Student Speak

Gen Z is falling short of who we were destined to become

By Livia LaMarca | April 18, 2025

  I think for most members of my generation — the illustrious Gen Z crowd — it is a relatively common phenomenon to have a parent or other older adult turn and look at you, pleading with you to “save the world” or “be the change.” As an individual who is planning to attend law…

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American kids are overmedicated

By Jack Verrill | April 11, 2025

  America is a lot of things: a global leader in innovation, an arms dealer, a centuries-old democracy, an abuser of human rights (sometimes). We are also a pharmacy, and if you are a toddler showing mild signs of hyperactivity, boy do we have the product for you. Meet the “focus pill.” Focus pills are stimulants intended to address attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.…

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We are losing ourselves to the internet

By Livia LaMarca | April 4, 2025
[Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.]   Just the other day, I was sitting in the William Pitt Union people-watching. There…

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Princeton’s role in combating the drug crisis must start on campus

By Lizbeth Reyes | March 28, 2025

  Drug addiction is a public health crisis in the United States. Total overdose deaths have increased in the United States over the last two decades across all demographic groups, with about 17 percent of Americans battling a substance use disorder in the past year. These alarming statistics show just how large of a problem drug dependency has become, but there’s…

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Our apps can’t dictate our politics

By Namrata Pradeep | March 21, 2025

  The rise of technology is affecting our relationships with the people in charge. At the moment, there is arguably no form of media more important than social media — for many cultural, social, and political reasons. It might even be labeled “technofeudalism,” where we essentially “rent” little plots of space from each platform, whether…

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The calculus of Blackness

By Marie Dillard | February 28, 2025

  Who has jurisdiction over Blackness? Who gets to determine who is and isn’t Black, and why? And what is it based on? Is it phenotype — complexion, hair texture, lips, eyes, your nose? Is it who you hang out with? Is it how you dress, or where you went to school? Is it where…

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Princeton, it’s time to implement media literacy training

By Chloe Cresswell | February 7, 2025

  “Seek the truth by asking your own questions and coming to your own conclusions.” Under the gothic arches of the University Chapel in his 2011 Baccalaureate speech, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defined a struggle that has plagued our generation: the exponential rise of online disinformation, which has consistently challenged democracies and hindered…

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There is no such thing as the perfect victim

By Livia LaMarca | January 24, 2025

  The fallout of the film It Ends with Us has been nothing short of messy. Star Blake Lively faced widespread criticism after marketing the film, a story about domestic violence, as a hot pink, flower-power version of feminism. Her use of the press tour as a way to market her haircare line and her husband’s involvement…

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What to do when the world is crumbling

By Caleb Dunson | January 17, 2025
[Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.]   I used to love reading dystopian novels in middle school. The Hunger Games, Divergent,…

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Failing focus

By Claudia Flynn | December 20, 2024

  [Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.]   A few weeks ago, I deleted TikTok. I didn’t make this choice because I…

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Pathologizing men is unproductive. We should invest in better men-focused spaces.

By Nicholas Manetas | December 6, 2024

  In her Oct. 22 op-ed, Julianna Lee ’25 argued that male-only spaces could better Princeton’s campus by building “encouragement, empowerment, and friendship for men.” Columnist Ava Johnson ’27 responded on Nov. 4, contending that male-only spaces fail to address men’s problems and “[run] the risk of breeding misogyny and bullying.” These opinions come at a time when…

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Banning books is detrimental to intellectual growth

By Gisele Bisch | November 29, 2024

  [Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.]   Back in February, The Daily Princetonian’s podcast Daybreak interviewed English Professor Anne Cheng on the…

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The rotten seed of American individualism

By Livia LaMarca | October 25, 2024

  The rotten seed of American individualism has grown into a mighty tree, spreading its branches and curling through the hearts of American citizens. It whispers in our ears lies of self-sufficiency and the lonesome American Dream, promising freedom but leaving cracks in the Earth and sowing division. It has wrapped its tendrils tightly around our everyday lives, taking root in the…

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Pics or it didn’t happen

By Solemei Scamaroni | October 11, 2024

  Seeing and being seen: a Penn tradition, a universal obsession “A picture-perfect night” is the best way to describe the Class of 2028’s evening gala at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a beloved NSO tradition. The foyer was lit up in Penn’s red and blue as students snapped selfies of themselves munching on baba…

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The emerging loneliness economy

By Tate Moyer | October 4, 2024

  [Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.]   Social media and emerging technologies have created unparalleled opportunities for connection, to the…

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You may have eyes, but do you know how to see?

By Francesco Salamone | September 27, 2024

  There’s a difference between looking and truly seeing. What color is the floor where you took your last class? Could you describe one painting in that building? Chances are you have no idea. Why would you? Life is busy, work needs to get done; you know the drill. So you go through your life…

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Young men versus young women: Where did we go wrong?

