This quarter I only had one class meeting synchronously via zoom. That class was Neuro 401, Neuro-Anatomy. Physics 116 met asynchronously, except for the two midterms. The last two classes were advanced level, individualized study classes. I got to my senior thesis in Disability Studies (INDIV 493) and create my own class in the Honors program (HONORS 499). After three quarters online, it was so nice to not have to spend time on zoom and have to be creative on my own projects. 

My senior thesis in Disability Studies was to develop a volunteer manual for volunteers of my nonprofit, Thurston County Inclusion. Within this manual, I included many things that you would expect to tell your volunteers: roles and responsibilities, expectations, etc. But I also included things that I learned in the past three years as a Disability Studies Major. I included topics such as the language around disability, disability around the world and the history around disability. In addition to this manual, I also developed a condensed version that had larger text, pictures and fewer words. This version was aimed at volunteers with intellectual disabilities, English Language Learners or others who would benefit from the information presented in a different way. I used this manual for my very first volunteer orientation, had it printed on nice paper and absolutely love it! I am so proud of my work in Disability Studies and this is a cumulative collection of it! 

I am using the same artifact as last quarter because it was a continuation of the class I took last quarter, Honors 345. My final paper was about authentic disabled characters on television and I thought it was a great idea, so I wanted to continue with this project. I think that this is an important project and it was a good idea, so I was so excited to continue. Under the same professor and Julie Villegas (honors program director), I developed a coding scheme, coded eight television shows, and re-wrote the paper. After the quarter ended, I submitted the paper to the Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal and I am waiting to hear back. I am so grateful for this experience to work toward publication in Disability Studies. 

Neuro 401 was neuro-anatomy and was absolutely great. It was a memorization class, but so necessary. It has been a very applicable STEM class, if not one of the most applicable. Here are a couple of examples. First, we had a neurologist come into the class and we could identify a diagnosis based off of hearing symptoms. Second, I shadowed a Orthopedic Surgeon and found that I could understand what he was saying and the pain/disease of the patient because of what I learned in this class. It wasn't the most exciting (very memorization based), but so applicable. 

Physics 116 was the standard weed-out class and was nothing special. The only thing special thing was that it was my last pre-requisite! I have nothing noteworthy to come from Physics 116.