Harrison George

This is the last issue of The Bulletin for this semester. As we wind down the year and prepare for finals all eyes are on summer vacation.

Summer means a break from school and enjoying the great weather outdoors. For Emporians it also means a mass exodus of students as they return home for two months. Unlike other college towns such as Lawrence and Manhattan Emporia does not seem to retain its student population during the summer months.

This could be for a couple of reasons. Students wish to return to their homes to be with their family and friends. Others return home to resume a job left on hold or because their city has more job opportunities than Emporia.

But the majority of students seem to leave Emporia for the summer simply because they feel there isn’t enough to do within the city. Emporia has long tried to fight its reputation of being a slow town without much to entertain its college-aged crowd.

It’s true that if you compare Emporia to bigger cities like Wichita or Kansas City it appears that Emporia is lacking in entertainment or jobs. But if you were to take the time to really look Emporia over you might realize there is plenty going on to keep someone occupied and entertained during the summer.

First to be mentioned should be the music scene. Emporia’s live music scene has begun to rebuild itself after a three year lull and the summertime is always a high point for good shows. Beer:30 will be opening its scenic beer garden area which is perfect for live music.

Live in the Lot will also be starting up come summertime. Live in the Lot is the yearly music event held in the Farmer’s Market parking lot that showcases good live bands for the whole family to enjoy. There will be concerts held there throughout the summer.

In terms of other entertainment the historic Granada Theater will continue to show films throughout the summer on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Tickets are cheap and the movies are fun for dates or just a night out with friends.

If you are looking for something to do outdoors go explore one of Emporia’s 18 parks spread throughout the city. Or check out the zoo (the largest free zoo in the country) and see what the animals are up to during the heat of the summer.

As always the ESU theatre department will be putting on a wide array of plays from comedies to musicals to dramas.  You can check them out throughout the summer for a very reasonable cost.

And of course all the great local restaurants you know and love in Emporia will be there day in and day out to serve up delicious foods. You’ll even be able to visit some of the restaurants that might be hard to get to during the school year because of their limited hours (Amanda’s Bakery, for example).

The more students we can get to stay in Emporia during the summer the better the end result will be for all of us. If you stay in Emporia and spend your money at locally owned businesses they can use their profits to reinvest in their business and in the Emporia community. This will only help the economy grow and expand. The more it expands the better the shopping and dining experience will be for everyone.

But in order to get there they need your business and your support as a customer.

Everyone knows that Emporia has a reputation for being a little slow. But if you do your part to become engaged in the local community and economy you can help make that reputation a distant memory and we can all enjoy the benefits of a thriving booming Emporia.

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When out shopping for groceries or household products it’s easy to get confused about which products are good for the environment and which ones are merely pretending to be. Many companies have jumped on the “Eco-friendly” bandwagon in the last few years and are taking advantage of consumers’ interest in environmentally conscious products.  This act of capitalizing on the popularity of the environmental movement is known as green washing and is sadly a common sight in supermarkets around the country.

As consumers, we have the responsibility to purchase products that are in line with our own moral guidelines. We also have the right to know how our products are made and if they were created through environmentally friendly means. We must be careful not to be confused by companies trying to green wash their customers.

Luckily there are a few organizations out there trying to help make the choice easier. Good Housekeeping recently announced a new green seal to designate products that are less harmful to the environment. Green Guard also serves to inform customers about which products are truly good for the planet.

But even with standards like these it is not easy to be sure that the product you are about to buy is as green as it says it is. NSF International, The Public Health and Safety Company has put together a list of tips to help consumers determine what products are really living up to their claims.

