Students initiate unique Connections
Megan Reid '09
Issue date: 11/15/06 Section: Features
Days before her course selection period, junior Jaclyne LaVerghetta sits in front of a computer and tensely searches for class descriptions.
Like most students, LaVerghetta is eager to get into the courses she wants to take, but she is especially adamant, because, as all other students, she needs "good Connections!"
Wheaton's Connections system has been hailed as one of the college's most attractive curriculum innovations. According to handouts from the registrar's office, which are distributed to all students throughout their tenure at Wheaton, the goal of the Connections requirement is to "[provide] an exciting way to explore different areas of knowledge and different approaches to problems." Though there are many faculty approved Connections that will fill this requirement, ranging from the seemingly straightforward ("The Environment") to the very specific ("Gender Inequality: Sociological and Literary Perspectives," combining sociology with French literature), some, like LaVerghetta, prefer to apply for student-initiated Connections.
The reason students choose to apply for their own Connections differs from case to case.
Sometimes, a student cannot fulfill a preset Connection because of scheduling conflicts and is able to substitute a similar class. In other cases, a Connection comes from outside interests of the student that they had never considered to be linked before (for instance, a student interested in human psychology might attempt to connect a psych class to an acting class in the theater department). Other students look for connecting threads between their majors themselves.
LaVerghetta is petitioning to connect her African American Literature class with Black Political Thought and Liberation Theology.
"I'm a political science major, and a religion minor," she says. "The [religion class] ties in with poli-sci because it has had a big impact on politics, especially in Latin America, and then the literature works with ideas from the other classes to connect them.
When asked why she chose to connect these specific courses, LaVerghetta referred to the "relevance of them and the importance of them" in today's society.
In fact, student-initiated Connections in themselves are a "different approach to problems"; to quote their official description: an individual way of tackling the Wheaton curriculum.
Student-Initiated Connection proposals are due in the Registrar's office the second week of spring semester.
Like most students, LaVerghetta is eager to get into the courses she wants to take, but she is especially adamant, because, as all other students, she needs "good Connections!"
Wheaton's Connections system has been hailed as one of the college's most attractive curriculum innovations. According to handouts from the registrar's office, which are distributed to all students throughout their tenure at Wheaton, the goal of the Connections requirement is to "[provide] an exciting way to explore different areas of knowledge and different approaches to problems." Though there are many faculty approved Connections that will fill this requirement, ranging from the seemingly straightforward ("The Environment") to the very specific ("Gender Inequality: Sociological and Literary Perspectives," combining sociology with French literature), some, like LaVerghetta, prefer to apply for student-initiated Connections.
The reason students choose to apply for their own Connections differs from case to case.
Sometimes, a student cannot fulfill a preset Connection because of scheduling conflicts and is able to substitute a similar class. In other cases, a Connection comes from outside interests of the student that they had never considered to be linked before (for instance, a student interested in human psychology might attempt to connect a psych class to an acting class in the theater department). Other students look for connecting threads between their majors themselves.
LaVerghetta is petitioning to connect her African American Literature class with Black Political Thought and Liberation Theology.
"I'm a political science major, and a religion minor," she says. "The [religion class] ties in with poli-sci because it has had a big impact on politics, especially in Latin America, and then the literature works with ideas from the other classes to connect them.
When asked why she chose to connect these specific courses, LaVerghetta referred to the "relevance of them and the importance of them" in today's society.
In fact, student-initiated Connections in themselves are a "different approach to problems"; to quote their official description: an individual way of tackling the Wheaton curriculum.
Student-Initiated Connection proposals are due in the Registrar's office the second week of spring semester.
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