By Allison Santa-Cruz | September 13, 2024

  For the nation’s prosperity and personal happiness, young men and women must reconnect with each other in a meaningful way. It isn’t hard to imagine a dystopian novel where the political parties of a country become split by gender rather than by genuine ideological framework. It seems we may be headed there. The upcoming…

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Plan ahead even if you have no plan

By Livia LaMarca | August 16, 2024

  One random evening my first year of college, I set myself up for more success than I have at any other time during my college experience. I was a lowly political science and math major trying to consider what minors or certificates would best prepare me for a future career as a lawyer and…

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Advice from a graduating senior — make friends with your professors

By Lynnette Tibbott | August 2, 2024
[Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.]   If I could give any advice to my fellow undergraduates, I’d say to speak…

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The language of tribalism: How political shibboleths are destroying discourse

By Seth Gabrielson and Kenneth Sun | July 19, 2024

We live in a world dominated by the sound bite, the clip and all things scrollable. To facilitate this shortened content, different groups have had to find creative ways to convey great meaning in small packages. Though this may sound ingenious, these words — known today as political buzzwords — have had a divisive effect.…

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Friends should intellectually challenge you

By Sarah Zhang | July 5, 2024

When I imagined college as a place for intellectual growth, I visualized riveting exchanges with professors and radical arguments in textbooks. When I stepped foot on campus, however, I realized that my ivy-covered academia fantasies perpetuated rigid expectations of what qualified as “growing my perspective,” and I had underestimated the importance of developing relationships with…

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The ‘fun’ model just isn’t sustainable: a plea against hookup culture

By Julianna Lee | June 14, 2024

As a top institution of higher education, Princeton tries to do its best to prepare us for our future: offering career fairs, hosting resume writing sessions, and even offering Last Lectures about careers in local government. But there is one place where the University is falling short: preparing its students to form healthy relationships. There…

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Yale Will Not Save Her

By Hyerim Bianca Nam | May 31, 2024

Content warning: This column contains references to sexual violence. On April 2, University President Peter Salovey emailed the Yale community under the subject line “Your Yale, Your Voice,” asking us to complete the 2024 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct and Resource Awareness [SHARE]. The third in a series of quadrennial surveys administered by the…

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The gifted and talented program is flawed

By Vikki Amourgianos | May 24, 2024

In the fifth grade, my family moved and I transferred to a new school district in New Jersey. In the West Orange school district, I gained admission into the High Aptitude Program, a gifted and talented program that I would get bussed to weekly. When I entered the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township School District, I applied to…

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Status update: In a toxic relationship with academia

By Mariana Martinez | May 17, 2024

  As amazing as academia can be, it also has a darker, alienating side. “I love academia, but is it good for my mental health?” “I don’t know who I am, but I have no time to figure that out.” “Americans live to work.” “Penn is my toxic boyfriend.” These are some of the things…

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Black Princeton is fragmented. Let’s consolidate.

By Luqmaan Bamba | May 10, 2024

  [Editor’s note: Although this essay focuses on Princeton, the issue may be relevant to many colleges and schools.]   BSU, PASA, PCC, PEESA, PNSA, PABW, PBMA — call it the alphabet soup of Black student organizations. These are groups intended to cater to specific niches in the Black community and serve to represent its diversity. These organizations serve critical community-building needs that Princeton’s diverse…

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From swiping to sipping: The digital pathway to dependency

By Rachelle Evans | May 3, 2024

More than five billion people use some form of social media. In the United States, 75% of teens have an active account on a social media platform. Digitization has crept into our lives and altered our world. People check social apps for news, trends, academics and to keep in touch with their peers. When we crave information, social media…

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Intolerance towards disagreements is dangerous

By Nada Abdulaziz | April 26, 2024

I’ve always considered myself a rather stubborn individual, but alongside that trait, I’ve prided myself on a certain level of self-awareness. I’ve been cautious never to impose my thoughts onto others, respecting their perspectives even if they differed from mine. However, as of late, I’ve noticed a shift within myself — it’s not stubbornness that’s…

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The feminine urge to apologize

By Grace Harris | April 19, 2024

It is almost as if “sorry” is the default response for women. They apologize for having emotions and showing them, for asking a valid question and for walking in the same direction as someone in the store; they apologize for their failures and their successes. In every situation women automatically respond with an unnecessary “sorry.”…

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Unlocking the dopamine code: A blueprint for college student well-being

By Seth Gabrielson | April 12, 2024

As college students navigating the complexities of academia, we often find ourselves contending with formidable adversaries: seasonal depression, lack of motivation and high levels of stress. According to the National College Health Assessment, approximately 80% of college students report experiencing overwhelming levels of anxiety, and nearly 40% grapple with symptoms of depression at some point during…

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Rejection is normal, but not normalized

By Sarah Zhang | March 22, 2024

After a grueling college admissions process, I was excited to begin my journey at the University of Michigan. Yet, I was surprised by the campus’s intense culture of club recruitment and internship applications. At the beginning of each semester, I applied to some clubs but was hesitant to apply to others, intimidated by the grueling…

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Internet safety requires more than a Senate hearing

By Thomas Muha | March 8, 2024

“I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, in the most recent congressional hearing on online child safety. Disingenuous as these words may be, they are more than just an apology from the tech mogul. They signify the culmination of failed government action, a rise in companies set on making…

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Schools should teach media literacy

By Hayden Buckfire | February 16, 2024

It has never been easier to spread misinformation, either deliberately or by accident, than it is right now. The digital age has amplified a diverse set of voices on social media, for better or worse. While many users are well-intentioned and act as online educators, they have the capacity to spread fake news, which can…

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Can’t find a job? You’re not alone

By Talia Belowich | February 9, 2024

As a senior in college still figuring out my post-graduation plans, I am far too familiar with the dreaded question, “What are you doing next year?” In an effort to defend my “I don’t know” reply in the face of judgmental adults, I have done extensive research to defend the claim that the job hunt…

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Stop interacting with people you dislike online

By Eliza Phares | February 2, 2024

On Dec. 18, 2023, comedian Ziwe Fumudoh sat down with recently-expelled congressman George Santos for a satirical-style interview to recap his short-lived career in Congress and inquire about what he plans to do in the future. When asked how the United States could possibly get rid of him, Santos gave some of the best advice of his…

