Our Interdisciplinary Research Project on Schizophrenia

In a broad over view, Schizophrenia is basically a mental disorder that makes it difficult for a person to tell the difference between what is real and what is unreal, to think logically, to have normal responses, and to behave normally in social situations. Symptoms of Schizophrenia are usually unnoticeable at first and takes months, or even years, to develop. As time passes, psychotic systems develop which include: no emotions (flat effect), catatonic behavior (less reaction to the environment), delusions (false beliefs or thoughts that have nothing to do with reality), hallucinations (hearing, feeling, or seeing things not there), and disordered thinking (“jumping” thoughts between unrelated topics). There are different types of Schizophrenics and how they are affected by this disease that slowly takes over their common sense.

Symptoms can be different depending on the type of schizophrenia, there are several types: the catatonic type, the paranoid type, the disorganized type, the undifferentiated type, and the residual type. Some common effects of the different types of schizophrenia include agitation, delusions, flat effects, hallucinations etc. It is important for a schizophrenic to say in the hospital during an episode of schizophrenia because there may need to be the providence of food, rest, and hygiene maintenance. Some medicines that could help change the balance of the chemicals in the brain and help to control symptoms are called Antipsychotic or neuroleptic medications. Though these medications work, they have short-term and long-term side effects. There are now modern drugs called atypical antipsychotics that seem to cause fewer side effects. There are also supportive and problem-focused forms of therapy, such as behavioral techniques and family treatments that can be helpful.

There aren’t any clear signs as to what causes schizophrenia, but doctors believe that genetic, psychological, and social factors are possibly playing a role in the development of the disease. Schizophrenia begins, usually, before the age of 45 and symptoms last for six months or more. This disease is in equal balance between men and women even though it begins in later ages in women; this is the cause of more than half young adult patients being men. As of now there are no medical tests to help doctors suggest a schizophrenia diagnosis, just multiple factors (named earlier). The best way to keep symptoms away is to take the medicines the doctors prescribe—this is critical because the top reason why people stop taking their medication is because of the side effects.

There are many complications with schizophrenia, but it is very important to keep the medicine steady or there will be greater chances for relapse. It is important to contact a doctor if a patient experiences any of the following: voices telling them to hurt themselves, if they’re feeling helpless and overwhelmed, if they’re seeing things, if they feel that they cannot leave the house, or if they’re unable to care for themselves. It is important for people with schizophrenia to receive help because there are so many risks at hand—there is help out there, they just have to look.

The Biological Perspective

Schizophrenia in a biological standpoint is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to distinguish what is real and what is unreal. Although doctors do not know the main cause of schizophrenia studies have shown that a large amount of dopamine released in the brain could be the cause. Or there is an insufficient supply of monoamine oxidase, which helps break down the dopamine. An average of 1 to 1.5% of people will have schizophrenia in their lifetime. There is no real way to diagnose a person with schizophrenia, but there are some symptoms that can be observed with somebody who is developing schizophrenia. For example you may feel tense and have a hard time concentrating, and also become isolated and withdrawn. There are different symptoms depending on the type of schizophrenia, which develops slowly over months and even years.

It’s hard treating the disease, but in 1950 Dr. Henri Laborit discovered that chlorpromazine could reduce many symptoms of schizophrenia, and was used in the U.S. in 1956. Now doctors use antipsychotics also called tranquillizers to treat the disease. These drugs reduce confusion and excitement of the patient, but even with these drugs about 30% of patients do not respond to the treatment. Also if patients decide to stop taking the medicine their schizophrenia will come back, but if they continue to take it there will a less than likely chance that they will have a relapse.

The Psychological Perspective

For psychologists, schizophrenia poses many difficulties. It is both difficult to diagnose and difficult to treat, and there is no guarantee that it can be reversed.

Schizophrenia is often hard to diagnose because it can resemble many other mental and physical health problems, and because the nature of the disease, which causes a significant loss of contact with reality, can cause its sufferer to believe that nothing is wrong and avoid the doctor. Both psychological and biological symptoms need to be tested, both to identify symptoms and to rule out other explanations for those symptoms. The psychologist or psychiatrist looks for continuous signs of schizophrenia for at least the past six months, and active symptoms for at least one month. Psychological symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behavior, and apathy or emotional flatness.