Here are just a few points to keep in mind next time you are at the store;

• Be aware of products that make vague overgeneralized claims such as “all-natural” or “fully organic” on the box. These buzz words can mean a lot of different things and to varying degrees. The more specific the packaging is the better.
• Avoid products that try to exaggerate their green-ness. For example any product that touts “CFC-free” is trying to trick you. CFC’s have been illegal for over a decade and thus this claim is no longer worth mentioning.
• Examine the ingredients list. Look for heavy chemicals or ingredients with names that are hard to pronounce. Odds are high that if it has a long scientific name it’s not natural or good for the environment.
• Also check out the directions and warning labels. Any product that warns against using the product in enclosed areas or to keep away from pets and children is probably choke-full of harmful chemicals. Remember if it’s bad for you it’s bad for the environment. Try to pick products with low amounts of warnings or use restrictions.
• Look at the packaging. A product that’s Eco-friendly could still be sold in a box or wrapper that isn’t. Make sure what you are buying is all over Eco-friendly not just the insides but the outsides as well. Look for products that have paper or cardboard packaging and avoid items in heavy plastic containers that will be harder to recycle.
• Finally don’t be fooled by simple images of trees, flowers, the sun or other symbolic displays of nature on the box or packaging. I feel this should almost go without saying but I know I have been lured in on more than one occasion by a box that appeared greener than it really was.

For more tips check out the NSF Web site or any of the green standard sites such as Good Housekeeping or Green Guard.

Shopping in a green way can be challenging but the reward of actually finding Eco-friendly products is certainly worth it.

Happy shopping!

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Harrison George

I have never been more proud to be an Emporia State student than I am right now. I attended the debate on abortion, which was held on April 5th, and was blown away by the amount of professionalism and respect that I witnessed.

From both sides of the argument, there were thought-out, well-researched answers to questions that are not usually easy to answer. I could genuinely see that the everyone involved was there to educate as well as learn, and not just promote their own hard-set ideals.

Since coming to college I had been waiting and hoping for an event like this. I wanted to see people’s opinions put to the test. I think the most important goals of attending college, in addition to receiving a formal education, is to have your views challenged by others.

Only when challenged can we truly realize what we feel. When we defend our views to others we are defending them to ourselves as well, and if the logic is strong enough we will be satisfied, and we will continue supporting that belief.

If there are holes in our logic then we must reevaluate our reliance on this viewpoint. Perhaps we follow that view because we were raised to or because it is aligned with another stronger belief such as religion. Whatever the reason, this journey of self-discovery is one of the most important experiences we can attain from college.

Many of us are afraid to admit doubt about our own ideals. It is better to convince ourselves we are right than to risk not really knowing how we feel. But once we admit we are unsure we have started down a path of new knowledge, one that will hopefully lead us to a better more satisfying answer.

That is what I felt the goal of this debate was: to help us all create a satisfying viewpoint on a very complex issue.  It did not matter that we all left the debate in agreement; many did not. What was important was that we were able to form our own opinions and feel confident about them.

I must applaud the individuals that took part in the actual debate. They all did an excellent job of remaining on topic and not letting emotion seep into the issues that were discussed. I was impressed at the obvious amounts of research that both sides did in order to prepare for their speeches. As an audience member, that showed me they cared enough about this issue to put serious time and effort into preparation.

The work and style of the moderator, Leo Arellano, was also very helpful in setting the mood of open-mindedness that the event was trying to promote. He remained unaligned throughout the event, doing a skillful job of moving the conversation along and avoiding serious dead ends.

Of course the event did not go without its hiccups. At any event such as this especially one based on such a controversial subject matter there are bound to be people speaking out of turn.  Overall, when this did take place, the moderator and the speakers did a good job of rerouting the course of the dialogue to more even ground.

This is the kind of event we need to see more of on campus. I would love to see this kind of thing occurring on a monthly basis. Abortion is just one of hundreds of issues that we should be addressing on campus.  I think that if something as hotly debated and controversial as abortion can be discussed successfully on campus, that shows we could discuss just about anything.

People come to college for a variety of reasons.  We come to be educated, to improve our social skills, and to prepare ourselves for the outside world. But one reason that is rarely discussed is coming to school to have our views challenged and our opinions expressed. This should be a foremost goal in any credible university. Just as an unexamined life is not worth living, an unexamined viewpoint is not worth defending.

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Today marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, a nation-wide event to celebrate our one and only planet Earth. Most of us grew up celebrating and learning about this holiday in our classes every year, and maybe even attended a parade or clean up in its honor. Maybe your parents were extra environmentally-aware and had you go out and pick up trash or plant a tree in previous years. We should not take the fact that we grew up saturated in eco-friendly education for granted.

