Dear Seton Hill, You were right, a liberal arts education is high quality.
By Chelsea Oliver
Senior Staff Writer
When I was a freshman I really had no idea what “A Leading Catholic Liberal Arts University” meant. It was obvious what leading, Catholic and university meant, but the liberal arts part only meant more classes that didn’t have to do with my major.
I feel like because I have a double major, it hasn’t always been easy fitting all of the liberal arts (LA) classes. This is how I think I ended up in mostly LA courses my last semester. But I’m not complaining. I honestly have learned more from my LA classes than I ever thought I would.
Most of my LA classes have only further enhanced my learning in my majors. While I’m majoring in journalism and communication, it was my classes like history of western art (western cultures) and religions of America (U.S. cultures) that made me realize what career paths I really wanted to take. But classes like mind and body (philosophy) and religion and human experience (theology) also helped mold me into the person I wanted to become and helped me realize my potential to work outside of my comfort zones and allowed me to take note of the passions I have and how I could fit them into future careers.
Don’t get me wrong; it was hard fitting in all of the LA classes. I admit to having scheduling headaches and major stresses about graduating on time because of the need to substitute one or two other classes with an LA class, but it was all worth it.
Although I felt like I had to figure out the ties between my LA courses and my majors and then weave them together and sprinkle in my own life experiences and abilities to eventually realize what my purpose in life really is, without any real help from anyone, I can’t say I regret the process.
The learning and weaving has created who I am and who I am becoming. It’s helped me to realize and strive for my goals in life. Because of the topics courses I’m taking this semester I have come to understand that I am on the path I needed to get to all along and LA courses are a part of getting there.
II do not mean to discredit journalism and communication, but I haven’t been pushed in those majors because I am very much comfortable in them. I can write well, and am quite the queen bee when it comes to communicating in whatever means necessary. I am not a math or science kind of girl, so structures of the number system and nutrition for life, are the classes that made me reach further for knowledge. They were areas where I needed to learn more and work harder to get the grades I desired, rather than simply doing assignments, writing prompts and creating campaigns that I could easily plan in my head once they were assigned.
I love the career path I’m on and, I’m more than ecstatic to see where it takes me after graduation in May. However, it’s the courses I didn’t expect to take during college that made me realize that I was going in the right direction all along. With those courses, I am now better equipped than my future competitors because I’m sure that some of them don’t know who Edouard Manet is and how important he can be to the future of a public relations company.
So, thank you Seton Hill for giving me the possible position of CEO somewhere in the future For graduates without liberal arts degrees or SHU students that don’t take their LA classes seriously…don’t be shocked if I don’t hire you later in life.