This may sound simple, like if a person has these symptoms they are schizophrenic; if not, they are fine. But in reality each of these markers can mean a variety of other things, meaning it can take six months or more to correctly diagnose schizophrenia. Schizophrenia can closely resemble other psychotic disorders, substance abuse, medical conditions such as epilepsy or brain tumors, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. Schizophrenia can be particularly difficult to distinguish from bipolar disorder. It causes mood swings, and has positive and negative symptoms. The positive symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech look a lot like the manic stage of bipolar disease, and the negative symptoms such as apathy and emotional flatness look a lot like the depressive stage.

As of yet, there is no cure for schizophrenia. However, treatments have been found that have helped 4 out of 5 patients effectively reduce their troublesome symptoms. With treatment, they become less likely to have long and frequent hospital visits, need intensive care at home, abuse drugs, or commit suicide. They are more likely to be able to live and work independently, and to have healthy relationships.

Medical treatments do exist, but psychology uses a different tactic. Working together, psychologists, doctors, and sociologists can create a support system tailored to each patient’s specific needs. Psychologists approach schizophrenia with individual and group supportive therapy designed to help patients adjust to their illness and the everyday occurrences and interactions in normal life. The primary goal is to educate the patient about the common symptoms and treatment options available, so that they can take an active role in treatment, by monitoring and recognizing their progress as well as signs of relapse, and be more successful in combating their illness. The other goal of therapy is to teach patients to deal with the side effects and symptoms that may persist despite treatment in a healthy way. Psychologists teach patients cognitive behavioral tricks to challenge delusions, ignore the voices in their heads, and motivate themselves.

The Sociological Perspective

When analyzing Schizophrenia from a sociological perspective, the goal is to gain a better understanding of the social construction of the illness. Something which has been socially constructed was ‘invented’ or ‘formed’ by a particular culture or society, “existing because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_construction#Definition) When a persons behaviors are continuously different from what society considers “normal” they are labeled, categorized, and “diagnosed” with “diseases”. A sociologist wonders who, when, and why schizophrenia was labeled an illness.

After a person is labeled “abnormal” they are able to be treated, in other words, they are able to be medicated, numbed, in order to bring those persons back to socially acceptable and tolerable behavior. Biological psychiatrist feel that schizophrenia is a biologically-based “disease” of the brain, meaning that medication is appropriate if not the only way to handle the symptoms. On the other hand, ”the “antipsychiatry” movement argues that such “abnormal” behaviours emerge when individuals encounter problems in living (Szasz, 1960) or experience a psychospiritual crisis and psychological overwhelm (Breggin, 1991)”. (http://www.szasz.com/undergraduate/Kurz.htm) “ . . .The patient with schizophrenia is constructed as having a defective, diseased and unhealthy brain in comparison to normal, “healthy people.” (http://www.szasz.com/undergraduate/Kurz.htm) Tim Kurz of Murdoch University in Perth, Australia conducted a research analysis of websites about schizophrenia: the wording each site used, and how schizophrenia was portrayed. “Almost all of the pages promoted schizophrenia as being an illness or disease was by categorically and unproblematically stating that its cause lay in the biologically-abnormal functioning of the brain. The key assertion inherent in such arguments was that the brain of the “schizophrenic” operates in some form of defective way, and that it can be seen as responsible for the observable “abnormal” behaviour of people so diagnosed.” (Kurz, 1999) Schizophrenia.com, and Mentalwellness.com are two examples of sites that depict schizophrenia as a disorder within the brain. Both websites uses scientific terms and phrases such as “years of research show” yet they do not provide proof of the research. Both websites “factualize” information, link schizophrenia to “other medical conditions,” and the deny psychosocial influences by categorizing them as societal myths. “Any publication must be written by an author, and as such, its construction will always be influenced to some degree by the personal ideology of that particular author in regards to the issue being considered.” (http://www.szasz.com/undergraduate/Kurz.htm)

“… A particular view can be constructed, through discourse, in such a way as to give the impression that it represents an unambiguous truth regarding the way things are, rather than simply one opinion of the way things are.” (Kurtz, 1999) A sociologist job is to look past what the peers in society are are putting out as the “truth” and dig deeper. Is schizophrenia really a mental “disease” or a means to control those who threaten the “normal” that we as people have created?