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The Art of Mattering

By Grace Kim | January 26, 2024

Many people at Andover are familiar with issues such as anxiety, imposter syndrome, and burnout. These are phenomena that are generally unavoidable and in most cases attributed to the stress of school. However, I would argue that these symptoms point to a bigger problem: students don’t feel like they matter. According to Isaac Prilleltensky, professor…

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Finding my father in Sterling

By Guarocuya Batista-Kunhardt | December 22, 2023

Stepping out of the rail on Georgia Avenue, my father, Guarocuya Batista, entered the Freedmen’s Hospital, the largest African American hospital in the Washington area. A fresh-faced doctor, he walked through its halls with a quiet determination and sage awareness that this was the start of his medical career. He was also bearing the mantle of a…

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If You Prick Us

By Alden S Blodget | November 10, 2023
[Editor’s note: This is a speech delivered to high school students, parents, teachers, and school board on a day honoring new inductees into the Cum Laude Society, an organization that honors scholastic achievement at secondary schools, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which honors scholastic achievements at the university level. Although delivered in 2005,…

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We need to talk about the real emotions of speaking up as a minority

By Grace Harris | November 3, 2023

“I thought doing the right things made you feel strong and proud not sad and angry.” This is a text I received from my mother after she confronted ignorance and xenophobic comments in the workplace. She told me that while she was in the break room, two women were having an offensive conversation, spewing false…

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Dollar signs and sob stories

By Sarah Zhang | October 20, 2023

From my fragmented Mandarin to my distaste of “chow mein,” I avidly explored the facets of my Asian-American identity in creative writing. When I picked up the pen, I found myself writing about my mother’s rice rations during the Cultural Revolution and the internal strife of life between two cultures, inspired by writers like Ocean…

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A message to the aspiring quitter

By Talia Belowich | September 1, 2023

“I never should have dropped. I can’t believe you let me do that,” I said. This was minute 10 of me walking around the patio in distress, whisper-yelling to my parents on the phone. In hindsight, my dropping out of my computer science class was not their doing. But it always feels a little easier to blame…

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You don’t need to party in college to have a good time

By Livia LaMarca | August 25, 2023

Throughout middle school and high school, I always dreamed of going to college — getting away and doing whatever I wanted. While I certainly had friends and made the most of my time during my days back home in Illinois, I was excited for my chapter as a college student. I was looking forward to…

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You and your family aren’t getting any younger

By Mohammed Hasan | June 30, 2023

This past weekend, my dad surprised my family with a trip to downtown Chicago for a bit of fun. Needing to make a trip to meet with some higher-ups at his company, he had figured that it was a good opportunity for the rest of us to take a brief vacation. The trip was great…

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A Cure for Senioritis: How to No Longer Be “Sick” of School 

By Claire Cortland | May 26, 2023

Are you constantly plagued with a lack of motivation? Do you find yourself scrolling through Tik Tok instead of through your extensive list of assignments? Have you claimed, “I’ll just do this in the morning,” knowing full well that you most certainly will not be doing this in the morning? Would your friends describe you as ‘checked…

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The future of AI might be scary, but let’s focus on why it’s scary today

By Lila Dominus | May 19, 2023

In a recently published open letter, some of the most prominent figures in technology urged for a full-fledged six-month pause on developing certain Artificial Intelligence technologies, including Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter; Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; and Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp, among many, many others. In the letter, they ask that all companies…

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#TeacherQuitTok: The face of a current teaching crisis

By Mackenzie Kilano | May 5, 2023

For the past few months, my TikTok For You page has been riddled with teachers using #TeacherQuitTok on their videos. This hashtag has become a place for teachers to shed light on current problems in education and advocate for change, and it is clear that change is needed. While some teachers have quit their teaching…

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College is just the beginning

By Yasmeen Gaber | April 28, 2023

  “College is the best four years of your life.”  If I had a nickel for every time I heard that phrase, I could have paid my tuition in cash. Every time I think about that statement, it seems even bleaker. Why would anyone want to peak that early? As I reach the end of…

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Death to the GPA

By Anni Paradise | April 21, 2023

  The GPA system can stunt our intellectual growth due to undue pressure and excessive grading. As an international student, the concept of the ‘GPA’ — the grade point average — was foreign to me. Since coming to Penn, long gone are the days where homework did not count towards your grade, due dates were…

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Struggling with body image, then and now

By Laura Zeng | March 24, 2023

  Content warning: This article discusses disordered eating and eating disorders. I always thought it made sense to obsess over how my body looked. It just seemed irresponsible not to. To be an elite athlete is to strive for perfection— toward an ideal standard of performance and a standard idea of excellence. It is an…

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Black history is your history too

By Mia Vesely | March 17, 2023

  People of all races should see themselves in Black history. In elementary school, February was the only time I learned about Black historical figures. I recall cutting out paper dolls of Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks — all the same shade of brown due to the singular brown crayon. While…

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An Open Letter to my 7th Graders

By Ania Alberski | February 24, 2023

  How Penn did and didn’t prepare me to teach you I took a leap to become your teacher; after four years as an undergrad at Penn, I thought I would be ready to instruct middle schoolers. I declared a major in English very early on, but I grew a passion for serving students and…

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Entry-level jobs don’t exist anymore

