Springdale residents crowded the town hall during the city council meeting Tuesday night after Ozark Regional Transit created “Save My Seat” to publicize the importance of this month’s Springdale City Council meeting.
The meeting covered matters of employment, the care of public property and the recent changes made to the regional bus route.
Police Chief Kathy O'Kelly asked the council to authorize a new police employee, which the council approved despite Alderman Jeff Watson's suggestion that in the future, these employment matters go through the financial report.
Among the issues addressed Tuesday was the restoration of Spring Creek. Springdale resident, Ron Minen has monitored the process of cleaning up the debris surrounding the creek and found the end result unsatisfactory. "When that money [from the city budget] becomes available, we could use it on Spring Creek," Minen suggested.
Fire Chief Duane Atha proposed the reinstatement of a former fireman, which the city council readily approved. The position will save money for the city by not requiring the training fees and re-certification that an entirely new employee would necessitate.
Ozark Regional Transit has cut route 43 upon a claim to lack the sufficient funds, despite the UA Survey Research Center revealing a 21 percent increase in bus ridership.
Northwest Arkansas transit users have seen a rotation of placed blame while trying to contact those in charge of cutting route 43, their only source of transportation. The 16 mile route 43 stops at various apartment complexes, the Springdale Wal-Mart, Springdale High School, Parson Hills Elementary, the First National Bank, Springdale Library, Harp’s Grocery, and the Richardson (rehabilitation center).
ORT’s Web site announced the way to "Save Your [bus] Seat": “How much money the elected officials decide to contribute to ORT is based upon how important they think it is to their citizens. How do they determine that? From calls and letters that they receive from people like you.”
Residents responded positively to this call to action. They sent many letters to the Springdale City Council and attended the monthly council meeting to explain why the transit is so vital to their lives. A translator assisted the Hispanic families so that the language barrier would not restrict their message, that they would be unable to buy groceries or go to work without route 43. A few disabled workers, who cannot drive, were also present to tell the council the end of the route will be the end of their jobs.
Another Springdale resident, Alice Hannah, became emotional when she explained the route cut would separate her from her family for long periods of time. Hannah said the closing of route 43 will cut her off from two very important things in her life. “I will lose a job if we lose this route. I won’t be able to visit my one family, my one granddaughter,” Hannah said. Tuesday night, she walked in arm braces from her home to the Town Hall to voice her concern on behalf of her neighbors, her family, the Hispanic communities of Springdale, and herself. “I’m not here for my own pain. When I see other people suffering, that is when I speak up,” she said.
Despite the large turnout of residents to respond to the funding, Alderman Bobby Stout insisted that the financial problem lies within Ozark Regional Transit and not the city of Springdale. The city supplied the same monetary fund this year for public transportation purposes as they did the previous year. Stout said he did not understand why ORT’s executive director, Phil Pumphrey requested so much more funding, since “We kept the funding at $160,000…but no costs went up.” Pumphrey appealed for $247,000 in funds this year, which Stout interpreted as valuing route 43 at $87,000.
Ozark Regional Transit’s funding comes from a variety of sources, including charitable contributions, federal, state and local governments and through a small fare, $1.25 per adult, according to ORT’s Web site. Its only claim to additional revenue is the sale of advertising space.
The only proposition for compromise came from Alderman Kathy Jaycox, when she suggested that the city council’s finance meeting be set aside to address the issue and invited those residents to also attend it. The Springdale financial meeting was set to be joined with the personnel meeting, but Jaycox wanted the council to have 30 days to research alternative transportation or funding for those who use Route 43.
Jaycox said she identifies with the concerns of Springdale residents on route 43. “My sister is handicapped and I know how long it took her to find a job,” she said. At first, her sister took a Fayetteville transit to her workplace. Eventually, the route was discontinued, which initiated Jaycox paying $377 per month to get her sister to work. “I know that the independence [of riding the transit] meant a lot to her,” she said. There seems to be no other way for her sister to keep the job without Jaycox providing transportation.
