I joined The Miami Student before I ever stepped foot on campus as a first-year. Before I ever moved out of my childhood bedroom into an empty dorm room across the country. Before I ever sat in my first classroom in McGuffey Hall for an introductory journalism course.
Cars are a lot like people: I don’t really understand them. When things are going fine with my car, it’s easy to coast along and tell myself I’m doing a good job, even if I’m not quite sure what’s going on under the hood. In fact, I like driving, and do it enough that I feel comfortable driving in pretty much any condition.
As December approaches, the holiday season dawns upon us, and many families prepare for massive feasts, yearly reunions and gift shopping. When we drive down our streets, we see houses lined with sparkling Christmas lights, pine trees and statues of old Saint Nick. But what about the people who don’t celebrate Christmas?
As we shift out of fall and into the winter season, it’s made me reflect on my time here at Miami University. I’m ending my last fall semester and going into my last spring semester. I won’t say anything like “it goes by faster than you think” because as college students, we know that already.
I never considered my mom’s side of the family, the Logans, as unconventional. I never thought Thanksgiving with the Logans was strange. When I was little, all I cared about at dinner was scarfing down pink stuff — a whipped cream, strawberry and jello concoction created in the depths of the Midwest — and playing Guitar Hero on my cousin’s PlayStation.
If there’s one day in the year that’s more quintessentially American than the Fourth of July, it’s got to be Thanksgiving.
Do you find yourself going Uptown to drink with friends every week and waking up with a hangover? I hate to break it to you, but technically speaking, you’re engaging in binge drinking.
Changes in how methane waste from landfills is harnessed could completely change the energy landscape. We need to capitilize on this energy source now, argues columnist Ava Kalina.
When I first walked into Harrison Hall, the home of the political science department, I noticed two things. First, the cozy chairs and couches on the first floor proudly echo the lively conversations between professors and students in the hallways. Second, the gloomy atmosphere compliments a place that has endured history and therefore demands respect.
“Have you seen Sam Sulek on campus at all?” If you don’t know who Sam Sulek is, he’s one of the biggest gym influencers on social media right now, and he may have had a class with you here at Miami University. That text I received got me thinking: why are there so many gym influencers at Miami? Is Miami transforming into a school for gym rats?
Snapchat. Instagram. iMessage. The app formerly known as Twitter. Facebook. WhatsApp. Those are just a few of the many apps we use to talk to one another.
Classes in the FYIC program have a stringent attendance policy that allows just two unexcused absences in each class before students receive a 5% deduction from their overall class grade for each following absence. This policy, while promoting consistent class attendance, does more to hurt students than it benefits them.
If you ever see me around campus, chances are I’m being accompanied by the cutest beagle puppy. That puppy would be Trixie, my emotional support animal (ESA). During my first two years here at Miami University, my mental health was quite a mess. After talking with my parents, doctor and adviser at Student Disability Services (SDS), I decided an ESA would benefit me immensely.
If hard work directly correlated with success, the exorbitantly wealthy would be seen paving roads or bussing tables. Why is it acceptable for an institution, let alone an entire nation, to condemn the hardest of its workers and justify it by hanging an unreachable dream above their heads?
With recent economic inflation making period products even more expensive for students, the university could significantly improve the lives of students by updating its period dispensal system — or even adding period supplies in all vending machines like residence halls do — in its academic buildings.
For students whose only goals at college are to get a degree, network and land a job after graduation, caring about local government may not seem worth it. Plenty of students go their entire academic careers at Miami without ever knowing who sits on Oxford City Council, and more than a few probably couldn’t tell you that the Talawanda School District exists. These institutions matter, though, to students as well as residents.
Did you know there are 17 vape and smoke shops in Oxford? Because I sure did not. When I first heard this number, I thought it was a joke. Unfortunately, it’s true that Oxford houses more vape shops than it does cafes.
As the high school graduates of the class of COVID-19 — I mean 2020 — prepare their caps and gowns, they set out on a path distinctively shaped by the pandemic. The very pandemic that, in many cases, served as a catalyst for the digitalization of the “college experience” here at Miami University (and across the world).
Ohio has the third highest rate of opioid overdoses per capita in America. In Butler County, that rate is even higher than the state average. This puts Miami University squarely in the epicenter of the opioid epidemic.
College can be alienating and scary. It can make you feel a new type of alone. It's a learning curve that makes a person grow up faster than anything else.