By Kelly Xiong | February 17, 2023

If you’re frantically scrolling through LinkedIn, Handshake or Indeed looking for jobs and internships like me, you probably noticed that the standard for entry-level positions has risen exponentially. The idea of entry-level jobs is practically disappearing before our eyes. For many college students and recent graduates, the search for post-graduate jobs seems almost impossible. Since 2017, 35%…

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Stop colloquializing mental illness

By Kelly Loftus | January 6, 2023

  [Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.]   While browsing the internet recently, I came across a website selling a T-shirt…

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Finding My Own Answers

By Oren Karp | December 30, 2022

  Or, Even Teachers Get The Blues [Editor’s note: Oren Karp is a recent graduate of Brown University and a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal. He posts an account of his life in Nepal every few weeks. This essay is an excerpt from his most recent posting; you can read the full essay…

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Group work doesn’t work

By Harsh Hiwase | November 4, 2022

We’ve all been there — the group chat is going off because your group members are trying to figure out why a member hasn’t touched the shared assignment document that’s due in three hours. They are fuming because that person didn’t hold up their end of the commitment and now you all need to scramble…

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Everyone needs to work a customer service job

By Lynnette Tibbott | October 21, 2022

I was 15 years old when I got my first customer service job. I had my interview in the squeaky plastic booths of a small town’s frozen custard shop. I even wore dark pants and a thick blouse despite the 80-degree weather, just because I wanted to make a good impression for my first-ever interview.…

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Oren’s First 100 Days of School

By Oren Karp | October 14, 2022

Or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death [Editor’s note: Oren Karp is a recent graduate of Brown University and a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal. He posts an account of his life in Nepal every few weeks.]   Okay, I’ll level with you: I have no idea how many days of school…

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Opening up about my freshman year abortion

By Bridget McGeehan | September 30, 2022

Removing the stigma of abortions is vital in the fight to achieve equitable reproductive rights. I found out I was pregnant in a Starbucks bathroom, only a few weeks after starting my first year at Penn. I was 18, and I did everything to keep it a secret. Buying a test on campus risked fellow…

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A Moveable Festival

By Oren Karp | September 9, 2022

Or, The Only Jew In Kathmandu [Editor’s note: Oren Karp is a recent graduate of Brown University and a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal. He posts an account of his life in Nepal every few weeks.]   I’ve grown to love the rain here, the way it paints the trees a crisp, dark…

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Don’t Expect to Enjoy College

By Ariane De Gennaro | August 26, 2022

Sept. 23, 2021, a date which will live in infamy. Only three weeks into my first year of college, I found myself nursing a tennis-ball-sized swollen ankle while poring over lines of Latin that depicted, in painstaking detail, a Roman dinner of sow udder. When in Rome this summer, remind me not to do as…

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By The Book

By Oren Karp | August 5, 2022

Or, When it Rains . . . [Editor’s note: Oren Karp is a recent graduate of Brown University and a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal. He posts an account of his life in Nepal every few weeks.] One of my favorite things about learning a new language is seeing how the vocabulary, structures,…

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BENEFITS AND DANGERS OF TEEN TECHNOLOGY USE

By Robbie's Hope | July 29, 2022
[Editor’s note: This advice comes from Robbie’s Hope: “A movement. An uprising of teens to help other teens. We’ve made it our mission to stop the suicide epidemic that’s taking the lives of our friends.”] Benefits: There certainly are benefits of using technology for teens, such as: Staying in touch when not physically together. Video…

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This STEMs from insecurity

By Emma Solomon | July 15, 2022

Growing Into Myself At the ripe old age of 10, my dad and I ran into one of his gym friends when I was getting picked up from a late night swim practice. I don’t remember much from that interaction, but what I do remember sort of changed my life. The friend was extraordinarily tall,…

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Two Worlds Syndrome

By Noah Do | July 8, 2022

One of the most common sentiments you’ll hear among Asian Americans is the feeling of being torn between two worlds. As immigrants and children of immigrants, Asian Americans have a stake in multiple cultures, nations and principles. Our families expect us to live proper Asian lives at home while also sending us out to contend…

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Site Currently Under Construction

By Oren Karp | July 1, 2022

Or, Oren Needs a Friend [Editor’s note: Oren Karp is a recent graduate of Brown University and a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal. He posts an account of his life in Nepal every few weeks.]   At 9:55 am the bell rings (or, I should say, someone bangs on the metal plate) to…

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The creator economy can hurt users

By Ebonee Rice | June 17, 2022

As spring break Instagram posts rolled out, images of my classmates in picture-perfect tropical scenes bombarded me while I returned to the bleak surroundings of central Pennsylvania. As the week continued, I found myself checking Instagram every 15 minutes, growing more and more bitter. I was filled with an urge to post something, anything, to…

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Beautiful Views of Terrifying Drops

By Oren Karp | June 3, 2022

Or, Gaining a Little Height on Life   [Editor’s note: Oren Karp is a recent graduate of Brown University and a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal. He posts an account of his life in Nepal every few weeks.]   It’s hard for me not to see the last nine days as a little…

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Diversity, equity, and inclusion: What predominantly white universities could learn from Beyoncé’s “Black Is King”

By Timethius Terrell | May 28, 2022

Beyoncé’s Black Is King provides an example of cultural inclusion that universities can follow to be more inclusive of marginalized groups. I suppose that, compared to some other regions of this country, one could consider Penn to be a fairly diverse place as our student body is only about 40% white. Such percentages are a source of…

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There’s no ‘moving on’ from queer marginalization

