A Day Full of Events

Today, we had two more guest speakers in class. One of them is a professor who teaches at the Vanderbilt Medical School. She teaches neurology, and she talked to us about Alzheimer's disease. I did not know the specific details of the disease until today. I was very interested in the different structures of the brain because neurology could be my potential major in college. The professor shared a couple of stories about Alzheimer's patients. They were very devastating because most of the patients experience a loss of the ability to distinguish right from wrong. I was also able to learn about factors that can increase risks of the disease. For example, a single head injury can increase the risk of Alzheimer's. On the other hand, exercise, a healthy diet, and mental challenges can reduce the risk of disease. This reminded me that I need to start exercising more.

The professor also shared an interesting study that was done called, The Nun Study. Researchers studied over 700 nuns and learned that nuns had a very low rate of Alzheimer's Disease. The reason being that nuns ate organic vegetables and exercised their brains everyday.

During her lecture, I had the opportunity to learn about what distinguishes geniuses from normal people. The hippocampus in the brain of geniuses' is generally bigger than the average person. Eintstein, however, did not have a larger hippocampus. His brain was different from the average human, though, because he had additional glial cells (supporting cells) on his parietal lobe which is responsible for calculations.

Our next guest speaker was the Dean of Public Health. She had interesting lecture on two patient cases. Both patients had the same medical history and the same medical problem,  but they were each treated with different surgical procedures. It was surprising to see how two surgeons were taught the same way, but they took different approaches.

The class ended with group presentations. Our presentation went smoothly. I enjoyed watching the other presentations because I was able to learn about diseases that I had not heard of before. One of the groups performed a skit which was entertaining.

After class was over, we had free time and then the Arete showcase. I was excited to see what other students learned in their Arete classes. Some of the students in my class put henna on volunteers. I decided not to because I did not want to ruin someone's hand. The showcase was very entertaining. I enjoyed watching the dance and yoga  performances. The Improv class put on an amusing show and made everyone laugh. I also had the opportunity to see a couple of magic tricks. I am going to miss my Arete class; it was a very relaxing time period of the day. However, I am looking forward to learn how to juggle. After the Arete showcase, we went to dinner at Rand instead of where we usually eat- the Commons.

Today's special event was the Decades Dance. We were supposed to dress up as if we were from the past decades. I did not have anything from the past decades, so I wore casual clothes to the dance. Chiamaka and Shanti made me dance for one song; however, afterwards, I just sat in the game room.

This is my proctor group before the dance.