Play Ball!

The sixth annual "Swing into Spring" will be held this Friday, March 23. The event will kick off the Statesboro-Bulloch County Parks and Recreation Department's baseball and softball season. It will begin at 4p.m. at Mill Creek Park and wrap up at 9 p.m. with a fireworks display. The event will also feature music, exhibition games, tattoo art, balloons and the traditional first pitch of the season and comments from local dignitaries.

At 5 p.m., there will be inflatable games, karaoke and other activities taking place at Field One. At 6 p.m., ATA Blackbelt Academy will present a community exhibition, followed by Cheer South at 6:30.

Truman the Dinosaur, the mascot of the Statesboro Herald's Kidsville publication will be making an appearance and Coca-Cola and the SBCPRD will give away four tickets for an Atlanta Braves/Six Flags trip.

I think this sounds like a fun-filled event and I know it has been successful in past years. Your kids are sure to enjoy all the games and maybe even get into some karaoke! Who knows...you could end up being the lucky one who wins a trip to Six Flags!!

The event is free and is sponsored by: SBCPRD, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Subway, Coca-Cola, AllGood Pest Solutions, MKK Construction, Parkwood RV and Cottages and Wal-Mart. If this sparks your interest, you can register at the Honey Bowen Building, online at www.bullochrec.com or at the information tent on the night of the event.

Spring Break!

All students are happy that spring break is finally upon us. Whether you are getting out of town or just relaxing and not having to worry about going to class, spring break is sure to be a much needed break. I will be spending my break in Florida, and I am certain that the same goes for a lot of you. Unfortunately, I will not be able to spend Saint Patrick's day in Savannah, but I know a lot of students will attend the fun-filled night! I love St. Patty's in Savannah, but I just urge you to be careful along with having a great time.

Georgia Southern's Office of Health Education and Office of Public Safety is wrapping up the spring break awareness week. The week was full of events designed to make students mindful of the dangers that can come along with spring break fun. The safe driving information session and mocktails, which shows students that non-alcoholic drinks can be tasty as well, occurred earlier in the week. If you missed those events, you can still catch the highlight of the week which is tonight at 7 p.m. in Russell Union. This event will feature speakers Joyce and Eric Krug who will share their tragic story with students.

Eric Krugg made the decision to ride with a drunk driver and it changed his life forever. After the accident, he was left with the inability to walk and brain damage that no longer allows him long term memory or the ability to talk. His mother, Joyce, will tell his story.

I think this will be a very interesting and eye-opening event. If you can attend, I think it would be something to consider. I know we all hear drunk driving horror stories all the time, but I think this one might be a little different. The event is free and will definitely be worth your time.

I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe spring break. Have fun, but please be responsible and pay attention to what is going on around you.

New and Improved

Has anyone else noticed that the Georgia Southern email has been crazy lately? Every time I try to check my email. it is soooo slow and then after you sit and wait a stupid error message pops up! But it looks like after spring break all our email troubles will be gone!

On March 14, GSU will be launching a new email server. The server from Mirapoint will be much better than the Squirrel Mail we are used to. Users will be able to create calendars with task reminders that can be made readily available to share with other users in the server. The new system will give us a total of 50 megabytes. This will be helpful for students who send and receive large emails. The new server will also allow users to organize and store information with address books and group contact lists.

I think the best part of the new server is that it will have faster response times and an online help function that will be improved compared to other email servers in the past. Another good thing is that all your current email items will be automatically converted to Mirapoint, so nothing will be lost in the transition.

Some students are skeptical and do not see the need for the change, but I think the change is well overdue. It seems like I have a problem with my email account almost everyday...that is when I can actually get into it, which I haven't been able to do today. So I am more than ready for the change. I also think that spring break is the perfect time to implement the new system because students will not be using their email over the break and we will not be complaining about the email not being available.

All in all, I think this is a great idea and it is just another step that GSU is taking in order to keep up with the times and provide the students and faculty with adeqate means of communicating. I am glad that GSU is making this and all the other changes. I hope there are more changes to come that will again improve our school.

Movin' on Up!

In Fall 2007, the Commication Arts Department will have a new home! Now I know there may be some of you who will miss our beloved trailer (yeah right) but it's time to move on! Veazey Hall, which was orginally a residence hall here at Georgia Southern, is under renovation to make a new home for the comm arts department as well as graduate studies and the office of strategic studies.

