Miniterm 2011

Last week was the end of miniterm. Miniterm is a week and a half between 2nd and 3rd trimester where we do not take any formal classes. Instead, we take an intensive class on any topic we choose. We can even make our own course! Courses range from Animal Behavior to Cryptology, Aviation to Teen Movies. I created my own course with a group of friends called Psychological Disorders through Film. We watched 6 different movies based on various psychological disorders. We watched A Beautiful Mind, Sybil, Fight Club, Girl Interrupted, Identity, and Rain Man. After watching each movie we discussed the film and wrote an analysis about the disorder portrayed in the movie.

I had watched some of these movies before, but the discussions were very different. Rather than just talking about what was apparent, we dug deeper. My favorite part of each discussion was talking about how the other characters and the society treated the character with a psychological disorder. We realized that treatment had changed so much based on time period and that much of the change in treatment was due to our growing knowledge about the disorder.

Outside of “class time” I spent my times our in Durham, sleeping, or just relaxing with my friends. Since this is my senior year, I had a mission to make miniterm the best it could be. My friends and I made a bucket list of things to do during the 10 days and checked them off our list one by ones. Some of the things on our list were: have a girls night out, bake cookies in Hunt Kitchen (the common kitchen open to students), ride the DATA bus (the public bus system in Durham). We also went on visits to UNC and Duke to see our seniors from last year, and look at the schools. We had a “photo shoot” in Duke Gardens, tried out the local eateries near UNC and the list goes on and on. Some nights a group of friends sat outside on a blanket and talked while looking at the stars. All in all, this miniterm was truly amazing.

A phrase my friends and I kept repeating was, “This is why I love NCSSM.” And it was true. At NCSSM, we come for the education, but stay for the people. Even if we do something as simple as talking about our futures, the topics we cover are very different. Not better or worse, just different. Maybe a little more intellectual. Visiting Duke and UNC made me excited for college, but it also made me nervous. I worry that in college, I wont be able to find people like I have met here at NCSSM.