While I am thoroughly enjoying my time in the Honors 401 class as it is right now, I think that there is a lot left to be desired with the way that the class is currently designed. As a Junior in the PLA, I had expected that the topics we would be discussing would only get more controversial – more thought provoking, to be exact – as my years in the class went on. However, I’ve found that the topics that we currently discuss have less to do with ‘navigating the grey area’ and more to do with our professional development. Don’t get me wrong, that’s important in and of itself, and we’ve heard some people speak that have put us all at ease about our choices in our college lives thus far, but by taking some time to read the blogs that people in the class write, anyone can see that the content thus far hasn’t been particularly engaging on a deeply cognitive level.

Having recently spoken to Kristine, I found myself looking back to our classes time in 201 and 301 extremely fondly. I felt like I could walk into that class, sit back and learn more than I ever would in a normal classroom setting. I felt constantly challenged, learned a lot of new things – let’s go duckweed – and found myself engaging with my classmates in ways that I’d never have before in a typical classroom setting. To be quite honest, I’m very sad to say that that hasn’t been my experience with the 401 class thus far. The class is obviously under some reconstruction, and I’m glad that my classmates and I are the ones to trial the new version. Moving forward, however, I’d like to be a little more engaged in the restructuring process for the class. I’m sure that if we were to open up a serious discussion about the topic, we could arrive at a conclusion for a class time that is ultimately more cognitively challenging and engaging than what we currently have now.

PLA has become an extremely important part of my college career thus far. It’s allowed me to meet people that I have become extremely close with. It’s given me opportunities to see other parts of the United States in ways that not many people get to experience. It’s provided a forum for me to discuss issues that are very near and dear to my heart in an environment where I can feel safe to do so. On a more personal note, it’s allowed me to unload some of the issues that have been plaguing my mind over the past couple of years in the form of blog posts. I am extremely proud to be a PLA’er, and rave about it to anyone that might ask me about it. On that note, I’d like to continue to rave about my experience in the classroom like I once did, and I believe that has to start with including the students in designing the new class.