The Applied and Integrative Learning outcome stresses the ability to connect topics from among different fields of study, in the hope that a student may use their knowledge from one thing to apply it to another. I have found this to be particularly true with the courses and assignments I have completed. Each semester I have found a number of connections between classes that have helped me tremendously in putting things into context.

My first semester here I took Great Books of Antiquity, Western Civilization and Comparative Arts. In all three subjects we addressed the literature, art, history, and culture of Ancient Greece. One can hardly talk about a society such as Ancient Greece, without addressing the topics of things like art, architecture, Epic poems, plays, warfare, democracy, and philosophy, as the Greeks made innumerable contributions to the world in each and every respect. The things I learned in Great Books of Antiquity helped me in Comparative Arts, which lent itself to Western Civilization, and vice versa. Having even somewhat of a base knowledge in just one area, say for instance of the Greek Pantheon or the long history of wars from a Western Civ. class, In my opinion, gives you a level of understanding and respect for the subject if and when for example you want to take on reading a translation of Homer’s Odyssey. Similarly, I have used knowledge of American History in every other history class, regardless of the topic. It is crucial to analyze the effects of US policy, spanning back to the Monroe Doctrine, and other presidential policies when studying areas such as the Middle-East, Latin America and Asia. Every single day I find relevance in the information these classes have given me. If you expect to understand what is going on in the present with the continuing struggle for civil rights all over the United States, you must also put it into context by looking at the Civil-rights movement of the 1960’s, and all of the events and circumstances that led to it. Going back further, one cannot hope to understand the struggle for equality taking place in the twentieth-century without first having a knowledge about the fight to abolish slavery, and the Civil War in the 1860’s, and the perpetuity of Jim Crow Laws throughout the South lasting into the twentieth-century.

Not a day goes by when there isn’t talk of Islam in the media or news. The radicalization and extremism that breeds terrorist organizations like ISIS does not happen overnight, it is the result of many factors that must be examined. I have touched upon this topic in many classes, including History of the Middle-East, Historical Methods, World Religions, and Comparative Politics. Lessons, assignments and class discussions on history, politics, and religion have combined to help me see things differently and have enabled me to form my own opinions on the matter.

There is always such a clear connection between Liberal Arts courses like history, English, sociology, religion, politics, literature, and art. I have yet to be able to integrate anything from a science of math course into anything relevant to other courses, or for practical use in day-to-day life. This is something I will address in the Breadth of Knowledge reflection.