(click on image for motion)
ZOOOOOOM!
‘Woah! Did you see that?!’
‘I’m not really sure!’
‘Wait, what the hell are you talking about…?’
At this point in time, that is what my college experience feels like. At this point in time, that is what my… Um, well, this is embarrassing. What am I supposed to be talking about again?
*** outside voice, “Your Capstone experience.”…
Oh yeah that’s right! Well, if anything that further exemplifies one of my points. To start off, I will begin to illustrate some of my personal convictions as to where the required Capstone course fits into the core curriculum at Concordia College. One of the primary objectives at any liberal arts institution is to achieve a high quality education by incorporating all kinds of disciplines in their students. By imploring an entire “disciplinary spectrum” Concordia College arms its students with an education that allows them to critically analyze any obstacle whilst they continue on with the rest of their lives, and in turn, will become responsibly engaged in the world. As a senior, Concordia’s Capstone course submerses students in a course that captures a collaboration effort of all the views of critical thinking they have obtained in their first three years at the college.
In my case in particular, my Neurochemistry Capstone deviated away from a traditional scientific format. It encompassed an array of “hot topics” in the neurochemical world. Upon reading literature, engaging in discussions amongst my peers, and finally addressing what needs to be known about the topic to the public, the course offered a welcomed break from traditional lecture/testing chemistry coursework. Neurochemistry honed in my ability to converse about difficult issues amongst other academics, address a solution, and relay messages on to the public. Personally, this framework completely encompasses what a capstone course should be at Concordia College. Not all of us, in fact very few, students will go on to create a revolutionary drug, re-define the way business is conducted, create a revolutionary social movement, or whatever it may be that has a major impact on the world. Although, a well-purposed capstone course that captures the goal of a liberal arts education summarizes the diverse critical thinking goals of a liberal arts education and that is exactly what Neurochemistry did for myself.
All-in-all, my time at Concordia has flown by in an instant. It doesn’t seem very long ago when I thought I didn’t need to study for my first chemistry exam or I didn’t think I could get hungover or I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I can only hope that I have grown up since them even with the appearance of such a minimal time gap. Even at this point in my education I am not exactly sure where I am gonna be in 10 years, and as I have grown here at Concordia, it seems as if there is some intention there. That fact may have worried me two years ago, but now it doesn’t seem near as threatening. My time at Concordia through the lens of my Capstone course seems promising, and that is all that I can hope for.
