Junior Year - Meat and Potatoes
HONORS 392A - "The Good Life"
Most courses stop and make us think for a quarter, or perhaps an academic year at most. However, there are other classes that stick with us day after day, with material that we'll most likely remember until the hour of our death. This most certainly fell into the latter category. Under the guidance of professor John Manchak, we explored the concept of a "good life" through the eyes of philosophers, religious experts, and ordinary people like ourselves. Minimal amounts of physical homework did not presuppose a lack of heavy mental lifting–we were forced to reexamine our personal concepts of contentment and happiness to arrive at a deeper appreciation for the human condition.
My artifact for this class is a set of notes that a classmate and I used to discuss Tolstoy's A Confession, a brutally honest exploration of the acclaimed author's own emergence from a state of deep, suicidal despair. Casting aside the hedonism and selfishness of his previous years, he emerged into a different state as a religious ascetic after a life-changing brush with his own mortality. Through this work, we discussed the notions of purpose and futility in the face of the unknown.
BIOC 442A - Cellular Biochemistry
Despite it literally being the core of my major, I found biochemistry to be an enormous challenge to surmount–every quarter, I seemed to mess up one of my midterms due to a textual misunderstanding, lack of preparation, or both. The experience was, admittedly, frustrating, especially after looking forward to the series for such a long period of time. With that said, the class undoubtedly taught me to understand the workings of complex living systems (even if did so in a pretty rough manner!).
In addition to the lecture itself, I enrolled in the "advanced section" every quarter, which explored recent discoveries in the field through weekly literature review sessions. My last quarter was especially illuminating, as each student was required to give an in-depth presentation on a specific paper, which expected us to understand the science behind our publication with a great degree of accuracy. To the left, you'll find the powerpoint presentation that I gave on mRNA longevity controls.
HONORS 212B - "Reading Tolkien"
The best works of literature, even if stereotypically directed towards a younger audience, often carry an incredible amount of philosophical depth that only enriches them as they are re-read. Indeed, this is the case for J.R.R. Tolkien's body of work, often referred to as his "Legendarium." In HONORS 212 with Dr. Robin Stacey, our class unpacked the epistemological and cultural ramifications of this famous British author, analyzing his inspirations and motivations to create some of the most famous books in the English language. Along the way, we learned about his upbringing, religious beliefs, and the philological obsession that shaped the majority of the stories in the Middle-Earth universe.
As a strong Catholic, Tolkien was heavily influenced by the works of St. Augustine, particularly the theologian's Neoplatonic philosophy that drew battle lines between the forces of good and evil. The two were also well-known for their reliance on cities as images of religious inclinations. In my artifact for this class, I explore both of these themes and their impact on Tolkien's body of work as a whole.
Older ≠ more mature (Photo credit: Jessica Burdette)