Category: Writing Assignment

Monkey’s value equality and fairness, displaying emotional reactions when they feel they are not being treated fairly. These parallels in behavior highlight the complex emotional intelligence that humans and primates share. Through these behaviors, monkeys provide insight into the evolution of human social dynamics and cultural learning.

Gracyn Finn:

While starfish lack a brain and blood, their complex nervous system and deliberate features are the root of their intelligence, allowing them to live in the ocean. Using the eyes at the ends of their arms they can detect light and navigate their surroundings. As well as hundreds of feet so they can move around and hunt for food. They can also regrow their arms after being cut off. These unique abilities suggest that intelligence in animals can exist beyond brain-centric models, challenging conventional definitions of cognition.

By: Charlotte Kenyon

Dog’s intelligence is highly underestimated by humanity, and the continuation of extensive research on dog’s brains through MRI’s use can give more information about how their brains function. Exploration of how a dog’s brain works can apprehend more insight about which parts of the brain activate during certain responses. Ultimately, humans can learn far more about animal brains and intelligence, by acknowledging their sophisticated and complex ways of thought. 

Despite the reputation raccoons and animals as a whole receive as lesser life forms compared to the human race, raccoons are intelligent, crafty, resilient, resourceful and agile creatures who adapt to their environment no matter what. Throughout generations of humans changing the world around them, they find steady sources of food and have adapted to survive and thrive in their conditions; this is a resilience that at times can best that of the human race.

By: Robbie Beard

Animal intelligence, similar to consciousness, cannot be completely understood through physical or objective explanations alone, as it is ingrained within the subjective experiences unique to each species. Even as many argue that we can never entirely fathom what it is to be a bat, comprehending animal cognition demands a fresh structure involving these subjective stances. Without this sort of structure, any attempt to explain animal intelligence remains incomplete and lacks extensive knowledge.

Robbie Beard

In my personal life, an important experience for me involves visiting a company that I have been wanting to work at since a young age. This company, named Gemmy Industries, is one that specializes in producing various holiday decorations, as well as everyday items. Two factors that amplify this experience is the fact that I was not only visiting with a close friend of mine, but also the fact that this company is quite secretive; there is probably a higher probability of winning the lottery than getting a tour at this company. I remember it like it was yesterday, the feeling of sheer excitement, and nervousness filled me as our incredibly nice uber driver pulled up to the Gemmy headquarter building. As my friend and I made it past the front desk, we immediately took notice of how nicely the cubicles were mapped out. We then saw the various employees drawing up new ideas for various holiday decorations on their wacom tablets. What excited me the most was definitely meeting an employee named Steve Ross, who has been working at the company for over eighteen years, and was the mastermind behind a lot of the products that I grew up with. Not only did my friend and I talk with him for almost an hour, but we also got to learn a lot of interesting insight behind the prototype and production process of certain items he created, which involves the utilization of different materials such as resin, spin mold, blow mold, soft pvc, and vinyl. This tour managed to completely change my life in the sense that it helped in establishing various employee connections, and helped to expand my knowledge on developing and producing products, which is something I have been destined to do at this company since a very young age. 

Keywords: cheerful, accomplished, nervous, excited, brave, achievement, determination, success, knowledge, patience

This experience is fairly recent, but was a very memorable experience. Getting recruited to play water polo at Bucknell was an eye opening moment as I had been playing since I was 9 years old. I also was never completely sure it was something I wanted to do, but getting recruited made me take a step back and evaluate what I had put into the sport and what that made me as an individual. I had been dedicated to the sport and had to make a choice to continue this dedication. I felt proud and rewarded as my dedication had achieved something bigger than the sport itself, also an opportunity to study at Bucknell.

Pride, dedication, patience, opportunistic, rewarding, achievement, talent, success, recognition, perserverance

My personal experience is my transition through college my freshman year. During the first semester I started to change as a person. My personality was changing, my beliefs, thoughts, opinions, and I started to express myself in different ways. Initially, I didn’t think much of it. When I went home after a few months of being in college, I felt quite strange. I knew I was different from when I left my hometown, but when I went back, I slipped back into my “old-self”. Soon after I came back to college I once again slipped into my “present self”. I felt internally confused and conflicted. I didn’t want to lose the person I was before, but at the same time, people change, especially when going to college. Resisting the change only made the stress worse. I felt like I had no option but to switch between the two inorder to stay connected with my friends from back home because my past self is how they see me; my college friends saw me as something else. I was ashamed to associate with my past self and life while at college. It was a battle between my past and present self, pushing away one another depending on where I was. 

Keywords:

1. Conflicted
2. Confused
3. Lost 
4. Fight 
5. Clash
6. Transformation
7. Identity 
8. Embarrassed  
9. Isolated
10. Authentic

I have always searched for academic validation. Ever since I was young and realized I was actually good at school. Most humanities subjects came easy to me and although I didn’t particularly like it at the time, I was good at science too. It became a part of who I was, my identity. I was smart. I was quickly humbled when I came to Bucknell. I had never had such challenging or fast paced classes. I always put effort into my work but now it seemed almost more than I could handle. My anxiety and insecurities feed off that need for academic validation, to prove I am good at something. Although I might pass or get a good grade to normal standards, and rationally I know it was okay, I still can’t help feeling anxious, frustrated, hurt, and worthless when I don’t measure up to my, admittingly outrageous, academic standards. This really came into play when I decided to pursue chemistry at Bucknell. It is a subject that I’m not naturally good at, my mind simply doesn’t work that way and that’s part of what I love and hate about it. It challenges me and pushes me in new ways, but it does get painful when I don’t do as well in my STEM classes compared to my arts and humanities courses. I changed the theming of my project because I felt more passionate about this topic and like I could easily represent this inward struggle. 

Key Words

Pressure

Fear

Frustration

Pain

Validation

Expectations

Education

Insecurities

Academics

Struggle

Step 1:

The summer before my senior year of high school, I went white water canoeing on the St. John River in Maine for a week. I had done this many times before, but not this specific river, as it was only deep enough to paddle every 5-10 years. Paddling the first set of rapids on the river is what I chose as my experience. As we approached the rapids, I felt excited as the adrenaline and anticipation pulsed through my body. I had waited for this for 10 years as this was a very iconic river, and the five of us paddling had grown up together with the dream to get the chance to complete this trip. As we entered the rapids, I felt calm and prepared as I easily executed each stroke through the rushing and chaotic water. My best friend and I had been sharing a boat since we were 7, so despite the class 5 ranking, the rapids felt somewhat familiar. A new found feeling of independence took over as I realized that I was about to embark on my 7th week-long canoeing trip without parents, technology, and communication at the age of 17. I was so happy to be on this river with my best friends, completing yet another adventure. It would quickly become one of my favorite memories.

Keywords:

• Independence
• Excitement
• Adventure
• Happiness
• Friendship
• Dreams
• Nature
• Calm
• Adrenaline
• Community