Title
Document Type
Portfolio Introduction Essay
Publication Date
10-20-2011
Excerpt
Now that I’m on the other side of another semester and my first academic year at Valparaiso University, I can look back at my thoughts from the beginning and realize how different they are from what I think now. I’ll admit that in August, I was a bit apprehensive at being required (not allowed) to take a 5 credit humanities course—twice. And to be honest, I felt the same way with my CORE filled work schedule for the first few months. Only when I was well into CORE-115, things started to connect. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate the value of discussion, the experience in argument to be gained from writing, and the importance of being open to new ideas and philosophies. It was that I hadn’t done it for long enough for any reflection, progress, and revelations to be meaningful. Now that I’ve been reading carefully selected texts and participating in discussion for eight months, I’m starting to see the beauty of the course and how it reflects the nature of the human experience. First and second semester are generally separated by final exams, winter break, and often professors, but for CORE, it was really a continuation. How often our discussions involved going back to related CORE 110 texts, texts in entirely different units! I’ve realized that like life, having to come to terms with Origins, Education, Love, Citizenship, Vocation, and Death doesn’t actually ever end; it’s a continuous process that links the topics together in unexpected ways.
Recommended Citation
Dary, Anthony, "Experience (2011)" (2011). The Valpo Core Reader. 1.
http://scholar.valpo.edu/core_reader/1
Comments
Copyright © 2011 by Valparaiso University and the Author. Use with permission.