When looking back on my experiences throughout the semester, particularly in my capstone course Neurochemistry, I think about the ability to get your point across fast. It sounds simple right? Well now imagine the topic is one of the scientific fields, and you have to sift through copious amounts of information and then crank out roughly a three minute summary of what actually should matter to a group of future scientists. It was a great experience for someone like me who loves to talk many an ear right off.
I would probably say one of my favorite discussions we had during the year was the discussion on concussions. It is a super interesting topic for someone like me, who was able to bring my love of sports, a tiny amount of biochemistry knowledge, and a “dust yourself off” mentality. Well, I had not had much experience with the science behind concussions and when I would see an NFL player get hit in the helmet prior to our classroom experience I would just enjoy the play as usual. It soon became clear that the off the field arguments about concussion treatments between the NFL players association and the NFL itself actually had a lot of people hanging in the balance. I learned that people sustaining multiple concussions actually had many long term issues associated with them.
The concussion debate actually represented everything that I would expect from a capstone course. When I thought of a capstone, I thought of the culmination of all my years here at Concordia and how I could use them to tackle a social problem using my acquired knowledge. The issue of concussions I soon learned however can’t be decided with only chemistry knowledge. Throughout the semester I came to appreciate psychology more and more. Before the class I sometimes wrote them off as the many students one floor down coasting to a 4.0 GPA, while we in the chemistry department struggle to survive. There was a large demographic of chemists in our classroom this year, but we had a couple psychology and neurosciences students that really held their own in the realm of academic discussion. I really gained an appreciation for their knowledge of the human brain as well as what chemistry was going on.
With help from our instructor, and the group of diverse students I got to know in our classroom this year I know that my grasp on things outside of my small college has been increased. I know that if I am ever to try and tackle a problem out in the real world, it will take more than just my knowledge alone, but a great supporting cast as well!
It takes many brains to understand our own… Capstone Experience