After the council meeting adjourned, Jaycox explained she had made attempts to understand the people of Springdale even more fully than simply relating to her sister. Jaycox spent time in a wheelchair to see how difficult it would be to get around. She also spent a day without her keys, to learn who she would rely on or what she would do in the event that her transportation was suddenly unavailable; as her sister and Springdale residents must do.
“We are always looking to make Springdale more accessible,” Jaycox said. At the moment, she said handicap accessible sidewalks are on Springdale’s agenda. She added, "If I had $80,000 extra in my bank account, I'd be glad to give it to these people."
For now, one location has been taken off of route 43 and has been reduced to making less than half of the daily rounds as it did before the city council meeting.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
My High School Playlist
Essay Writing
3.2.09
“My Stupid Mouth” John Mayer
The summer before my freshman year of high school, many things about me changed. Out were my pastel-colored sweaters and caring around a stack of books in preparation for my long study hours after school.
My heart had been broken at the beginning of the summer by a boy I’d crushed on for two years and had become close friends with. In my boredom and immaturity, I started my plan to become a different person, so that he would come to like me. I donned black t-shirts with rock band names and pictures on them. I stopped wearing khakis and shorts, replacing them with jeans. Some of the jeans were dark and tight, others were light and ratty. I found the shoe of my dreams: a pair of Chuck Taylor converses. Most importantly, though were my eating habits. I stopped eating lunch, cut down snacks and ate as little as possible at the table.
The boy in question had dismissed me on the last day of school with a written note that he couldn’t spend time with me any longer because he couldn’t be in a relationship. Since we had become such close friends, I knew exactly what he was like. I knew which bands he listened to, what he would say if I asked his opinion, etc. In our time together, we discussed our love for music and he got me interested in bands such as Creed and Evanescence. My sister had bought a Creed album hastily and then passed it along to me when she realized she didn’t care for it. It was his voice in my mind, the only thing I would listen to. It was the playlist of the summer.
Upon entering high school, I returned to all of my past friends. Our small high school was connected to the junior high, so there wasn’t much to be desired in making the crossover. My main excitement for being in high school was to leave the beginner band and join this boy in the high school band. As I returned to school, people talked, as they do in small towns. I was losing weight, I dressed different, I was not the same person.
Suddenly, this boy wanted to talk to me and I couldn’t be more thrilled. His mother had taken an interest in me when she learned I had a crush, so she encouraged things to move along between us. She was a teacher in the same building where my mom taught. The two were good friends, so she convinced my mom that she needed an extra tutor in her after-school class. The only other helper she had was her son.
That autumn, Tim and I helped the children with their activities, then were usually left alone as his mom herded the kids to the cars and conveniently got caught up in conversations with other teachers that had stuck around. We used this time to discuss the craziest kids of the bunch, teach each other games, listen to music or dance. On one tutoring afternoon, his mom took us to the local gas station, got us snacks and let us have time together. There we were, ages 14 and 15, spending our time together talking about teachers and listening to John Mayer’s album “Room for Squares.”
We were both shy and didn’t mind empty space in our conversations. We had the ability to simply listen to music and enjoy it together.
“My stupid mouth got me in trouble, I said too much again to a date over dinner yesterday,” John sang as we stumbled over our words.
“And I could see she was offended, she said ‘Well, anyway,’” when we learned to recognize each other’s nervous ticks.
“Oh, it’s another social casualty, score one more for me, how could I forget, momma said think before speaking. Oh what’s a boy to do,” sang to the boy with the coolest mom on the block. She could listen to him ramble for hours, but we were barely teenagers. We struggled with our conversations.
“We bit our lips, she looked out the window, rolling tiny balls of napkin paper, I played a game of chess with the salt and pepper shakers,” when we wanted to spend time together but didn’t really know how to deal with things at hand.
“Ms. Independent” Kelly Clarkson
When sophomore year came around, a new confidence seemed to appear suddenly, though I’d later realize that Tim had built it through the past couple of years. I stopped looking at my feet while walking down the hallway, I spoke my mind and I didn’t make decisions just because my friends wanted something. I apologized less.
