A reflection on my final Neuroscience course at Concordia College

• What kinds of learning occurred for you during this semester?

  • Primarily this course offered an opportunity to “put the pieces together” that I had accumulated throughout my neuroscience degree at Concordia. While taking courses, its often difficult to accurately judge how well the material you learn is sticking. I often felt that I was not retaining as much as I should have been from class to class. Neurochemistry was a great opportunity to prove myself wrong. Much of the information was familiar from past lectures, but now presented in a more applicable context that allowed me to connect what I had learned in the last 5 years of school.

• How do the skills, competencies and knowledge gained in the experience relate to your future goals?

  • To be blunt, my STEM degree (Neuroscience) has been completed out of a general curiosity for the subject, instead of any grand plans of continuing on to graduate school or a research position in a lab. The skills sharpened in Neurochem though are widely applicable to life outside the sciences, or academia for that matter. I am very glad to have had time to develop the ability to comprehend academic papers, discus them with peers, and explain their complex aspects to those unfamiliar to the content.

• What does learning at a liberal arts institution mean to you?

  • To me it means being open to the wide swath of experiences the world has to offer. I am so extremely grateful for the opportunities I have had here at Concordia. From my work in the theatre to the neuro lab, constructing my massive sculpture installation, and working on a Mars base analogue, I feel that I have taken great advantage of the liberal arts. By getting hands on experience in a huge variety of topics, I feel that I am leaving Concordia as a well-rounded person that has the ability to work on and solve a broad range of the world’s problems.

• If you were to highlight on your resume a skill or competency that you improved upon this semester, what would you be sure to include?

  • I would highlight my ability to simplify and re-frame scientific concepts. I often found I was able to offer a quick metaphor or analogy that answered the question posed by my peers. This course offered me an extended period in which to hone that skill.

• Describe an example of solving a problem using several disciplinary perspectives.

  • I approach all of my work in art from the same perspective I approach my work in the sciences. My familiarity with the scientific method has led me to use it in all aspects of my life. When beginning a sculpture, for example, I will first perform background research on adjacent work, materials, and techniques. Then I form a sort of hypothesis, or direction I want my artistic experiment to head in. I then develop an outline of processes I need to undertake to complete the sculpture. While I complete those steps, unexpected things occur, to which I react and shift the sculpture. At the end of the process, I evaluate the results of my work, and present it at a show or online. I am being creative to solve the problem of creating something, but my approach to the work comes from my experiences with academic research.