Curiosity in its classic form is a desire to learn and experience new things but, it's more than that. It is being open to new ideas and experiences. Curiosity is the cure to judgment. It is wanting to live life to its most complete. Curiosity isn't just questioning, It's also being interested. Curiosity is a motivator; it's like a brain itch, once its there you've got to deal with it, answer the question, learn more about it, perfect the process, do more. Being curious is a wonderful thing because it gives you a desire to grow as a human being. It gives you drive to step out of your normal box and way of thinking. Sometimes though, especially in school, curiosity isn't just something that's naturally there. Sometimes you've got to find a way to spark your own interest or find your own questions that you want an answer. For example, in Humanities we were assigned a personal project. There were virtually no confines. Our instructions were to make a project that links to this year. Because of this, I found it really challenging to spark my interest in this project. I didn't know how to connect to the project or even start because there were so many things I could have done. We learned about everything from hero's journey and modern films to the history of oppression in the Americas to personal mental health to gangs to politics. All of these individual topics were very interesting to learn about but, it left me wondering how I was going to connect it all into one project. In the end, though It wasn't about connecting everything we learned about; it was about finding a theme. In order to get curious about this project, I had to completely change the way I was looking at it. I had to look at it from the eye of a giant, on a much larger scale. The theme I found was good vs evil, light vs. dark, positive vs. negative. This theme was awesome for me because I could incorporate creativity into my project in the form of both poetry and painting. Both of these things are things that I feel I can always improve on and am really inspired by (I have the desire to learn more about). Speaking of wanting to learn more; I took anatomy this semester and if I could I would take it all year every year. I have always been really fascinated with the way the body works, so taking anatomy, for me, is like a brain scratcher for a brain itch. As a transfer student one of my concerns when switching schools were not being academically challenged. Anatomy definitely challenged me. I also liked anatomy because being a college prep class, it gave me a little experience with a more standardized style of learning which will be useful to me in the future. My favorite assignment was getting to chose a physical disease to learn about and present our learning on. I liked that project because It provided the perfect opportunity to learn more about a topic I was already interested in. I chose to do my project on a genetic disorder called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva(FOP). Last year when I took biology I had come across a documentary on FOP and found It supper interesting but, never learned anything more about it. This year I was able to discover so much including the specific gene that carries it ( ACVR1). this project was great because of the freedom to choose the topic, sharing knowledge with peers, and content. My initial reaction to the question, "What can you do next semester to further nurture and cultivate your curiosity?" was to say, I think that school is more about being okay with not being curious and with just doing the work. But I realize that this is exactly the opposite conclusion from a healthy growth mindset. I do believe that being able to just stick it out and get work done is extremely important and will serve me well in the future but, I realize that I have to take that belief and turn it around completely. So that not only am I doing academics in a standard way like I would any other school but, I'm learning on a broader scale. Not just how to memorize and take a test but, to appreciate what I'm learning and how to really learn. This brings me back to readjusting my views as I've already had to do this school year. To answer that question, I don't know how I'm going to intentionally cultivate curiosity because honestly, it's so much better when it happens on its own. All I can do is stay open minded I'm interested as possible. Reflection I passed my POL! I believe that had I been given the opportunity to improvement I definitely would have. I did not feel as confident presenting as I would have liked to. I looked at my note cards some but, after having talked for a few minutes I got into a rhythm. I think I was honest and reflective in my presentation and that is why I passed. In the end my first POL at Animas was a valuable learning opportunity that I am grateful to have had. I am excited to use this learning experience in my presentation next semester.