The coolest part was our professors never told us we had to use logic (and then cycle through the pieces faster than the eye could see) to get the 5x7 led display to work for non-symmetric letters. They let us figure that out on our own. I was sitting in history class not paying attention when it came to me. I drew out the circuit I wanted and couldn't wait to get to electronics class to try it out.
This! It's very empowering and one of the things that drew me to tech/computers. Being able to understand things helped me realize the potential of what is possible with computers/computing technology.
I majored in EE in undergrad and didn't really appreciate my EE education until I got older (I was more interested in software).