Over the past few weeks, as I’ve started adjusting to the new semester and settling back into my school routine. I’ve found myself in a place that I am all too familiar with after three and a half years at Furman: drowning in homework, projects, assignments, and tests. There is no doubt that Furman continues to live up to its reputation of demanding significant time and effort from its students and implementing a rigorous curriculum, even in the midst of a global pandemic. But as many tears as I have shed over not getting an assignment done on time, doing poorly on a test I studied hours for, or becoming unbearably overwhelmed looking at all of the tasks written in my planner, one emotion looms at the forefront of my mind: gratitude. When I look back on who I was as a student and as a person coming into college, I am filled with immense gratitude for the educational experience that Furman has given to me and the professors who shaped that experience. As I come to the end of my time here at Furman, I can’t help but think about not just all the things I wish I had known as an incoming freshman but also all of the things that I now know as an outgoing senior. I can’t help but reflect on what incredible lessons I have learned from the many mentors and professors that have guided me through my academic journey and set me up for success in the next phase of my life.
Coming into college, I thought I knew what I was capable of. I had ascribed myself to a certain set of subject areas that I knew I was interested in, and that was that. “I’m a writer, I can’t do math.” “I like languages, biology just isn’t for me.” As far as I was concerned, I was confident in the type of student that I was, and I wasn’t looking to change that. But when I took a Health Sciences class my first semester, the foundation of that entire mindset was shaken to its core. As I would quickly discover, Public Health was the passion that I never saw coming and yet simultaneously the one that suddenly made my future seem clearer than it had ever been. When I found out that I would have to take Foundations of Biology (the type of weed out class that people tell horror stories about) to be a Public Health major, I was dangerously close to going another route just to avoid this one class. I had always been a reader and a writer; I wasn’t meant to be a science major. And yet, as I began to take more classes and learned what Public Health entailed, I couldn’t shake how excited it made me feel. Here was this discipline that involved so many of the things I valued: community, well-being, empathy, inclusion, societal cohesion. And I was writing it off just because it was grouped in the same umbrella category with learning about chromosomes, alleles, and cytokinesis. As it turned out, choosing Public Health as my major became the best and most meaningful decision that I made in my time at Furman. The professors in the department have become incredibly helpful mentors, who have taught me many lessons about not just professional life but also about how to take care of yourself and make the most out of what you are given.
Looking back, this instance of how the curriculum at Furman significantly altered my life path and caused me to reconsider the way I think about my strengths and set goals for myself is a perfect example of the value of the liberal arts education that Furman successfully implements. Because I was required to take a Wellness Concepts course my freshman year, I stumbled upon a discipline that fulfills me in ways that I hope everyone gets to experience. Because I was challenged by professors and mentors to take a risk in doing something I didn’t think I was capable of, I acquired a set of thinking skills that I didn’t think that I needed. The interdisciplinary nature of both the Public Health major and the Furman experience allow for opportunities to look at important issues from different viewpoints and truly understand how each of these viewpoints can effectively contribute to a solution. Because of this liberal arts education, I can confidently say that I will come out of these four years not just a stronger student, but also a better person.
Throughout my time at Furman and in the Public Health major, every class and every professor has guided me closer to being able to answer the question, “What does the world need from me?” Every bit of knowledge that I’ve acquired, both practical and more personal, has allowed me to be a more well-rounded individual who can think deeply about the world from many different perspectives. Yes, I learned a lot in the classroom the last four years, more than I could have ever fathomed. But I learned so much more beyond any academic curriculum. I learned the art of self-awareness and its importance in any professional path. I learned to push myself to be uncomfortable if I ever wanted to experience any growth. I learned how to succeed, and I learned how to fail, and I learned that both experiences can be meaningful going forward. Most importantly, I’ve learned how to think critically. I’ve learned how to be a more effective citizen. I’ve learned how to balance what I need with what I have to give. Somehow, through the many hours of class that I have sat through over the last three and a half years, the most meaningful lessons that I have learned have been the ones that were rarely articulated. Instead, these themes were woven into just about every question, every lecture, and every discussion. They were alluded to again and again in order to mold students into good people who can do good for the world. And now I’m ready to do just that.