I am Charlene Bell and I am a Philosophy Major at Stony Brook University. I use to be a Biology Major before I made this switch and it was a tough decision to make the switch. Through the course of my life I realized that some of the things I was doing and the things I was interested in wasn’t the things I was good at. Also looking back on my life I realized that maybe it wasn’t what I really wanted to do with my life.

Naturally I went into Biology so I could be a doctor. My uncle was a doctor and he also went to Stony Brook. It’s what brought me to this school. They have a good pre-med program and it was also close to home. I really wanted to know about the human body and how it worked and all the little parts of the system. I am good in math and I loved science. I use to sit up all night and watch the science channel. I now realize that my fascination with the body and my wanting to pursue a career in the medical field were entirely different.

When I finally went to college I took as many of my necessary courses as I could. I immediately fell into the category of students who studied relentlessly and wasn’t really enjoying the field that I was going into. I loved to do lab and to dissect but learning about all the chemical transactions that went into the body was tiring. I like to do. Also I felt that the medical field left little time for me to think about what I was learning. I really wasn’t into it but I was stubborn, as usual, and determined to get to the finish line. Learning isn’t going to be easy. My PhD wasn’t going to be handed to me on a silver platter I had to work for it. I stuck it out for quite a while until I realized that maybe this wasn’t what I was meant for.

My natural personality is competitive and I love to speak on tough issues. My mom is a huge news buff and she has very strong political views which she instilled in me and we often have talks about major political events. From watching the Tracy Anthony case and Trayvon Martin to name some major ones. She also talks about some of the policies overseas as well. We’d also talk about abortion and the legalities behind it as well as gay rights. She is constantly reading and talking about these issues in the house. We use to have deep discussions and often times we use to argue with each other over point of views and ideas that could help change policies.

I began to realize as I went deeper into the biology that I let my curiosity take over my mind and I needed to focus on what I was not only good at but what engaged my mind. I finally made the switch to philosophy and I will say I will never look back. It was the greatest change in my life and I’m happy I made it. Philosophy allowed me to think about my future and what I wanted to do. I started to think more in depth about what I was learning and enjoyed listening to the different views of life and of law. My Political Philosophy class brought great insight into the history of law and what some of the views put into our system. Our law system is actually greatly influenced by religion despite our saying it is secular. Most all law I found was grounded in some religious backing especially in the 1600s, though I will say this isn’t a surprise.

I found myself in a new world and I loved it. I even went to speech and debate club and I liked it. I will say that standing in front of a bunch of people I didn’t know was a bit scary but after a while I shrugged it off. I had a lot of fun and I wanted more. This was great for me and I began to see myself in the future of law. I am motivated and excited for what is to come and I wanted more!