This reflection is part of SUM-400, used to connect back to SLO #3 (Critically examine the relationship between dominant and marginalized cultures, subcultures or groups), SLO #5 (Recognize, analyze and evaluate arguments) SLO #6 (Articulate and appraise problems and solutions from multiple perspectives, critically considering diverse sources of information), SLO #8 (Identify and assess one’s values, interests, and abilities), and SLO #11 (Analyze human behavior or social relations)
I can’t count the number of times I raised my hand in my first-year seminar based in Women’s Studies and began a sentence with “As a biochemistry major…”
This is what I came into college thinking….
- I was really good at biology and chemistry. I’d gotten A’s in both of them in high school, taken AP Environmental Science, Honor’s Applications of Biotech, and Forensic Science. Obviously, I was the smartest kid on the planet.
- I was going to double major in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (it’s one program at Agnes Scott) and Psychology, and I might pick up a minor in astrophysics just for fun.
- I was going to get my Ph.D. in genetics and change the world by fixing autoimmune thyroiditis.
I walked into my Summit advisor’s office, feeling really bold, towards the end of my first semester with the yellow form I needed her to sign in my hand. She told me that I should hold off until at least the end of the year to make sure I liked what was beyond the introductory courses. And I’m so glad she
Now, I still love biology, of course. I was the chapter president for Beta Beta Beta (the undergraduate biological sciences honor society) for a year and am planning to pursue my MPH in bacterial epidemiology. But while registering for classes over the summer of 2016, I elected to take topics in Women’s Health. And that month-long Women’s Studies course set me on a quest to research, know, and help reduce reproductive health disparities. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be able to do that anywhere but a liberal arts college. When I told a friend I was thinking about taking a ballet class, he asked if I was a dance major. But Agnes has allowed me to take…
- Contemporary Feminist Theory – a philosophy course that challenged how I thought about marginalization and domination, especially in the context of gender and sexuality
- Bioethics – another philosophy course that taught me how to deconstruct, analyze, and reconstruct arguments in a biomedical context
- Maternal and Reproductive Health – the first Public Health class I took on-campus and with a member of the Public Health faculty.
- Psychology of Sexual Behavior and Psychology of Women – psychology classes that help me understand why some people make the decisions they do
- Disease Ecology – a biology class that helped me hone in on the “social networking” part of my
research, because the professor for that course was so passionate about the work she does with barn swallows
Header image (“Steps Toward The Future” by Pigford Photography) is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC Licence
