As winter approaches, students on campus are gearing up for end-of-the-year rush as well as registering for new classes. In the midst of checking off required boxes, there are some classes that make unique impacts on students.
Senior Christian ed/youth ministry major Ben Patzlaff remembered taking cultural anthropology in his freshman year and enjoyed “learning to view culture in different societies and understanding people from a sociological perspective.”
“[The class} was fascinating and really taught me a lot and made me challenge a lot of preconceived notions I had about the world and other people,” Patzlaff said.
Patzlaff is also excited about his last semester of classes, one of which is Youth Ministry and Science with professor Jason Lief.
“It’s going to be really interesting to figure out how Youth Ministry and Science work in tandem with each other,” Patzlaff said. “Often, when youth are leaving the church…[it’s because] they learn things about science that conflicts with what they think our faith is.”
Another new class offered next semester that has garnered interest comes in a timely manner, as professor Michael Kugler will be teaching HIS275: Conspiracy, Conspiracy Theory and Fake Facts.
John Kaucher, a sophomore with a history minor, has more than one reason for taking the class.
“First off, it is with Kugler, and Kugler is one of my favorite professors. And historical conspiracy theories, I mean, that’s just really kind of a cool concept,” Kaucher said.
One historical theory that has fascinated him is the origin of the Crusades.
“There’s a lot of questions about the initial start of the crusades,” Kaucher said. “The speech Pope Urban gave was all about the horrors and why they were going to war…but there’s a lot of different conspiracies – was it for trade routes and things like that?”
Kaucher also thought learning about the Crusades in class could have interesting implications for us today.
“This is one of the big black marks on Christianity’s history in a lot of ways, so I think that would be an interesting thing to go over,” Kaucher said.
Almost every student can recall a specific course that was especially interesting and memorable, and it’s these memories that prove the power of interesting academics.
