From the beginning, the Honors program at Dominican University of California

has helped to shape my view of the world by giving me a variety of experiences to

explore and understand different aspects of our lives. Covering subjects as expansive as
natural disasters from a psychological point of view to neuroethics and its interplay with
biology, has instilled me with a wonder and openness towards our world that I did not
have before. In all my honors courses, I learned to question ideas and methodologies, not
only for the purpose of scholarship, but to enhance my own wellbeing.
My college experience began with an exploration of the worlds natural disasters
and the consequences they can wreak on our psyches. A class that was challenging, as
well as interesting, my writing skills were put through the refinery in order to reach
academic excellence. The real test would be the next semester, in which the study of
ethnography, culture, and people would demonstrate to all of us that where the study
lacks scientific formula, the papers structure would. These classes were instrumental in
my pursuit of knowledge in that they instilled me with awareness for the organic,
unrefined world of nature and people. In these courses, we struggled with the idea of
people why we act the way we act and why we think in the ways we think.
During my sophomore year, my ethics course expanded our exploration to include
whether our actions are our inborn right or is it a privilege handed to us. Because of the
service-learning commitment the ethics course required, we not only learned the
foundation of ethical decision making in class, we also had opportunities to make those
theories practical. I chose to work with high-risk high school students of San Rafael in a
support program where Dominican students acted as tutors and aids for the school. As a
tutor, it was my job to facilitate groups of students (1-5 people) in discussion of various
topics, whether it was in math, history, or English. In the beginning, it was difficult to
connect to this population, but after self-reflection and direction from peers and adults,
communicating and teaching these students became one of my favorite plans for the
week. This experience helped me to build upon my strengths in oral communication and
recognize my weaknesses so that I could improve and use those skills in later Honors
Seminar classes.
Complimentary to my ethics course was my worlds religion study with Professor
Gay Lynch. This class utilized both oral and written communication in which we had to
journal about a specific topic before every class and then be ready to discuss it during our
meeting time. This class involved several fieldtrips to meeting grounds of various
religions across the San Rafael area and these meetings helped to expand my global
awareness. As someone who practices a specific faith, I had never experienced the
luminosity and spirituality other practices offered. This course was vital to my spiritual
growth in that it challenged me to expand my cultural and religious boundaries.
Sophomore year was very sentimental to me in that the honors courses I
participated in helped to further my exploration by giving me topics to question. Why
were these readings important or relevant to me? How did they affect what I already
believed? How could I apply them to my personal life, as well as my future career? How
will this affect the way I perceive interactions in the future? All these and more were
questions I had coming into my junior year, where morality and my own major would
meet.
My junior year at Dominican University, I had the privilege of working with Dr.
Majdubi and Dr. Stelmach. The former is a professor of biology, specializing in
neurobiology, while the latter a seasoned humanities professor who had heavy influence
as their former department chair. These two teachers held a colloquium examining the
connections between our anatomy and the decisions we make. This colloquium was held
seminar style, where every class period ended with a self-evaluation of our participation
for the day. For someone like me, being a nursing student used to sitting in lectures and
taking notes, it was difficult to assimilate into an environment where my opinion was not
only wanted, but welcome. I had never felt comfortable with voicing my opinions in
small groups with students of different majors about topics I could barely grasp, but in
this colloquium, I felt myself gain confidence with the guidance of my teachers and my
peers. My usual perception of working in small groups, where one person does most of
the work, was changed in these groups where disagreement was encouraged and
explored.
Coming into my senior year and working through my senior thesis, Ive come to
realize the value of learning with people of other disciplines and frankly, miss it. When
searching for topics that interested me, I was constantly drawn to the ethical dilemmas
that occur in the hospital. With this in mind, I chose to explore the ethical dilemma of
using physical restraints on children in the hospital. I focused on how nurses felt putting
these restraints on, were the effects on children understood before placing them, and did
these feelings affect the prevalence of restraint use.
Navigating through the final months of my undergraduate program will be one of
the most testing times of my life, but with my ever growing knowledge, communication
skill, critical thinking habits, and willingness to work with others, they will be months I
can embrace with open arms.