Dear reader,
I have become quite sentimental recently. This is my last semester of undergrad, and it won’t be long before I move away from this little limestone city. Sometimes I imagine my first-year self walking into her empty dorm room on West Campus for the first time, and I imagine telling her everything that has unfolded over the last four years. I have learned more than I ever thought possible, and it has been such a privilege to have had the opportunity to learn and grow through the diverse courses I’ve taken over the last year. I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you some of the things I have learned throughout my courses that have made an impression on me, both academically and as I consider my future. I hope this can show you how rich and complex the academic opportunities at Queen’s can be and inspire you that it only gets better.
Psychology
I took a few classes in my third year that furthered my learning within the scope of developmental psychology. I absolutely fell in love with this branch of psychology during my encounters with it in my first and second year. Continuing to pursue this branch of psychology education reminded me of how passionate I am about understanding children in a way that meets them where they are at developmentally. I know I will find these skills of thinking deeper about how neurobiology to emotion to be extremely useful as I continue on to teacher’s college in the Fall.
One of my most memorable experiences with PSYC was an overnight sleep EEG lab I participated in for class. It was one of my first opportunities as a PSYC major to have hands-on experience learning from our findings in real time. It was incredible to learn about the mechanisms and specific attributes of the neurobiology of sleep, while also applying it directly to my own sleep experience.
I’m incredibly thankful for the courses that offered incredibly niche explorations into specific aspects of psychology. From cognition to memory, sleep to relationships, there really is so much to learn. Although I am wrapping up my last semester at Queen’s, I feel as though I have barely scratched the surface of my learning within the realm of psychology!
English Literature
One of my favourite things about English literature courses is the opportunities they offer for in-class discussion. Some of my favourite courses have been the ones that taught me how to close read texts in new ways, looking at satire and metaphors through socioeconomic lenses that place literature in the context of the time it was written in.
I’ve also found the diverse range of books I have had the chance to read throughout my classes has shaped my understanding of history, language and literature, far beyond what I thought would happen during my time as an English major. My room has stacks of books from courses past, and works by great writers like Uzma Jalaluddin, Virginia Woolf, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Simon Ortiz, and many others.
I also enjoyed courses that centered Indigenous poetry and literary works, which challenged me think about how colonialism has impacted what I considered to be the English literary canon. These courses taught me to think beyond the margins and question what narratives within literature are not told, and what this tells us about a narrative.
The list above is not exhaustive. I will probably spend the rest of my life unpacking everything I have learned during my time at Queen’s, and I hope I continue to be a lifelong learner.
That said, thank you for accompanying me on this journey through some of my favourite courses of my undergrad. I wonder if you are reflecting on your academic journey thus far, what courses have been part of shaping you?
Until next time,
Hannah