If you had told my freshman self that I would select Neurochemistry as the capstone for the end of my college career, I probably would have requested that you undergo a psychological evaluation. And yet here I sit, nearly four years later, reflecting on a truly transformative course. I will admit, as a Psychology and Spanish double major taking the course to fulfill a Neuroscience minor, I definitely felt like the underdog. As the sole representative of the science of the mind facing a class full of pre-med, pre-pharmacy, and chemistry majors, it definitely took me awhile to feel as though I belonged there. But I believe wholeheartedly that this Capstone course captures the essence of a liberal arts education. We may possess different strengths in certain areas and have varied perspectives on an issue, but this does not make a certain background any more or less valid. We can combine our strengths to achieve a more comprehensive level of understanding from a variety of avenues. Each week, we tackled articles containing language that reminded me of the time when I briefly contemplated learning Russian. From ALS to Alzheimer’s, Bipolar Disorder to Parkinson’s, and even the controversies of cannabis, we explored the complex mechanisms behind numerous neurological conditions prevalent in society. This course allowed me to connect behavioral elements of disorders with which I am familiar to their chemical components in the brain.
The biggest lesson from this Capstone course: get comfortable with the uncomfortable. We took recent scientific discoveries and broke them down into smaller subcategories. Then, we shared our assigned topics on speed dates with each other until the topics became as familiar as a family rant about the frustrations of loving Minnesota sports teams at Thanksgiving. On Fridays, we met to discuss larger implications of the scientific findings, such as the various social issues. Should medical marijuana be legalized? Would you genetically modify your children to guarantee not passing on a life-altering condition? Finally, we posted our perspectives on the Cobbers on the Brain blog. I hope that my contributions as well as the posts of my peers have been beneficial for all of you who follow our forum.
I have thoroughly enjoyed wrestling with unfamiliarity, confronting my frustrations, and learning to adapt my strengths along with expanding my educational horizons. I plan to pursue a doctoral degree in a different avenue than my fellow comrades in Neurochem, either in Clinical Neuropsychology or Neurolinguistics, a hybrid of my love of language and the brain. Through this capstone course and my education at Concordia College, I can confidently identify as a critical reader, thinker, and a responsibly-engaged individual, possessing skills that will allow be to successfully pursue my educational and career aspirations.
Capping off Neurochemistry