Sources Used

Introduction-

Ÿ U.S. National Library of Medicine

Biological Perspective-

Ÿ www.google.com/health/ref/schizophrenia.com

Ÿ http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122164/bio_main.html

Psychological Perspective-

Ÿ Smith, Melinda, et al. “Schizophrenia Treatment: Diagnosis, Treatments, Medication and Therapy.” Helpguide.org, January 2008. Web. 15 November 2009.

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_treatment_support.htm

Sociological Perspective-

Ÿhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_construction#Definition

Ÿhttp://www.szasz.com/undergraduate/Kurz.htm

Third Learning Community

The third learning community was no more exciting to me than the second one. It began with Dr. Reedy, from the first learning community, making a second appearance. Then, Dean James Donaldson got up to speak. They were both very excited about the wide range of interdisciplinary classes that Howard University will be offering starting in the Spring. They said that Freshman Seminar has been sort of a launching pad for these new classes, but that starting next semester, students can expect to see at least 70 new interdisciplinary courses.

In fact, the topic of this learning community was “The Importance of Interdisciplinary Approaches in African American Studies”. The presenter was Dr. Fatimah L. C. Jackson, Professor and Director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Institute of African American Research (IAAR) and Anthropology Department. She said that interdisciplinary research is the hallmark of the twenty-first century. As society progresses, there is less and less use for single-subject expertise; new discoveries are necessitating new approaches to research and information. Dr. Jackson said that this type of research will be useful and profitable in the future.

Dr. Jackson began by setting out the idea that anything at all that affects African Americans, from air quality to music, is a part of African American studies. She said that the problem researchers face today, though, stems from human heterogeneity. People and races have mixed in many ways and at many times, so people do not usually fit neatly into racial categories, and although the differences between human make-ups are small, it is significant enough to affect different types of populations enormously. Dr. Jackson holds that we need new approaches to comprehensively capture the subtle nuances of human biodiversity, and for her this applies especially too specific issues of health.

Dr. Jackson said that disease susceptibility is filtered through several cultural-environmental factors. A person begins with their genotype, or genetic background. This is then filtered through the sociocultural environment, which can include things like language, religion, ethnic identity, socialization, and class structure. The genetic dispositions are further filtered through the abiotic and biotic environment, which can include things like diet, subsistence, occupation, body form, toxicants, humidity, altitude, radiation, precipitation, and pharmaceuticals. All of these things working in conjunction produce a phenotype, or expressed genotype. And it is easy to see how, with so many factors going into its make-up, phenotypes can easily vary a multitude of ways.

Dr. Jackson suggest the use of a technique called Ethnogenetic Layering (EL) as a tool to incorporate data from diverse fields in order to better understand the role of population substructuring in identifying and assessing disparities, because it is clear that not all black populations across America are the same. EL combines historical assessments, geographical appraisals, cultural reconstructions, genetic evaluations, and health risk factors. Researchers fine tune their studies to specifiy each group. None of use is solely one kind of African. We aare mostly West and West Central African. But if we look back into our history, our lineages converge- more people are related to each one of us, and there were less people in existence.

EL has some practical applications to health that Dr. Jackson has already found, and promises to reveal more, because it allows scientists to reconstruct sensitivities. Hypertension and stroke can be traced back to West Africans close to the equator who adapted to a salt-restrictive environment, and who, when moved by slavery to a more salt-abundant environment, retained their salt sensitivity. Also, a strain of breast cancer with an aggressive, early-onset nature has been found both in African American women of the Chesapeake Bay Region and in the Bight of Bonny, West Africa, suggesting a genetic link between the two groups.

Dr. Jackson ended by saying that interdisciplinary work was necessary because our people are suffering.

