My guess is that we are working on the final issue of The Lantern this week. Although a little sad, it’s more of a sigh of relief. As soon as we get this paper underway, we can begin to focus on our finals.

This year has been quite the learning experience for us. But, we wouldn’t trade it, because without the experience we would never learn. Working for the newspaper isn’t just about book learning, we learn about ourselves as well. This is the kind of experience we will never forget.

What really got to me was that a teacher the other day saw me walking and said hi, asked how I was and called me by my name. The thing is though, I only had her once a week last semester, yet she still remembers me by name.

It’s nice to know that teachers care enough to learn names. Every single one of my teachers here at Butler have always let students know they are more than welcome to visit during office hours and ask questions.

I will really miss this about Butler when I leave here, and I will never forget how much it mattered to me.

But then, within the first few weeks here I was having an awesome time with my friends on the newspaper staff and I was slowly meeting many new people. And life in the dorms was actually pretty cool.

Now that I am about to complete my first year at Butler, I look back on these memories rather fondly and will definitely use what I know now when I come back in the fall.

I thought about how nerve-racking it was as I wandered around campus the day before classes started. The entire day I felt sick to my stomach. College is an entirely different experience than high school, and I didn’t feel prepared.

See, I’m really shy and I’m not a people person, so I wasn’t sure how college was going to be for me. Turns out, it’s been an amazing experience, and the reason I believe it turned out so great is because I learned to surround myself with people who care, are supportive and who are good friends.

As we enter high school, college, the real world, or whatever we may go into, it’s always important to surround ourselves with good people in our lives. It’s good to always have a support system.

Mandy meeting with an advisor

Trying to understand exactly what classes are needed, which semester to take them in, information for transferring, financial aid, etc., can be extremely overwhelming and confusing.

Almost every single one of my experiences with advisors has been extremely helpful. Not only that, but they always seem to go the extra mile to help.

The other day I saw an advisor because I had questions about transferring to Wichita State University. The advisor not only answered all my questions, but printed some information off for me that was extremely useful.

I think advisors’ work sometimes goes unnoticed. We should all be thankful for the advisors at our college.

The Gay-Straight Alliance was recently deemed an official group by the Student Government Association.

What I wanted to say about this group is how much I respect them for standing up for themselves and taking the steps in order to raise awareness about this issue that is sometimes swept under the rug.

It’s takes a lot to stand up to an entire college and express feelings for the controversial issue. I think what this group did is amazing, and it’s guaranteed they have inspired many.

Also, this group wasn’t just organized and then left at that; They are planning many different things in order to raise awareness around the campus.

I think their actions and confidence will inspire many, and will create a new kind of respect on this campus.

Everyone always appreciates gratitude for their hard work and we’ve gotten many compliments before, but there’s one certain instance that I will never forget.

While we were working on the paper one day, a lady came into the computer lab and asked if we were the Lantern staff. After realizing we must be, she went on to tell us how much she appreciated us and how important it was to her that we covered a variety of topics and groups on campus.

She brought us in some treats to express her gratitude and even knew most of us by name. It meant so much to our staff that somebody took the time to thank us for our hard work. It was an amazing feeling to know somebody reads our paper each week and really enjoys all we do.

I assumed people read our paper and appreciated certain stories, pictures, etc., but I never expected somebody to take time out of their day to go buy us dessert and drive to the campus to tell us thank you. I guess the unexpected things are sometimes the most rewarding.

Texting. That’s right, texting.

I am sure you have read many articles and news reports about the accidents and deaths caused by people texting and driving. Notice I said “people” because texting is not just for teenagers anymore! As the Bob Dylan song goes “the times, they are a-changin.” For example, the best way to get in contact with my parents nowadays is to send them a quick text. Now, instead of seeing a missed call and playing some obnoxious phone tag to see what I need, they simply read my text and respond. Quick and painless, right?

