It’s hard to believe that this semester will be over in a week. Even harder is believing that somehow I only have one semester left in my undergraduate career. My little (I guess not so little anymore) brother just got his first college acceptance, and I can’t believe that only four years ago, I was doing the same thing.
My brother and I, on his first day of high school right before I left for college
My brother is 3 and ½ years younger than me (4 school grades), so our lives kind of mirror each other. When he was experiencing his freshman year of high school at a new school, I was in my freshman year of college. When he was looking through programs and campuses and class sizes for undergrad, I was doing the same thing for graduate school. We’re both bombarded at holidays about what we’ll be doing in a year. Thinking that he is going to be starting the same journey that I’m about to finish is absolutely insane to me. I don’t even recognize the person I was 4 years ago, all bright and naive and having no idea what I was getting myself into.
If I’m being completely honest, I used to be really insecure when I would talk to others about my major. When I would say that I’m studying neuropsychology and law people would be impressed, but when I led with “I made my own major”, people were significantly less enthusiastic. And I get it. It kinda sounds like PSU is just letting me run around unsupervised, taking whatever class I felt like in the moment and calling it a degree. But then I think back to our Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies class and how I spent hours looking over the course catalog, painstakingly reading each course description and calculating if it would fit. I think about all the time I spent researching graduate programs and careers, checking the qualifications for each one. I think about all the professors I consulted, the friends I talked to and the hours I spent in the registrar. With all of this reflection, I can confidently say that every decision I made for my major was purposeful and my own. I am not taking any classes that I don’t actively want to and all of my classes are meaningful and significant, something I know many others won’t and can’t say about their majors. I remember talking to one of my cousins about the classes I was excited for in the upcoming semester and him shaking his head and saying he couldn’t relate. “They’re finance classes. Not much to be excited about”.
And I thank my lucky stars that I can’t relate to THAT.
The general focus of my IDS program is studying neuropsychology and criminology as well as the topics that involve both. I have since discovered how pertinent they are to each other- my classes often overlap on their own despite being from different departments. My criminal profiling class often talks about different mental illnesses and how frequently they appear in criminals. My criminal law class had an entire lecture about the neuroscience of trauma and how important it is to be aware of the effects trauma can have on victims. Without even trying, it’s easy to see how one can be applied to the other. Through my program, I have gotten an understanding of human biology, psychology, neuroscience and criminology in addition to an understanding of how knowledge from each discipline can be applied to the others.
My applied project stemmed from a story that my professor told us at the beginning of the semester. She explained that it was a senior at PSU who brought mental health court to New Hampshire- not a legislator, not a politician, not some committee, but a young student. Of course those people had their own role in assisting with this project, but it was the student who had the drive, motivation and hope for change. It was then that I decided that I too wanted to create change within the system. I cannot stress enough how important it was for me to have an adult faculty member, who was an established and accredited professional, who got excited about this project and who believed wholeheartedly in my abilities. I have seen so many older people hark on young people, calling us entitled, spoiled and weak, but not Professor Saffo. One of the first things you see on her moodle page is a quote by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that says “Each generation of young people should be to the world like a vast reserve force to a tired army. They should lift the world forward.". The most important thing I learned from my applied project was that I, as a young person, am capable of significant and real change.
I wrote my Research Article on The Application and Admissibility of Brain Imaging in Legal Settings, a topic that perfectly combines all of what I’m studying through my program. I stumbled upon my topic when I was researching ways that neuroscience and criminology can be applied at the same time and found the emerging field of “neurolaw”- something that I had never heard of. Through my research article, I gained a new perspective on the intersection of the different subjects that I am learning.
As I conclude my program and my time as an undergraduate student, I feel more sure of what I want to do in my life than I ever have. The classes that I found especially helpful in deciding what I wanted to do with my life were Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, Psychology and Law, and Anatomy and Physiology. A&P is a class that I am finishing up right now, and it has truly allowed me to regain faith in myself. Something that I often don’t tell people is that the main I reason I dropped my hard science major was because I didn’t think I was smart enough for it. It makes sense now, because one brain function that ADHD inhibits is working memory, which is very relevant to science. It makes sense that I was having a hard time in biology and chemistry. But now, with the proper treatment and better coping mechanisms, I can say with certainty that I am not too stupid for science- I can very proudly say that I have received on the past three anatomy tests. Being successful in anatomy, as well as now being able to listen and actively engage in class, has reignited my passion for science and I know that I will make it a priority to keep it a part of any career I might take part in. From my AP and my other classes, I know that above all else I want to be involved in humanitarian work. The most important thing I have learned from my classes is how important this work is- if we treat addicts as people and provide treatment, they are less likely to reoffend. Many Lebanese people join Hezbollah (a terrorist group) to receive social services, since Lebanon is extremely poor. A lot of the problems we have in this world could be solved, or at least fixed, with a little bit of humanity and kindness. Going forward, I am really excited about my career and possibilities that lay ahead of me, and I feel a whole lot more confident in myself and my education. I am so grateful to the staff in the IDS department for all the help they have given me, and to the program itself- it has given me direction and purpose that was essential to my success here at PSU. Here’s to graduation!