Progression of Skills and Values through a Baylor Education: Meghan McNeill
Skills and Values
Communication and
Quantitative Skills
Introductory
Freshman
1) General Education
Intermediate
Sophomore
2) Essays and Presentations
Advanced
Junior-Senior
3) Essays and Presentations
in Major and/or at
conferences on and off
campus
Advanced research /writing
courses in major. Also
writing courses such as BUS
3315 or ENG 3303
Critical Reasoning and Analysis
5) General Education
6) Research, team projects,
essays, challenging courses
7) Major Courses
Experiential
Freshman-Senior
4) Maximizing Skills:
Departmental Tutors, Writing
Center & Success Center
Selective Student-Life
Opportunities
8) Undergraduate Research
Internships
Intellectual Depth & Breadth,
Integrative Learning
9) General Education
10) Meetings with Advisors
& Professors
Moody and Jones
Libraries
Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana (for the
Church and World, through
leadership and service)
Christian Perspective and Ethics,
including knowledge of Christian
scripture and heritage
13) Chapel
Exploration of Major
Fields of Study
14) Confirming Major and
Vocation
Meetings with Career
Services professionals
17) U1000
18) General Education
REL 1310 & 1350
Campus Lectures and
Exhibits
11) Upper Level Electives
Minor in Complementary
Field
12) Tutoring
15) Enroll in an independent
study and/or Civic
Education, CSS 3300
Begin to explore professional
/ graduate school options,
including appropriate prep.
Course (LSAT, MCAT, GMAT,
etc.)
16) Study Abroad
19) Examples: Courses in
Bioethics, Moral Philosophy,
Christian Ethics for Business,
etc.
Academic Clubs
Volunteering
Mission Trips
PAWS
Career Fairs
20) Church Involvement
Bobo Spiritual Life Center
6. I’ve been at a white board in the BSB for what feels like days: writing, re-writing, adjusting, and memorizing the mechanisms of dozens of O Chem
reactions. My friends and I quiz each other relentlessly, trying to play worse tricks on each other than the test will play on us. Finally, as the sunset
shines through the BSB windows, all the reactions start to click in my head.
7. My classmates (soon to become close friends) and I have been working on this homework assignment since class let out. At 2pm. It’s 1am. We’re
trying to prove theorems that we hadn’t even heard of a few months ago. Hours fly by as we pass the Expo marker back and forth, trying dozens of
different approaches to get at the proof. Finally, one person has a breakthrough, but he gets stuck. I take it a few steps further, then relinquish the
marker to another. Then, it’s finished. We’ve proven it. QED.
9. I weave in between the intimidating shelves of second floor Jones library. I’m here getting books for a research paper on… I forget. A book about
pi has caught my eye. And one about knot theory. And another about non-Euclidean geometry. I lean against the shelves, surrounded by the smell
of books and the sound of near silence, voraciously skimming any interesting math book within arm’s reach. Hours later, I emerge with no books for
my paper, but a growing curiosity about new areas of math.
10. Late on a Friday afternoon, I climb the three flights of stairs to the hidden floor of Morrison Hall. My professor told me about a meeting up here,
and in my eagerness for it I ignore the fact that I know no one. We start with a prayer and then open up the Scriptures - in their original Greek.
Slowly, painfully, and with great anticipation we translate each familiar verse. The slow pace and the foreign words allow me to be on the shores of
the Jordan river with Jesus. The leader pauses the translation to teach us about the grammar involved with the voice that booms from heaven after
Jesus’ baptism. Oh, what a wonderful way to learn a new language!
12. World Cultures I was one of my favorite classes, so it’s no surprise that I remained in it as a Peer Instructor for three years. Better than the
curriculum, though, was watching people fall in love with this style of learning like I had during my freshman year. I watched my students connect
ideas across texts and cultures, pull out new metaphors from within the text, and ponder what these lessons meant for them as we brainstormed
essays before their tests. I watched their writing improve as they learned more mature styles, organization skills, and historical information than they
had been exposed to in high school. Being on the teaching side of the classroom, I found, was even more wondrous than being a student!
13. Chapel: a brief moment where I get to worship God alongside the people I go to school with. Coming from a public school where I felt almost
completely alone as a Christian, this moment of corporate worship moves me to tears. I sing the words of my new-found favorite hymn (Come Thou
Fount) with all my heart.
14. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my Water-Related Diseases professor had just asked a question that would finally solidify my chosen career
path. “Can anyone identify Alexander Fleming, Dr. Michael DeBakey, or Carl Darnall?” Many of my classmates could identify Fleming as the
discoverer of penicillin and Dr. DeBakey as a celebrated heart surgeon, but none could recall ever hearing of Darnall. My professor informed us that
Darnall’s simple addition of chlorine to drinking water has likely saved more lives than the discoveries of Fleming, the work of Dr. DeBakey, or any
other single medical discovery. One unknown and uncelebrated man made an impact on the lives of people around the world with one simple idea. I
realized could have a chance to be such a person as a biomedical engineer!
16. My first mission trip has me traipsing about the hot, humid streets of New York City, smiling at strangers and encouraging them to get tested for
HIV. Even though I felt so distant from God in the weeks leading up to and including the trip, I still see His power. He leads my partner and I to scores
of people along the street who are receptive to our message. He prompts the owner of the thrift store where we volunteer to ask us about our hope
and our reason for being there. He touches the heart of a teenage girl who vows to stay HIV-free. I am now bitten by the proverbial “missions bug.”
20. My involvement at church was one of the best things about my time at Baylor. I got to serve, learn, worship, and grow with the people I lived and
studied with every day. We were truly living life together! Through small group, leadership team, various service teams, and weekly worship, I
slowly realized how wonderful it was to follow Jesus together. We comforted, cried, prayed, laughed, danced, and matured together over my years
at Baylor. God showed me how often He loves to work through other people, and it’s a lesson I’ll not soon forget.
Meaghan McNeill
Ms. McNeill is just finishing up her first year of a Ph.D. program in Bioengineering at Rice University. Her research involves developing inexpensive, paper-based, point-of-care
diagnostic tools, which would greatly increase access to and use of health care resources in the developing world. This work leverages everything from Meaghan's fascination with
biology to her love for God and compassion for others to her interests in origami.