Wrong! Recently, I had a close friend get into an awful car accident because she was texting. She totaled her car and miraculously walked away with a minor injury. She might have been responding to a meaningless text, like “Lol!” or something equally insignificant when she ran her car into the back of a parked trailer. She is so very fortunate to still be kickin’, and believe me, she learned the hard way what texting and driving can do. Luckily, we do not all have to be involved in a terrible accident to know texting has gotten out of hand.

As a fairly new member of the RadioShack team, I have stopped to learn how amazing cell phones really are. In training, I have found that we essentially have miniscule computers at our every beck and call. Although this invention is a wonderful one, I still have to take a little sticker off of every AT&T cell phone I sell at work that simply reads “don’t text and drive.” It truly is a big deal and needs to be taken into consideration when we go about our daily lives.

In case all of this didn’t convince you, here’s a youtube video that I’m sure will alter your views on texting and driving.

I am certainly not suggesting we stop texting, just be a little more cautious. As the 2002 “Spider-man” film says, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Think about that the next time you light up (your cell phone).

The reason I wasn’t upset is because the call, text and email was to inform me that Butler Community College would be closed for a snow day! Okay, I don’t mean to sound like a child, but I was pretty excited and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping and praying the night before that the snow would keep falling.
I know that we just had a full weekend, but sometimes, you just need an extra day off. I was super busy this weekend with pre-arranged plans and I didn’t even watch most of the Super Bowl because I was doing homework.

I was happy to receive the day off this past Monday. I spent a few hours catching up on sleep, then my boyfriend and I went grocery shopping and I got ahead in my online classes. I also got in some extra study time for my upcoming Anatomy and Physiology test.
I’m sad to inform everyone, though, that I did not find the time to build a snow man or go sledding, which is pretty sad. I think this is a sign that I’m growing up.

Different Students use their extra days off for a variety of reasons, but I guarantee most of us got in some extra snooze hours but, who can blame us? My brother isn’t oblivious to the fact that college kids need more sleep than we actually get. He called me as soon as he got out of school and asked me if I enjoyed sleeping in. It would be funny to see how many other college students got a call like this one.

I hope everyone enjoyed their snow day and slept well.

Written by Emily Palan
As a child growing up in the 90’s, I was subjected to a decade of mostly terrible music and very little incredible music.  Despite this fact, ever since I can remember, my home was filled with music; my three older brothers were either blasting music through their stereos (do kids nowadays even know what those are?) or playing the many instruments they learned.  My dad is a phenomenal musician, playing anything from his particular favorite, acoustic guitar, to any sort of brass instrument. Basically, if it has keys or strings or anything to be played, he will play it.  Finally, my mother was the pianist for our church each week and also has an angelically beautiful singing voice.

So, suffice to say, I was born and raised with the musically inclined and it certainly rubbed off on me.  When middle school band rolled around, for some reason I had the idea that I wanted to play French horn because my older brother, Hank, played it for a few years. While my instrumental phase did not last too long, my love for music has never gone away.  And probably never will.

My oldest brother Aaron is ten years older than me and first introduced me to some of my all-time favorite musicians; The Beatles,  jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and Don McLean.  Growing up in a household with a strong focus on music has taught me many things.  I appreciate the level of difficulty that goes into a single piece of music, the endless genres that now exist and thrive thanks to sites like MySpace and Facebook and countless other aspects about music. When people say music is their life, it sometimes seems a little silly to me.  But, that truly is the only way I can describe my intense love and respect for music.  Every time I get into my car, my stereo is cranked up and I am jammin’ right along with every beat.  Every time I sit down to write another newspaper article, a blog, school paper or even just writing on friends’ walls on Facebook, I absolutely must have music playing on my laptop.

Music also seems to flow perfectly with whatever mood I am in.  When I am reading or trying desperately to focus on writing something, my headphones are blasting classical music like my favorite “Clair de Lune” or Beethoven’s ever dreary “Piano Sonata No. 14,” more commonly known as “Moonlight Sonata.”  When I am driving in my car from my hometown, Newton, back to school in El Dorado, I like something a bit more upbeat and I am not too picky about the artist or genre.

I really will listen to any kind of music and I have my wonderful parents and extraordinarily gifted brothers to thank for this lifelong love of mine.