Loras College instills its mission statement into every faculty member and student the

moment they step onto campus. It states; “Loras, as a Catholic liberal arts college, creates a

community of active learners, reflective thinkers, ethical decision-makers and responsible

contributors in diverse professional, social and religious roles.” These four dispositions are a way

to guide students throughout their career here at Loras College. They can be utilized in order to

mold individuals not only into the best student they can be, but a better person overall. The

dispositions are meant for the overall growth of the individual. Growth in the Loras College

dispositions can mean forming better study habits, gaining new perspectives, trying new things,

or even trying at things a person might’ve failed at in the past. The four dispositions have pushed

me to grow from the person I was starting my college career to who I am today. The two

dispositions where I have seen the most growth of myself are active learning and responsible

contributing. I have grown immensely through these two dispositions from my classes, extra-

curricular activities, and experiences here at Loras College.

Loras College describes an active learner as someone who wants to learn and understand

their experiences at a deep level. Essentially an active learner tries to learn and understand things

in different ways that make sense to them. It is important for an active learner to take this

universal disposition into their own hands in and outside of the classroom. In high school, I loved

to participate in my classes, mostly because I enjoyed talking. The only problem was I didn’t

have a passion to learn new information, which stems from my high schools main teaching style,

lectures. Even though I was bored most of the time, I was fine with lectures because it was the

most simplicity way to teach. I also had basic study habits throughout my high school career. I

simply took notes, reviewed them, and that was it. I did good in high school and had the

mentality that I could do the same thing once I got to Loras College. I didn’t want to try new and
intuitive ways of learning because I assumed my high school methods would work for. It took

me until my second year of college to truly understand what it means to be an active learner. I

came into Loras College with my social life being a priority over my academics. I went to class,

took notes, asked questions when needed, and then used my notes for the exams. After my first

semester at Loras College, I was on academic probation and was in jeopardy of being kicked out

if something didn’t change. Even though I did better my second semester and my academic

probation was lifted, I still performed the same study habits but just tried a little harder. I

reflected on my first year of college and knew that something needed to change and change fast.

I knew that my old study habits weren’t going to cut it if I was going to be a successful college

student. I started to become an active learner during Developmental Psychology due to Dr.

Hoppers teaching style. His flipped classroom model encouraged us to teach ourselves the

information before the lecture. We had a pre quiz to take before lecture and a post quiz to take

after he covered the information that was needed to be covered. I would thoroughly read the

chapter assigned while taking detailed notes and highlighting concepts that stuck out the most to

me. When I didn’t understand or was interested in a concept or theory, I would google it and read

up on it more, bettering my knowledge of something that I didn’t even have a lecture on yet. By

the time lecture came, I felt overly comfortable sharing my knowledge to the class. I felt

accomplished and proud of myself for trying something I have never tried before. To succeed in

Dr. Hoppers flipped classroom model, you needed to be fully on board and open to it. I started

utilizing this technique with my other courses along with other new ideas of learning that I never

really tried. The class that relates most to the disposition of active learning and my growth as a

student would stem from my Learning and Cognition course. We were taught the six strategies

for effective learning; spacing, retrieval practice, elaboration, interleaving, concrete examples,
and dual coding. As a class, we were asked to utilize each strategy, see what worked best, and to

write and reflect each strategy. This opened my eyes to a whole new world of studying and

learning that I wished I was exposed to my semester of college. I utilized each strategy for all of

my classes during the semester. With my passion for learning and understanding of what study

habits work and don’t work for me, I was able to use my time wisely while trying to implement

these strategies in my daily study habits. I still implement these methods in the way I study and

learn information to this day and for the foreseeable future. For both Research Methods and

Statistics courses, I would read, highlight, and create flash cards as well. I noticed I was happy to

come to class and I couldn’t wait to learn each day. I was able to pick up the concepts of writing

a research proposal, literature review, and knowing the different statistical analysis tests with

ease. With my new and exciting love of learning psychology, specifically individuals with

disabilities, opportunities arose.

I was asked to be an intern for the Lynch Learning Center where I would tutor students,

as well as giving a variety of presentations. I was able to apply active learning to these

presentations because of my love for learning about that side of psychology and my want of

helping those with disabilities. While putting together one of the presentations, I reflected on

how I ended up getting to this spot in my life. I was asked to be on the executive board for Du-

Buddies within the first three months of joining, raised my gpa above a 3.0, and knew that I

wanted to become an occupational therapist that works with individuals with special needs. I

realized that this is what it is like to become a success for college student. I gave up my old

school habits, buckled down, was able to strive for success and achieve things that I didn’t think

could’ve happened to me. I was able to take creative ideas and ways of learning and applied

them to my everyday life. Taking a step back, reflecting, and realizing that I was doing great in
college was emotionally rewarding. I was on the verge of getting kicked out of school my first

semester with no idea with what I wanted to do. Today, I am a member of Psi Chi, co-president

of Du-Buddies, have a gpa in the top 30% of my graduating class, and was an intern for a full

year at the Lynch Learning Center. Active learning has played a huge part of the type of student

and individual I am today. I have a passion of learning and for school. Along with that, I am

constantly looking for insight and new ways to learn. School isn’t something that I am bored

with anymore, it is exciting and makes me genuinely happy. The disposition of active learning

coupled with the amazing professors and environment of Loras College has allowed me to

become who I am today. Through active learning, I found a passion of in an area of psychology

that needs individuals like me to help. This disposition has given me aspirations about my future

that I didn’t even know were possible, which makes my journey all the more exciting.

