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Raneeka Foster
PDP 450
Dr. O’Neil
January 16, 2018

Developing into a Better Me

When I entered Bridgewater College as a freshman, I was extremely naïve, shy, and did

not know how to use my voice. I came in timid and anxious because I had never been

independent or had the freedom to choose or do whatever I want. This amount of responsibility

was almost frightening to me, but in a way empowering because I knew that I would have the

capability to make good decisions, learn from bad and tough mistakes, and grow all around as a

person. The aspects while going through these four years at Bridgewater that have helped me

developed the most have been my classes.

Integration, Experiential Learning, and Personalized Educational Program

Coming into Bridgewater my freshman year, I already knew that I wanted to be a Biology

major. There was never a doubt in my mind about it. However, when I entered, I felt somewhat

behind in comparison with my peers because I did not have access and was rarely exposed to

some of the technology and equipment other students had in their high school. In fact, I

remember coming out of Biology 110 lab so confused because I had never used Excel before that

moment. Fortunately, I was not to prideful or shy to ask for help and understanding because I

was determined to do well in the class. This realization early on really shaped how I would

perform in the rest of my classes, especially my major classes. In fact, Artifact I is an example of

my how well my proficiency with Excel has grown to this point. This specific Excel spreadsheet

was to compute class data of how well spiders competed for the food after being deprived of

food for two months. This data is significant to my growth because I was able to use tools that I

have acquired over the past four years to draw conclusions about spider competition of resources
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in a scarce environment. Of course, I could have just made an inference, but being able to put all

this data together to get the quantitative significance of the study further helped to support my

hypothesis. With this program, I am able to create, interpret, and graph data needed for analysis

in my ecology class without question. I also know how to run statistical data tests.

Engage with Diverse Perspectives

There have been countless amounts of instances where I have had to engage with diverse

perspectives, especially with perspective I disagree with. However, these diverse perspectives

have opened my mind to seeing things in different objective lenses instead of just my own. In my

English 343W class in particular, I was confront with a variety of perspectives, including the

original author’s, group member’s interpretations, and my own. For Artifact II, I discussed how

there is a difference in how men view sex opposed to how women view sex, and how the

viewpoints of women are changing. This required an intense amount of critical thinking, and

prior and current knowledge of sexual perspectives. I was able to incorporate the outlooks of

seventeenth century, the mindset of singer/songwriter Trey Songz, and my own thoughts on how

sex is conceptualized in the minds of three different peoples. Being able to understand where

each of the artists were coming from and still make all of our ideas relate to each other, even

though I disagreed with them was very big accomplishment for me.

Public Discourse: Citizenship & Community Responsibility

As my college career progressed, I was faced with several incidences of discrimination,

prejudice, and injustice, especially throughout my junior year. It got to the point where it was

almost unbearable and I honestly considered transferring. However, I have a wonderful mentor

that encouraged me to address these concerns in a healthy way. Out of these experiences, I was

inspired to help make the Diversity League an official club on campus. The Diversity League is

an organization at Bridgewater that advocates for minority groups including, but not limited to
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races, ethnicities, gender, gender identify, sexual orientation, and disabled peoples. The Diversity

League creates spaces and opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to have healthy dialogues

issues of discrimination, prejudices, and topics of the sort, as well as hosting educational

programs for diversity and inclusion to be celebrated. My position in helping the Diversity

League actually come into fruition was to aid in writing the official constitution of the

organization, which is artifact III. I had to research and examine templates from other clubs that

have been approved on campus, as well as, learn how to best incorporate the aim of the

organization at the same time. Many trials were faced in trying to get the constitution perfect for

approval. However, I still persisted. Completing the constitution and having the Diversity

League approved was one of the most exciting moments in my time at Bridgewater and urged me

to run for President of the organization.

Since my time as President, it has been extremely difficult to deal come up healthy

dialogues where everyone gets to have their opinions heard, no one feels attacked, and the

closing remark stimulates conversation outside of the scheduled forum. However, I know that it

is my responsibility to make sure that those around me are welcoming diversity and practicing

inclusivity because diversity is what makes a community great and strong. In doing this, the

Diversity League has hosted several dialogues. The one that stands out to me the most is when

the organization decided to discuss stereotypes and how they can affect a person, a group of

people, and the community as a whole. This PowerPoint presentation, artifact IV, was the

foundation of all conversation that occurred that evening and lead to series of topics that were

difficult to discuss. The discussion points and success of the dialogue made me realize that I am

meant to impact the campus in a way to encourage these “difficult” dialogues about culture,

minority groups, and advocacy until it is no longer difficult for people to talk about. The more
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we discuss topics that will foster an inclusive environment, the easier it will be for people to

speak up and advocate for someone who is facing some sort of prejudices.

When the topic of white privilege came about, the whole group sort of got quiet for a

while because it is such a controversial area to discuss, but its presence is society is very real.

