By Isabella Coraci ‘25

At Pace, every Honors freshman is required to take an Honors learning community if they do not have enough college credits to be considered a transfer student. A learning community is two classes that are paired together with subject matter that is related and the same students take both classes. It is a great way to explore a topic one is interested in from multiple perspectives and make friends.

The learning community I picked consists of a sociology class titled “Border Crossing: Immigration and Society” and a literature class titled “The Individual and Society.” What drew me to pick the learning community was the literature class with Dr. Johnson, who I knew prior and who I think is a great professor. Also, immigration has been an especially hot topic in recent years, but one I have never formally learned about, which interested me.

Both the literature class and sociology class in the learning community I picked emphasized student discussion and recent events. In particular, I enjoyed the literature portion of the learning community because the books we read were great and gave a more humanizing perspective on immigration than sociological statistics could. The sociology class, on the other hand, gave me experiences with assignments like writing a policy brief, which I have never done before, and utilizing the Social Explorer website (a tool free to Pace students through the library).

Overall, I am happy with my Honors learning community choice. I definitely recommend it to others in the future!