Senior Highlight: Joseph Hallowell

In celebration of our college graduates, we reached out to our seniors for a little highlight and feedback from their time at Eastern. Congratulations on getting your degree! And welcome to the Eagle Alumni Family! Go Eags! 

What is your major and minor/certificate and what made you choose that major/minor?

My major is communication and my minor is psychology. I chose my major when I was at junior college in San Diego and I took an interpersonal communications course. I really enjoyed the subject and my professor was amazing and really guided me into choosing it as my major as he saw great potential in me doing well in this area. Then I started taking more communications classes and I loved every single one!

What class would you tell incoming freshmen that they should make sure to take?

The course I would encourage every freshmen to take is Intro to Psychology or Interpersonal Communication. These courses just teach you so much about what it means to be a human being and live in a world where you can understand other people and why they behave and communicate the way they do, to create a better understanding of other people’s perspectives.

What’s one class that wasn’t in your major that you’d recommend?

One class not in my major that I would recommend is The Science of Stress and Coping. This class is paramount to everyone and everything you do. There are going to be constant stressors throughout your life, and learning how to manage difficult emotions and the science behind the physiological reactions that our body engages in when we feel strongly and experience hard moments is going to change your life and help you calm down your body and mind so that you can handle hard times.

If you made one rule every teacher had to follow, what would it be? Why?

The rule I would make for every teacher to follow is to schedule a mandatory graded zoom meeting once a month with each of their classes for either 30 mins or an hour where everyone discusses difficulties in the course and to clear up any confusion that may be lingering throughout the class.