The history of Earth Day reaches back more than 40 years during the Kennedy administration. It wasn’t until Nixon that we officially saw the establishment of an official Earth Day, which tied in with the creation of what we now know as the Environmental Protection Agency. Both of these were created during April 1970 to tide the growing concerns the American people had about their government’s role in the environment.

College students should take note: it was specifically because of the work of college age students during that time that raised the necessary awareness to create Earth Day. Students at that time were protesting for a handful of reasons from civil rights to the war in Viet Nam. But one of their biggest concerns was the environment issues, and how they should be dealt with by the government. In response to the outcry by the people, the government created the EPA to watch over and guide environmental policy throughout the country.

Earth Day was created around that same time to raise awareness to the many environmental issues that were present during that era, and to spread information on how we can better treat the planet.

Since its creation Earth Day has served as a yearly reminder to treat the planet with respect and care as it’s the only one we have. Thousands of organizations and businesses donate money to environmental charities or offer service projects to improve their communities on this holiday.

But is it enough? Some environmental organizations would say no. Grist.org, an environmental organization and news source has created the “Screw Earth Day” campaign. The goal of this campaign is to get people to start ignoring Earth Day, and start viewing every day as a good opportunity to help the planet. Why only think about the Earth one day a year when the problems persist all year long?

Grist offers a list of activities and habits we should all adopt on a daily basis to reduce our impact on the Earth. Waiting around for Earth Day once a year is not going to be enough to combat some of the problems we are facing. Their list includes unplugging appliances when not in use, recycling at home and at work, eliminating the use of plastic water bottles and plastic shopping bags, and reducing the amount of meat in your diet. Even just one day of vegetarianism would greatly reduce the amount of emissions created by cows and the transportation needed for the meats.

Celebrating the Earth is something we should continue to do on a yearly basis. We should use Earth Day to remind ourselves of all the wonders that nature provides. But when it comes to actually doing our part to conserve and protect, those are things we should carry with us every day.

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The harsh winter is finally behind us and now we can sit back and enjoy the wonders of spring and summer. But just because the seasons are changing that doesn’t mean we should change our energy-efficient habits.

There are still a lot of little things we can do every day to help reduce our energy use our impact on the planet and our monthly bills.

One of the best ways to utilize the new weather is to optimize windows and doors for shade. Use or install curtains on all windows to reduce the amount of light, and therefore heat that enters your home. By cutting out unwanted heat you will drastically reduce the need to cool your place.

Of course this technique should be used wisely, as the less sunlight you allow into your home the less natural light you’ll have and the more you’ll have to rely on lamps and over head lights. The amount of energy used by lamps and lights could cancel out anything saved in air conditioner use, so be careful of that as you plan. Use curtains and window shades to find the right mix of indoor and outdoor light, depending on the time of day.

Another great tip is to watch your appliance use. Appliances suck up a lot of energy not just when in use but also when not being used as well. Any appliance left plugged in still draws energy from the wall even if the appliance is turned off.

This energy that is lost during inactivity is known as vampire energy and can account for up to two percent of your monthly energy bill.

So when using or purchasing appliances make sure they are energy efficient. Energy Star is one of the highest rated standards for energy efficiency in appliances so look for their seal of approval. Then once you are done using the appliance be sure to unplug it.

Speaking of appliances fans are one appliance that get brought out in mass quantities this time of year. It is important to realize when using fans that they are designed to cool the people in the room not the room itself. Fans work to lower your temperature but do nothing to the actual temperature of the room. So when you leave a room remember to turn off any fans (electric or overhead) along with the lights. If it’s plugged in be sure to unplug them as well.

Those who are interested in taking a more involved role in managing their energy use should talk to their landlords or property managers about making renovations to your apartment or house to make it more efficient.

There are a handful of things that could be improved in any home to reduce the energy output or to increase its ability to stay cool during the summer.

