Bryn Mawr College

• Type: Institution of higher learning
• Private Institution
• Population: 1,700 students
• Degree: Undergraduate
• Cool fact: Bryn Mawr has a lot of traditions, among which is lantern night. 
• Acceptance rate: 40%

As the time for my most recent journey to end is fast approaching, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about what I have learned thus far at Bryn Mawr. This has been a time of self-discovery and I had been able to learn to feel comfortable with silence. At first, I would feel really uncomfortable when silence filled a classroom, which is no longer the case. I better comprehended the reasons why the schools I attended were doing something right or not. Through a deep analysis

I found a new respect for differences. Coming into college I had the typical mentality that if I can do it, why can’t the person next to me do it. Similarly, I would beat myself up for not being able to do something that someone else may had been able to do. There are so many factors that come into play and that we do not always see. For instance, in class we talked about Minecraft and the benefit it can have for students. However, not every school has the resources to make this accessible to all students.

I had one interaction with a person at the school, where she questioned why I did not buy books. I tried to explain how expensive books are and given my financial situation, I am not able to afford it. This person did not understand that concept. I often borrow books from the library because why not use the resources that are free to us.

Another thing I learned, it is that representation is important to help student feel included. This representation needs to be evident in the school curriculum. Sometimes students from minority background may left out because history has show us that the only people worth learning from old black men. Thus, why shall we learned when we will not be able to teach anything valuable.

Furthermore, the importance of giving student space to voice their opinion about their education, the teacher or the class is has been of great significance in my Bryn Mawr experience. It has definitely come up in various occasion in the past, but it was never ingrained in me as in this stage in my education. This came up particularly in the Dialogue project for my Curriculum and Pedagogy class. We listened to students talk about the experiences and how that has shaped what they think about education. In the final reflection their teacher shared some of the insights she gained from it and how she was able to implement students’ input from the dialogue into her classes.