As the semester draws to a close...

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our final day of class presentations and then the semester will be finished! Thinking back, I honestly had no idea what to expect out of this class when I signed up for it. However, I must admit that I learned a great deal about social movements and how they have effected change on our country over the years. This class opened my eyes to the numerous methods of studying these movements, from the characteristics of social movements to emotions of protest, symbolism of collective action, social movement theories, and so much more. What initially sounded like a dry topic that was simply going to fulfill one of the course requirements for my political communication minor (sorry Mike!), turned out to be very informative and thought provoking. Although I have always taken a pro-environment stance, this class (and especially the amount of research I conducted for my final paper), encouraged me to learn more about the environmental movement. Now I better understand the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes, the planning/structuring that is required, and the framing and other techniques that are employed in order to win possible participants over to the cause. Final presentations during the last two class meetings have shown that my fellow students have also learned quite a bit about the social movements that they chose to study. The knowledge that we have gained from this course has provided us with a deeper understanding of movements beyond what's on the surface. We now have the ability to analyze these movements and determine what methods have contributed to their success, or lack thereof. So, as the semester comes to a close, I realize that despite my initial lack of enthusiasm regarding the course subject, this class did indeed surpass my expectations.