Better insulation could be installed to properly trap in the cold air and release the heat.  Also see if a house fan could be installed. Working in place of an air conditioner unit, a house fan sucks in cool air and pushes out the hot air. Check your home for cracks and leaks in windows and doors to see if any of the cold air you are generating is leaking out.

For a cheap investment you could install your own personal solar power panels that could power most of the appliances in your home. The panel, which could be bought for a little as 60 bucks, would hang on an outside window and draw power straight from the sun. That power could be converted into energy to charge appliances and electronics you would typically plug in.

There are lots of ways to save energy during the summer and spring months. The more that we do to conserve energy the less resources we use and the better off the planet will be. And, for you personally, you will see the difference in your energy bills.

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As winter resigns and spring is ushered in, colds and the flu take a back seat to another type of disease.  It is just as contagious and even more harmful than the common cold.  It’s like mono, amnesia and A.D.D. all rolled into one – senioritis.

With only six weeks left, seniors are finding it harder and harder every day to stay focused on the matters at hand. While school is getting more challenging as we step closer to finals, attention spans are shrinking at an alarming rate. Compounded with the increasingly beautiful weather outside it only makes it that much harder to stay seated in class all day long.

It is not just class that can suffer due to senioritis.  Involvement in clubs and activities has experienced a noticeable wane over the last few months.

While many students still complete their obligations to school and organizations to the fullest necessary extent, it is the overall mindset that has shifted. Seniors are finding it harder to feel motivated to stay involved because they know in a few weeks they will no longer be part of the ESU community.

I know my class is not the first to suffer from a lack of motivation during the home stretch of school. Senioritis is something we have been warned against since the start of high school. Teachers and parents both try to prepare students for the eventual feelings of restlessness that occur once the end is in sight.

So what might cause senioritis? I think it stems from the realization that college, the thing you spent the last four or five years stressing and obsessing over, is finally drawing to a close. The brain is filled with relief but also pangs of nervousness about what is to come.  Attentions shift from school to whatever challenges or adventures come next.

Most students I know entered into college directly after high school. That means we have been in school for 18 straight years, give or take a few. Many people do not know how to prepare for the dramatic shift from academic life to the “real world.”

The amount of anxiety we face post-college says something about the kind of education we are receiving. While we are being adequately educated on an academic level, I do not feel that enough time is spent preparing students for life after school.

ESU already provides numerous services to help usher seniors into the business world. Job fairs and resume-building workshops are abundantly found around campus. But they are under utilized for the most part, due to lack of strong advertising. Schools could work harder with seniors to emphasize the notion that life will be changing drastically for them in a few short months.

Students too should work to become more proactive in battling senioritis. Taking large steps to prepare for graduation and all that follows will help ease them into the transition, and make it less shocking once the big day comes.

At the same time students should stay dedicated to their work in school. We all know that the best way to make time fly is by staying busy. If we continue to stay deeply involved in our school and our activities it could help prevent some of the restless “hurry up and wait” feeling that seem to accumulate around the end of every school year.

Senioritis is a naturally occurring event. It only makes sense to start feeling excited that one chapter of life is ending and other is soon beginning.  But we can all do more to make this a tie of productivity and excitement, instead of stress and unprepared consequences.

By working more closely with the school and utilizing all the resources that are available, seniors can learn to enjoy the final months of their year without succumbing to the symptoms of seniorities.

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We all hear about corporate responsibility when it comes to the environment. We look towards corporations to lead the way in design and ideas to better our planet and to reduce our carbon footprint. And, when the company spills a tanker of oil or releases too much pollution, we expect them to find ways to make up for it. This can include carbon offsetting, or the planting of trees to donating to environmental groups like The Nature Conservancy.

But what is expected of the individual? Most of us are not part of a billion-dollar, multinational company. We are just normal citizens and consumers. What kind of responsibilities to the environment should the individual have?

To answer that question we must first determine what impact the individual has on the environment. It should be logical that what we owe can only be set once we know what we are been given.

Obviously the by-products of the environment are numerous and obvious. We receive all the necessary requirements for life from the Earth: food, water, shelter and oxygen. More than that we live in a society that can provide the most important of those needs, water and air, for free.

