Goal 1

Introduction

The first goal of the Honors Program is to think critically, reflectively, and independently, which is crucial for everyone since it enables us to elaborate our objectives and well-informed opinion. Therefore, in this essay, I am going to present four different artifacts that demonstrate my accomplishment of the four outcomes of this goal: design self-created learning experiences that have clearly articulated goals; analyze problems/solutions to formulate informed opinions, conclusions, or solutions; interpret texts from various disciplines; and conduct independent and ethical research.

Outcome 1: Design self-created learning experiences that have clearly articulated goals

The first outcome is to design self-created learning experiences that have clearly articulated goals. I accomplished this outcome during the Honors Program through leadership involvement experience goals statement in the course HON 250H- Foundations of Leadership. For this assignment, we needed to participate in a leadership position or take on a new role in our current leadership positions, so I decided to work on both since my goals were related. My goals were to reactivate the MSU International Club, obtain a chair in this club, plan an activity and execute it. Additionally, as an MSU International senator, I wanted to help an international student to come to an SGA meeting to share a more detailed narration of his/her/their problems related to the university. 

This experience and the course’s lectures helped me to develop and practice my leadership and communication skills. Specifically, it required me to ask different authorities about the proper steps for reactivating a club, accurately articulate the information collected to the interested international students, and listen carefully to several university-related problems that international students were going through so I could do my best to help them.

Outcome 2: Analyze problems/situations to formulate informed opinions, conclusions, or solutions

The second outcome of goal one is to analyze problems/ solutions to formulate informed opinions, conclusions, or solutions, which I accomplished with my ethical dilemma project and presentation in HON 250H. I chose this artifact because we needed to select an Ethical dilemma, follow the ethical decision-making checkpoints we learned in class and apply them to elaborate an objective decision, and then share it with our classmates during our presentations. 

The ethical dilemma I chose was if unimmunized kids should or should not attend an in-person school since the topic and the research I needed to do are related to healthcare. Hence, it immediately caught my attention due to my interest in learning more about different viewpoints, establishing my point of view, and sharing all the information I collected from credible sources with my classmates. 

Outcome 3: Interpret texts from different disciplines

The third outcome of goal one is to interpret texts from various disciplines. I accomplished this outcome through the book review assignment in HON 191H- The Honors Community. The book I chose was Lifelines: a doctor’s Journey in the Fight for public health by Leana Wen. The author reflects on different stages of her life as a daughter of Chinese immigrants and how it helped her to become a physician and Baltimore’s health commissioner; this book was eye-opening about the American healthcare system and how important it is to provide the best healthcare service to all of the citizens. 

However, the public health system is even more important and impactful on the citizens’ welfare since she states that many disparities can be prevented and fixed through an effective public health system. An efficient public health system with proper health promotion will reduce the frequent need for medical services by improving and maintaining our health welfare. As a student who wants to pursue a medical degree, this book was eye-opening since it made me more aware of the main problems of the American healthcare system, and how they can target them to provide a better quality of life for all the citizens.

Outcome 4: Conduct independent and ethical research

The fourth outcome of goal one is to conduct independent and ethical research. I accomplished this outcome through the citizenship paper assigned in HON 191H, which required us to identify a problem in Minot, North Dakota, volunteer to help this situation, and write a formal essay about our volunteering experience with the research we gathered from credible sources. 

I chose to volunteer at a local animal shelter called Souris Valley Animal Shelter, where I participated in dog enrichment, where we were assigned different tasks. After this volunteering experience, I searched on the internet about the benefits of this service, and I found that all the duties that we did were related to them; For instance, playing for a few hours with different kinds of toys provides several benefits for the sheltered dogs such as improving the social interaction and behavior with other species(human), enhance their physical strength, etc.

Conclusion

I sincerely believe that critical, reflective ,and independent thinking provides personal and academic resources that are key to developing our own proper, objective, and informed reasoning, and it can be applied to several topics that we might not be familiar with since it is not part of our study field, but we will definitely encounter different situations throughout different stages of our lives where we will need to interact with other individuals.