I first heard about the Neurochemisty capstone course as a freshman here at Concordia College. I signed up for the Neuroscience minor, and like the nerd that I am, immediately looked through all my course options. Neurochemisty caught my eye. It looked challenging and fascinating and from then on it was a goal. A race to the finish. I heard from upperclassmen how different it was as a class. I heard what a good experience it was. But let me tell you, Neurochemistry wasn’t everything everyone hyped it up to be.
Now let me explain…it wasn’t the class itself, or the content, or the professor that ruined Neurochemistry for me. It was Concordia College as a whole.
You see, here at Concordia, I was able to experience many different learning-teaching styles early in my academic career. As a college, Concordia is a proponent of real world discussions, becoming responsibly engaged in the world (BREW anyone?), and interdisciplinary learning. And accordingly, Concordia requires something called a “capstone” which is the type of class that Neurochem is.
The capstone is supposed to focus on the “Goals for Liberal Learning,” have a writing emphasis, and experiential learning. The “Goals for Liberal Learning” include: a love of learning, development of foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities, understanding and integration of multiple perspectives, examination of cultural, ethical, and spiritual self-understanding, and responsible participation in local, national, and global communities. And Neurochem as a class did achieve all of these things as I look back over the semester. I loved learning through discussions of scientific issues incorporated with ethical and political aspects of the problem. I was able to hone my scientific paper writing skills which I hope to use in my future endeavors and practice writing on scientific topics to a general audience. I was able to [try to] twist my mind around the complexities of a science that incorporates every other science imaginable plus most of the humanities. I learned how to make a PSA.
But you have to be kidding me to think that in my senior year, a capstone course is the first times I’ve don’t any of these things.
Concordia College ruined my capstone experience by exposing me to all of those “Goals for Liberal Learning” and experiential learning far before my senior year. My school has allowed me the amazing opportunity to get to a class that is supposed to be so different and look back, reflect, and realize that really, it’s the school that is so different. I love being able to have a liberal arts education, where, in a day, I might have classes in four completely unrelated areas and then realize as I’m doing my homework how similar they all really are. I love that so many of the classes are discussion based. I love that the professors at Concordia are some of the best mentors imaginable and have believed in me and pushed me out of the Concordia bubble and into the real world where I’ve had amazing experiential learning opportunities at multiple nationally and internationally renowned hospitals and universities.
All in the 3.5 years before I took my capstone…while I thought I was waiting.
My capstone experience may have been ruined, but it was for the best reasons. Sure, it was a great time. There were a lot of laughs, a lot of learning together, and a lot of introspection as we covered topics that often centered around death and dying. I enjoyed going to class. I enjoyed Dr. Mach as a professor. I enjoyed lively discussions with my 17 other classmates. But ask any student at Concordia—those things are not unique to a capstone course.
My capstone experience may have been ruined, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I waited 3.5 years for this…and it wasn’t as special as I expected: my capstone experience
