Annie A., CU Succeed Student, Fall 2019

As the semester started, I did not know what I was getting myself into. I had no idea what political science actually was, let alone what material consisted with the class. G’ and K’ were actually the ones who were explaining to me how the class was structured. Having friends in that class managed to calm me down, especially friends who had prior knowledge of the teacher and class style. I was still nervous, however, as you should be in a new environment with people you've never talked to before. When you walked into the classroom and started talking to us, I knew you'd be one of those cool teachers who managed to relate their lessons with real-world problems and issues we were having in this day and age. After that first class, I knew I was in for a treat.

As we started our first lesson I instantly got hooked. With new classes, it takes you a good few weeks to get a good feel about said class but with Political Science, I had a gut feeling I would be interested in every little thing we’re being taught. It's been a class that I have genuinely enjoyed all of the lessons that you have shown us. I have learned plenty of things along with revising old material I have learned over the years. However, it was very interesting to listen to other people’s perspectives and learn about different opinions than me. At the end of the day, we are all coming from different backgrounds and this class really helped me understand that more clearly. The moments that have really stuck with me has to be when we read chapters in our books and got together as a class and discussed key moments that we noticed were important.

The book that I remember most vividly is Winter Soldier Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation. It was the one subject I didn’t really know much about. I would like to consider myself a pacifist and strongly believe in the statement, “make love not war”. Violence was a big part of growing up in my neighborhood and I don’t want anyone experiencing the same, especially if it's the government making them go through such horrible situations. The discussions really helped with understanding the texts better and with this book, I got a better look into what my peers’ stands were on serious topics. In school, we aren't respected enough to have “serious opinions” but what I really enjoyed about this class was that you didn’t belittle us no matter what our stands were and you always let us talk about why we take a stand on that instead of just pretending to be interested in our thoughts. You pushed us to think outside of the box, have original thoughts, and encouraged us to be passionate about our interests. It was a class I wasn't scared to express my experiences and opinions in. I thank you for that, not many teachers are willing to do that with their students.

Let me explore our final for a bit. It was something I have never had to do before but I enjoyed every bit of it. I really enjoyed having to write a play and getting to relax, watching the other group perform theirs. It let us express our creativity in a way I never thought I could. I don't consider myself a creative person but you let me push myself into doing my research and directing the actors. You have thankfully trusted us enough to prepare for it ourselves and you were also open to joining our teams, helping us in anyway possible. It was a type of support I've never seen with my teachers before and I appreciate that immensely. I really enjoyed hearing the other group's story and how they managed to portray every character with details that went along with their social issues. I found it interesting that our groups went different routes in the plays and it comes to show how we had full control over the decisions. We weren't limited to any sort of prompt or script, we had full reigns of our operation and it really helped us all come closer together as a class.

As the semester came to a close I was honestly sad for this class to end. Then I realized I could take this class for the following semester! At my senior meeting with my counselor, I immediately told her to keep me in your class and she gratefully did. I can't wait for all of the new material we get to cover in the next class with you.