Intellectual Exemplars

                                 

Dr. Camara Jules P. Harrell

Dr. Harrell is my Intro to Psych teacher. I decided to interview him because he is a very lively and personable man and I find his class very interesting. Because I am a psychology major, he was nice enough to help me map out my academic course load as well as grant me an interview.

Dr. Harrell got into psychology by simply electing to be a psych major at the undergrad level at the University of Colorado. He studied clinical psychology in graduate school at the University of Illinois, and part of his training involved research and teaching. He did not do an internship because during his studies in graduate school, he discovered that clinical psychology was not what he wanted to do. He says he is not patient enough and too emotional, and that all the people he saw seemed to get sicker.

Dr. Harrell chose his more research-oriented path because of his experience as a clinical pyschologist. Through his classes and his reading of scientific research, he discovered a love for research psychology (more than he had for applied psychology). He found that there were very interesting questions to answer and things that he thought he could do differently and, through his own innovation, improve upon. Nowadays, he spends a small percentage of his time actually teaching, and most of his time during the day on research.

When I asked Dr. Harrell what he thinks makes a successful student, he simply said a successful student is one who goes beyond the requirements of the classroom by seeking research and practical experience. He said that mastering the information is not enough, a student must take it further, and really get involved in their major. That way the stuff from the classroom will really stick.

                         

Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904- April 1, 1950) did pioneering work in the field of blood transfusions, and was able to develop a new technique for blood storage using blood plasma, which contains no cells and therefore can be frozen, which he used to create the huge blood banks during World War II, which saved the lives of many Allied troops. He was also the first African American to receive the Doctor of Science degree, and the first black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery. He was also on staff here at Howard as an instructor in pathology, and later the head of surgery, at the Medical School. Our male freshman dorm is named after him. He only lived for 46 years, but his work will live on forever.

Charles Drew attended Dunbar High School in Washington, DC. Although segregated, it had a reputation for being one of the finest (black) public schools in the country. He was also an athlete, winning letter in track, baseball, football, and basketball, and received a partial scholarship which allowed him to attend Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Drew was always interested in a career in medicine. His sister Elsie, died in 1920 of the pandemic influenza, after having been afflicted with tuberculosis. This may have been what influence him to want to study medicine. He went to medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he studied under John Beattie. Beattie was studying techniques and problems associated with blood transfusions, discovering that patients often died from loss of blood after accidents, and that there is a way to replace that blood, that there are four types of blood, and that the body would not reject blood of the same type. Drew undertook to discover the solution to the problem of finding a donor in an emergency (eventually leading him to the creation of blood banks).

I think that if asked what would make a successful student, Drew would answer passion and curiosity. An intriguing and very relevant problem spurred all of his research and discovery. His impetus was the death of his sister. I think he was driven by her memory and his love of learning to his success. I think he would say that if a student is sufficiently motivated and applies their talents to solving a problem that was personal and has bearing on their life, they will be most rewarded by their life work.

The Second Learning Community

Our second learning colloquia for Freshman Seminar was, to be perfectly honest, quite dull. It began late, with Dr. Carr passing out a checklist for all the assignment we should have completed thus far  in the class. To his surprise (but not mine), most people have not been as diligent as I have in completing the assignments. But Dr. Carr's infectious, upbeat attitude got a rise out of some people, especially when he reminded everyone that the student with the best portfolio at the end of the semester will win a prize, and divulged that the committee has considered buying the winner a new laptop.

Eventually, the lecture started. Put it this way, the topic was "Biological Anthropology Human Genre Historian". I got bored just reading it. And, no offense to Dr. Harris, the presenter, but my prejudices were not dispelled by his speech. Dr. Gary Harris is the director of Howard University's Nanoscale Science and Engineering facility. He began his lecture with a promise to not use random technical jargon to confuse and bore us. Instead, he said he intended to discuss black scientists and engineers, and their contributions to our society.

He started with a kind of tie-in with our topic for next week, Intellectual Exemplars. He gave us two exemplary men to remember. "Grandfather" Imhotep was the father of medicine and the co-author of the first medical textbook. The Greek name for him was "Apollo the physician", and to this day, whn doctors take their oath of profession, they swear to him. Cheikh Anta Diop was the founding director of the Radiocarbon Dating Lab, a historian, mathematician linguist, and author. He wrote The African Origin of Civilization.

