Introduction

My name is Lauren Brookner. I was born and raised in Houston, TX. I am pursuing an Accounting major and a minor in Leadership Studies. When deciding on college, I decided to get out of Texas and experience something new, and Denver, CO felt like the right place to go test the cold, enjoy the dryness, and explore the beautiful scenery. 

FSEM was my favorite class at DU so far. I took a class titled “Mathematics of Games”. Although many would stick out their tongue at an unnecessary math class, I loved it. I was challenged to learn and question. Learning what strategies worked and didn’t work first by trial and error through playing the game. Ultimately, confirming or finding faults in theories formed while playing the game was half of the fun. The entire class was competitive always trying to be right and win the games adding to the fun and creating a stronger desire to learn, in order to beat each other and win.

I was very fortunate to be able to travel to Prague, Poland, and Israel to learn about the history of the Jewish people before, during, and after World War II. I think the most rewarding place I visited, although it was the hardest, was Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Seeing the horrors of how humans treated fellow human beings was powerful and gave a reality check to how thankful I should be, while also strengthening the burning question of how this horrible genocide occurred.

After realizing that this class would help fulfill a requirement I needed, I got extremely excited. I took a class last quarter that looked into Israeli society and culture through film. Even though Israel is tiny, within it lies a very diverse cultural and religious climate that works hard to co-exist.  Seeing how this democracy tries to uphold justice in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society where values and ideas of justice may be at odds was fascinating. I began wondering how justice is found in other cultures, religions, and countries. I hope to begin to discover how justice is formed and is upheld in other cultures.