HD 320 was one of my favorites.

I hope to work with adolescents in my future career, so I

had high hopes for this class and I am happy to report that I was not disappointed in the least. I
fulfilled my goals by launching into this online course full force, with focus, enthusiasm and
vigor and never losing that momentum. I was extremely fortunate to have a wonderful group of
intelligent and committed fellow students, so even though this was an online class, the open
conversations about both our course materials and our collective shared experiences made this a
wonderful and enjoyable closely-knit class.
Dr. Fierro demanded excellence and challenged us heartily in terms of academic rigor, so I
relished the earned satisfaction that I found from the drive and work ethic that was required in
order to achieve success in this class. Being able to meet and even occasionally exceed her
standards helped me see how hard I can actually work and what I can achieve academically,
especially in a seven week course. Adding to the benefits of this class was the fact that our
professor provided conscientious, supportive, prompt feedback. It felt wonderful to know that
this professor was truly as invested in this class as her students were.
HD 320 allowed me to interconnect the assigned course work with my own past experiences
as an adolescent. This expanded my scope of self-knowledge and allowed me to see some of my
developmental stages in a new light. The feedback and shared experiences from my peers and Dr.
Fierro made this class both meaningful and educational. The added bonus of good humor and a
forum for extremely open and honest disclosure amongst all of us made this challenging class a
lot of fun and very rewarding. It really did have the best of all worlds which made for a fantastic
experience.

Some of the most enjoyable and useful opportunities for growth and learning in HD 320
came in the form of the lively and candid group discussions. For example, when we discussed a
book on the subject of emotional development and self-esteem in teen girls, I was able to analyze
and then disclose some difficult and painful experiences from my own adolescent years.
With the benefit of hindsight and information from class materials, I gleaned an increasingly
expanding view of how societal, political and family issues have affected me and how they
continue to currently affect girls at large. It helped me learn new ways of seeing how issues-then
and now-are contributing to difficulties that present day adolescents are faced with, and it armed
me with excellent information that will be useful in the working with adolescents.
My contribution to the class largely came from deciding to disclose some of my own
personal experiences and issues. This opened the door for my classmates to feel safe in
disclosing more about themselves, if they chose to do so, which they did. I am very grateful that
we all took the same route: one of honest and profound learning largely gained through selfdisclosure. It was an incredibly enriching and respectful environment in which we all honored
each others processes and confidence with dignity, through sharing experiences and how they so
closely related to our coursework. Learning from each other with the ideal combination of
academia and human vulnerability was amazing. I truly believe that this is the ultimate and most
fulfilling goal of any learning environment, and I appreciate being able to have been a part of it.
I learned new aspects of socio-emotional and cognitive growth processes in adolescents,
which both fascinated me and increased my empathy and understanding. The substantial and
stimulating course materials offered in this class added to my knowledge of the developmental
issues of adolescents, while also addressing systemic policies, societal issues and how I may

develop ways to be able to work in a capacity to actively and productively help young people
develop and flourish. These new perspectives and factual concepts learned will continue to
stimulate my thinking. They have given me tangible ways to most effectively get involved in
assisting teens, and I look forward to finding out how this will all come to fruition in my future
career.