He then launched a discussion of the condition of African Americans. He said we have lost things: our names, our way of life, our culture, our memories, our land, our independent production capacity, our control over ourselves and our institutions, our sensitivity, and worst of all, our solidarity. He then went in on how Earth is somewhere between 210 and 175 million years old, and that until about fifty million years ago, it was all one big mass (Pangea). Then, continental drift pulled the pieces apart. He told us that the maps have distorted reality, however. The North is eighteen million square miles, whereas the South is comprised of thirty-eight million square miles. The old Soviet Union is 8.7 million square miles, whereas Africa is comprised of 11.7 million square miles. Yet, the maps made it appear that the North and the Soviet Union were bigger than the South and Africa. He said our first objective is to get the map right, using a model called Peter's Projection, or the equal-area map. He reminded us of the evolutionary importance of Africa, home of the first three (of six) human forms. In fact the oldest discovered woman, "Lucy", is between two and three million years old and was from Africa.

But, he says that Africans and African Americans have made other, more recent, contributions, that have had many practical uses. He talked about the great Pyramids of Giza, and other symbols that have affected the world over. Apparently, the French built the Eiffel Tower so they would have a monument comparable to those in Africa. And African symbols are rampant in American culture: the pyramid with an eye on our dollar bill, the Rx we use to mean prescription (but is actually the symbol of Osiris). Also, at least eight black people worked on the Manhattan Project to create the atom bomb, one of which was a sixteen-year-old Ph.D. He gave examples of great inventors, like Granville Woods, who had over sixty patents, and successfully sued Thomas Edison twice for infringement on his patent rights, and Garrett Morgan who created the traffic light and the gas mask. In fact, by 1913, African Americans owned over 100 patents. He tried to make these things exciting, but it was lost on us, the audience.

In closing, he left us with a motivational speech. I have a strange aversion to motivational speakers, so this lost him favor with me. These are what he calls "The Graduation Principles":

1. Free Your Mind- he said you must believe that what you want (graduation) can happen; you cannot do what you cannot imagine.

2. Time Management- he said there are only 168 hours in a week, to part of which classes, sleep, eating, etc. already lay claim, so you must make time for studying and have rules for yourself.

3. Use All Your Resources- these include other students, teachers, textbooks, other book, the Internet, etc.

4. Use A Buddy System- he said have a friend in each class to take notes for you if you absolutely cannot make it.

5. "No Pain, No Gain"- he said that this is a one-time opportunity, and if you work hard and study hard, you will still be able to party hard.

he closed with this quote: "In this world you may not always get what you paid for, but you will certainly pay for what you get."

"What's Your International IQ?"

North Korea, formally the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is bordered by China and Russia, and separated by the Korean Demilitarized Zone from South Korea. It professed to be a Juche, meaning self-reliant, state. This theory of government was implement by its founder and former ruler, Kim Il-sung- around whom a cult of personality has been fostered- and added to its constitution in 1972. Officially, North Korea is a socialist republic, although many people consider it a totalitarian dictatorship similar to Stalin’s Soviet Union. Most of its strengths and weaknesses stem from this governmental structure.

Understandably, North Korea’s strengths include its military, health care, and education system. The army has four branches: the Ground Force, the Naval Force, the Air Force, and The State Security Department. It is the fifth-largest military in the world with over 1.2 million members who account for 20 percent of the men between the ages of 17 and 54. Furthermore, North Korea has a totally government-run, state-controlled economy. The only other nation in the world like this is Cuba. This benefits its people from the standpoint that their taxes pay for universal healthcare and education (which is compulsory until the secondary level). Not only does the state provide free instruction, it also provides children with free uniforms and materials. Other strengths of the nation include low pollution rates, inexpensive tourism costs, and warm climates.

Many challenges face the people of North Korea as well, also as a result of the leadership of their country. One of these is malnourishment. Economic reforms in 2002 led to inflation, which increased the price of basic foods. A survey conducted in 2006 by Amnesty International found that 7% of the children are severely malnourished, 37% were chronically malnourished, and 23.4% were underweight.