My group of friends always spent lunch in the band hall, eating yogurt, drinking sprite and watching American Idol on our new projector. Kelly Clarkson’s songs were my anthem. She was a small girl with a big voice and an even bigger attitude, which was optimal in my opinion.
“Ms. Independent, Ms. Self-sufficient, Ms. Keep your distance, Ms. Unafraid Ms. out of my way, Ms. never let a man help her…” These were all the things I wanted to become. Tim & I continued our rogue friendship. Things grew between us. We were best friends, but I never liked to be seen as dependent or needy. He thrived on this; loved being around someone who could deliver the punch lines right back to him. He didn’t seem to mind my shove-when-pushed attitude. He simply cherished my reactions.
“She’d never ever feel rejected…” At this point, I thought I could protect my heart by not letting guys too close, but didn’t realize simple friendships would lead to the same emotions.
“Miss if you want to use that line, you better not start. She miscalculated, she didn’t want to end up jaded, she went in a new direction, but oo..she fell in love.” As I realized that Tim was not going to ask me out, even as much as he seemed to like me, I decided to take a different approach. I developed smaller, less meaningful crushes and ended up dating a couple guys. It was an old trick that too many people use, but I thought maybe Tim would be overcome with jealousy if he had to hear about these guys. I’m sure it would have worked better if I had actually had lunch with these guys instead of continuing to spend it with Tim.
“It took some time for her to see how beautiful love could truly be,” Kelly sang. At the time, I was just coming to realize that love shouldn’t involve jealousy and pettiness.
“This is the Last Time” Keane
My first relationship that took my mind off of Tim for a little while came in autumn of my junior year. It didn’t last long, three months or so, but it changed both of us. This other guy was a much more involved musician. He was not simply a spectator of the musical sport, but a participant. He was my bass accompanist in Jazz band, a creator of beautiful chords.
The entire school year was filled with moments that I thought would be the last time I had done something. Several of my friends had graduated and those remaining were graduating at the end of my junior year.
“I remember the first time, the first of many, sweep it into the corner or hide it under the bed, say these things will go away, but they never do,” is exactly how the last time that I would remember the last night spent at Becka’s house. All we did was play ping-pong, listen to oldies radio, and watch a movie about girls roping guys into marriage. It was fabulous, though. It was one of those things that you just can’t forget, even if you don’t want to think about it. You know things like that will never happen again in the exact same way.
“This is the last time that I will say these words,” Keane sang. This is the last time that I will say these words, I thought as Nino and I went to Los Montanos together, eating Mexican food and speaking in short, mismatched phrases of broken Georgian. It was the last time we celebrated our Friday night together before she returned to the Republic of Georgia.
“You fall on me for anything you like, and years make everything right…and I, I don’t mind. Tread it into the carpet or hide it under the stairs, but some things never die. And I try. I try.” Tim and I went to Thanks a Latte on its closing night, during its last few hours of business. We were in despair, not knowing how long it would take for the Underground coffeehouse to get organized before opening.
He was there for me in all ways possible. He was there after two breakups, telling the guys that they should have listened to me. They should have given me flowers. They should have been sitting across the dinner table from me and introducing me to their parents, as he came to do all of these things himself. That summer after junior year, he tread it into the carpet, trying to keep our relationship subtle, even though we were spending all of our time with each other. But some things never die.
“Fully Alive” Flyleaf
Slinking into my senior year, I felt that Tim and I became a unit. He was all I had to hold on to, since I would have to start my fourth set of friends in high school and he would have to find friends at the community college. I had been friends with so many people, but the group changed each year as people graduated out. My struggles were found in dealing with the graduated friends moving on, finding their way at college and not looking back.
“Dying lay a story spoken, about how all her bones are broken, hammers fall on all the pieces.” As I walked the endless laps in my last hour gym class, I listened to Lacey’s powerful words and felt their impact. A group of rude boys were obviously curious why I didn’t care to interact with the others in the class, so they would take to saying rude things about me as they passed me on the track. They only thought I couldn’t hear them, since I had my headphones on. Sticks and stones…
It had been the toughest year of my high school career. The boys in gym spoke about me. The boys in Spanish ridiculed me. The girls spread rumors about me because they didn’t know a single thing about me.
