End of semester reflection

So far, I’ve enjoyed Paideia much more than I was expecting to. I didn’t exactly expect to hate it, however I’d heard from several upper-classmen that it really depends on your cohort and your professor. Fortunately, I feel that our cohort meshes pretty well, and Dr. G is just awesome. I think the night on the sport court really helped with that, it’s hard to still be unfamiliar with people after some friendly competition.
I really like the way our class is set up, with the Newsweek readings and blogs. The readings were really beneficial, considering I probably wouldn’t otherwise be keeping up with current events. I think the blogs added to the “informal” nature of the class, for some reason I don’t mind writing a blog as much as I would mind a response paper.
As negative as this seems, one of the best parts of Paideia for me has been being required to do things that I would never do on my own. For instance, I wouldn’t have normally attended a luncheon about the campaign (hence the “personal stretch”), but it was definitely something I needed to do. I think this is somewhat common, however, since I remember people saying they were glad Paideia would force them to study abroad; which is another thing I’m grateful for, because I’m sure I would find some excuse to avoid going abroad if it were not a requirement.
I think we made definite progress as a group. We covered a good amount of the 50 facts and got to talk about some really interesting topics. I enjoyed getting to know everyone’s opinions and where they stand on different issues. This is particularly valuable, since I know that one of the main objectives of Paideia is to bring together students of different backgrounds and majors. I honestly don’t think I would get to interact with this type of diverse group without participating in the program.
This blog wouldn’t be complete without a little discussion about our civic engagement project. While I didn’t vote for the Boys and Girls club, I’m still excited about the project. In my actual CE blog, I was totally in support of the BGC, and I have some fun ideas. I’m just a little hesitant about going one at a time, though I think that if we go in small-ish groups we could organize some sports/games/activities, which I think we somewhat discussed earlier in the semester.
I’m looking forward to next semester and putting our CE project into action. I think that once we start going to BGC and interacting (with the kids and with each other) and discussing our experiences our group dynamic will improve even more.