I won the lottery! At least that’s what my science Professor Marlene McCauley, told all of us who came to the first class of Geology 190 – Terrior: the Science of Wine. Sitting up till midnight back in November 2007 and typing in the class number as fast as possible made me feel like I was trying to win an auction on eBay instead of signing up for a Science Lab. I won, along with 17 other lucky students, all 21 and over because we had just signed up for the infamous Wine Class. No, it’s not a wine tasting class, but a real science class.This class is offered at night, but unlike a lot of other night classes, this one is mixed with Traditional students and CCE students. One night after a week or so in the class, McCauley handed out candy during our break, but told us not to eat it. When we gathered back together, she told us it was time to form our lab groups for the semester. She told us that she had given out two kinds of candy and both kinds had to be represented in our groups.

My CCE friend, Debbie Turner and I both had Snickers, so we had to look for a Kit Kat. We tried to match up with another CCE student, but found that she had Snickers, too. We looked around and realized that all the CCE students had Snickers and all the Traditional students had Kit Kats. McCauley was making sure that we had integrated groups. Turner and I were joined by Traditional Senior, Danielle Perry.

McCauley recognized how easy it is for Traditional students and CCE students to segregate without even thinking about it. I’m an English major, so I take a lot of my classes during the day and there aren’t too many CCE Students in my classes. But what I’ve noticed is that the CCE Students tend to congregate in the same area, kind of like being in a fifth grade classroom with all the boys on one side and all the girls on the other.

Until McCauley made us integrate, I had never given much thought to this segregation. I went into my Intro to Lit class the next day and realized that all three of the CCE Students in that classroom were sitting in a row, with me being one of those. I got up and moved and wondered why this happens.

Some CCE Students have told me that the Traditional students don’t like the CCE students, but I haven’t really gotten that vibe. I’d like to know what’s below the surface that I might be missing, so I’ve decided to get out and seek the truth. Is this one of those “urban legends”?

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be around campus seeking out your opinion. I want to know your thoughts and your feelings. I also want to know if you think all of this is kind of stupid and you don’t really care or even think about it.

Of course it’s not going to be all scientific or anything with graphs, charts, surveys, analysis, etc., because remember – my idea of science is drinking wine! But it’s the best class, because we are CCE/Traditional integrated. We won the lottery!