Hammers fell on all the pieces, but I fought back. I had no record, so the teachers let me slip by when I broke. Ripping off my headphones, I yelled back equal insults to the boys in gym class. I threw back enough witty comments to the boys in Spanish class that they became friendly, awaiting my quick answers that kept them entertained. I let the rumors fly, spent a day in in-school suspension, relishing the quiet, the peace, and the Harry Potter book I had brought along.
“All her complaints shrink to nothing, I’m afraid of all my some-things, she’s good for one day of comfort, only because she has suffered. Fully alive.” After the change in attitude, I became much more content with my life. I was okay without many friends at school. I had survived this far, so I would make it to graduation.
So, I walked my laps.
I made witty comments.
I walked my laps.
I listened to Flyleaf.
I walked my laps.
and I waited for my weekends with Tim.
3.2.09
“My Stupid Mouth” John Mayer
The summer before my freshman year of high school, many things about me changed. Out were my pastel-colored sweaters and caring around a stack of books in preparation for my long study hours after school.
My heart had been broken at the beginning of the summer by a boy I’d crushed on for two years and had become close friends with. In my boredom and immaturity, I started my plan to become a different person, so that he would come to like me. I donned black t-shirts with rock band names and pictures on them. I stopped wearing khakis and shorts, replacing them with jeans. Some of the jeans were dark and tight, others were light and ratty. I found the shoe of my dreams: a pair of Chuck Taylor converses. Most importantly, though were my eating habits. I stopped eating lunch, cut down snacks and ate as little as possible at the table.
The boy in question had dismissed me on the last day of school with a written note that he couldn’t spend time with me any longer because he couldn’t be in a relationship. Since we had become such close friends, I knew exactly what he was like. I knew which bands he listened to, what he would say if I asked his opinion, etc. In our time together, we discussed our love for music and he got me interested in bands such as Creed and Evanescence. My sister had bought a Creed album hastily and then passed it along to me when she realized she didn’t care for it. It was his voice in my mind, the only thing I would listen to. It was the playlist of the summer.
Upon entering high school, I returned to all of my past friends. Our small high school was connected to the junior high, so there wasn’t much to be desired in making the crossover. My main excitement for being in high school was to leave the beginner band and join this boy in the high school band. As I returned to school, people talked, as they do in small towns. I was losing weight, I dressed different, I was not the same person.
Suddenly, this boy wanted to talk to me and I couldn’t be more thrilled. His mother had taken an interest in me when she learned I had a crush, so she encouraged things to move along between us. She was a teacher in the same building where my mom taught. The two were good friends, so she convinced my mom that she needed an extra tutor in her after-school class. The only other helper she had was her son.
That autumn, Tim and I helped the children with their activities, then were usually left alone as his mom herded the kids to the cars and conveniently got caught up in conversations with other teachers that had stuck around. We used this time to discuss the craziest kids of the bunch, teach each other games, listen to music or dance. On one tutoring afternoon, his mom took us to the local gas station, got us snacks and let us have time together. There we were, ages 14 and 15, spending our time together talking about teachers and listening to John Mayer’s album “Room for Squares.”
We were both shy and didn’t mind empty space in our conversations. We had the ability to simply listen to music and enjoy it together.
“My stupid mouth got me in trouble, I said too much again to a date over dinner yesterday,” John sang as we stumbled over our words.
“And I could see she was offended, she said ‘Well, anyway,’” when we learned to recognize each other’s nervous ticks.
“Oh, it’s another social casualty, score one more for me, how could I forget, momma said think before speaking. Oh what’s a boy to do,” sang to the boy with the coolest mom on the block. She could listen to him ramble for hours, but we were barely teenagers. We struggled with our conversations.
