The title is the name of a Michael Jackson song from his “Thriller” album. Although he was talking about something else, I thought it would fit because I am “starting” a new blog and a new year….ok cheesy again? I guess so.
But anywho… if you didn’t know, my name is Dominique, and I am a sophomore Public Health Studies (natural sciences) major. I don’t really know what I want to do career-wise, so all I can say is we’ll see how things work out. I think some of that will include involvement with the School of Public Health in terms of research or something to narrow my interests.
So, since this is my first official entry of the school year, I guess it is appropriate to reveal what my classes are this semester. I have a lighter load than many of my peers because my academic adviser and I decided that I had a lot of room and flexibility to take it easy this semester, coming off of one that was way too stressful for me. Also, I have a new job this year (more info on that in later blogs), as well as increased leadership in a few of my clubs, so I decided to test the waters and see how things felt this time around.
1.) Spanish Elements I:
The easiest Spanish class here (actually, for a beginner’s class, it’s a little harder and faster than I would have expected but still fine).
Hey, you have to start somewhere right? I was actually going to drop this class for an English one that is required but my adviser convinced me that it was not wrong to postpone the required class in order to take a non required one that I would enjoy. Plus, I think that knowing even some elementary aspects of a foreign language is wonderful and very necessary, especially for a major like Public Health.
2.) Public Health Biostats:
Basically statistics with health related applications. Or at least that’s how I like to think of it. It’s a required Public Health course, and it’s not too bad yet. I don’t really like statistics but knowing how to use it for research and reading/writing papers is crucial, and I think this is a general thing, not just for PH majors.
3.) Organic Chemistry I:
The dreaded ‘orgo,’ as it is so endearingly called. If you’re pre med you will hear about it and how hard it is and whatnot, regardless of the school you attend. Lucky for me, I have an amazing professor, Lawrence Principe, who is extremely funny and does a great job of explaining concepts to you so they’ll be explicit. I kind of like orgo at this point, so we’ll see if that remains as the semester goes on. Also, it’s much less mathy than general chemistry so hopefully that helps me out too.
4.) Education and Inequality:
This is a 300 level Sociology course that I am taking out of interest, and also because my major requires several upper level courses in the social sciences. I really like it because it talks about the history of educational inequality in the U.S., and about the different theories and reforms in place that have been used to effect change in these educational disparities. So far, we have talked about things like whether or not education is ultimately necessary, whether education has become a sector in the market instead of something to make us more informed citizens, and more. I like the class a lot, but it’s taking me a while to learn how to read all of the material effectively. Usually I can just fake my way through readings and discussions (which you shouldn’t do because that’s not the point of school) but I kind of want/need to stop that.
I hope to leave the class with a better understanding of why educational disparities exist and what can be done to help them, and then some. I was also interested in the course because I have a mildly-extensive background in working with the Baltimore City School System from an administrative point of view. So we’ll see how this class goes.
It’s kind of crazy how school has only been in session for about 3 weeks, yet I feel like we’ve been here for a while because it’s getting hard to catch my breath! Such is the life of an involved and engaged Hopkins student.
Hasta luego! (sorry about the elementary Spanish phrases but I need to practice them :P )
P.S. Enjoy the awesome and random dinosaur blog template!
–Dominique
