Final Thoughts

I transferred into American three semesters ago because I wanted to study environmental policy, D.C. seemed like the right place to be, and of the schools in D.C., AU had the best environmental studies program geared toward a basic understand of science, policy, and political change. Of course, I'm a college student and as such I have changed my career path about six times since being here.

After being in school a while, I realized that I hate politics. I enjoy policy, but only from the angle of how it can be informed by politics. After years of ducking interest in science in an effort to not be my parents (a biophysicist and a plant systemitist), I realized that what I really want to do with my life is research. True confession: I want to be a scientist.

That doesn't meant that I don't think that this class was superfluous to my academic interests. Au contraire, this class will stand out in my memory for the lessons I learned about science communication. It can get frustrating when other people don't understand what you're saying, when they ignore facts, and value party politics more than the truth. As easy as it is to chalk that up to stupidity or assholishness, I've come to learn that the biggest fault lies with me, the communicator. If someone isn't getting it, than I'm not explaining it right. Sure there are always going to be people who push back (the 6 Americas), but I shouldn't waste my time on them.

I want to affect social change. Just because I also want to be in the laboratory, doesn't meant that I can't be a communicator, that I can't spread a message that can change this world for the better.

It has sucked to be on the liberal side of any issue for the past 2 years. Even when we succeed in accomplishing something, the country devolves into an argument of what is fiscally responsible. I want to use the lessons I learned in this class to change that conversation to what is morally right. I know that I can use what I have learned to affect social change through whatever means I choose.