I had a revelation of sorts this past week. It didn’t occur during one singular moment. Rather, this revelation was made out of a string of moments that happened over the course of a few days. What I thought at first was just a hodgepodge of good days turned out to have an underlying meaning. So it goes.
The factor that tied all of these instances together was the fact that they all had to do with my classes. I came to the realization one day last week that I actually thoroughly enjoy every single class that I am in this semester. When I recognized that fact about my schedule, I was prompted to think about how much being in classes that I enjoyed affected my overall attitude about being in school. I thought about this topic for a little bit and came to the conclusion that taking classes that I find worthwhile make all the difference in my life. [pullquote align=”left”]The idea that I can discover what it is that I truly have a passion for is pretty exciting.[/pullquote]
It all kind of makes me question college as a whole. Maybe it’s different at private or non-profit schools, or maybe it’s just the same everywhere you go. My perception of college is that students get the opportunity to “test the water” with all of the diverse courses, majors, and minors that a school has to offer. And that freedom to try anything that you feel you might have an interest in really seems comforting to me. The idea that I can discover what it is that I truly have a passion for is pretty exciting. But the fact of the matter is that things don’t always work out that way. There is a structure to being a college student that I think most of us find restricting.
What comes to my mind is the general education requirements that every student at West Chester has to complete in order to graduate. For example, last semester I had to take a gen. ed. class taught in a huge lecture hall. It was a kind of class that made me question why I even bothered showing up every day. I’m sure almost everyone that has gone, is going, or will go to college will experience what I’m talking about. Fast forward to this semester, and I’m in a similar lecture-hall class. But this time I’m actually excited to go, partly because it’s part of my major, but also because the professor makes the environment interesting and fun. And I get that feeling of excitement to learn in each one of my classes this semester.
I have to say that being in classes that I actually care about keeps me motivated to do homework and other assignments, and it’s making life seem a lot easier both in and outside of school. Hopefully this feeling of enthusiasm carries me through the next two years of school.
So I’ll end this column with a piece of advice: try as hard as possible to pick classes that you know you’ll love. Perhaps you’ll stumble upon one that you knew you’d hate, but maybe you find one you didn’t even know you were looking for. Till next time, so it goes.
Rachel Alfiero is a second-year student majoring in communication studies. She can be reached at RA806657@wcupa.edu.