Looking further we see we use the Earth’s resources for our own gain. We use wood for fire, oil for fuels, and crops like cotton for clothes and other materials. These are all items we generally consider were put on the planet for our use.

With all of these gifts, it would seem our responsibilities should be as frequent to match. But we are given, or rather have assigned ourselves, very few chores to maintain the environment around us, on a person to person level. Most people don’t recycle or reuse items. Even more don’t use public transportation or transportation besides driving, which would greatly reduce our use of fuels.

Now some of us might be out doing our part for the environment, through recycling or eating local or vegetarian options, but these people are exception to the rule. A majority of society considers environmentalism a fad at best and at worse a group of hippies trying to convince the world that the sky is falling.

If everyone is allowed to enjoy the benefits of a good ecosystem, the clean air and the drinkable water, why should they not be forced to join in on the work that comes along with it?

Now surely more people will catch on to the wave of environmentalism, but it might not be until the side effects of a mistreated planet begin to spread. Once the smog and the smoke that is only currently found in the bigger cities moves throughout the country people will begin to realize the depth of the situation. They will seem upset they had never realized before the dire situations had spread, and will wonder why they could do then to offset it.

But once we reach that point we would be too late. We all need to be striving now, before we can see the problem materialize before our eyes, to prevent this world of smog and smoke from becoming a reality.

So what does it mean to take individual responsibility for the environment? In part it means cleaning up when you see some trash, whether or not it’s yours. It means reminding yourself to walk to campus instead of drive. It means ordering your drink when you’re out to dinner in a regular cup and no Styrofoam.

The most important thing you can do as an individual is spread the word about environmentalism. The more people that are out there discussing the importance of taking on environmentally friendly concepts, the better the outcome will be. Use your voice as a person to help turn the tide on the mindsets people have about environmentalism.

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When I first read the headlines I was shocked. I had to double check that I wasn’t reading something written for The Onion. But no, the news was not part of some satirical joke, it was real: for the entire month of March, Topeka had changed its name to Google, KS.

This was done as a marketing ploy to attract the attention of one of the biggest companies in the world. Apparently, Google is trying to find a city to test out its new fiber-optic network that could revolutionize Internet use as we know it.

Topeka (we’ll call it by its proper name to avoid confusion) is the perfect size for this experiment, so they thought changing their name would give them a leg-up in the competition to be selected.

The technology is nothing new: the city-wide optics have been in full swing throughout Asia for years. What is newsworthy, however, is the idea of changing a whole city’s name to appease a corporation.

The change was only for the month of March and our capitol has gone back to its real name. Topeka hopes this act will prove they are the perfect town for Google to test their latest billion dollar idea.

What this act proves to me is that cities are willing to do just about anything, no matter how debasing or embarrassing, to gain the attention (and thus money) of any company willing to give them the time of day.

I have no problem with their intentions. I think the technology sounds amazing, and I would be proud to have my state capitol be one of the first cities in the country to adopt the program.

My problem lies in how they are going about being selected. I am sure there are more professional, respectable ways to go about competing for the prize. I feel this act reeks of desperation. Like the kid in middle school who would eat paste just to get noticed, I feel like Topeka will do anything to get its name in the paper.

Don’t believe me? Few of us are old enough to remember, but during the anime craze of the late ‘90s, Topeka changed its name again, this time for only one day,  to cash in on the popularity of Pokemon. What did it change its name to, you might ask? ToPikachu. I rest my case.

Midwestern cities have to be on the defense anyway. America tends to think less of the Midwest; we get dismissed as being backwards, slow, old fashioned, unhip, etc. Just read any of the national news articles that were written about the name change. I challenge you to find one that doesn’t make at least one “Wizard of Oz” joke.

This issue goes beyond the simple “not in my backyard” argument. (By that I mean disliking it simply because it’s in my state) I would feel the same way regardless of where it happened.

As a concerned citizen, it worries me to see a city so willing to bend over backwards to satisfy a large, multinational company. It announces to the world that cities have price tags.

