Author: Katherine Seeley

As the semester comes to an end, many students are preparing for finals week. This is one of the most stressful weeks in a college student’s life because of the multiple exams they have to take in a week. Most exams at Eastern are cumulative and require students to remember a lot of information that could be hard to recall or even prepare beforehand. Professors should provide students with study guides to reduce stress and uncertainty about these exams.

College is already a difficult time for student’s mental health. Between the constant assignments, balancing a social life and working, it can seem overwhelming when a student needs to prepare for exams that have no direction to it. Study guides are a great way to show students what professors expect of them and help them better prepare for an exam that impacts their grade heavily.

Providing a study guide will help students better understand the material as well. When you are stressed out about something, it is easy to focus more on the stress rather than what you need to learn. Many students focus on just memorizing the material and then disregard it later in life because they know it can make or break their final grade in a class. Study guides will give them a sense of direction and will help them feel less stressed.

Many students are thankful and relieved when professors create a study guide for any type of test, especially finals or midterms. When you are told you are expected to know everything but have nothing to go off of besides notes and handouts, it can be overwhelming and having that done in multiple classes makes it worse. While stress is a part of a college student’s life, I think study guides should be created to help students better understand the material and reduce anxiety. 

When you know what to expect and what types of questions or problems will be on an exam, stress levels can decrease and performance can go up. I know that many students feel that they are more organized when they have study guides. Tamalei Sharp, a sophomore at Eastern University, believes that professors who provide a study guide help their students’ mental health because they know what is covered and it helps students stress less. 

Hannah Wilson, a freshman at Eastern, thinks that it would be beneficial to students to have study guides provided to reduce the stress of trying to study everything. Many other students agree that they feel a lot more comfortable when study guides are provided before exams. 

Many people suffer from test anxiety, which means they can perform badly on a test even if they studied for hours. Providing study guides can help boost performance on exams because students know what to expect and will learn more about the subject. I believe that professors should provide students with study guides so that they can understand the material better and feel less overwhelmed during a very stressful time in their lives.

Sophomores, juniors and seniors are upset about the new housing policy change taking place in Fall 2022. Gough, a primarily upper class man building, has now become an entirely freshman building. Eastern students are upset that the administration decided to pass this policy after SGA explained it was not a good idea. Administration completely discarded what our student government had to say and made their own choice. 

I believe this is a bad choice on the administration’s part because they knew how their students felt and went ahead with it. It sets the standard that our voices do not matter. We have our own thoughts and opinions on what Eastern administration does, however, their decision shows that our voice is not as important as they say they are. 

They care more about the incoming students rather than the students who are already here. Upperclassmen normally get the nicer buildings, Gough being one of them, but now we have a limited selection of housing and many upperclassmen may end up in a worse building rather than a nicer one. I know seniority is a rule but sometimes that gets tossed out the window.  

SGA has been trying to reverse this, and for that I am thankful. Having Gough as a freshman building is going to create a sense of divide between our community rather than connection. Eastern wants to build community with their students, but by disregarding what students had to say, they have created a divide that will only get worse next semester. 

Many students, especially those who live in Gough, are lost on what to do. Housing has become more stressful and it seems as though the administration cares that the freshmen have a nicer building and not those who have been here longer. It would make more sense for the incoming freshman to have Kea-Guffin and Hainer or Doane, not Gough. 

Many students on campus have voiced their opinions, RAs included, about the policy and believe that it is going to cause freshmen to be isolated and upperclassmen to ignore them. I know I found it helpful living in a building with upperclassmen because they were able to help me figure things out like where buildings and classrooms were, how to access Eastern’s online system “my.eastern.edu” and how to set up my Brightspace page. 

There was a sense of acceptance from the upperclassmen because we were on the same floor or in the same building. Now, freshmen are thrown into one building with no one but RAs to rely on who have other duties outside of helping freshmen find classes. 

It affects every person on campus, not just the freshmen. The students living in Gough are scrambling to figure out what to do about their living situation while balancing schoolwork and activities. SGA has tried to reverse the change and Eastern administration will not hear them out. Eastern markets itself as building community and connections but how can they do that if they are isolating freshmen from upperclassmen? 

This decision has blind sided many people after the administration was told to not do it. I feel that there were good intentions when it came to this decision but it was executed poorly and there has been no explanation as to why they did not listen to SGA or why administration believes this will benefit us all. I wish Eastern administrators would listen to what their current students have to say. A sense of divide has been created and the incoming freshmen class have not even arrived yet. I believe that once they are on campus, the divide may become greater.

College is a confusing time for students because we are considered adults but are treated like children. As soon as we are 18, we have officially entered adulthood and we expect to be treated like adults. However, this is not the case at Eastern University. There are rules regarding who can or cannot be in our room, what times they are allowed to be there and whether or not we need to keep the door open when a member of the opposite gender is in our dorm room. These rules do not make us feel like adults, but instead make us feel like children.

