2015-2016: A year in Review
If my sophomore year was a year for figuring out who I was and what i wanted to do with my life, then this past year was all about adapting and getting used to the changes that came from switching between majors in two completely different colleges with completely different focuses. Now of course, I still had the chemistry and biology courses to fall back on, which helped mot make the transition a complete culture shock, but for the most part my main courses had two totally different focuses, I went from classes using analytical and critical thinking to investigate the impact of a disease or medical drug on the body to using critical thinking to reflect on the impact of different aspects of society on schools, teachers, and students; from scientific research to reading and reflection on different books and articles on education; from clinical work in a hospital setting to observing and sometimes assisting in a classroom. Needless to say, it was a very big change for me to shift my future plans, but I'm proud to say I came out of it okay. My professors and advisors were a big help in adjusting me and helping me figure out what I needed to do to make this transition as easy as possible for me, but also to challenge me to shift my mindset. They also helped me deal with the process of the whole change, the behind the scenes stuff like scheduling and the like, the more bureaucratic processes that go with being at a large university. Now that I've finished this year, I am looking forward to my first year in the professional cohort of the secondary education program, and am looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities that student teaching will bring come next spring semester.