramuscular vaccine. This change in the way we administer vaccines has been reported through a scientific paper and the news report was more of a summary or brief overview rather than providing information such as statistics, data, or detailed information about trials.

The topic or set of material in SGC Colloquium that has been most effective in connecting me to my major or enhancing my attitude and approach to my major would be when we were learning to build our online portfolio. My major is computer science and I have already decided on it prior to the beginning of college. This is because I had already been interested in computer science in high school and I had already enrolled in many computer science courses in high school. This topic has helped me learn a new language in coding, and approach the code in a different environment. This environment specifically is working with files and the connection to the internet. I have never worked with HTML or CSS programming languages before and SGC also allowed us to focus more on creativity rather than sticking to a prompt.

In fact, I have enrolled in CMSC 132, (Object Oriented Programming II) which is one of my supporting classes and MATH 141 (Calculus II) and these are fundamental to my major but again I worked on strengthening my skill in Java (a programming language). I have yet to take Weather & Climate which is another one of my supporting courses for SGC, but I know SGC will help me with the aspect of global change and how it affects the climate, and being able to crack down hypotheses.

Actually in SGC, I have lived next to two of my very good friends and SGC is the main way we met each other and stayed in touch. My two very good friends being Akanksha and Sarah, I have lived on the floor for a different scholars program but happened to be the three from SGC who infiltrated the floor. They have made this living learning community a lot more enjoyable. We went on field trips together and even though we are all different majors, we still have been able to support each other.

I have been able to contribute to SGC through scholar’s service day. I have now gone back twice in which we were able to contribute to protecting the beauty of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. I went back as a peer mentor this year, and it was interesting to see how the gardens do require a lot of maintenance, whether it be weathering, the overgrowth of weeds, and natural characteristics. Even though many are ungrateful for this opportunity and always groan, I enjoyed the service day work because volunteering at Kenilworth is not something I would do voluntarily and especially doing weed work whether it is on land or in a pond. This is a unique opportunity that I will probably never be able to do again.

During my three semesters at University of Maryland, I have never really encountered people who had challenged previous beliefs or opinions. During colloquium we have never encountered something that is very challenging or something that would challenge my perspective from what I can remember. The only thing that I have felt is bad because of my contribution to killing the environment. Whether it is my contribution through single use plastics, or the little things that I would do in order to speed up the process of climate change. Of course, I try my best to limit my impact on the environment however when laziness or comfort become a factor it is a lot easier to return to old habits. However, I will also say that my eyes have been opened to how sustainable a building can be made due to the Philip Merrill Field Trip that I had gone on during my first semester. The tour guide informed us about how this building is also a LEED rated platinum building. If I were to build my own house in the future, I would be interested in building one with mainly sustainable materials and sustainable habits.

My scholar's experience might inform my future because now I’m conscious about what I would like to do with my life whether it is my future house or the way I would live with lessening my single use or plastic usage, or incorporating compost into my lifestyle. I think scholars will always have an impact. I have grown to enjoy looking at how housing can be very expensive for the eco-friendly solutions. Hopefully when I live in my own place which is not an on campus housing, I will be able to live a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle. Overall, my scholar's experience has impacted me whether I can identify the impact now or in the future. Thank you Dr. Holtz and Dr. Merck, for the informative and incredible lectures, and a great colloquium.