I was so blessed to experience this class my first quarter at UCLA. It really started me off with a bang. The lectures were engaging and packed with history and great examples and opened my eyes to so many social ideas and issues I’ve never heard before. The discussions were great too, I learned a lot from the peers around me and it made me less nervous to share my ideas because the environment was very supportive. The service was a great opportunity that made me realize I want to continue serving my community even when I’m done with the class. I have great memories from the service and with peers I did my service with. I will advise that the service hours were a bit of a commitment and could interfere with other responsibilities if you don’t time manage adequately.

I served at an organization where I advised students on homework and writing workshops, which I enjoyed writing reflections about. There were also papers we had to submit regarding social change and sociological imagination, which were engaging topics and not too demanding of a workload. Great TA’s and professor, highly recommend!

This class is an awesome GE. The time commitment isn't bad if you manage correctly - 2 hour lecture, 2 hour discussion, 3 hour/ week community service - totalling about 7 hours per week. The content is very interesting, and it is easy to engage in both lecture and discussion given the topics are always very relevant. I found the community service therapeutic and to be a nice break from academics. You will find that your experience with community service becomes an easy source for discussion papers, I actually learned a lot in my service experience. There is a list of organizations that you get to put your top choices for before you are placed with them.

For discussion, there is a good bit of writing assignments, but they are very easy to navigate topics relevant to what we learn in lecture. Marquez is also an amazing and clearly experienced instructor who is passionate in what he teaches. I have definitely learned useful talking points in this class that I'll think about during my time in LA.