I had a great academic advisor at Fordham. He helped me create schedules that “double (or triple!) dipped” with all the requirements for my degree. This meant that by my junior year, I was taking 4 classes a semester. By senior year, I managed to take 3 a semester, making sure to choose the 4 credit ones so I stayed full time. So efficient was my schedule from the beginning, that some of those 4 credit classes were just for fun. A psych major has no requirement to take “effective speaking”, “drawing,” or “visual thinking.” But goodness gracious, I took them, and I took them with fervor.
I learned more in my “just for fun” visual thinking class than I did in any other class during my four years at Fordham. Visual thinking is an art class that focuses on different mediums (paint, wire, pencil, collage) and using them in ways that make you re-think how you perceive your work. My final project was a magazine collage based on a painting I saw in a gallery that I had fallen in love with. I recreated the painting, and was amazed at what I had made. This class unlocked a potential in myself that I had no idea about. Who knew I could create a life-like nose out of different colored pieces of glossy paper? Who knew I could become so passionately involved with the process that I finally understood the notion of artists falling in love with their work? When you take a class you don’t have to take, but just because you want to, you are more invested in the actual learning. (You know, the whole point of college.)
That visual thinking class was one of the hardest classes I ever took, but it also was the most fulfilling one. It taught me that I could successfully be an artist. It taught me to solve problems when the medium you are using doesn’t allow erasing. It taught me that impossible is only relevant until you try to make something beautiful.
So next time you are creating a class schedule, consider the following:
- What do I like to learn about?
- What have I always wished I could get involved with?
- What would make going to class exciting instead of a drag?
Take a class you WANT to take, and take it seriously. Add more to your core!
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