Majoring in Chemistry

As most of you know, I’m not the most brilliant science lady you’ve ever met.  I wish I was, really and truly, but sadly I never felt that I had the knack for it.  Which is sad since SBC’s sciences are top notch, and almost a third of our students are majoring in some sort of science.  But don’t get me wrong, I love my major–I loved the classes I took, the professors I had, and I so loved every challenge I was faced with academically, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

As I get older, though, I think about what it would have been like to add a major or minor in Chemistry.

Yes, you read right, I wrote Chemistry.

You see, this past year for me personally I’ve discovered a real passion for hobbies that require chemistry know-how–baking, making homemade cleansers, even my gardening hobby requires that I at least know the difference between an acid and a base.  I’ve considered getting myself a Chemistry for Dummies book, but I also play the what if game–what more could I be doing if I had been brave enough to take that Chemistry course?

So as we are still on the cusp of second semester, dare to be braver than me–take that course that sounds interesting even though it scares the pants off of you, join that club you’ve always dreamt about (or better yet, START that club), and send that application into that school that you know might be the perfect fit.

Because you never know–being brave might help your journey through life take a new path, or let you have a more interesting experience, or will let your family and friends rest a little easier at night that you’re not going to blow up the house with your newest all purpose cleaner

If I could do it all over again

I often times tell my students two things about my Sweet Briar experience.

1. When I was 22, Sweet Briar was the best thing I’d ever done for myself.  At 27, it ranks in my top three, but I fervently belive that the other two are directly related to my experience at SB.  (Want to know two and three?  You’re just going to have to ask!)
2. If I could do it all over again, even with inflation and a bad economy, I would.  100% without a doubt I’d sign the papers, drive the drive, and do it all over again.

I’d like to tack on an addendum to number two today, though.  I cannot imagine my life without a Sweet Briar experience in it, and yes, if I knew then what I know now, I’d do it again.  However, I would do two things differently.

1. I would have gone abroad.  I used to joke that coming from Central MA to Central VA was an abroad experience in and of itself.  Don’t get me wrong, it is (and I’m sure it works both ways!).  But I’ve been catching up with one of our students, Sarah J., through her blog and she is having one of the most unbelievable experiences.  Really, stop reading my ramblings, click on the link I’ve provided for you, and check out what she’s doing.  It’s AMAZING.  In my experiences, while it might not be studying abroad, when I travel to where you are to visit your high school, stay in your city, and the like it’s a completely different educational experience.  Seeing, touching, doing the things that help me to understand why my students from Philly tick a certain way that is different from how my students in Grundy, VA tick.  I imagine that it’s a similar learning curve when you go abroad to study in a different country.  So consider it, figure it out, make it happen.
2. I would have minored in Law and Society.  It was a budding program when I was a student, and my sister actually did minor in it.  I took one of Professor Bragaw’s Law and Society classes as a Junior because my sister said it would change how I thought about everything, much like the Modern Law Medieval Past class that made me want to be a History major.  She was right, and in hindsight I know it would have paired up beautifully with my major.  Professor Bragaw is one of our professorial bloggers, and posted this week on the first Moot Court Assignment of the semester.  Again, click on the link–you know you want to read something smarter than this  Moot Courts were some of my favorite assignments in that class–they were fun, you got to be creative, and you truly were able to put together the puzzle pieces of the class together in those assignments.  Who doesn’t love that?

College, no matter where you end up, is all what you make of it.  I had an amazing experience, even if I didn’t do the two things listed above.  The best part about this whole thing?  YOU get to learn from what WE didn’t do, and do it.  If you want to go to London for a semester, DO IT!  If you want to double major, DO IT!  Don’t be afraid, don’t let anything hold you back, especially at a place like the Briar–we are in the business of helping our students achieve the great things they set out to do.

“I would rather regret the things that I have done than the things that I have not”

–Lucille Ball