Lea Rittenhouse

With the current changes in the economy, students are gravitating toward degrees that will secure them with careers when they finish their education.
University students are not strangers to this trend as the most sought after programs are centered on specific professions.

“We do know that students do tend to go toward the colleges that are geared toward professions like engineering, education, nursing, business, but that’s always been true, Dr. Donna Dickerson, vice provost for academic affairs, said.

I’m just going to be honest. I use social networking sites just as much as the next college student, despite the stigma that comes with online media.

I have a Facebook, a blog, a twitter and an Instagram account that I use pretty often.

If you were honest with yourself, you would admit you are on Facebook just as much as me.

According to The Pew Research Center, 75 percent of people in my generation have a social network profile.

Few individuals portray such a vibrant passion for serving the community as Travis White, local licensed professional counselor and executive director of Mission Tyler.

With the increase of technology and online classes in universities come the benefits of convenience and organization, but also the dangers of plagiarism and lack of time off.

I have personally taken a plethora of online classes during my college career and through my experience I have formed a few thoughts concerning the value of online learning.

More than 77 percent of college presidents report their institutions offer online courses, according to the Pew Research Center.

The University softball team played well at the fall tournament on Saturday.

The team won three out of four games and tied their fourth.

“I thought we had an outstanding day,” said Head Softball Coach Mike Reid. “I’m very pleased how it went and I thought it was a good way to cap off our fall season.”

Representatives from the Game Club plan to facilitate a Human vs. Zombie game on campus later this month.

The event is a game of moderated tag designed to simulate a “zombie apocalypse,” according to humanvszombies.org.

Amanda Davis, senior marketing major and event planner, said HVZ is a social game that she hopes many students will participate in.

University student Kelsey Wade plans to display her work at the ArtWalk in downtown Tyler on Thursday.

For  Wade, sophomore art major, the event is a chance to expose her work to the public.

Wade said she participated in her first Artwalk in June.

The event served as a platform to share her art for the first time, she said.

“At the end of the day, I sold two pieces and found many people who were interested in my work,” she said. “It was a valuable experience and I’m thrilled to participate again.”

When University student Bethany Bradley, sophomore piano performance major, missed a call from her father while attending Sunday school, she knew something was wrong.

“After calling my father back and hearing him break into sobs, and then being told that Ben died, I shut my cell phone and cried my eyes out,” Bradley said. “In a few seconds, life as I knew it was gone.”