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Face In The Mace Mace & Crown Staff : Sean Davis Editor-in-Chief editorinchief@maceandcrown.com
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Letter from the Editor Dear reader,
On behalf of all of us at the Mace, I’d like welcome all new incoming student to the special place we call home… and most call “’Ol Dirty.” To all of our returning friends, it’s great to see you again! May we all graduate before pulling our hair out. There’s no debate that college is an important time in our lives. It’s when we figure out and become who Josh Whitener we want to be. It’s a time of growth, discovery and risk taking, without the harsh consequences of the News Editor world of careers and professionalism. news@maceandcrown.com We created this special Welcome! (back) issue with that in mind, and packed it with advice and guides to help you make the most of it. Amy Poulter Now, if I may be so bold, I’d like to offer some advice of my own. Arts & Entertainment Editor First, let your excitement overcome your anxiety. The next few years will be some of the most interestartsandentertainment@maceandcrown.com ing and exciting of your life, and you should be psyched for that! Remember, almost everyone else here is just like you in that they’ve left all of their friends from high Zachary Chavis school and transplanted themselves into this strange, unpredictable social experiment we call college. Photography Editor As I’m sure you’ve already heard at least a few times by now, and as I sincerely believe, many of the photo@maceandcrown.com friendships you build here will be some of your most meaningful and last well into your life. Unlike high school, college isn’t a vicious hierarchical popularity contest. I can almost guarantee you that you’ll find Ross Reelachart others on the same weird wavelength as you. And believe me, feeling like you belong beats constantly Technology Editor measuring yourself against your peers by a mile. technology@maceandcrown.com In a sense, you’re getting a second chance at friends. Don’t squander it on shallow, boring people. Seek out people that are smarter than you, that think differently, that grew up under different condiSabrina Brooks tions. Find people that think deeply who will actively challenge your understanding and help you grow. Senior Graphic Designer Another phrase I’m sure you’ve heard enough by now (especially as a weird consolation when you tell sbroo029@odu.edu people you’re going to ODU) is that college is what you make it. Now, I want to acknowledge that like going to college, the luxury of “getting involved” is a privilege Jason Kazi that isn’t equally afforded to everyone. To many, ODU is just a place to take classes. Some people go Advertising and Business Manager home afterward without making any larger connection to or a second though about the community, and advertising@maceandcrown.com that’s cool. To others, jobs or other obligations will make it impossible to join student organizations or Jugal Patel participate in extracurricular activities. The point isn’t that there is a concrete right and wrong way to get Digital Editor the most out of the college experience. It’s that you strive to do as much as you can, with the understandjpate016@odu.edu ing that the more you challenge yourself, the more you expand your understanding and learn about the world and the people around you, the better you’ll be for it. Staff Writers: So go to documentary screenings and guest lectures, attend events that celebrate different cultures, Alex Brooks join one of our 350+ student organizations, go to conferences and retreats. Take advantage of the incredAlyse Stanley ible opportunities that so many don’t. Amy Poulter Thanks to a number of student orgs here, I’ve been to New York City, D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh George Plank and all over Virginia; I’ve seen massive protests, met famous bands, listened to celebrities talk about their Jasmine Blackwell lives and seen things I never could’ve imagined. None of that would’ve happened if I hadn’t put in that Jessica Perkins little bit of extra effort. Josh Whitener It might mean missing a couple parties, but in the long run I promise it’s a good trade off. You can find a Libby Marshall pretty good list of orgs in the “University Life” section of ODU’s website. Michael High Finally, I want to encourage you to find something that makes you really angry, and do something Matt O’Brien about it. Ross Reelachart I like to think of ODU as a microcosm for the world: we’re here for a relatively short time, what we do with it is up to us, and there’s a lot of things that need to be improved. Both as Monarchs and as global Staff Photographers: citizens, we have a moral obligation to leave our world better than we found it. Dawit Samson Educate yourself on the issues that you’re passionate about, and then do something with that. Jason Kazi It might make some people nervous to say this, but we actually can ask tough questions and then deJoshua Boone mand changes, especially on this campus. Joshua Caudell Why aren’t there recycling or compost bins in Webb? Why isn’t there gender-neutral housing or bathNicolas Nemtala rooms? What can ODU do to lessen its impact on the environment? Why aren’t there more resources Schyler Shafer devoted to celebrating black culture and history? Why isn’t the police force fully staffed? What more can Shamon Jones we do to discourage sexual assault? Why are adjunct professors so underpaid? Why do the food options make me sad? I don’t want to play down all of the wonderful, amazing aspects of this school, but a school’s administration isn’t designed to necessarily improve things. It has to be pushed into doing it. It has to hear your grievances to know students are unhappy. Mace & Crown is a newspaper published by if you’re interested in writing, social media, photography, videography or anything else we do, please and written for the students of Old Dominion come check out the Mace. We have a lot of amazing opportunities, and it’s super easy to get involved. We once a week throughout each semester and meet Tuesdays in U Center during activity hour. once in the summer. Originally founded in 1930 as the The High Hat, the paper became Best of luck with classes and congratulations for continuing your education at ODU. the Mace & Crown in 1961. The Mace & Crown is a primarily self-supporting newspaper, maintaining journalistic independence from the university. All views expressed in this collegiate paper are those of the author, not of the University, Mace & Crown, or the editors. Phone: 757-683-3452 David Thornton Copy Editor Dthor013@odu.edu
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