Q&A: Jaylin Strub Wednesday, August 18, 2021
A sophomore’s advice to incoming freshmen. Q: What are you going to do this year that’s going to be different than last year? A: Well, first of all, I’m going to go to football Anna Pope tailgates. That’s for sure. We didn’t have any of News Editor those (last year). But also, I mean, I joined a sorority Assisting and direct- last year, just like a noning students at the front panhellenic. I think there’s desk, Jaylin Strub, sophoa lot of things we weren’t more architectural engiable to do and just things neering major, is the front that were completely differdesk assistant at Oklahoma ent. So, I’m kind of excited State’s Student Union. to actually hug people and While today is Strub’s first get to see them without day on the job, she helps their masks on. direct people to places they Q: What’s the most need to go and field quesexciting part about going tions. into this school year? Q: Do you have any A: I think, honestly, advice for incoming fresh- being able to actually like men? go to class. I think last year A: Honestly, I would was hard to find motivation just say, try to get involved and this year I’m excited to and make sure to stay on see people, meet friends, top of things. There’s a lot actually get to know the of things I didn’t know and professors and just be in things I needed to experithat environment. ence from last year and so, Q: Do you have any I would definitely just try advice for students in to get out of the dorm and class? Any little nuggets meet new people. of wisdom?
A: I would say definitely pay attention. I fall asleep a lot, but I would definitely pay attention and go to class for sure. I know attendance, I think, is mandatory this year last year it wasn’t. So, that was kind of hard. A lot of people did not go to class. I tried to go to class, don’t get me wrong, but I would say definitely go and do everything you can. Q: What advice do you have for students to keep their eye on the prize (graduation). A: I would say if you can get to know someone above, in upper years, that’s pretty cool. Not only to kind of see where you are going but also, to help you get through it. I really like internships and things like that I had one last summer. Just kind of getting me into it (her field) and just knowing that you actually like to do that can motivate you to keep going. news.ed@ocolly.com
First day on the job, Jaylin Strub answers questions at the front desk.
Abby Cage
Column: Normal is not normal Ellen Slater Lifestyle Editor
Students return to campus on the first day of classes with masks being optional.
Zachary Hunter
experienced a non-coronavirus college life for a year and a half. The rest of the student body didn’t, so this first day isn’t about returning to normalcy, but rather celebrating that it is quite the opposite of what these college students have known as their normal. As the numbers show, we are not out of the woods. The university, as well as the rest of the country are still taking precautions as the new variant spreads through the masses. The virus is not gone. Culturally, we as a college campus are back to more typical ways, as we have adapted. While the virus is not gone, the world is socially, and logistically, more so what we are trying to define as normal. So, as the library bells chime, students are running to in-person class, and the lines at the Student Union are the longest they will be all school year, it was a habitual, non covid-baited first day. What we as a society are trying to define as “normal’’, I suppose. I sat within five feet of my classmates, got to study in my favorite part of Edmond Low that has been closed for the past year, and did not log into a single Zoom call. Wear your masks if it’s a moment you know you should and remember that the new variants are real, but embrace the typical-ness that this semester will hopefully bring. The normalcy that was debuted on this hot, busy first day of school. Here is to a first day of un-normalcy for the majority of the student body, a bit of nostalgic normal for the students that have been around for awhile, and hopefully the standard of normal for the freshman. Happy first week of school, cowboys, I hope it feels un-normal from what you know.
The Oklahoma August heat is very obvious. The cardboard signs that read, “hi mom” for that first day of school photo op are being posed with in front of Edmond Low, flyers from what seems like a thousand different student ministries are being handed out, and it seems that just about every girl is somehow wearing a bid day shirt from the Saturday before. Yep, it is the first day of school at OSU. And dare I say it, it feels normal. Normal. Normalcy. Return to normal. Normal, normal, normal. A word that has been thrown at the sign of any sign of it throughout the pandemic era we have been living in. Normalcy is defined as, “the state of being usual, typical, or expected.” As a fourth-year student, I guess this return to old-ways feels normal, according to definition. Seniors had a big chunk of college time pre-pandemic. But it is interesting that this “normal” first day was the opposite of normal to the rest of the student body. Their normal is not the typical, they have not experienced this. As the definition of normal goes “the state of being usual, typical, or expected” this is quite literally the opposite. It is, “unusual, non typical, and non expected” to the majority of current collegians on this campus. Walking into the first day and seeing the professors full face- not having to guess what they look like under the mask until you one day see them on a Zoom call, and are shocked at what they actually look likefeels normal to us seniors. We entertainment.ed@ocolly.com