This move is partly because GSU has an initiative to eliminate the temporary buildings on campus. This relocation will get rid of two trailers on campus. It has always seemed odd to me that the comm arts department was the one that got put in a trailer because we are the largest department on campus with 900 students. I have had many classes in the trailer, most of which were held in the exact same room, but I will not have a problem with the move. I am excitied that it will be occuring before I graduate.

The new Veazey Hall will have six classrooms on the first floor and an accommodating lobby for students to hang out in while waiting for class. There will also be two or three computer labs for teaching or student's personal use. The Office of Graduate Studies and Office of Strategic Studies will will be housed on the second floor. The third floor will house two more classrooms and instructor's offices. Since Veazey used to be dorms, there are some drawbacks of the building. Some pivitol supports in the structure which conflict with the layout of some of the classrooms will have to be left in. This will not allow larger classrooms sizes.

The move is set to take place as soon as the middle of the summer terms, but some faculty are concerned about a late move in the Fall. Either way, I can not wait! I will not miss the trailer and will be more than happy to say goodbye!

Eagle Expo

About to graduate and still don't have a job lined up? No need to stress, the Eagle Expo Career Fair is taking place tomorrow at the RAC. A lot of companies will have booths set up and can't wait to talk with you. The career fair gives rising juniors and seniors the opportunity to explore their options with regard to full-time, intership and co-op positions.

The event is hosted by Career Services and I think it is very helpful. I went to the last career fair and it was a great opportunity to get my resume out there and talk with companies that I was interested in. It really gave me a more positive outlook on life after college.

Last year approximately 100 students attended the fair to check out the wide range of career opportunities. The day after the fair, a number of organizations will be giving students the opportunity to conduct interviews with them through the Career Services Office.

Career Services offers a number of programs including Dining for Success, Life Planning Conference, and mock interviews. The website also has resume samples and many other helpful handouts. I know I wouldn't have been able to do my resume without the help of career services because I had no clue where to start, but the people in the career services office made it easy.

I think all students should take advantage of career services because the people there know what they are doing and their job is to help you find a job or internship or whatever you are looking for. Without career services, I would feel lost. If you feel lost you should check out the Eagle Expo tomorrow at the RAC from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Make sure to dress nice...you don't want to show up in jeans! Get a head start before graduation and head over to the Office of Career Services located on the first floor of the Williams Center.

Better food options

I know that when I was a freshman, I hated the meal plans. I pretty much ate Chickfila for a year. The food at Landrum was not the best, to say the least, the options were pretty much grease, grease, or grease. But now it looks as though all that will change. There are plans in the works to renovate Landrum.

Landrum has already changed a bit, Season's, a buffet style service, was added last summer in the hopes of giving students healthier chocies. Many students are growing tired of the burgers, pizza, and fried food that Landrum has always supplied. I do think it would be a smart move for the university to make a more balanced menu. For the students who live in the dorms, school food is about their only option since they don't have the luxury of a kitchen. I never realized how great a kitchen really is until I lived in the dorms.

Students today are more health conscious than in previous years and I think the school needs to adapt to that. Maybe then no one would have to worry about the dreaded freshman fifteen. When students come to college, many are on their own for the first time and in order to make healthy meal choices, the healthy choices have to be there. There really isn't one when the only food offered is fried products.

County transport system needed

Despite the huge amounts of traffic around town, it might surprise you to know that many students do not have any means of transporation other than walking. Freshman and international students are the two most common groups of students who do not have cars. The Southern Express has helped out around campus, but students are in need of a bus system that will take them around town. Although many students agree that a city bus system is needed, it doesn't look like their wishes will come true anytime soon.

Right now, it doesn't look like a city bus system is financially feasible. The project would have to be subsidized by the county taxpayers. Students may also not realize how expensive a bus system really is. According to the director of parking and trasporation, it costs over $1 million a year to run the Southern Express.

The Coastal Georgia Regional Development Council is currently doing a study to see if there is in fact a significant need for a transit system in Bulloch County. If it turns out that there are enough needs, then the process could begin by people going out and looking for the funds.

Right now, it looks like the students will just have to wait and see. I think a bus could help those students without transportion, but I wonder if it would just cause more congestion. Maybe not if those people with cars would ride the bus instead of driving, but I doubt that they will. There is a bus in my hometown but no one I know uses it. It county bus system may help, but it could also potentially cause problems. I guess we will find out soon enough.