This organization and a lot of issues I have faced regarding discrimination on campus

have empowered me to not be quick to anger and write individuals off. Instead, it has

emboldened me to stand up for what I believe in and start are healthy conversation with people. I

will no longer jump to conclusions about the intent behind ones words or ignore ignorance when

it slaps me in the face with a backhanded compliment. However, I will face it head on, no matter

how strenuous the situation may be because I have a voice in this world and it deserves and

needs to be heard.

Global Citizenship & Intercultural Competencies

Growing up, I was always surrounded by people that had the same faith as me, Christian.

I was fully aware of different religions throughout the world, but I never met person that

outwardly expressed their differences in belief. Moreover, throughout my first year at

Bridgewater, I did not see much of a difference from what I had experienced back home.

However, when my second year came along, I had discovered that one of my residents and soon

to be best friend was Muslim. Honestly, when I met her, I just assumed she was Christian

because that is what I was used to. However, at this particular moment in my life, I did not

question my friendship with her or who she was because of what she believed. In fact, I was so

intrigued and excited to know more about her faith and her culture.

Luckily, all while this realization took place, I was taking a Religion 325: Uses and

Abuses of Scripture, an experiential course in which students had to go to a house of faith

different than what we were accustomed to. I wanted to know so much about the Islamic faith in
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order to be able to understand my friend more. So, I asked her if she would take me to mosque

with her and she was elated. During this time I learned so much, such as, the importance of

ladies wearing hijabs to cover their hair, the meaning behind men and women sitting separate

from each other, and the symbolism behind their prayer routine. Yet, the portion of the service

that shocked me the most was how similar the sermon was to a sermon I would hear at my

nondenominational Christian church back home.

The similarity shocked me so much that I knew I had to write a reflective paper about it,

which is artifact V. This specific essay talks about the similarities the speaker at the mosque has

with a sermon I have heard at my church. In particular, how the Quran view women. This class

and my friend showed me a variety of lessons. First, I should not assume that everyone around

me is exactly like me. That would make for an extremely boring world and I would never be

challenged as an individual. Secondly, as much as I have been coached into believing that faiths

are so different and distinct from each other, there can and most likely is overlap in what we

believe. Lastly, I should not be so narrow minded, but instead, I should learn, research, and talk

to people from different cultural backgrounds because I may have something more in common

with them than I think.

Ethical Reasoning
One of my first encounters with ethical reasoning during college was during the Ethics

for Healthcare Professionals class that I took during Interterm of my freshman year. Throughout

the class, I learned of veracious cultures from all around the world and what is respectful and

disrespectful from their viewpoint. For example, in some East Asian countries, it is disrespectful

for woman to make eye contact with a man. So, as a physician or someone working in the

medical field, I would have to be culturally competent, know who my patients are, and how to

treat them in order for them to be confortable and receptive to the information I have to convey
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to them. This class was extremely intriguing when it came to learning about the different

cultures; however, the ethics portion of the class stumped me.

During this class, many case studies were presented and I had to decide what would be

the most ethical outcome for the situation. I remember one particular day, Dr. Long gave me a

prompt about a man and woman that was dating and the man got tested for an STD/STI. The

results came back positive for an STD, and the man did not plan on telling his partner. In this

scenario, I happen to know the young lady this man has been intimate with. The final question

was, “would you tell this woman that her partner has an STD and should get tested?” The

question was directed towards me alone and I honestly had no idea how to answer. I paused for

awhile and then said that I would want to tell the young lady in order to protect her from either

passing it on or going long without treatment. Right after I answered the question, I knew I had

answered the scenario with my heart and not as a physician who has to uphold confidentiality

with patient’s information.

This particular scenario taught me a couple things. Firstly, following what is ethical is not

always the easiest choice. Knowing that a patient could be making an unwise decision and you

have to respect it no matter what is difficult because that is my place as a physician. This leads

me to my second lesson; the protection of the patient’s privacy is extremely important. No matter

what the patients decision is on their personal level, it is the role of the physician to help the

patient in any capacity that they can and to ensure that patient information is kept confidential

from unnecessary parties.

Overall this class was my first look into major aspects of the medical field and lead to my

understanding of cultural competency and ethical reasoning. Artifact VI discusses my sentiments

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towards ethics from when I first entered the class and how I felt towards it after I learned the

importance of upholding these codes to protect patients.

Bridgewater College does take the mission of allowing the student to grow holistically

very seriously. I have been challenged, broken down, empowered, and successful throughout my

four years here. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to even come to college, but I could

not have imagined this experience shaping me into the intelligent, self aware, strong, and

determined woman I am today. I love my liberal arts college and all the critical thinking it has

put me through, even in my biology, math, and chemistry classes. All around, with the tools I

have gained from the classes I have been in, the people I have encountered, the struggles I have

faced, and the trials I have overcome, I know that I am a better me now than when I graduated

from high school.