OPINION
The Clarion
Reaching out
COLUMN
BY RACHEL MIKAELSEN
Several things happen on our cam
pus that grieve my heart. Students ex
press their dissatisfaction with life or
attempt to relieve the pressures by over
dosing or bingeing on drugs and alco
hol. Other ways of venting frustration
with out permanently harming yourself
exist. A beautiful forest provides sev
eral outlets through bike and hiking
trails and some of the most majestic
scenic points in the area.
One of the professors would love
to help a student in need. How you re
act to life will determine your outcome
from adversity. Life will never get
easier, but how you cope can. Survival
comes down to attitude. Work is not the
worst thing to ever happen to a student.
On occasions you might have to work
Over the first hurdle
COLUMN
BY CHRIS FREDRICKSON
The fall semester has come to a
close and students are either looking
forward to another semester or chang
ing their plans. Some will decide to
change their majors. Some seniors
will prepare for graduation and the
completion of their undergraduate
education. And among freshmen of
Brevard, some will have learned from
prior mistakes made in their first se
mester.
People often say the first semes
ter of college is usually the worst.
Some beg to differ. “This is actually
easier than high school,” I overheard
an anonymous student proclaim.
Despite the level of their classes,
some students have found many dis
tractions, ones ultimately letting their
grades slide, like parties and clubbing.
Many didn’t pay attention to strict
tardy and attendance policies and
THE CLARION
STAFF
Wendy Jo Allen
Trevaughn Mayz
Wendy Byerly
Rachel Mikaelsen
Michelle Crabtree
Stephen Rosenthal
Chris Fredrickson
Jessica Rodriguez
Will Hatcher
Jamie Welch
Mindi Hockenberry
Summer Worley
Lenora Moody
Re-evaluate classifications
COLUMN
your butt off to get by in your classes.
School is for living and learning.
Whether you think you can conquer the
problem or not, suck it in and go for
the seemingly impossible. Think ca
pable and accomplish anything.
Eternal optimists tend to think that
there is always a way. Bad times end
eventually. You must be able to look
back and assess what you learned from
the experience. Learn from the bad of
your circumstances. Life can be a won
derful thing if people would realize the
gift that it is. Each and ever one of you
has something unique and special about
your personality which makes you who
you are. Now realize that with in your
self. Life is really an okay thing to have
happen to you, and some where out
there some body loves you.
their negligence contributed to bad
grades or failure. Those students
didn’t follow James Willis, who said,
“Start the year with the same inten
sity you want to end it.”
Finals are here and many stu
dents will cram the last week. For
example, Wes Vanasek said, “I’ll be
studying my notes and reviewing so
hard I am bound to get all As.”
To bad not as many students are
as optimistic about their performance,
and simply state, “finals suck.” Un
fortunately, finals can make or break
a grade.
On the flip side, the fall semes
ter has been a real learning experi
ence for the freshmen. They have
engaged in many activities, such as
dances, concerts, plays and every
now and then, if they have time, what
they should have been participating
in all along: class.
BY LENORA MOODY
Many students start college with
their “head in the clouds.” They take
classes, plan their homework and some
times do their best.
They continue through college
mapping out their requirements for this
major or that major. Never paying at
tention to how many hours they have,
only seeing how close they are to their
“BELOVED” degree.
When you ask a college student
what year they are in, they do not cal
culate their hours. They think of how
many years they have toiled to reach
their goal and then calculate their clas
sification.
Brevard College states in their
1999-2000 Handbook, unless a student
accumulates a particular amount of
hours they will not be classified in a
particular group.
The hours are:
• 95+ hours = Senior
• 64-94 hours = Junior
• 32-63 hours = Sophomore
• 0-31 hours =Freshman
If a student attends college part
time, stretches out their college career
over ten years or minimizes their ca
reer to one year, then I would admit to
this being a fair practice. However, I do
not think the practice fair when a stu
dent lacks two to five points from be
ing away from a particular classifica
tion.
This classification gives students
opportunities. For instance, a third-year
student should be able to register for
classes before a two-year student. Ear
lier registration would provide the
classes a three-year student needed be
fore the class was full.
This may not seem important.
However, the closer to graduation the
less time the student has to complete
their classes.
A student needs the classification
for emotional reasons. When a student
finds out he or she has missed becom
ing a junior or senior by two points the
feeling is horrible. They have worked
this many years only to find out they
are not as far along as they want.
I hear many students express their
opinions of anger over being away from
their true year date by only one or two
hours.
Registrar Adelaide Kersh kindly
offered the reason why many students
were classified one to two hours from
their actual year. Apparently, the com
puter does not add the numbers from a
current semester until the end of the
semester. No matter what semester a
student is in they will usually look like
they are behind. Unless they have ac
cumulated many hours or they come to
the middle of the year.
However, this still bothers me.
Why does the College not pay attention
to the years a student has been there and
the amount of hours they have accumu
lated? My solution would be to make a
five-hour grace period. If a student is
below the required hours, stretch the
hours to where they will be classified
in their true year. The grace hours would
help the student emotionally and give
them the option to pre-register earlier.
I am only one opinion out of
many. Yet, I have the instinct impres
sion others would agree.
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