By Hannah Reynolds | May 13, 2022

“Moving on…” — these words used to swiftly change the subject make me wince every time I hear them. I feel shame, embarrassment and discomfort, as if I had said something I clearly should not have; as if I lacked the self-awareness to realize how uncomfortable my words made others. It is striking to me…

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The case against following your passion

By Rohit Narayanan | May 6, 2022

It’s concentration declaration season for AB sophomores and BSE freshmen and the same old questions are bubbling to the surface: Do I really have what it takes to become a math major? Should I pursue classics or comparative literature? Then there’s the most familiar question: Should I choose the more “practical” major that may land…

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She’s not leading you on — you’re doing it to yourself

By Sarah Liez | April 22, 2022

During my first year at Pitt, I went on a date with a total stranger. We had met on a dating app, and I could tell within a few minutes that we were not a match. Coupled with the fact that it was this man’s first real date and I enjoyed talking with him, I…

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Oppression Does Not Define My Blackness

By Leilani Glace | April 15, 2022

Oppression. Whenever I hear this word in a class discussion, I am inclined to listen more attentively, knowing that somehow my identity, my Blackness, will require me to offer my stance in the conversation. As an Afro-Caribbean and a Black-American, I always feel obligated to diversify the discussion with first-hand experiences. Every class discussion subtly…

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Amy Wax is not an anomaly

By Yomi Abdi | April 8, 2022

Wax’s racist comments represent a larger perception of Black students in academia. Penn has been receiving national media coverage lately after Penn Law professor Amy Wax made racist comments against Asian and Black Americans. Her recent remarks are consistent with the comments that she made back in 2018 in a discussion titled “The Downside to Social Uplift”: “I don’t think I’ve ever…

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Students should be picky about their jobs

By Anna Fischer | March 25, 2022

Despite being responsible for a one-star review at my workplace that states “the little redhead behind the counter is rude,” I am a very good employee. I promise. The cruel reality about customer service jobs is that no matter how good you are at your job, there will always be a handful of customers that…

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Being extraordinary is overrated

By Ebonee Rice | March 18, 2022

Ever since things have gone back to almost-but-not-quite normal, I’ve had this overwhelming feeling that I’m not doing enough. It’s almost become a mantra in my head, the words repeating over and over, “You’re not doing enough.” I’ve mentioned the feeling to friends and classmates, and the majority of them have related — each and…

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Matter over mind: You’ll get out of this what it’s willing to give

By Braden Flax and Julia Chaffers | March 11, 2022

As we begin another semester of COVID-19-related uncertainty and instability, it serves us to put things in a less judgmental, self-deprecating perspective for those times when we come up short. One rhetorical trick often used to quash this forgiving perspective is the meritocratic assumption that whatever we do, wherever we are, and however many obstacles…

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Save our clickbait souls

By Elijah Boles | March 4, 2022

The metaverse. Virtual Reality. Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce. We live in a time where such technologically advanced concepts are more than just facets of a futuristic fantasy. Thinly veiled Mark Zuckerberg slander aside, this is a remarkable fact. Since the advent of the digital age, human ingenuity seems to have kicked into overdrive. However, when the average…

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Talking Bodies

By Niko Nguyen | February 25, 2022

A perfect version of me lies out there somewhere. His limbs are more outstretched than mine, landing his shiny head of hair at the 6’ mark. Where a shallow valley gapes between my eyes, a well-defined nose bridge juts out from his face. And he sorta looks like me, if only I could slap muscles…

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Sellout season

By Kwolanne Felix | February 11, 2022

As the semester started and junior year summer internships came to a close, the sellout season promptly began. Exciting offers from top tech, consulting, and finance companies filled my LinkedIn feed. I began to comment “Congratulations” on Facebook and Instagram announcement post after announcement post as my peers prepared for postgraduate life. I read as,…

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Most of your friends are just people you spend time with

By Sarah Liez | February 4, 2022

In my senior year of high school, amid college admissions anxiety and clearly defined cliques, I learned a difficult lesson. Most of my friends were not actually my friends. After social upheaval in my senior year, I decided to distance myself from my friend group. As I isolated myself and dealt with personal issues, I…

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We must shift the way we test understanding

By Mohan Setty-Charity | January 21, 2022

Last year, many professors faced a difficult decision: How would they make sure students were given a fair chance when taking exams remotely? For a politics course I took in the fall semester, the professor normally used an exam that centered around short questions related to readings throughout the semester. The virtual format meant that…

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On loss, grief, and not being okay: The toxic ‘constant productivity’ mindset at Princeton

By Hannah Reynolds | January 7, 2022

During the summer of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I experienced the tragic and unexpected loss of a close lifelong friend. His death was absolutely devastating —  undoubtedly the worst physical and emotional pain I have ever experienced. In the months that followed, I struggled to function like a normal person should.…

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When Creativity Fades

By Niko Nguyen | December 24, 2021

Sometimes, when I get caught in the tornado of Cornell’s nightlife, my brain kicks into autopilot. My eyes hunt for any and every escape route away from the dance floor. Away from the gyrating hips and the fog of body odor. I often find myself running to the bathroom three times in an hour. Or…

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No matter what the future holds

By Mafalda von Alvensleben | December 17, 2021

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, one that required some of the most aggressive treatments that the FDA currently allows. I am lucky to be alive. But despite my luck — or unluck — the long-term consequences of this disease have followed me for a quarter of the time I…

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A letter to my fellow Yalies

By Brian Zhang | December 10, 2021
[Editor’s note: This letter is relevant to many people in many different schools.]   Belonging. It is the one thing we always look for no matter where we are, whom we are with. We looked for it on the first day of college as we nervously scanned the dining halls for someone to sit with,…

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On such a racially diverse campus, why is cross-racial engagement limited?