As of now, no commuter students or non-Eastern students are allowed to be on campus due to Covid-19 policy. This has been a tiring rule for us because we want our off campus friends and family to be able to visit us and stay in our rooms. I understand it is to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but the university has zero Covid-19 cases and should move into phase D as a reward for being safe and following the rules. Being told you cannot bring whoever you want in, makes it seem like we are children, who do not care about the safety of those around us. 

In addition, the visitation policy makes Eastern students feel like children. Adults do not need to be told when they can or cannot see their friends. That is a decision we make ourselves. We are 18-22 year olds. We are planning on starting our careers, yet we cannot see our friends or have anyone in our rooms from the hours of 11 p.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays and from the hours of 1 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends. 

Let’s not forget that there are zero visitation hours on Wednesdays. It feels as though we are incapable of making simple decisions. However, the visitation hours are not the only issue when it comes to university policy. 

The other key component of the visitation policy is the open door policy, which means that when I have someone of the opposite gender in my room, I must keep my door at least 45 degrees open and there must be a light on in the room. I will say I can kind of (kind of) understand where the university is coming from with its open door.  And, they have made strides to improve this policy by creating closed door buildings.  But even this stride has created a problem.  

As of now, Eagle and Sparrowk residence hall buildings are the only two residence halls on campus that operate under a closed door policy.  This means that when someone of the opposite gender is in your room you can still keep the door closed.  

Unfortunately, these two buildings highlight the gaps in Eastern’s policies.  If students live in Eagle or Sparrowk, then they are given a little more freedom in their decisions.  If students live in any other building, then Eastern is taking away some of the students’ freedom.  This is a clear gap in policy. All students should be treated equally.  But Eagle and Sparrowk residents are given more freedom.  

All Eastern students should be receiving the same amount of opportunities and freedom in their decisions.  Class year does not matter.  Whether you are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, you should be given the same freedom across the board. 

Not to mention, if you are in an open door building, then it is even harder to feel like you’re an adult. It feels like an invasion of privacy because people can walk by and look in your room to see what you are doing when you have someone of the opposite gender in the room. Who can come into our room and when is a simple decision that the resident of that specific room should be able to decide, not the university. The rules make students feel like they are incapable of making these decisions because of the visitation policies Eastern has implemented. 

College is a big adjustment for us, but if we are classified as adults at age 18, then we should be treated like adults. Many of us are on our own and working. We are paying for college, groceries and other things that most parents would buy us when living at home. We are old enough to vote and join the military.  

Anywhere else in the country, we are viewed as adults.  But here at Eastern University, we are treated as if we still live under our parents roof. It is not the university’s job to keep college students from making irresponsible decisions.  It is up to the student to learn from their mistakes and grow into more responsible adults. Eastern’s policies not only make it harder to learn from our mistakes, but they also make students feel as if they never grew up at all. 

There is an intense debate on how Hydroflasks are the worst water bottles in the world since the “VSCO” girls took over. VSCO girls are scrunchie obsessed girls who put stickers on everything they have, especially their Hydro Flask water bottles. Since they are considered annoying, the reputation for these water bottles has vanished. However, I believe that Hydro flasks are still the best water bottles even with this negative image surrounding them.

If you want your drink to stay cold, Hydro Flasks keep your drink cold for hours. Even if you keep it sitting in a hot car for hours, you can come back to a cold drink. I can attest to this, as I have left my water bottle in a scorching hot car while at the beach for four hours. To my surprise, the drink was still cold. Not a lot of water bottles can achieve hours of cold water.  I had a water bottle that was not a Hydro Flask sit in the car for hours and came back to a warm drink. Hydro Flasks, compared to others, show how they keep drinks warm.

Another reason they are better than others is that they have a variety of sizes and colors. There are 18 different colors in total. There are kid sized water bottles and adult ones. Each water bottle can have two different lids depending on the size and what you like. If you want a straw lid, you can buy that. If you want a water bottle you can sip, you can buy the lids without the straws. There is so much variety in what you can do with these water bottles. They also have tumbler cups and water bottles that donate to a cause. The water bottles are great and the company itself is great too. Looking at Yeti, one of Hydro Flask’s competitors, Yeti has fewer colors. They have standard colors like white, blue, black, light blue and stainless steel, but they have no fun colors. Hydro Flasks have more of an aesthetic to them which makes a nicer cup to look at when you are doing work. 

Hydroflasks also have a sleek look to them as well. They fit in just about anything. Cup holders, tote bags, backpacks and many other things. They are easy to grab and throw into a bag when you are in a rush. There is no need to worry about it spilling because they are leak proof. Whenever I am running late for classes, I can always count on my Hydro Flask to not spill all over my books or laptop. It makes it easier to sprint to class in peace and not stop in the middle to check to see if it leaked. Yetis have more of a clunky look and feel. They take up a lot of space, even if they are the smallest size. The pricing of Hydro Flasks are around the same for Yeti water bottles. When it comes down to it, a person who favors a Hydro Flask or Yeti is just paying for the name. Hydro Flasks are better because of their sleek look, colors and how they keep drinks cool.

