I was having a conversation tonight with some girls, and we were talking about some issues that we see on campus. These issues ranged from chapel to not knowing about activites, and not doing stuff with their cornerstone group.

The main issue with chapels are the back corners of the assembly building. This is were all the athletes sit. For most of them the only reason they go to chapel is so they don't get on chapel probation. Because if they were on probation, they cannot play their respective sport. So they go because they have to, and they really don't care what is going on around them. They like to talk and make noise. Fellow students can complain about the noise, but most athletes don't care because they belive that they are better than the students around them. Why should they listen to those that are not like them and have a lower standing than athletes. To me, when they have the athletic meeting at the beginning of each year talking about the duties of an athlete, it almost seems to me that athletes are being told that they are better than the regular student because they are balancing a sport and school. We try to come up with some solutions, but none of them would really work. For instance, if you rope of the back area, they would just move closer to the front. With them moving, they would bring the nosie and the talking with them. I think addressing the athletes and talking to them about this issue might help. However, I have no idea how to solve this issue.

Someone also mentioned that they do not know about activities on campus. They want PAs and RAs to better inform those that they work with. However, this does not seem plausible because PAs and RAs already have a lot to worry about. They do not need more things to do. Activites are well advirtise. There are plenty of signs all over campus (ie in SAGA, in chapel, on floors). If you want to know what activities are going on, you would take the time to stop and read the signs. I do have to say sometimes YAC gets their calendars out late, but that should not be an excuse not to know what is going on. You have to ask the upperclassmen what activities are if you are not sure of them. More than likely, they would have had that activity sometime in their college career here.

You can't complain that your cornerstone's class does not meet anymore. If you want to see the people in it, YOU have to take the initiative. Don't just wait for them to come to you. If you want to have an activity with them, YOU take the initiative. A friendship is not one-sided and its not easy work. If you want to be friends with someone in your group, you have to work at it. I did not take cornerstones. Instead, I took precepts. After it was over, I did not let my friendship with those in the group die because we do not have class with them anymore. I took the initiative to go and see them and hang out with them. You cannot rely on your PA or your freshman mentor. You cannot blame them either. The only person you can rely on or blame is yourself. I guess your group does not mean that much to you to not put the effort into to stay friends. With the people in my precepts class, I still hang out with most of them. A couple of them are even some of my really good friends here. I even have the joy of working with one of them. Take the initiative and go out and see them.

I think that will be about all for tonight. I still have homework left to do. I am not finished with this yet. There are still more issues that we talked about. I will just blog about them later.