By Liala Sofi | December 3, 2021

There is no question that Penn is incredibly diverse — comprising twelve schools and a student body of more than 25,000, Penn’s community comes from a variety of races, genders, sexual orientations, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds. But diversity means more than data points and percentages. On the ground, intermingling between people of different demographics occurs far less…

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Mirror, Mirror on the “Historical” Wall

By Rebecca Sparacio | November 26, 2021

The autumn air, alluringly crisp, surrounded me as I opened the passenger seat door to my grandfather’s car, ready to make the five-hour trip back to Long Island. We stopped at Dunkin’ to pick up coffees to sip along the way and drove through color changing mountains, whose seemingly unreachable summits countered the mountain of…

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The trouble is paradise

By Elijah Boles | November 19, 2021

On a bleak autumn night, moonlight peeks from behind the clouds — just enough to illuminate the words “THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED.” Pallid figures draped in decaying flesh emerge from behind the gateway of Grove Street Cemetery, keeping the promise etched in the arch above them. You awake from your nightmare with such a…

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The Toxicity of “The Body Positivity Movement”

By Leilani Glace | November 12, 2021

While scrolling through social media this past summer, I saw a lot of content surrounding the body positivity movement. Influencers were pushing their viewers to love their bodies, embrace fluctuations in body shape and weight, and reject the beauty standards imposed by society. While in theory, these ideals seek to empower and promote diversity and…

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What I learned after three years at Princeton

By Sally Jane Ruybalid | November 5, 2021

I’m almost certain that the Classes of 2024 and 2025 are tired of orientation activities, meetings, and how-tos. Despite the good intention of these events and recommendations, they seem to stretch ad nauseam into late September and early October. However, I thought it would be helpful to share my experiences in an effort to reassure…

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How I used honesty and action to overcome my anxiety

By Asaad Manzar | October 29, 2021

I vividly remember my first-year panic episode. It occurred the night before I had to deliver a major speech for my communications seminar. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, drenched in sweat, shivering, struggling to catch my breath. After realizing this was a panic attack, I began performing breathing exercises in an attempt…

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Smartphone addiction, ambition and our fear of silence

By Nadav Ziv | October 22, 2021

Perhaps, like me, you instinctively reach for your phone. Standing in line to buy cupcakes this summer, I scrolled on my phone. Waiting for my dentist appointment several weeks later, I scrolled on my phone. I plug in every crack of empty time by reading news articles, emails and Tweets. I overuse my phone partly…

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The Myth of Passion

By Noah Do | October 16, 2021

These days, it seems like the resume obsession is real. Everyone is scrambling for jobs, internships, shadowing, clubs, research positions and whatever else the pre-corporate world has to offer. It seems like any use of our time is only as valuable as the number of professional buzzwords we can squeeze out of it. The landscape…

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Empathy, Balance, & Dilution

By Jaeho Lee and Darla Moody | October 1, 2021

(Editor’s note: Although this article focuses on a specific school, its implications have universal application.) Empathy. Balance. Inclusion. [EBI] These three values are essential to the pursuits of Andover, drilled into its students and even visible on the front page of its website. Unfortunately, they’re beginning to feel hollow—a sentiment that echoes the efficacy of…

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Individualism is a privilege too

By Bella Chang | September 17, 2021

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been shy in social interactions, not wanting to make the first move or reach out to others. Though I was scared of talking to others, I always loved reading. The library has always felt like a haven to me where I could experience people’s stories and their…

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Cast a wide net to find the activities and clubs you love

By Jack Troy | September 10, 2021

When I arrived on campus last fall, I didn’t have a nine-month plan that culminated in becoming an editor at The Pitt News. In fact, I didn’t arrive with any sort of plan outside of my class schedule. I could certainly rattle off some interests. After realizing I was failing to leave much of a…

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Women in academia need to get aggressive

By Dalia Maeroff | September 3, 2021

I don’t need to dive into why women, especially women of color, are marginalized in academia  — every woman knows the answer. We should be teaching men to be more accepting and less sexist rather than teaching women how to survive and thrive in male-dominated academia, but at a certain point, when your professor is…

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The First Essay

By Esme Young | August 27, 2021

English essays. Some of us love them, some of us hate them. But regardless, we all write them. Fear not, however, because I’m not writing to provide advice, or make you feel bad about the quality of your writing. Instead, I’d like to reflect upon the aspects of English classes that have room for improvement,…

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The Best Advice I Never Took

By Cameron Walker | August 20, 2021

A few weeks before moving into college, one of my best friends’ mom gave me a piece of advice that I still kick myself for ignoring: “You should delete social media for a few months, just until you get adjusted to college. Knowing what everyone else is doing can really hurt.” My friend’s mom, a…

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What to discuss with your new roommate before move-in day

By Victoria Gough | August 6, 2021

So, you got assigned with a random roommate. Congratulations! Whether it’s your first year living in East Halls or your senior year at an off-campus apartment complex, this is a great opportunity to make a new friend and learn about living with other people. You’ve likely already contacted this person and maybe talked about your…

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Tough breakup?