In fact, many human rights are nonexistent in North Korea. The government controls every aspect of the people’s lives with the use of propaganda, and severely limits the political and economic rights of its people. North Korea is one of the most homogenous countries in the world. Kim Il-sung is worshipped almost as a god in their culture, and any dissention is rooted out. Because of this tourism and foreign trade are highly restricted and the economy and foreign relations suffer. The lack of trade leaves little room for the economy to grow.

One of the most detrimental weaknesses that North Korea has is its negative foreign relations status. Trade is already severely restricted, and the fall of communism meant that many of the resources being provided for the nation by places like Russia and China have decline significantly. In addition, China requested that the number of refugees fleeing from North Korea be curbed, so a concrete and barbed wire fence was erected along that border. Even worse than that is its relations with most Western nations are poor. North Korea refuses both to join and to cooperate with efforts of the United Nations, meaning that world powerhouses such as the United States and Britain are against their government. The people thereby suffer because the aid provided by these countries is limited because they do not trust that the government will disburse the materials fairly. North Korea is, however, friendly with its socialist companions in the southeast, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

North Korea still has many weaknesses that will only be cured with time. But it has shown some hope for improvement. In 2000, both Koreas signed the June 15^th North-South Joint Declaration, promising to make peaceful attempts at reunification. North Korea is firm, though, in its intent to have no outside interference in this matter. Also, before a shooting in 2008 of a South Korean tourist, there had been a special tourism zone created for American and South Korean tourists to visit called the Kumgangsan Tourist Region, although admittedly this area was made up to be falsely inviting. Hopefully, though, these small efforts to reach out are signs of better days to come.

My Educational Journey

I was one of the lucky ones. I was born into a family full of teachers, including both of my parents, so learning was fostered from the beginning. By the age of four I could already read. And I remember that when I was young, my parents would play The

Alphabet Game with us (my brother Malcolm, cousins, and me) on car trips and would encourage us to beat the cash register with the correct amount of change. If we did, we got to keep the coins. We did not know it then, but they were giving us essential tools for learning. To this day, I am a whiz at mental math when my friends have to take out calculators. But I will not attribute all my success to the adults in my life. Undoubtedly, they had their impact. However, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. I played an active role in my educational journey as well.

From a young age, I have known that I am very smart. When I entered kindergarten, I remember being highly unamused by the songs the teacher played to teach us the sounds of the letters. I could already read. So my parents and the teacher sat down and discussed what to do to challenge and stimulate me. They set up a sort of bridge program where I went to a first grade classroom until their lunchtime, then went to my p.m. kindergarten class. I loved the time I spent in Mr. Hooker’s first grade class, and thankfully the other children welcomed me. It was soon determined that I should be skipped. I only actually spent forty-four days in kindergarten. First grade was a blast; Mr. Hooker could not have been a more wonderful match for me. I scored in the ninety-ninth percentile on my standardized tests that year, and from there I hit the ground running.

In the second grade I went to a private school where I was in a combination class with third and fourth graders. My teacher would always have me do the lessons with the fourth graders. I tested Gifted that year and the next year entered the Magnet program at Baldwin Hills Elementary School. I was finally in classes full of other children of equal intellect. We read Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone in the third grade! And in the fifth grade, we did extensive research and presented a report on the different body systems.

Middle school was a breeze to me. I was in a Gifted Magnet, so all the children in my classes were Gifted as well. I got straight A’s all three years, because by that point I had determined to be the best. It was also during these years that I came into my social graces. Until eighth grade, I was awkward, preferring to read in the classroom at nutrition and lunch than to go out with my classmates and play. Needless to say, the other children generally did not much like me. I still cannot explain exactly what happened, but that year I figured out how to be both academically and socially excellent, which has been an invaluable lesson.

Then I went to high school, and it was a whole new world! I remember freshman year as vividly as though it were just last week. In my first month at Westchester High School, I discovered the Academic Recognition Night. For each grade level, if a student has earned a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average, they are given special recognition and awards at Academic Recognition Night. The twelfth graders receive a (free!) letterman’s jacket. I determined right then that I would be on that stage to receive my jacket in my senior year.

