Campus Safety paper 4

Campus Safety

College Campuses across the world are threatened with shootings or attacks every day. With the growing fear of terrorists, students are now not only afraid of other students, but of possible threats coming from outside of campus. There is no price that can be put on our lives. Our college campuses should spend the extra money to keep us safe.

Our world was rocked when certain events took place on April sixteenth, 2007. This was the date of the Virginia Tech shooting. Thirty-three students died in their dormitories and classrooms, places they normally felt safe and secure. On that terrible day, the chief of campus police did not shut down the whole campus after the first two people were shot. He thought it was a “domestic” shooting, thinking the criminal left campus or even fled the state (Hauser 1). These decisions made by the top man in charge could have cost the other thirty-one students their lives. This goes to show that this campus was not prepared at all for the events that took place.

Students that come to a college campus have the right to feel safe where they live and the college should do everything in their power to make it that way. With all the money that the school receives in tuition and government grants, you would think they might have some money to use on security. Students might not like the small increase in tuition for safety, but I guarantee you they would think twice about objecting if anything happened to them or someone close to them.

In my dormitory, a small change like a card swipe for student IDs to unlock the doors makes me feel a little more protected where I live. However, when I go to class I lose that feeling completely. There is no type of security set up to protect us students when we go to class. There are many steps that can be taken for greater safety, like metal detectors at the entrances of classroom buildings.

Metal detectors would slow things down in the long run. Students would get frustrated with the constant security check each time they enter a building to go to class. We have enough problems to worry about on a daily basis, so why would we want something like posted security guards to go through every day?

On the other hand, we would never have a school shooting because every person that enters a building on campus would be monitored. That extra sense of safety would be worth the extra twenty seconds it might take to pass through a security point. Just the thought of security would stop a criminal from attacking a college classroom.

According to Security on Campus Inc, a non-profit organization trying to stop campus crime, states that eighty percent of crimes on campus are student on student crimes (Howzie 1). This means that security may even be needed inside the dormitories. Some students in college tend to drink and do drugs, which may lead to fights or more serious crimes. Security on Campus Inc also stated that nine out of ten student crimes on campus involve alcohol or drugs (Howzie 1). These crimes range from fights to even rape and murder.

As Max Bromley states is his book on college crime prevention, “The only way to prevent crime is through personal and social awareness.” He says that we can prevent crime without the use of technology but using our brain. We can be aware of those around us and what they are capable of doing. Being aware of ourselves and others could have prevented the crimes in many schools across the country. (Bromley 58)

Our world is getting more dangerous every passing day. Colleges should be ahead of the curve and be prepared for just about anything to happen to keep our future alive. There is no price known to man that can be put on the life of any college student, all our campuses should spend the money to protect that.

Works Cited

Bromley, Max. College crime prevention and personal safety awareness. Springfield, Il: C.C. Thomas, 1990.

Hauser, Christine. “Virginia tech shooting left 33 dead”. The New York Times. November 5, 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1>.

Howzie, Katie. “Campus Crimes are Cause for Student Concern”. East Tennessean. November 5, 2008<http://media.www.easttennessean.com/media/storage/paper203/news/2000/10/05/News/Campus.Crimes.Are.Cause.For.Student.Concern-4518.shtml>.

Transition from College Freshmen to Sophomore paper 3

Transition from College Freshmen to Sophomore

College is set up like high school in the sense that there are the four main standings of seniority: freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. The major change from high school to college is that the deeper one gets into school, the more you mature and grow. I am currently a college sophomore, but the change from freshman to sophomore year was a big step.

Freshman year of college to me was a big deal for me, but I did not take it as serious as I would have liked to. Most people say that when a student heads to college the most important year is the freshman year. I agree. Being a sophomore gives me the ability to look back and see what I could have done better and where I should have focused my attention. I feel like the maturity I know now, I wish I knew last year. If I could have done really well last year, then that would have taken a load off my shoulders for what I need to accomplish this year. I could have taken less credit hour this semester to lighten my load if I passed all my classes last semester.

I hear that college progressively gets easier from year to year after one begins as a freshman. I agree with this also. Everything in this semester seems to go smoothly without much stress and worry. I don’t think that it is because the material gets easier, I think that it is from the mental maturity. Also, stress management learned from the first year of school helps. The material is actually increasingly more difficult with each year because of the levels of classes. The materials I learned my first year here, I feel would be an easy task this year.

Another aspect of college that I like, compared to high school, is that there is really no seniority issue in the social environment. What I mean is that if someone is a junior, and someone a freshman, the junior doesn’t put themselves above the freshman like they are better than that individual. This makes it easy to meet older, wiser students in the same class as you to help you through it. Like I said before, I wish I knew what I know now back when I was a freshman. The seniors could give crucial and extremely helpful advice to new students so they can get a head start in their college experience.

Independence is one of the biggest factors of college compared to high school. Living on your own and waking yourself up for your own classes can be a shock for some freshman students. When a student has to learn how to do their homework and go to school without having their mommy and daddy make them, it can be overwhelming. The mental independence from the first year to second year is significant. What I mean is that in my freshman year it felt great to live on my own and make my own decisions, whether the decisions were good or bad. Now I still feel independent, but it is different in the sense that I know what to do and what not to do.