“We bit our lips, she looked out the window, rolling tiny balls of napkin paper, I played a game of chess with the salt and pepper shakers,” when we wanted to spend time together but didn’t really know how to deal with things at hand.
“Ms. Independent” Kelly Clarkson
When sophomore year came around, a new confidence seemed to appear suddenly, though I’d later realize that Tim had built it through the past couple of years. I stopped looking at my feet while walking down the hallway, I spoke my mind and I didn’t make decisions just because my friends wanted something. I apologized less.
My group of friends always spent lunch in the band hall, eating yogurt, drinking sprite and watching American Idol on our new projector. Kelly Clarkson’s songs were my anthem. She was a small girl with a big voice and an even bigger attitude, which was optimal in my opinion.
“Ms. Independent, Ms. Self-sufficient, Ms. Keep your distance, Ms. Unafraid Ms. out of my way, Ms. never let a man help her…” These were all the things I wanted to become. Tim & I continued our rogue friendship. Things grew between us. We were best friends, but I never liked to be seen as dependent or needy. He thrived on this; loved being around someone who could deliver the punch lines right back to him. He didn’t seem to mind my shove-when-pushed attitude. He simply cherished my reactions.
“She’d never ever feel rejected…” At this point, I thought I could protect my heart by not letting guys too close, but didn’t realize simple friendships would lead to the same emotions.
“Miss if you want to use that line, you better not start. She miscalculated, she didn’t want to end up jaded, she went in a new direction, but oo..she fell in love.” As I realized that Tim was not going to ask me out, even as much as he seemed to like me, I decided to take a different approach. I developed smaller, less meaningful crushes and ended up dating a couple guys. It was an old trick that too many people use, but I thought maybe Tim would be overcome with jealousy if he had to hear about these guys. I’m sure it would have worked better if I had actually had lunch with these guys instead of continuing to spend it with Tim.
“It took some time for her to see how beautiful love could truly be,” Kelly sang. At the time, I was just coming to realize that love shouldn’t involve jealousy and pettiness.
“This is the Last Time” Keane
My first relationship that took my mind off of Tim for a little while came in autumn of my junior year. It didn’t last long, three months or so, but it changed both of us. This other guy was a much more involved musician. He was not simply a spectator of the musical sport, but a participant. He was my bass accompanist in Jazz band, a creator of beautiful chords.
The entire school year was filled with moments that I thought would be the last time I had done something. Several of my friends had graduated and those remaining were graduating at the end of my junior year.
“I remember the first time, the first of many, sweep it into the corner or hide it under the bed, say these things will go away, but they never do,” is exactly how the last time that I would remember the last night spent at Becka’s house. All we did was play ping-pong, listen to oldies radio, and watch a movie about girls roping guys into marriage. It was fabulous, though. It was one of those things that you just can’t forget, even if you don’t want to think about it. You know things like that will never happen again in the exact same way.
“This is the last time that I will say these words,” Keane sang. This is the last time that I will say these words, I thought as Nino and I went to Los Montanos together, eating Mexican food and speaking in short, mismatched phrases of broken Georgian. It was the last time we celebrated our Friday night together before she returned to the Republic of Georgia.
“You fall on me for anything you like, and years make everything right…and I, I don’t mind. Tread it into the carpet or hide it under the stairs, but some things never die. And I try. I try.” Tim and I went to Thanks a Latte on its closing night, during its last few hours of business. We were in despair, not knowing how long it would take for the Underground coffeehouse to get organized before opening.
He was there for me in all ways possible. He was there after two breakups, telling the guys that they should have listened to me. They should have given me flowers. They should have been sitting across the dinner table from me and introducing me to their parents, as he came to do all of these things himself. That summer after junior year, he tread it into the carpet, trying to keep our relationship subtle, even though we were spending all of our time with each other. But some things never die.
“Fully Alive” Flyleaf
Slinking into my senior year, I felt that Tim and I became a unit. He was all I had to hold on to, since I would have to start my fourth set of friends in high school and he would have to find friends at the community college. I had been friends with so many people, but the group changed each year as people graduated out. My struggles were found in dealing with the graduated friends moving on, finding their way at college and not looking back.
