The Core program is designed to give students an interdisciplinary approach to the humanities. This is achieved through a three-semester sequence with an overarching theme taught through the lens of several different disciplines. Every Core sequence follows a new theme. In past years it’s been topics such as violence or community, but for my core experience, the topic was truth.
The first semester of my core experience consisted of a discussion-based class with a lecture component. Once a week, the entire grade would tune in for a lecture on how a specific field of study related to the overarching theme of truth. Sometimes, we would listen to a dance professor talk about depicting truth in ballet, or a chemistry professor’s lecture on the historical evolution of determining truth in science. After the lecture, we would meet twice in discussion groups of 15 students to unpack the topic of the week. Core 1 laid the groundwork for generating fruitful discussions, creating thought-provoking questions, and writing a college-level essays. This was helpful as I navigated my other courses that did not include this instruction.
Unlike Core 1, students choose from a variety of classes for Core 2. Each class focuses on the overarching theme in one specific discipline for the entire semester instead of a new discipline every week. Core 2 gives students the chance to explore a department they might not have considered before. As an intended politics major, I took a Core 2 class that was taught by a philosophy professor. I was able to explore a class that I wouldn’t have taken otherwise because of my major.
Core 3 is similar to Core 2 in the sense that you choose from a variety of courses, but it includes an independent research project. The Core 3 project is designed to help prepare students for senior thesis. My Core 3 is a psychology course on the scientific research behind wellness. For my final project, I implemented a health change for 10 days and wrote a research paper linking previous scientific research to my own personal wellness experience.
Personally, I really liked Core because it meant that I could have a class in my schedule that was Scripps only. Especially during my first semester, this aspect of core allowed me to make friends with the other students in my class and gain an understanding of the sense of community at Scripps.