I live with the president of a sorority on campus. Next year, I’m living with two girls in that same sorority. So let me preface this by saying that I in no way, shape, or form, am knocking Greek Life. Instead, I propose this: It’s very possible to get through your undergraduate years at Monmouth without being involved in Greek Life.
What are some of the thoughts students have when choosing a school? Perhaps, both campus size and classroom size, professor to student ratio, party life, food court options, campus life are largely deciding factors that come to mind.
Time and time again as I have grown up, I have heard people say, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Like most things in life, it is much easier said than done. As the end of my academic life approaches, I find myself longing to make this last semester last as long as possible.
M: Did you have enough to eat today? You have to have some food in you for energy.
How great do you feel after you wake up from a nap? Do you feel refreshed? Do you feel like you can function again? Don’t you just feel awesome? Well you should.
If you are on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and see a picture of an elephant, I can almost guarantee you it is because of me. If we’re ‘friends’ or ‘followers,’ you must know I have been overly obsessed with elephants and the symbolization they embody. That’s why when I heard about The Ringling Brothers deciding to phase the elephants out of “The Greatest Show On Earth,” I was insanely thrilled.
We greatly appreciate the thoughts that The Outlook staff writer, Katherine Jaffe, shared in her opinion piece titled, “What Really Matters: GPA or Activities?” Three main points framed Ms. Jaffe’s opinion: 1) grades should not define students; 2) grades are unimportant because of grade inflation; and 3) hands-on and work experiences are more valuable than classroom learning. As educators and administrators from two different content areas, we felt compelled to respond and offer some of our unified thoughts. There are no easy answers to questions regarding the relationship among grades, classroom learning, and out-of-class experiences. To be worthwhile, experiences both within and outside the classroom have to be transformative for students. We have seen students transformed through course readings, lectures, class activities, written assignments, and educational experiences outside the classroom. There is no one best method of learning for all students, which means that professors must provide a diversity of opportunities within their classes for students to learn in a variety of ways. There are many ways to encourage students to think in new ways about issues with which they are familiar (what sociologists call “making the familiar strange”), and to think about issues that they have never considered.
I’ve always been the first one to say that I would LOVE to go back and be a 1950s housewife with the white picket fence, golden retriever, and perfect cooking skills in the suburbs. But I never really gave any thought about the reasons why. I should learn to love the era in which I live. So many of us complain and wish we could live in the 1920s, 1950s, etc., but I don’t think that any of us have actually thought about what that entailed.
“Travel far enough, you meet yourself,” the British author, David Mitchell, once advised this to the world. To be honest, this quote couldn’t sum up my latest travel experience anymore perfectly than I could. I met my better, happier self. Because of this, I now know that traveling has the power to change you as a human being.