“Dying lay a story spoken, about how all her bones are broken, hammers fall on all the pieces.” As I walked the endless laps in my last hour gym class, I listened to Lacey’s powerful words and felt their impact. A group of rude boys were obviously curious why I didn’t care to interact with the others in the class, so they would take to saying rude things about me as they passed me on the track. They only thought I couldn’t hear them, since I had my headphones on. Sticks and stones…
It had been the toughest year of my high school career. The boys in gym spoke about me. The boys in Spanish ridiculed me. The girls spread rumors about me because they didn’t know a single thing about me.
Hammers fell on all the pieces, but I fought back. I had no record, so the teachers let me slip by when I broke. Ripping off my headphones, I yelled back equal insults to the boys in gym class. I threw back enough witty comments to the boys in Spanish class that they became friendly, awaiting my quick answers that kept them entertained. I let the rumors fly, spent a day in in-school suspension, relishing the quiet, the peace, and the Harry Potter book I had brought along.
“All her complaints shrink to nothing, I’m afraid of all my some-things, she’s good for one day of comfort, only because she has suffered. Fully alive.” After the change in attitude, I became much more content with my life. I was okay without many friends at school. I had survived this far, so I would make it to graduation.
So, I walked my laps.
I made witty comments.
I walked my laps.
I listened to Flyleaf.
I walked my laps.
and I waited for my weekends with Tim.
Choosing Majors Wisely in the Recession
In the face of an economic crisis, this generation of college students chooses majors more carefully and the choice differs from the past. Ten years ago, the most popular majors at UA included Childhood Education, Psychology, and Accounting. Now, the focus is on health science degrees.
According to the American Heart Association, baby boomers are living longer than past generations as a result of measles and polio vaccines and radical heart surgeries. Despite the lengthened age, the boomers have more chronic diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes, so they are more likely to make use of health care services.
In 2007, 13 percent of the U.S. population was age 65 and older, but that number will increase to 20 percent when the last of the baby boomers reach retirement. The Department of Labor predicts a steep increase in the number of health care jobs accessible in the next four years. As many as 4,700,000 jobs will be available, which is a 30 percent increase.
Geoffery Jensen, a graduate student and World Civilizations Instructor agreed that health sciences are a good direction for students during this time. Jensen explained that a long series of events has lead to a dire need for more doctors and people in the health care systems. “Retirements, frivolous lawsuits, insanely high insurance premiums, and the overall poor condition of the health care system have reduced the amount of practicing doctors in our country,” he said. Jensen also encouraged students to keep an eye on the way congress and the president deal with health care in our country.
Students at UA have already gravitated toward the health science majors. The most chosen majors at UA in 2008 were Kinesiology with 599 students, Nursing with 560 students and Biology with 542 students.
Patsy Watkins, the UA Journalism Department Chair, offers advice for students searching for practical majors that will be most likely to provide jobs in the future. “Students should research their field, talk to professors, and take the skills you have and decide where to put them,” Watkins said. Each year, Watkins turns her students to the occupational outlook handbook. She said this information would be helpful to students to get a good idea of occupations that have the potential for growth in the next five to ten years. Watkins explained that students often end up in jobs that were not an obvious choice for their major, but were accessible because of the skills they picked up while earning their degree.
A recurring theme in the search for a good major is that no major is entirely recession-proof. There seems to be no guarantee that your particular major will provide a job for you constantly. Although Jensen said he believes there are a couple of areas that have the potential to weather the recession better than others, he also emphasized the importance of sticking to what you want to do with your life.
“It will be a very competitive, tough market for the next year or two because of the recession,” Watkins said. “If students can think in terms of the economy being on an upswing within the next two to three years and simply be prepared, they will do just fine.”
Students have chosen majors from a wide range of reasoning. High school experiences, family member’s jobs, information provided by the universities, and even procrastinating have all attributed to UA students final decisions.