In high school, I took only the most rigorous course load offered. I took AP classes every year starting in the tenth grade. Some course my school only offered every other year, so those I took at a local community college through a dual enrollment program. Of course, I did not allow my extra-curriculars to suffer. I firmly believe that being smart is not enough, one must be more than just good test scores. I played sports all four years, and was named Varsity Captain of both my Cross Country and Track and

Field teams. I was a College Peer Counselor. I got involved with California’s Youth and Government Model Legislature and Court program. I also joined my School’s We Volunteer for Westchester Club, and volunteered over two hundred hours one summer as a Counselor-in-Training at the local YMCA. I graduated tied for third in my class, with a grade point average of 4.3. I was a National Achievement Scholarship Finalist and an AP Scholar with Distinction, as well as being on the President’s Honor Roll all four years. And, I got my Academic Jacket! In fact, with all the credits I transferred over from AP tests I passed and community college classes I took, I am

already classified as a sophomore in college. And I was invited to join the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program.

I decided to come to Howard University mainly for the money that they offered me. I did not know much about the school, but that they had a reputation for churningout the best and the brightest. I have a cousin who is an alumna, and practically everyone I talked to about this school knows of at least one Howard success story. Since I have been here, I have been intrigued by the sheer excellence surrounding me. People from all walks of life have

been and are currently being molded into greatness here. It is hard to be so far from home, but I am sure that this will be a growing experience like no other, and I will be rewarded beyond measure for all my hard work.

Howard University Clubs and Organizations

Whoever said college isn't for everyone lied. Here at Howard there are so many clubs and organizations, you're bound to find at least one that will interest you. We have everything from a Chess Club to state clubs to the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Alpha Chapter. So if you don't find something here that interests you, chances are you didn't look hard enough.

For my freshman Seminar assignment this week, I had to research five clubs here and tell a little about them here on my blog. I picked these five because they are each significant to my college experience in some way.

1. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Alpha Chapter

-My cousin, my sister, my grandma, and even my track and cheer coaches are members of DST.

-Here is where it all began. On January 13, 1913, 22 women founded DST under the principles of scholarship, sisterhood, and service. Today, the chapter centers its programming around Delta's Five-Point Programmatic Thrust: educational development, economic development, political awareness and involvement, physical and mental health, and International Awareness and Involvement. They are active in serving their university and their community and their network is strong and country-wide.

2. Ladies of the Quad Social Club

-I live in the Quad this year. Truth Hall, Room 404. AWWWW YEAH!!!

-The Ladies of the Quad Social Club is a club exclusively for freshmen girls. Its aim is to introduce these young women to the cultural and academic climate of Howard University. It promotes sisterhood among its members and encourages scholarly pursuits. Members do service for the university and the surrounding community and promote a positive image of the young African American woman.

-The brother social club to this one is the Gentlemen of Drew Social Club, based out of Drew all where the freshman boys, several of whom are friends of mine, live.

3. The Howard University Campus Pals

-The first people to officially welcome the incoming freshmen to Howard University are the Campus Pals. They plan trips and social gatherings during Freshmen Week, the week between the Move-In of the new freshmen and the arrival of the upperclassmen. The Campus Pals are a part of several other organizations on camps and encourage their pals to get involved, network, and meet new people. They show their caseload of around 30 freshmen the ways of Howard. If Howard University is one big family, the Campus Pals are the older brothers and sisters.

4. Psi Chi- The National Honor Society in Psychology

-I am a psychology major and an honors student, so naturally this group intrigues me.

-The Psi Chi honor society was founded in 1929 to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship surrounding and advancing psychology. Graduates and undergraduates are welcome to join. It is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies, therefore members get academic recognition simply by being involved. Members must be second semester sophomores in a psychology major or minor program with a grade point average over 3.0 and in the top 35% of their class.

5. California Club

-a club dedicated to the bestest state in the union!!!! I miss home.....

-This club is not necessarily as serious in nature as the other ones. It is mainly a social club that aims to help those students from California network with other people from California and acclimate themselves to the new and very different world of the East Coast. Members are also a part of various other clubs on campus and in this way they serve the university and their surrounding community.