After three plus years at Gustavus, one of my greatest Gustie pet peeves is when people either call themselves or refer to other students as “freshman.” Many people are confused, as the terms “first-year” and “freshman” are used interchangeably. They are in fact significantly different. The term “freshman” is a gendered term, whereas “first-year” is gender neutral. The use of the term freshman to refer … Continue reading Hey you guys

Let’s be honest, who’d ever willingly read the things a first-year student has learned after being at college for a little over a month? The answer to that great question is you. Whether you’re currently an upperclassmen or “fresh meat” such as myself, you know what it feels like to start college away from home on your own. Books have been written  about what to … Continue reading Lessons of a first-year

Hooray – it’s Friday! You just finished up your last class of the week, and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. That test you studied for all week wasn’t so bad after all. You’re excited to see your grade, and you check Moodle for the results: it’s a D. We all deal with adversity in our lives, especially as college students. For some, it seems  … Continue reading The choice is yours

After spending countless hours on homework, I sometimes find myself checking up on the news of the world around me. Most of the popular junk that we call news is just a needless waste of time, but occasionally I find  a topic or two that catches my eye. This week, that topic was the government shutdown. Why does our federal government have the ability to … Continue reading Government shutdown: a ludicrous idea