When it comes to characters, there are always a few that grind the viewer’s gears significantly. One of those characters is Jessica Day from “New Girl.” While she may be lovable in the beginning, towards the middle and the end of the show her character started to shift. She went from being helpful and cheerful to annoying and a know it all. The way she treated her friends and boyfriends became disrespectful. She has no boundaries when it comes to her friendships and has to fix everything. Instead of making things better, she make them worse.

For example, at the school she teaches at, one of her students creates a video making fun of Jess for singing in front of the class. Instead of reacting in a professional manner, she responds in a childish way. She took her anger out on this student by wrecking her science fair project. A teacher should not react in that manner to a student. There are other ways that a teacher can address this situation without damaging a student’s project.

Another reason she is an awful character is how she navigates her personal relationships. For example, Jess treats her childhood best friend, CeCe, terribly.  Cece is a model, and Jess likes to make snide comments about her career path. At Cece’s birthday party, Jess gets upset with all her model friends/co-workers and insults their professions. She is also ashamed of her sister when she comes to visit in one of the later episodes. Instead of embracing her sister, who is constantly getting into trouble, she hides her from her boyfriend, Nick. A loving sister is supposed to embrace and care about their siblings, not hide them from their boyfriend and friends. 

In addition, her respect for boundaries is nonexistent. Everyone has boundaries they do not want crossed, but Jess seems to believe that she can cross them. When Cece was getting ready to move into her house with Schmidt, Jess wanted to help her pack. Cece had a hard time getting rid of some of her belongings because they had a deep meaning to her. Instead of trying to convince her to let it go or to come back to those items, she locks Cece out of her apartment and packs for her. This may seem helpful but locking your best friend out of their apartment and throwing away things she finds valuable is a boundary that should not be crossed. 

Not only that, but she also acts as Nick’s girl repellent. She cannot take a hint when Nick is trying to flirt with another girl and finds a way to interject herself into the interactions. Jess either says the wrong things or gets between Nick and the girl because she is not aware of her surroundings or the boundaries set. Nick has even pointed out that Jess needs boundaries and should be aware of them. 

Jess can be a lovable character, but she is in fact the worst character in “New Girl”. Her emotions get the best of her, which results in her destroying her student’s science fair project. She believes that she is better than the rest of her friends when she makes fun of CeCe and her model co-workers. Her lack of boundaries and the shame she pushes on her sister explains the awfulness of her character. 

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and everyone is excited to get to it. When you walk into stores they have their Christmas decorations up and their holiday themed clothes out for people to buy. The lights, the songs, the decorations and the food is what makes Christmas so special. However, once it hits Nov. people are too eager to celebrate it. Christmas should be celebrated right after Thanksgiving because celebrating it too early will make it less magical. 

People skip over Halloween and Thanksgiving to get to Christmas because they are impatient and want their favorite holiday to come right away. Halloween and Thanksgiving are their own holidays that need to be celebrated. They have their designated days and to skip over it would be sacrilegious. I think that skipping over Thanksgiving and straight into Christmas takes away from the magic of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate family and the things we are thankful for. I think it is good to have a day where you are thankful for all the things in life,  and celebrating Christmas in Nov. takes away from that. Yes, Christmas can be a family oriented holiday but it can distract from all the things people have and take for granted. Both holidays are great and each has amazing food but Christmas has a whole month dedicated to it (and sometimes the beginning of Jan.)  

Thanksgiving and Halloween have one day and they should be celebrated, not skipped over because Christmas is right around the corner. 

If we continue to skip right to Christmas, it will take away the charm of the holiday. It is something we look forward to because it is not celebrated early. Celebrating Christmas early will make it boring because we are used to it and we will want something else to look forward to and celebrate instead of Christmas. That is why we should celebrate the holidays before Christmas to make it special and not just another holiday.

The Christmas celebration should begin the day after Thanksgiving. That is when the decorations and the Christmas music can start playing. Once Thanksgiving is over, Christmas can start. Both Halloween and Thanksgiving have been celebrated, so naturally Christmas can start and the prep for gifts and holiday activities can begin

People love to rush through life and get to the good parts but that takes away from the good things happening now. Christmas is a great time but so is Thanksgiving and Halloween. It is okay to start getting decorations and buying gifts but to start decorating and listening to Christmas music is taking it too far. There needs to be a balance between Christmas celebrations and Thanksgiving celebrations. 

That balance is midnight on Thanksgiving day. That is when Christmas can be celebrated. Not sooner and not later. I think it is way too early to celebrate Christmas and that we need to be patient and celebrate the holidays that come before it so that Christmas can be more magical and not ruin the Christmas spirit.