Learning Experiences: Part One

Last weekend, I was given the amazing opportunity to attend the American Chemical Society Leadership Institute with fifteen other undergraduates from around the world, alongside three hundred leaders in the chemical field. While I gave up two days of TCU education to go to the institute, I feel as though I learned more about myself and the subject I am passionate about in that time than I could ever learn in the classroom setting. I was able to attend workshops on engaging and motivating individuals, innovation, and soft skills, of which leadership is a part. There are some aspects of life that people cannot simply learn in  a college lecture. Sure, many parts of the institute were much like a lecture, but I also had the opportunity of interacting with individuals more than twenty years my senior and learning from them after sorting out their endless platitudes about how we are "the future of chemistry." In three days, I went from being the socially awkward students in the corner, to socializing with three current and former American Chemical Society presidents, helping professors from other universities learn how to work with undergraduate students, and collaborating with various divisions of the American Chemical Society that I have always been passionate about. In other words, I had a fairly decent weekend.

In regards to my education experiences at TCU, I learned something incredibly valuable: I am actually good at identifying unknown compounds in organic chemistry lab. For a course that has such a negative reputation from every person I talked to prior to taking it, it brings me abounding joy. Strangely enough, that lab has become my favorite science class this semester. I am fairly certain that my feelings about this course will remain constant, unless, of course, the identity of my first unknown is not N-ethylaniline. If that is the case, please disregard this entire paragraph.   

For my personal benefit, I decided to analyze myself and figure out how exactly I learn the best. I feel like sitting down and simply studying is an effective way to learn the material for an exam, but not for long-term learning and internalization of the material. For me, I have to be passionate about the material in order for me to learn it to any extent. While many do not know precisely what they are passionate about, I figured out how to recognize my passions. Whenever a subject infiltrates my mind randomly throughout the day, I become sensitive to noticing how the subject matter relates to daily life, and I attempt to understand everything I can about the subject, I am passionate about it. Fortunately, I am a person who does this in regards to countless subjects, both academic and otherwise, making me realize that I am an individual with a myriad of diverse passions ranging from chemistry to The Beatles, human rights, and the human condition. On a relevant side note, I have started noticing people laughing and immediately considering the reason why they are laughing. I suppose there is no such thing as having too many thoughts in your head, so I welcome this new subject to analyze in my daily life.