For many students, choosing a major can come from simply running out of time. When undeclared major Charla Beasley came to the beginning of her junior year, she said she was “put on the spot” by her advisor. “My advisor said ‘You know you have to choose a major now, right?’ I laughed, and then I just told her it had to be art,” Beasley said. Beasley designs tattoos for friends, owns a photography business, and practices all forms of art. She said she did not feel prepared to declare a major, but that the choice to major in art was only natural.
Some students prefer to make use of all available material before carefully deciding on a major. One such student is Brittany Bogle. She began exploring her main interests, science and math, by reading university brochures, narrowing her choice down to two engineering majors, then sitting through a couple classes of each. Now in her senior year, Bogle said she feels confident that her choice was a good one, even for the recession period. She expressed concerns that there are fewer companies that provide internships, but overall has seen engineering grow. “Our job is to reduce the spending of companies, which is exactly what they need right now,” Bogle said.
According to the American Heart Association, baby boomers are living longer than past generations as a result of measles and polio vaccines and radical heart surgeries. Despite the lengthened age, the boomers have more chronic diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes, so they are more likely to make use of health care services.
In 2007, 13 percent of the U.S. population was age 65 and older, but that number will increase to 20 percent when the last of the baby boomers reach retirement. The Department of Labor predicts a steep increase in the number of health care jobs accessible in the next four years. As many as 4,700,000 jobs will be available, which is a 30 percent increase.
Geoffery Jensen, a graduate student and World Civilizations Instructor agreed that health sciences are a good direction for students during this time. Jensen explained that a long series of events has lead to a dire need for more doctors and people in the health care systems. “Retirements, frivolous lawsuits, insanely high insurance premiums, and the overall poor condition of the health care system have reduced the amount of practicing doctors in our country,” he said. Jensen also encouraged students to keep an eye on the way congress and the president deal with health care in our country.
Students at UA have already gravitated toward the health science majors. The most chosen majors at UA in 2008 were Kinesiology with 599 students, Nursing with 560 students and Biology with 542 students.
Patsy Watkins, the UA Journalism Department Chair, offers advice for students searching for practical majors that will be most likely to provide jobs in the future. “Students should research their field, talk to professors, and take the skills you have and decide where to put them,” Watkins said. Each year, Watkins turns her students to the occupational outlook handbook. She said this information would be helpful to students to get a good idea of occupations that have the potential for growth in the next five to ten years. Watkins explained that students often end up in jobs that were not an obvious choice for their major, but were accessible because of the skills they picked up while earning their degree.
A recurring theme in the search for a good major is that no major is entirely recession-proof. There seems to be no guarantee that your particular major will provide a job for you constantly. Although Jensen said he believes there are a couple of areas that have the potential to weather the recession better than others, he also emphasized the importance of sticking to what you want to do with your life.
“It will be a very competitive, tough market for the next year or two because of the recession,” Watkins said. “If students can think in terms of the economy being on an upswing within the next two to three years and simply be prepared, they will do just fine.”
Students have chosen majors from a wide range of reasoning. High school experiences, family member’s jobs, information provided by the universities, and even procrastinating have all attributed to UA students final decisions.
For many students, choosing a major can come from simply running out of time. When undeclared major Charla Beasley came to the beginning of her junior year, she said she was “put on the spot” by her advisor. “My advisor said ‘You know you have to choose a major now, right?’ I laughed, and then I just told her it had to be art,” Beasley said. Beasley designs tattoos for friends, owns a photography business, and practices all forms of art. She said she did not feel prepared to declare a major, but that the choice to major in art was only natural.
Some students prefer to make use of all available material before carefully deciding on a major. One such student is Brittany Bogle. She began exploring her main interests, science and math, by reading university brochures, narrowing her choice down to two engineering majors, then sitting through a couple classes of each. Now in her senior year, Bogle said she feels confident that her choice was a good one, even for the recession period. She expressed concerns that there are fewer companies that provide internships, but overall has seen engineering grow. “Our job is to reduce the spending of companies, which is exactly what they need right now,” Bogle said.
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