By Eric Krebs | July 30, 2021

Relationships at Yale are hard, and breakups, whether romantic, platonic or somewhere in between, are even harder. But breakups are both ugly and beautiful for the same reason: They remind us that we’re human and nothing more than human — even if Yale would like us to believe otherwise. The first thing a breakup breaks…

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The reign of influencers needs to end

By Kevin Frazier | July 23, 2021

“I was excited to connect the Harvard community.” That’s how Mark Zuckerberg recalled the night he started Facebook during his 2017 commencement speech at Harvard University. He went on to tell the graduating students that “to keep our society moving forward, we have a generational challenge — to not only create new jobs, but create…

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Silence and judgment on social media activism

By Nadia Jo | July 9, 2021

At the height of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in June 2020, I had an exchange with a close friend that I regretted later. My friend was a dedicated champion of women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. Like many young Americans who are passionate about social justice, she frequently posted infographics or news stories on social…

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Mental health is not a product of one’s volition

By Collin Riggins | June 18, 2021
[Editor’s note: Although this article focuses specifically on Princeton University, the issues raised have universal relevance.] It is a pretty safe rule of thumb to assume that no one wants to get sick. You don’t get diagnosed with, say, the flu, and then get treated under the pretext that your illness is your fault. That would be…

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“Live, Laugh, Love”… Let’s Not

By Erica Li | June 11, 2021

During my freshman year at Stuyvesant, getting report cards back was like a game—people traded papers, compared grades, and calculated their GPAs. It was a bundle of excitement the first time we got back our progress reports with number grades. People nosily asked how you did, and if you refused to answer, you were then…

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Ill-Conceived Identities: Social media trends are harmful to teen identity development

By Cesca Stamati | June 4, 2021

The existential question, “Who am I?” that teenagers are faced with as they transition from childhood to adulthood is an idea that Indie coming-of-age movies and books have centered on to gain massive audiences. All of the most popular teen movies like Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ladybird follow the plot of teens taking…

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Why choose ignorance?

By Sude Yenilmez | May 28, 2021

In a lot of conversations, discussing American politics replaces small talk. An awkward silence is almost always followed by a comment on Trump’s absurd tweets and policies. A recent Zoom call with my classmates cemented this for me. After the cordial questions of “How are you enjoying the break so far?” and “How does it…

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Start Starting

By Arim Lee | May 14, 2021

Procrastination is a problem that has followed me around since the early years of elementary school. As a kid, I remember flipping through TV shows the night before class and trying to immerse myself in the content before me, but failing to as anxiety filled up inside me at the thought of the assignments due…

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Social Media Activism At Exeter

By Arhon Strauss | April 23, 2021

“Save the Amazon!” “Black Lives Matter!” “LGBTQ+ rights!” Such catchphrases and  messages have lost their value due to their sheer volume. Social media has actively harmed the movements they aim to further. Such messages pop into view as we swipe; we repost them and then let them disappear. It’s a monotonous cycle, one not fit…

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The myth of meritocracy and what we can do about it

By Maria Luisa Vieira Parada | April 16, 2021

Despite our individual responsibilities, some issues are too big to be resolved individually. When we think of professionally and financially successful people, more than knowing who they are, it is important to ask where they come from. There is myriad evidence that in many countries, meritocracy is a myth and social reproduction is the norm. In…

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The Search for Motivation

By Jeffrey Shi | April 9, 2021

What makes someone successful? The answer might seem simple: motivated people do well in life, and unmotivated people fail. Motivation seems to be the key to so much, yet most people know so little about where it truly comes from. We often assume that some people are just born with more talent, willpower, and most…

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It’s not just another meme: Why teens need to be conscious of hate online

By Caitlin Cowan | March 12, 2021

Quarantine halted my world and left me adrift with no schedule to dictate my day. I became attached to my phone. No matter what I was doing — eating breakfast or lunch, walking my dogs or going on a run — I always had it with me. Until online school staged an intervention two weeks…

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Slowing down daily life in a virtual age

By Kelsey Ji | March 5, 2021

“Heads up bro, we got problems,” said Leon in the 2001 Fast and Furious movie. And yes, we got problems — we are downright getting dumber. To no surprise, our attention spans are decreasing, too. A goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds. The average human attention span? Eight, down from 12 in 2000.…

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Acne is a true issue for teens: It’s time to treat it as such

By Maria Krug | February 26, 2021

I look down while walking through crowds of classmates hoping the fluorescent school lights won’t reveal the red bumps on my face. I shuffle through the halls praying to go unnoticed, only to be asked, “Why does your skin look like that?” This is a scenario that many teenagers with acne (including me) have experienced.…

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On being an unlikely Leo

By Arina Stadnyk | February 12, 2021

My experience with astrology consists of years of eye-rolling at horoscopes that axiomatically claim I’m a headstrong, assertive, domineering, natural leader who strives to be the center of attention. Recently, a friend did a birth chart reading for me. “You’re a Leo, so you have a big personality,” she said. I laughed at that. “You…

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The college major system is archaic

By Montana Denton | January 29, 2021

While much of the learning done in college is valuable, a significant proportion of students don’t actually use their undergraduate degree in their future career. Even though a college education is a useful experience with regard to diversity of thought and academic rigor, students would be much better off if they were permitted to explore…

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Drained to exhaustion by online learning, students should be given less school work

By Noa Appelbaum | January 22, 2021

I began to feel the adverse effects of online school while doing homework one night during our second week. My mind a relentless murmur of the same fatigue that seemed to unfocus my eyes and sway my thoughts during the school day, I spent an hour reading a passage again and again, trying to drill…

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How high schools failed victims of sexual assault

