A Stimulating Intellectual Conversation....aka Common Hour

Heidi and I had an adventure today; we attended Coe's Common Hour for the first time.  What is Common Hour you may ask?  Well according to Terry McNabb, who is in charge of Common Hour it's

" Common Hour is meant to bring faculty, students and staff together to learn about issues of common interest to all members of the campus community." 

Today's topic was about academic rigor and culture at Coe.  Heidi and I sat at a table with a sophomore at Coe, three faculty members and one administrator.  Our question we were suppose to discuss was 

"Where else on campus, besides in the classrooms, does academic rigor 'live'?  How are academic expectations communicated by other members of the college community?  How can members of the campus community support each other in their attempts to be rigorous?"  

but we didn't get far on that because the faculty we were sitting with wanted to grill us on what we thought about Coe's academic rigor, teacher expectations, peer support, our college preparation, and much more.  What was great about it was it allowed me to think about and reflect on my opinions of the liberal education I'm receiving at Coe.  I was able to put my thoughts into words and have my opinion be heard; I loved the opportunity I had to discuss the definition of "rigor" and my expectations for the educating I'm receiving.  One of the administrators who was there said he loved that we had such a great passion for learning.  And that's true; I love learning and school.  While people might get overwhelmed by a syllabus, for me, a syllabus excites me; I now know what we are going to cover.  All that knowledge is sitting there on that one piece of paper just waiting for me to dig into it.  I love that. 

Heidi and I left Common Hour feeling intellectually stimulated and excited.  The discussion we had epitomized what we hope to have in all our classes; an atmosphere that allows us to express our opinions and debate or agree with others' opinions.  The back and forth conversation that eats up large chunks of time but to us, seem like only a couple of minutes; a place where time really does "fly."  Although this was the last Common Hour of the semester, Heidi and I have vowed to attend almost every one next semester.