Thursday, January 29, 2009

AU Student Has No Regrets About College Choice

Washington-After nearly two years, American University sophomore Ben Lasky can honestly say that he has no regrets about his choice for higher education.

A print-journalism major, Lasky picked AU for its of location. Coming from Chevy Chase, Maryland, Lasky wanted a nearby university for a “smoother transition for me, into college from high school,” he said.

Also important to his decision was the university's ranking as one of the area's top schools for learning disabled students; Lasky has auditory processing disorder, a problem with processing auditory information that requires a more visual learning style. An ideal environment for Lasky to cope with the disorder, AU provides extended time on tests, a note taker if required and reduced noise areas where he can take tests. “It's a good program they got here,” he said.

For Lasky, AU also offers a chance to study in Washington D.C., a city where “there's always something going on...you won't get bored,” he said. While there are other universities in the city, Lasky singled out AU as “one of the few schools in D.C. with an actual campus,” he said.

The highlight of Lasky's AU experience was when President Obama came to the campus in 2008 when Senator Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., endorsed the then contender for the democratic nomination. In what he says was the “best event I've ever been to in my life,” Lasky had the privilege to shake Obama's hand and have him tell Lasky how proud he was of the AU students and their outpouring of support. “It doesn't get any better than that,” he said.

Having taken classes with many great professors, Lasky says he has yet to have a bad one. His favorite professor was Karl Kippola in the Performing Arts department with whom he took American Society on Stage and Screen. For Lasky, Kippola “made material that would have put most people to sleep...he made it exciting.”

Nearly halfway through his college career, Lasky both is and is not looking forward to graduating and joining the larger world. “I'm having a great time here...but, you gotta do it, you can't stay here forever, this isn't...Van Wilder,” he said.

Lasky's experience at AU is one where he has met people that he will be “friends with my whole life,” he said. He has had “great professors, that truly cared about their students doing well, they weren't out to get you...I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.”



Sources
Ben Lasky
Age: 20, from Chevy Chase, MD
American University Student

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