βίος

This is a blog that describes my classes, which comprise roughly 16.45 % of my 24 hour / 5 day academic week. That figure is a distillation; to varying degrees, every college student lives in the classroom. βίος is greek for Bios, or literally, life. I am a Biology major.

Organic Chemistry:
"I will shave my head if every one of you gets these Lewis - Acid questions right on this test!" We laughed, but every one of us knew Dr. Barnhurst was serious.

Dr. Barnhurst is in his mid-thirties, by far the youngest professor in the third floor of Hickman science center. This floor has a reputation for professors who are cerebral and organized; above all, they are chemists. Dr. Barnhurst lives up to this reputation, and like all the other professors, adds his own unmistakeable flavor.

Within the first days of class, I was convinced that Dr. Barnhurst would do anything within his ability to help his students do well. I will never forget seeing him doing pushups alongside a student for an illustration (in class). His ability to communicate the material for this class is 100% talent, 100% sheer frenetic energy, and 100% effective. I'm still convinced.

Life and Teachings:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 12:00 - 12:50 P.M. Dr. Parker is from Zimbabwe, and his classic accent sets him apart in collegdale, TN. But it's not just the accent. I have come to admire Dr. Parker as a man with an exceptional ability to moderate discussions, as an incredibly deep thinker, as a genuine disciple -- talking about his master. I couldn't leave this class without mentioning my excellent seatmates in front row right, Tim Taylor, Shama Eller, and Allana Westermeyer. Dr Parker told me the other day that they had attempted to stall a class quiz on account of my being late from a Genetics exam. Thanks guys! (Dr. Parker let me take the quiz after class).

Symphony Orchestra:
Besides being required for the maintenance of my music scholarship, this "course" is pure stress-relief. Mrs. Minner, our conducter, makes our 75 minute rehearsels fun with a combination of inspired wit and a genuine understanding for how to make a group of inexperienced musicians play as an orchestra.

Genetics:
Joe Smart: "Yeah, I'm pre-med, and I'm planning to get an A++ in this class." It was a phrase that was starting to sound like a refrain. We were in our first genetics lab, and Dr. Azevedo had asked us to introduce ourselves (with hoped-for grade) as an ice-breaker. The atmosphere inside the laboratory was chummy, but contained an undeniable edge: we were all sizing each other up, and above all, trying to size up the teacher who we'd heard so much about... Dr. Azevedo.

For a class made up primarily of pre-med and pre-dent students, the first test average (67%) was hard to swallow. It was time to wake up to Biology-311.

Dr. Azevedo is, without doubt, one of the 5 smartest people I know. Her ability to take an extremely convoluted question, reduce it to its most constructive form, and then answer it clearly is nonpareil.

Dr. Azevedo is my favorite teacher of the semester. After all, she wears crocs. Incessantly.

Trigonometry:
Dr. "Art" Richert, chair of the mathmatics department at Southern, stood with arms folded looking intently at the blackboard. We were half-way through a class period that was dedicated to proving various trigonometric identities. Chalk poised restlessly in his fingertips, Dr. Richert maintained his silent vigil for a full five minutes. At last, he carefully placed the chalk back in the tray, and brushing his hands together, he said: "that is a beautiful thing." Dr. Richert had just made one of the most compelling arguments in favor of mathmatics: fully understood, it is beautiful.

To describe my classes, I have described my teachers.

This is,

after all,

Bios.