The other Loras College disposition that I have noticed the most growth in is responsible

contributing. A responsible contributor can be defined as an individual who uses their

knowledge, skills, and or talents to assist those who are in need of help. They share these

qualities to other individuals and or communities in an efficient and effective, helpful way.

Before Loras College, I was involved in training kids for basketball and baseball through my

high school’s sports camp. Yes, it was great and inspiring work utilizing my skills in order to

teach others but I always wanted to do more. I have also been a part of a cancer research

foundation in memory of my friend Patrick McNamara who passed away from cancer in 2011.

My role in the organization wasn’t truly defined until I got to college. I loved training the kids in

sports and what I do for the foundation but I always felt like I wasn’t doing enough. The first

thing that comes to my mind when I think of a responsible contributor are people who go on

service trips. Throughout high school, I had friends who have gone to different states to build
houses in impoverished areas. I always wanted to go on a service trip but never had the

opportunity due to basketball and other obligations. One of the reasons I chose Loras College

was to get involved and to experience opportunities I wouldn’t or couldn’t have experienced in

high school. When I found out about the social justice and service trip opportunities that were

presented at Loras College, I knew I had to jump on the opportunity. I went on a service trip to

New Orleans my spring semester of 2018. I was not only able to fulfill my calling of

participating on a service trip, but I gained a whole new perspective and appreciation for the life

I have been blessed with. I grew up in South Side of Chicago in an above middle class family.

We have a beautiful home in a great neighborhood. We are able to afford very nice things as well

as able to go on vacations throughout the United States. I had taken all of these things for granted

until I went to New Orleans. The further south we drove, the more impoverished/less fortunate

the surrounding areas looked. I noticed this immediately and really thought about what I was

getting myself into. Once we got to New Orleans, my eyes were completely opened. The amount

of garbage and destruction still left from Hurricane Katrina was unfathomable until you saw it

for yourself. I saw more destroyed houses, cars, and boats on land that haven’t even been

touched since the hurricane struck. We stayed in an old school that was revamped into a camp

for volunteers to come down to do service trips in the area. We assisted with two houses during

our stay in New Orleans. We worked with an organization called United Saints whose job is to

help rebuild houses that were affected by the hurricane. The first day we put siding and roofing

on a home in 102 degree heat. During the rest of days of work, we performed mold remediation

on a duplex covered in black mold which was a three-day process. The woman living in the

home was a severe asthmatic as well. At night, we went to downtown New Orleans to see the

night life. I couldn’t believe my eyes with all of the beautiful, old French architecture. It seemed
like I was in a whole different part of the world during my nights down there. Along with all of

the fun, great food, and liveliness of downtown New Orleans, there was a lot of sadness. There

was at least three to five homeless people sleeping on every single block that I walked on. I

recall having a great deal of empathy when I walked by these individuals. It was a long drive

back from New Orleans in the sense of the amount of time it took for me to process and reflect

on what I experienced. I grew and gained a whole new perspective on the life that I have today. I

look at myself as a person who has it better in life than a large amount of the population not only

in the United States, but in this world. After my time in New Orleans, I look at myself as the

definition of a responsible contributor. I am an abled body individual who has the ability to help

people in a variety of ways. One thing that I am grateful for is the way I was raised. My mother,

father, and two older brothers instilled values of hard work, manual labor, and to give my full

effort in everything that I do and that is exactly what I did in New Orleans. I utilized the

knowledge and values that were passed down to me and I did the best job that I could. It was

emotional seeing the reaction and hearing the kind words of appreciation given from the people

who we helped. It made me appreciate the life that I have today and made me realize even more

that my calling in life is to help others who need it. I plan on trying to participate in service

opportunities both local and anywhere an opportunity arises. I am forever grateful for Loras

College and this experience that it has given me in order to make a difference in this world.

Loras College has given me opportunities and experiences that I will forever cherish, as

well as allowing me to grow as an individual. I have made strides and have grew in aspects of all

four dispositions, but the most growth occurred in active learning and responsible contributing.

Through active learning, I was able to become the student I am today as well as being able to

continue my career at Loras College. If I didn’t change the type of student I was as a freshman, I
wouldn’t have been able to write about all of these experiences or possibly be interested in the

field of psychology. The professors and contents of the courses listed above allowed me find

myself and my true calling. I also wouldn’t have been able to fulfill my dream of going on a

service trip, which changed my outlook on life and has helped me grow even more. I have

noticed my willingness to help others has greatly increased since my experience in New Orleans

furthering my role as a responsible contributor. These dispositions and experiences have led me

to aspirations of becoming a special needs pediatrics occupational therapist. Through Loras

College’s mission statement and my time as a student, I have become a successful learner both in

and outside of the classroom, as well as becoming a better, happier, and more fulfilled

individual.