I cannot believe I finished my third semester at CSULB on Monday the eighteenth. I am already halfway through my sophomore year of college, and I now have the unit count of a senior. My college experience is going by rapidly, however, this semester was the most rewarding and intellectually stimulating so far.
One of the classes that I took this last semester was History 301 or the Methodology of History, which is a core class for history majors. In the course, I had to write a ten-page research paper on a topic relating to Slavery and its Legacies, so I chose to write about the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. I thoroughly enjoyed researching my issue, was pleased that my professor was always there to help, and delighted when I handed in the paper. History 301 made me realize that history was the major for me because I learned that history was more than just regurgitating facts from a book. Studying history meant studying why history books present the “facts” the way they do and how new primary sources can change what we learn. I learned that historians have a lot of control of written history and that is something that is inspiring to me because I want to be able to give the best account of the past.
Another rewarding moment in this semester was when I did well in my Pagan Culture class after worrying that I would not. I was worried that I would not do well in the class because I did not get a lot of graded assignments back throughout the semester. I only found out how well I did in the class after I turned in my final. I was relieved to hear that I would most likely get an A in the class because I did not know my grade in the class. After that final, my finals week became noticeably less stressful and the rest of my finals went pretty well.
Despite not debating for CSULB, I did put one foot back into the high school debate community to judge the Jack Howe Invitational. The tournament has improved since I competed in it. However, I still had to deal with poor scheduling and room allotment. Even though there were some aspects of the tournament that was not good, I always enjoyed judging the debates because there is a lot of talent and fascinating arguments. The best part of judging was that I got to make some money for my troubles, and money is always nice.
My third semester at CSULB went by rapidly, but I enjoyed all of my classes and professors this semester. My professors were passionate about the subject they were teaching, and there wasn’t a class that I dreaded attending. I had a few bumps in the road such as fearing that my research paper would not meet the required number of primary sources, but I applied myself and made the needed changes. I will now be getting further into both of my majors, which I am looking forward to because a lot of the same excellent professors teach the classes I need to take.
