My Favs...
My favorite classes here at CAL are Ethnic Studies 150AC: People of Mixed Racial Descent, NST 171: Toxicology Lab, PH150A: Intro to Epidemiology, TAGALOG 1A: Intro to Tagalog, THAI 1A: Intro to Thai.
The ETHSTD 150AC was a great class that really was eye opening. The teacher was Prof. Allen. He is a great teacher because he makes what you are learning interesting and he really engages your attention with the way he presents it. It let me learn about racial history from blacks to asians to native americans to mexicans and showed me different experiences of interracial people. The work load was not too bad. We had to read novels and write a one page paper relating to the novel. We had one midterm which consisted of mostly being able to define terms used in class. And we had a final project which they gave everyone the freedom to design their own project. There were really no requirements, excepting discussing it with the professor or GSIs to make sure it would be an appropriate project for the class. My final project really opened my eyes to the experiences of my friends and family and how they had been treated as an interracial person or a person in an interracial relationship. It was so much fun!!
The Intro to Epidemiology class I took was very interesting as well. The teacher was Dr. Abrams. She was really nice and did a good job of presenting the material and making it interesting. She did her best to make sure we understood because she wanted everyone to do well in the class. I thought I would learn about diseases, but it also taught me about how they were discovered, how to conduct research to determine the cause of certain diseases, and what epidemiologist do. That class was really interesting because it incorporated some statistics with medical issues of the population. There were Lab/Homework assignments due in discussion every week to two weeks. We had 2 midterms and a final. And we had a 2 page Fact Sheet to turn in towards the end of the semester. The work was definitely manageable and made sure you understood the information because that's what we were tested on. It was a fun class too!
I really liked NST 171: Toxicology Lab because it gave me lab experience that I probably wouldn't have gotten if this class weren't required. Another thing that was so great about this class was the student to teacher ratio. There was about 1 teacher to every 3.5 students. So we really got to learn a lot from really great Professors: Bjeldanes, Leitman, and DeLumen; with a GSI for each professor. I really liked being in a small group rotating to the 3 different modules. We were able to get to know our group members really well, form a bond, and were able to work well together as a team. We learned lots of different lab techniques from culturing cells, transfecting cells, performing luciferase assay, proliferation assay, ames test, southern blots, comet assays, trypan blue assays, and more! After each module we would write up a lab report, we had 2 quizzes on the lectures, and we had final presentations on the last module we were in. Even though it started at 8am and ended around 12pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, it was such a great class! If you have the chance to take it, you should because it is a great experience!!
I really enjoyed both the language classes I took TAG 1A and THAI 1A because I am Filipino and I am now more conversant in Tagalog than I was before, and I really enjoyed learning about the Thai culture and its language because it is really beautiful. Ginang Pena and Ajarn Kepner were so nice and really did a good job of teaching us the languages. I really wish I could've taken the second semester of both classes but it just didn't work with my schedule!! I'm really glad I took these classes because not many other institutions offer them and I won't get another opportunity, so I might as well take advantage!!
These are great classes and are really fun!! If you have anymore questions about them come by my office hours on Thursdays from 11-1pm