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Part 14: Reflection of the past five months

 Module 14: Human Evolution // Class Reflection

When I first transferred to K-State from a community college, I learned that to get a degree in biology I would need to take Evolution. To be honest, I dreaded the idea of it so I chose to major in Life Science instead. However, I had to take Biological Anthropology which was a whole semester of what we covered in Module 14 - Human Evolution. I learned about evolution in my biology class in particular Animal and Plant Biology (Organismic Biology). It was then that I realized that human evolution is not my favorite biology subject. This class which is simply called Evolution completely changed my perspective about what Evolution is all about. 

This class has been one of my favorite classes mostly for various reasons. First, repetition is integrated into the course. I went over the concepts a minimum of four times for each module through lectures, exercises, videos, and blog posts. Secondly, the R exercises challenged me in sooooo many ways. Using the program was difficult and uncomfortable but rewarding in the knowledge gained both from the content in class and skills of navigating the software. Third, I learned about the "why"  behind evolutionary models and why they are not perfect but also why they are important in the process of scientific discovery. For example, when I learned about the Hardy-Weinburg Equilibrium I didn't fully understand why it was used if the HWE assumptions are very unrealistic. However, having been able to work with the model in simulated environments (R exercises) allowed me to understand why the HWE is useful. 

The biggest takeaway of this class focus on LEARNING the "why" behind concepts and having more conversations with my professors about content that I do not really understand or if I simply want to learn more about. I really struggled to keep up with the class this semester. Although, COVID-19 has been around all year. This was the first semester that I had been fully online. I really struggled to adapt to the online environment mostly because I was stuck at my apartment for months. After overcoming a traumatic event, three years ago I really focused my energy on personal development. Trust me when I say that I have never felt as happy as I do now. Additionally, I really overloaded my plate this year with many commitments which include a job, research, two professional development program, three organizations/clubs, and volunteering. But just like sexual selection, there is a cost. Unfortunately, it happened to be my classes that took the toll. I have been in school so long (a total of 7 years) that it feels like it has slowly become less of a priority. Especially now that I'm ready for the next step, there were moments that I prioritized the MCAT over my classes but had to remind myself that classes were more important. This semester reminded me why academics are important to me and why it should be one of my top priorities.

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