This course has been designated as an Engelhard course under the Engelhard Project for Connecting Life and Learning. This my reflection over what I have learned this semester.
Starting the flourishing course I really did not know what to expect. I decided to enroll in this course after a variety of upperclassman friends said that it was a worthwhile class, however, I really had no idea what the course would be like nor what would even be covered. Starting the course with the book Flourish by Martin Seligman I decided to go start the reading strong. I kept up with the readings and truly tried to process all of the information that was presented. Annotating and keeping notes over the book I was able to lay a strong foundation for the rest of the course. Throughout my reading of this book I was surprised with how applicable and useful the information was. In a time where changing to college life was extremely new (albeit it is still very new), this book quelled a lot of fears that I seemed to be having. It really changed my perspective on life in general and helped me view each new experience in a positive light. Also, being able to dissect this book in a class helped me process the information once more and apply it to my life. Moreso, meeting weekly with peer mentor groups really gave me a place in which I was able to talk to a small group about how each topic affected each of our daily lives. This group also gave me a strong community here at Georgetown where I was comfortable sharing the positives and negatives of what was going on in my life at the time. Having an upperclassman leading the groups was extremely beneficial. My peer mentor quelled some of our fears about Georgetown and helped us with any questions that we had. I was able to develop a strong relationship with my peer mentor and he truly became someone that I felt that I could talk with and someone who was always looking for ways to help each of us out personally.
Overall, I think that this course truly encapsulates what it means to connect life and learning. At no point throughout this course did I feel that what I was learning was a waste of time. In fact, most everything that we learned throughout flourishing was applicable that very same day. Looking back on my first week at Georgetown to where I am now, I am confident that many of the healthy well-being habits that I have now are due to what I learned in flourishing. From sleep, to nutrition, to positive relationships, to emotional intelligence, each of the topics that were covered throughout the course has helped me take care of my well-being and allowed me to focus my energy on succeeding at Georgetown.