The greatest part about the transition from freshman to sophomore is the fact that now I don’t have to do well in school, I want to. There was always pressure to get good grades but it was never for personal gain, it was just to please everyone else. Now I feel that I have the personal motivation to do well for me and my future because now is really when it counts. I can’t just get by with mediocre grades, I need to succeed.

This year for me has been great because it is going so much more smoothly than my freshman year. When I came back here for this semester, I didn’t have to go hunting for good friends like I did last year because they are all still here from when I meet them last year. Overall, the transition from first year to second year is major. The confidence and maturity levels skyrocket in the simple freshman to sophomore transition.

Alcohol on Campus paper 2

Alcohol on Campus

Alcohol ruins lives whether you like it or not. Alcohol is a very popular drug, and it is highly abused on college campuses across the country. Most seniors in high school enter their college days expecting it to be a drunken blur. However, they don’t know the other side of the story. Alcohol can greatly affect the obvious, like the physical, but also could result in expulsion from their beloved college experience or long-term addiction.

First off, physical effects of drinking are there and real. Many people suffer from liver cirrhosis throughout their whole lives from mistakes they made when they were young. If alcohol can make you feel the way you do then it has to mess with the internals of your body, and it does. The Government said it is safe to consume a single drink a day for women, and two for males. Alcohol can affect the physical appearance in people. It gives a drained look on the body and sometimes gives and pale, ghostly tint to ones skin.

Alcohol also affects academics. Many college students struggle with staying in school, whether it’s from drinking too much resulting in failure to do homework, or getting in trouble with the law or campus policies because of the problem. Either one will guarantee you a ticket straight out of school and back to your mom’s house. Universities are really cracking down with drinking on campus because it is a growing issue. Losing your tuition money for a semester just to drink with some buddies doesn’t make much sense to me. Personally, I have had problems with alcohol affecting my academics. I have been in trouble for drinking on a campus and it is something I would not want anyone to go through.

Lastly, the greatest problem when it comes to college drinking is addiction. Alcoholism is an enormous problem in the United States because of the availability of alcohol. A large number of middle-aged people are addicted to alcohol from their college experience. Students at school think their drinking is normal and not an issue, I mean you only live once right? It’s not that simple. Alcohol addiction is a serious issue and many students aren’t even aware of their problem. If Alcoholism was easy to overcome, Alcoholics Anonymous would not exist. I have seen friends go through this problem. They would be in a drunken haze when I would see them, stumbling around in my dorm room. My buddy would look as if he was dying because of how the daily drinking affected his appearance.

Overall, the risks that come along with drinking are not worth the couple hour buzz one might feel from the substance. All the consequences are easily avoidable if alcohol is not used. Drinking can screw someone up physically, financially with school suspension, as well as mentally with an addiction. There are plenty of ways to have a great time and alcohol is not one of them.

Game of My Life paper 1

Game of My Life

Sophomore year of football to most kids is just another sport to play, but to some of us, it is more. My buddies and I would get together after class to run and toss around the football. Football at our school is really intense because of the rivalries and the pressure put on us by our peers. However, this is fine by me because I like to be pushed when I play football, so it’s all just more motivation for me.

My best friend Steve and I played the same position, half back. This is sometimes awkward for me because I don’t like to vie for position with my best friend. We do find a happy medium though. He always starts and I always get the pass plays. My coach ingeniously split the two best parts to that position for me and Steve’s sanity. This plan was soon flawed because starting a game is great and all, but Steve never scores, so towards the end of the season, this put a strain on our friendship.

By now in our season, we have already played and defeated many of our schools’ top rivals from past years. The weather is starting to get blistery cold. It’s the type of cold that hurts real badly when you get hit with another set of shoulder pads. However, there is still one rival we have not faced just yet in our amazing eight and two season, Cranbrook Kingswood, the Cranes.

Most teams in our division always want us to smoke the cranes because they are an amazing team, but they always run up the score on their games. It is one thing to lose, but to get it rubbed in your face by a forty point loss is horribly irritating. My buddies and I have had our fair share of moments in our high school football career, but this is one that I will not soon forget.

Our game starts at seven o’clock at night, but mentally for us, it starts right after school. Everyone has butterflies whether they admit it or not, including the coach. We start with a game talk, followed by a quick team dinner, then the pre-game pep talk and prayer to get us ready. We all pump each other up as we dress in the locker-room, and then head out to the frost-crusted field to begin the epic game. The turf is not synthetic grass and it is surrounded by a tall section of bleachers packed with screaming fans on each side.

Our field is the most important part of this amazing sport we play. It is breath-taking to even step foot on the grass during practice or short workouts after school. However, when we actually play on it for several hours during a game, it is a dream come true. The turf is always a perfect dark green with straight white lines running up and down the field.

