BY MEGHAN BAEHL, OPINION EDITOR
Photo courtesy of Meghan Baehl
The dreaded time has arrived. At St. Bonaventure University, a science class with a lab is required across the board. For those who don’t know, now you know — STEM is the acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. Now I’ve already done my time as a mathematician, last spring, which is still a touchy subject that I do not want to be pressed on. So here I am, enrolled in BIO-101 and BIO-101L.
I should preface — I’m not a science gal, or a STEM girly if you will. I am a theater major and an English minor who spends my time being a drama queen (on stage) and coming up with quippy titles for opinion articles (how am I doing, by the way?). My point is that I have had my science brain turned off since I took anatomy and physiology in 12th grade. Unfortunately, that means my biology brain has been turned off since 9th grade.
I am the designer of my own catastrophe. I am not a morning person or a Monday person, and my BIO-101 class is at 8:30 a.m. and my lab is on (you’ve guessed it) Monday.
It is not that I have anything against the professor, Dr. Pesciotta is a wonderful teacher and instructor. It is more about the contents of the course. I don’t like learning about things that scare me. For Exam 3, we are learning about the heart and the possibility of complications like aneurysms, which are blood-filled bulges of blood vessels caused by disease. Needless to say, it is grotesque and makes me nervous about things I cannot control.
Speaking of anxieties, I have the worst testing anxiety – it eats me alive. To make matters worse, we take our exams in the Dresser-Rand Auditorium, which is quite literally an auditorium, as the name suggests, so the huge space just swallows you up. It is daunting and I always sit in front because I am terrified of tripping up those stairs. I also always leave the auditorium scratching my head because those biology tests are hard.
I have been thankful for this experience, but I would not recommend it. But if you absolutely HAVE to take biology — take it with Dr. Pesciotta, get a tutor, and if you can help it, don’t ever faint in lab (that is another story for another time).
baehlma21@bonaventure.edu