We were lucky it was Google this time, a company with a reasonably solid reputation. What if Viagra asks to rent out our city’s name next month? Or Hustler? Or wealthy individuals? Would you want your state capitol to be renamed Miley Cyrus, Kansas? (Though she’d probably buy land in Montana, for obvious reasons).

I don’t blame the city for what it’s doing. I know times are tough and cities have to do what they can to stay afloat. But we have to have some morals don’t we?

What I draw from this whole experience is that cities are becoming so desperate they are willing to forsake their own namesake to please the highest bidder.

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My mom recently got a Kindle as a gift. For those of you not in the know, the Kindle is the latest in the line of e-readers: devices that allow you to electronically download and read books, magazines, and newspapers.

My mom has always been a big reader, so she was weary of this device that was supposed to take the place of her books. But within the first week she was hooked and now does almost all of her reading through her Kindle.

Around the same time my dad decided to sort through his massive CD collection to see what he could sell. Out of his 400 CDs or so he eventually decided to sell more than half of them. He said there was no reason to hold onto them since all the music was stored on his Itunes.

Both of these events were extremely surprising to me. First of all, I couldn’t believe my parents owned Kindles and iPods and I didn’t. More importantly, I was surprised to see my parents so willingly give up items that were so near and dear to them, their books and CDs, in exchange for their electronic counterparts.

Besides the obvious argument that any new technology is good technology, the leading reason most people support the transition from print media and material goods to the digital realm of the internet and iTunes is because it saves resources, and thus is better for the environment.

Paper isn’t turned into books and plastics aren’t wasted on CDs and covers. Not to mention the amount of energy put into transporting, stocking, selling and repairing these things.

With those factors in mind, it does seem like the naturally better choice to move from the tangible to the immaterial digital copy. But, the digital copies are not without their own consequences.

What about the amount of energy needed to create the machinery, the Kindles or iPods? Certainly there is a decent amount of water, oil, and other resources used in that process. And then there is the energy used to power those items and to keep them charged.

A Kindle might need charged every two and a half days and requires so much energy per charge. Compare that to a paperback book: once the book is created it requires no further energy, and can last a hundred years if properly cared for.

A Kindle, even kept in the best condition, has a shelf life of maybe 10 years. And even that is a stretch with the way technology is constantly being updated.

And then there is the matter of waste. Books, though full of precious resources (or maybe because of it) have one advantage: they will degrade much faster than any electronic waste. Electronics degrade at a much slower rate especially if they are not disposed of in the proper fashion.

Our society does not have a great system in place to deal with electronic waste, and as we continue to progress towards a more digital world we need to keep this in mind. We must adapt to our new consumerist habits and learn how to properly manage our waste whether it’s natural or digital.

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I went home last weekend to hang out with my folks and my brother. I was goofing around the house waiting for dinner to happen. I began to rummage around the kitchen for something to tide me over, but then stopped. I felt the urge to ask my parents if I could have a snack before dinner. I had to stop and remind myself of a few things. I’m 22 years old. I know I’m hungry. Dinner wasn’t for another 30 minutes. If I wanted to eat, I should eat.

I’ve talked about this before, but there’s something about being back home that makes me feel like a little kid no matter how old I get. I regress back to my role as a dependent child waiting for my parents to tell me what to do next.

Up in Emporia, I’m my own boss. I decide when to eat, when to sleep, and when to go hang out with my friends. Back home I feel like I should check in with my parents before making any big decision.

It’s not a matter of being considerate. I think if you are sharing a roof with somebody you should keep them up to date with your comings and goings. For me it’s about getting permission to do the simple things I do on my own all the time.

And it isn’t brought on by my folks – they are fully capable of treating me like a full-fledged adult. I’m the one that seems to have problems thinking of myself as a grownup when I go back home.

But maybe it’s not all bad. The point of going home, and getting away from Emporia, is to relax and take my mind off the stress of school. It’s kind of nice to go home and not take any of my worries with me and let my parents tell what to do again. It’s a nice change of pace when you can give up the responsibility of making every little decision.

