But having been at it for a few months now, I feel like I’ve learned something about myself, my fellow students and the state of academic writing at Elon: Writing will still be important after college. Academic writing won’t be.
For those of you who I have not had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Anna Torres-Zeb, and I serve as the Muslim Coordinator at Elon University.
There’s an app for ordering appetizers, apps for making appointments, apps for renting apartments, apps for anything you can think of — and this year, that includes the career fair. When’s the last time you heard someone refer to a “program?” Who needs brochures and booklets?
Elon University’s semiannual Job and Internship Expos offer students of all years opportunities to interact with potential employers. But these expos, including yesterday’s, have consistently focused on business students, with communications students receiving comparatively little attention and students of other schools receiving even less.
If it had been available when I was a freshman, I absolutely would have applied. But the Sports, Participation & Networking (SPN) Living Learning Community (LLC), which is focused on sports and ties in with the Sport and Event Management (SEM) department, is new to Elon University this year. According to its page on Elon’s website, those in the SPN will “participate in intramural sports on campus as well as attend local sporting events” and “plan social events that interest them and engage with faculty members ... outside of the classroom.” The description also mentions meet-and-greets with Elon coaches, group dinners and trips to events such as the ACC Tournament and minor league baseball games. Sounds great.
If we apply ourselves to academics with the intention to acquire knowledge, good grades should naturally follow. But by taking the easy route now and only applying ourselves for the immediate reward, we are only enhancing the challenges we’ll face the moment we leave campus.
When my daughter was small and angry with me, she called me the Mean Mean Monkey Queen (Thank you, “The Wizard of Oz”), so I thought that if I ever had a grammar column or blog, I’d use the name Mean Mean Grammar Queen, since having taught grammar, linguistics and writing for four decades probably qualifies me for that title.
Lately, I’ve been thinking, “Maybe I’m mediocre.” And even more lately, I’ve been thinking, “So what?” Growing up in the age of participation trophies, I have been led to believe, like many others of my generation, that I am special — perhaps even destined — for great things.
First of all, we’ve got to address this: Somebody left their cocaine outside the Moseley Center.
At Elon University, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life — formerly the Office of Greek Life — is making an effort to improve the relationship between Greek organizations and the rest of campus and the general perception of Greek organizations on campus. But these efforts can’t be one-sided.
There are 20 million refugees in the world at this moment, more than at any other time in history.
Americans from all over the country are frustrated with their government, and rightfully so. The past seven years have been an exercise in gridlock, with Republicans in Congress determined to block any initiative on any issue made by the president.
Last week was a big one for Elon University’s SGA. If any incoming Elon freshmen were unaware of SGA’s existence, the recent election of officers for the Class of 2019 and Thursday’s Call to Honor ceremony certainly made its presence known — to younger students.
For more than 100 years, we here at Doctors’ Orders have been bringing nose exhalations, chuckles and maybe — if we’re lucky — even laughter to the Elon University community.
“True freedom is built on liberty.” This Jewish lesson instructs us that there can be no freedom without equal rights — and this includes all rights: voting rights, working rights, education rights, equal pay rights, environmental justice rights, marriage equality rights, reproductive justice rights and every right found in our great nation that is offered to any one of its citizens.
“On my honor, I will uphold the values of Elon University: honesty, integrity, responsibility, and respect.”
Students must decide for themselves what they want their abroad experiences to be. They can choose to go somewhere that will further their career goals or that offers courses specific to their major, or they can choose to go to the same abroad destination as their friends. These options are not mutually exclusive: It’s certainly possible to study abroad with friends and still have an experience that fulfills academic, professional, cultural and personal goals. But that is up to each student to determine for him or herself.
Ask any group of English majors what their pet peeves are, and you could compile an entire BuzzFeed-esque listicle entitled “1,000 grammar mistakes you didn’t know you were making but definitely are.” But as an English major, do you know what my pet peeve is? Grammar snobs.
When you and any traveling companions make it to your destination, provided you all survive the journey, you will be rewarded with Elon University Dining’s latest delicacy: Einstein Bros. Bagels.
By placing our confidence in the deeper qualities that make Elon such an attractive school, we can instead build lasting relationships with our students, new, old and incoming, one that keeps them coming back for more.
