Spring Break
Fulfilling college time
Miami experience rewarding and unique
Chris Gardner
Issue date: 4/21/06 Section: OpEd Page
Miami is a special place.
That's something we've all heard and maybe most of us even believe it. I have a friend whose AIM profile quotes Dr. Phillip Shriver, former president of Miami, as saying, "All roads don't lead to Oxford - you have to want to get here. But once you get here you never want to leave." The reason for that is simple; Miami offers everything that a college should.
The opportunities I have experienced here are things for which I will always be thankful. I spent a semester in Luxembourg. I think a number of writers for The Student have chronicled their time there, but I can't emphasize enough how great an opportunity it is to study abroad. Never again will I have the chance to have the same experience as being a college student in Europe with virtually no "real world" matters to worry about.
Miami offers the opportunity to get to know professors. I have been fortunate enough to get to know a number of professors quite well. There is a professor who I never had for class with whom I regularly trade e-mails about all sorts of campus issues. It's hard to imagine many other schools have professors so dedicated to students that they are willing to foster a relationship with a student that they never even taught.
I had another professor who, when he found out that I couldn't stay for the Miami hockey playoff game because they were kicking me out of the dorms for spring break, offered to allow me to stay in his home for the night. Again, Miami students have the opportunity to interact with professors who truly care and are not too busy to talk to them.
I have had the opportunity to take great classes at Miami. I know everyone hates the Miami Plan, but if you try hard enough you can find classes that are truly fantastic - even if they have nothing to do with your major.
Right now I'm in a political thinking class that is terrific. The entire class is discussion-based and I have read all of the classical theorists, the ones that you always said to yourself, "wouldn't it be cool to have read ..."
That's something we've all heard and maybe most of us even believe it. I have a friend whose AIM profile quotes Dr. Phillip Shriver, former president of Miami, as saying, "All roads don't lead to Oxford - you have to want to get here. But once you get here you never want to leave." The reason for that is simple; Miami offers everything that a college should.
The opportunities I have experienced here are things for which I will always be thankful. I spent a semester in Luxembourg. I think a number of writers for The Student have chronicled their time there, but I can't emphasize enough how great an opportunity it is to study abroad. Never again will I have the chance to have the same experience as being a college student in Europe with virtually no "real world" matters to worry about.
Miami offers the opportunity to get to know professors. I have been fortunate enough to get to know a number of professors quite well. There is a professor who I never had for class with whom I regularly trade e-mails about all sorts of campus issues. It's hard to imagine many other schools have professors so dedicated to students that they are willing to foster a relationship with a student that they never even taught.
I had another professor who, when he found out that I couldn't stay for the Miami hockey playoff game because they were kicking me out of the dorms for spring break, offered to allow me to stay in his home for the night. Again, Miami students have the opportunity to interact with professors who truly care and are not too busy to talk to them.
I have had the opportunity to take great classes at Miami. I know everyone hates the Miami Plan, but if you try hard enough you can find classes that are truly fantastic - even if they have nothing to do with your major.
Right now I'm in a political thinking class that is terrific. The entire class is discussion-based and I have read all of the classical theorists, the ones that you always said to yourself, "wouldn't it be cool to have read ..."