The game starts off well with back and forth action and no scoring. That is, until the Cranes top ranked quarterback throws a pretty pass to his favorite receiver in the back corner of the end zone. This is a tough blow for us freshman and sophomores, but we all know we can overcome. The Cranes follow their touchdown with a typical kick; however, for me, this kick return was much more than typical. The Cranes kick the ball high and right, directly to me. I can feel my heart beat and my head swelling with thoughts of triumph and defeat. The ball smacks off the front of my shoulder pads, right into my arms, and I take off like a bullet. I weave through the blockers and tacklers, hoping that just maybe I can make it all the way to the end zone. As a travel down the sideline, I can see the pylons at the beginning of the end-zone and my heart beats even harder. I barely make it into the end zone and I feel the amazing euphoria of scoring a touchdown coursing through my body.

The Cranes still have the lead however, because we missed our field goal opportunity. Steve finds me on the sideline and tells me, “Good job”, which makes me feel even better about things because it comes from him. We still have a game to play though and we need to step up if we want to win. The plays continue to roll on for some time and Steve and I continue to switch positions on the field constantly. Then I get excited when I hear a play for a wheel pass that I have scored on five times before in our season. I am sure the Cranes have gone over this play with their coach before the game but I still hope my quarterback throws me the ball. As he snaps the ball he steps back and looks at me down field, tosses it high and right into the end zone, and I run right under it and catch it, just like clockwork. Amazingly we have the lead but the Cranes answer back shortly with a score of their own.

As the clock winds down, we start to lose hope but we have the ball so maybe we can pull something just short of a miracle off. The coach calls for a bootleg pass and we are fifteen yards from the goal with about a minute left on the clock. I question to myself if this is a good call but I do what my coach says and I happily do my route. I have a five yard drag to the sideline and I rarely get the ball on this play, but somehow the quarterback tosses it right to me, my heart practically stops as the ball is in flight and I catch it and bolt for the goal. Somehow I make it in and I have never had the same feeling I had at that moment. The clock winds down and we win the game.

After the game I talk with my coach and my best friend Steve, and I feel great. Steve told me good job with a big smile on his face, but I can tell he is a little upset that he couldn’t have scored and that bugs me. I talk to my coach and all he says to me is simply, “Three touchdowns, two interceptions, game of your life.” I still to this day remember what he said and the way I felt. Nothing has ever come close to matching that feeling in my life.

Opinion of the Week

My opinion of the week is on finals week of college. I dont know if it is just me, but it seems like professors jam too much stuff into the end of the year, knowing most students will not get to half of it. I know that finals are really the time to test us and our academic abilities, but some classes are rediculous. It’s almost as if the professors think that we are only taking their class at the time and we have no other worries in the world. When there is three or four of these classes, students might have some issues. I find myself thinking that there are not enough hours in the day to keep up with the load that is thrown on my shoulders.

Pet Peeves

Here is a list of the ten pet peeves that really perturb me the most. There is only a couple things that really can make me angry and if they are one of these than i might get upset. These sound dumb but they are the first things that came to my mind when i think of crap that does not sit well with me.

1. when people think they are better than me

2. when my girlfriend calls me dude

3. when I dont get enough sleep

4. crazy people

5. when people think they are smarter than me

6. when there is nothing on tv

7. when RAs knock on my door

8. cops on a power trip

9. friends who are not really friends

10. when i run out of cigarettes

Change in America

I think that there will be a dramatic change in our society, however, I can’t say it what direction it will be. I have already heard many arguments for and against Obama as our president in the first few hours of his presidency. Many think he will help our world but many also think he will turn out to be like Kuame Kilpatrick, the corrupt former mayor of Detroit. People think that he will make the world unsafe with his ambition to remove firearms. I personally feel that if he does this, it will end up like prohibition did; people will have more of a demand for firearms through illegal sales. Culturally, I don’t think Obama being African American will have much of an impact on our society. People knew all the circumstances before, and when he was voted in to office. Globally, I hope all the fighting in the middle-east will stop and we all will be more at peace. I personally feel that Obama cannot do much worse than Bush, so he has a lot of room to work.

Lists Post

I personally like debating on just about all subjects, but only to a certain point. When debates get pointless I dont like to continue on that topic. They get pointless when it is on a subject that cannot be proven or disproven, like religion, and it goes on and on in circles. I think my strength is the ability to speak in a pesuassive way to make my views seem right, even if there is not much facts. My weakness is a highly scientifical bias to topics in debating. I think thats a weakness because you need an open mind to understand your topic and the one you are opposed to.

News opinion of the week

My news opinion of thw week is about the political campaigns. I feel the the major difference between Obama and Mcain is how they present their future in in office. What I mean is that all I hear Mcain do, is tell how he is better than Obama and how Obama is worse than Mcain. Obama talks about what he will do in office and how he will change America, while Mcain just talks about how he will be better.

My ideal mate

My ideal mate would be a woman that knows what she wants and does what she wants, also with respect to me. Also, someone who has great morals. The most important thing to me in a relationship would be trust. If I can’t trust my girl than it wouldn’t work out, no matter how hard I tried. I want someone who will always be there for me