mon curriculum requirements they all must take to receive their diploma. These requirements include a first-year preceptorial, sophomore re - search seminar, a social science course, a human- ities course, a humanities literature class, and two linguistic and cultural competency classes. For the fall, I signed up for Intro to Philosophy. I thought this would be the easiest “A” I would ever receive. Little did I know, this course proved to be much more challenging than I expected. Going into this class, I felt that I wouldn’t have to pay attention to learn. I thought that the an- swers would come easily. That was until I took my first exam. I got a B-. Immediately, I went into a panic. How could I get a B- in an Intro to Philosophy class? After pulling myself together, I decided my best option was to email the pro- fessor expressing my concerns about the exam and asking her for guidance on the matter. In her response, she expressed that all my reflections were expressed in a way that gave a definitive answer like there was a right or wrong to each question. She expressed that in philosophy, not every question provides an answer. Some things in philosophy may never be answered. At first, I had a very hard time taking this in. How can questions not have real answers? I had been so oriented around the view that everything has one correct answer, like in math and science. This was a way of thinking that I had not been accus- tomed to before. I needed to change something if I wanted to do better. I needed to think outside the box of what I spent my entire high school ca- reer training myself to think. Now, in each class,
the long lost variable - Humanities' Impact on Engineering
by Nate Boulé
I'm passionate about Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, and I'm also a soccer athlete
Growing up, each child has a dream about what they want to be when they get older. From a cop to a firefighter to a doctor, children have their own vision of what life as an adult looks like. For me, my dream was to become an engineer. In high school, I began to focus my time and effort on the math and science classes, as they were recognized as the im- portant classes for engineering. If I wanted to fulfill my dreams, these were the classes that would get me there. Throughout each year of high school, my main focus was to excel in my math and science classes. By senior year, I was taking advanced calculus and had joined a program called New Visions. Through New Visions, I was provided with the opportunity to take anatomy and physiology classes at the hospital in my town. Along with these classes, I was also put on a clinical rotation where I shadowed employ- ees at various parts of the hospital. I was able to sit in on surgeries, assist patients, and see what work was like day to day for each hospi- tal employee.
August hit and I was now being sent off to college. As I got closer and closer, a mix of emotions be- gan to rise. These next four years would set the foundation for the rest of my life. I was now on my own and started questioning if I was truly ready for this. It didn’t take long for me to get into a routine with classes freshman year. I was taking the math and science classes I had been preparing for since the start of high school. Although these classes proved to be challenging, I enjoyed the obstacles they threw at me. Each success was a step closer to my overall goal. As the first year came to an end and COVID-19 was running rampant, I was sitting comfortably. Regardless of all the stress and ob- stacles COVID-19 had caused, I was still able to stay on track with my classes and was now ready for the upcoming sophomore year. While signing up for classes for the sophomore fall term, I noticed that my schedule looked a lit- tle different. I had already completed all my math requirements and was looking to complete some other classes required to graduate. Since I am at a liberal arts school, each student has a list of com-
I came ready to listen and learn. I made an ef- fort to ask questions and answer some as well. I began to see the way in which this class was designed to make you think. My philosophy class was discussion-based and was open to the students to spark conversa- tion. While it took me a while to really get into discussions, I was eventually able to have full- on constructive arguments and conversations with my peers. This humanities course enabled me to push myself past my comfort zone and reach out to other students. It taught me a lot about how the collaboration of ideas can lead to potentially better outcomes. Every student approached each situation from a different an - gle. Being able to discuss each other’s points of view helps with decision making. Through learning this skill in my philosophy class, I have recently been able to apply many of these newly learned skills in my engineering courses. By collaborating with other students in these classes, I learn new ways of handling
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Arts & Humanities
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