The other thing I’m starting to realize is that I have a strange desire to prove myself to my parents. Does that happen to anyone else? Maybe it’s because I know how important being in college is to them. They didn’t get their college degrees until much later in life, so I’ll be the first in the family to get one right after high school.

It’s costing us a pretty penny to put me through school, so whenever I come home I feel compelled to prove to them, (and to myself I think) that it’s worth all the money. I tend to do that through elaborate, very abstract conversations about current happenings in the news or in society.

Maybe I’m over-analyzing the situation. Back in high school I would talk to my folks for hours about anything under the sun, from politics to history to art. And I didn’t think much of it. But now that I’m a full time student, I guess I feel more pressure to prove my worth?

It doesn’t really matter I guess, because I love all the conversations I get to have with my family. Most of the students I know in Emporia hate talking about school when off the clock, so getting able to really discuss the material I’m learning is not a common experience for me.

I know my parents are proud of me, and would be proud of me no matter if I were in college or not. I think I’m really just more interested in proving my progress to myself in an attempt to show that I’m really growing up, and I’m not the same person I was when I lived at home.

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Harrison George

Sitting in class the other day, I came to a surprising realization. Over the last year, unbeknownst to me, I had somehow become “that guy” in class. You know who I mean. The guy that sits up front every class period, always the first to raise their hand to offer a $10 answer to a $2 question. In middle school, we called this guy a suck-up or the teacher’s pet.  I came to this conclusion after it dawned on me that I was the only student in the class who had spoken all day.

I hadn’t always been this way. Up until this year, my senior year, I was merely an interested student who spoke up only when the situation really called for it. After a question was asked I’d wait a few minutes and if no one else wanted to answer it I would.

As a sociology major, it only seems right that I would spend time analyzing how students regard each other within class. Like most of my fellow students, I didn’t care much for the teacher’s pet, which can be found in just about every classroom.

I couldn’t understand how they could be so socially blind to the fact that they stood out like sore thumbs every time they tried to answer questions or engage the teacher in conversations. I figured it was just another example of people who liked to hear themselves talk.

But this year has changed my perspective on things, and I feel I understand more of the motivation behind the verbose student. My classes have started to affect me on a level that goes beyond the classroom. The material I’m learning about has crept into my thoughts while off campus. I can easily say I am a changed person because of the classes I have had this year and are taking right now.            After years of math, science, and general education classes that went in one ear and out the other, I am thrilled to see that my education is actually starting to sink in.

It’s this mindset that inspires me to speak up in class. I have reached an amazing intersection of interest and actual comprehension of a subject, and that fact gets me so excited I feel the need to become actively involved in my education.

Even after four years of college, that feeling of knowing the answer to a teacher’s question is exciting enough to motivate me to raise my hand, regardless of how it makes me look to the rest of the class.

From my new perspective I have also reexamined what kind of student I used to be. As a more passionate student, I look back on how I was and think about all the chances I missed to widen my understanding of what was being taught.

I have become a believer that education can’t be a spectator sport- students have to take a proactive stance on making sure they not only understand what is being taught but can relate it to their own lives, aka the real world.

I look back on my quieter self and think I was robbing myself of a full education simply because I didn’t want to come off as a dork. Even though we are college that doesn’t mean we’ve fully escaped the world of cliques and social status that was so evident in high school; it’s just more subtle here.

We all take note of how others perceive us, especially in the classroom. There were definitely times I would have spoken up but didn’t for worry about how it would shape people’s view of me.

Now, with a mere two months left before graduation, I’ve become a full blown, unabashed sociology nerd. I am no longer going to apologize for loving my classes and for wanting to interact with my teachers. I am willing to take on the labels that come with that attitude. In the end it’s worth it to feel I am getting my full college education experience.

We all know that it’s cool to sit in the back and pretend you don’t really care about what the teacher is saying. It’s even cooler if you can do that and ace all the tests. But at some point you should stop and think about what is best for you, not your reputation.

In 20 years, are you going to remember how cool you looked in class playing games on your phone or are you going to remember what you learned when you spoke up and asked a question?

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