By Emily Chang | January 15, 2021

Sexual assault may seem like a distant fear for some, but on college campuses, it is an everyday reality. Of course, the combination of freedom and alcohol creates a dangerous environment and enhances teens’ raging hormones, thus increasing the likelihood of assault occurring. But the problem does not entirely arise from students seeking to indulge…

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Safe, structured lives

By Aiden Lee | January 8, 2021

Over the summer, did you consider taking a gap semester? Possibly a whole year? If so, you were definitely not alone. At both Harvard and Yale, roughly 20 percent of incoming first-year students deferred. Similarly, I opted for a leave of absence, delaying my senior year to the fall of 2022. Despite how frequently the notion of a…

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I hate The Great Gatsby

By Aron Ravin | December 26, 2020

Across the country, students are being brainwashed. The boomers blame social media, and they may be right. But there’s another kind of indoctrination that grinds my gears — I speak of the cult of the American high school English class. Lately, there has been much evaluation of what we teach children, primarily in history classes.…

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You are not entitled to ‘civility’

By Brittani Telfair | December 18, 2020

In high school, I had a better relationship with civil discourse. I was part of my school’s We the People team, and we competed in competitions centered on debating pressing constitutional issues. At Princeton, though, I noticed that things changed. I began dreading certain classes’ lectures and precepts. It wasn’t until recently that I realized…

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More than just a time difference: Reflections of an international student

By Won-Jae Chang | November 27, 2020

A 14-hour time difference from Korea to Princeton is difficult, as anyone I’ve complained to about my sleep schedule can attest. Yet being an international student in the age of COVID-19 means much more than a time difference. Rather, what’s most frustrating is feeling different and oftentimes less important than our United States-based peers. The…

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Zoom and Gloom

By Katherine Yao | November 13, 2020

Every time I leave a Zoom meeting, I’m left with an acute sense of emptiness. There’s no satisfaction or relief derived from getting through a lecture without falling asleep. No lingering sense of happiness that usually comes from catching up with a friend. With a single click, I’m thrust back into the stark silence of…

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The bubble

By Giovanna Truong | November 6, 2020

My hometown of about 12,000 residents made the front page of the New York Times a couple of Thursdays ago. It wasn’t for something good. I live in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of the most segregated places in the United States by some standards. We’ve remained a bastion of support for the current president, even as other suburban…

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Black Woman’s Eulogy

By Awuor Onguru | October 30, 2020

In my native village of Kendu Bay, Kenya, funerals are meant to canonize the dead. The first rite of many is performed by women. Early at dawn, they arrive at the homestead of the deceased to wail, pacing about and lamenting death — the sound gives one goosebumps, and it seems to last forever. We…

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Life right now

By Vera Villanueva | October 23, 2020

Student life is inherently oriented toward the future. We prepare for classes that prepare us for more classes that prepare us for careers. With so much anticipation for what is to come, it can be easy to neglect what is already here. I write to caution against dismissing the present as less significant than the…

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My prep school reckoning

By Zara Khan | October 16, 2020

My high school’s cafeteria lunches featured a build-your-own sushi bar. Teslas and Range Rovers littered the drop-off line. One time, a Fiji Water shortage caused a schoolwide panic. The Latin School of Chicago is an elite prep school whose alumni include Nancy Reagan and the Governor of Illinois’ children. Today, I think of Latin as…

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Searching for my reasons

By Alex Zhao | October 9, 2020

More times than I can recall, I’ve started a class eager to learn about some fascinating topic. But as the semester progresses and piles on exams and homework, the course grows less and less interesting. The desire to perform well in the course starts to replace my original curiosity, until I’m not sure why I…

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Working for Minimum Wage During a Pandemic

By Emma Smith | October 2, 2020

I’ve worked at the same restaurant in my hometown since senior year of high school. I haven’t had any sexy internships over the summer, just long shifts that leave my hair smelling like french fries. I work there over any break I can, and — in an industry where employee turnover is high — I’ve…

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Unapologetically human

By Alexa Ramachandran | September 25, 2020
[Note: Each quarter, Brianna Booth, director of positive sexuality, teaches a class at Stanford where students talk about sex, sexuality, intimacy and relationships by telling their own stories. Stories reveal the reality of a hidden culture. Students contend with unexpressed feelings, silenced desires, big love, big pain and searing heartache. This series is dedicated to…

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To be or not be a snake: how I survived the ‘major’ mistakes of college

By Lillian Chen | September 18, 2020

In my sophomore spring, I returned from a gap semester spent taking care of my mental health. I felt refreshed and excited to restart my Princeton journey as a potential Economics major. Since I had skirted around sophomore fall, I had not witnessed the recruiting scene that had happened for my upperclass Econ friends. At…

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The shadow of a gunman

By Jen Ehrlich | September 4, 2020

I wasn’t born in the shadow of 9/11. Nor did I grow under the weight of the Iraq war. But both of those events marked my youth with fear and distrust. I was born into the echoes of the Holocaust. I was raised under the pale of 101 California Street. Very few people remember 101…

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The MAT 202 cheating scandal is a problem of our making

By Jon Ort | August 28, 2020

For most of us, the news that the Committee on Discipline (COD) is investigating dozens of MAT 202 students warrants nothing more than a casual glance. We wonder how it must feel to be accused of cheating. Perhaps our peers under investigation elicit a pang of sympathy. Perhaps they don’t. “Those 202 kids got what was coming…

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The future of education: A lesson from COVID-19

By Ollie Thakar | August 7, 2020

For the past year, I have wanted to write about technology in education. When I first arrived at the University, I was surprised that at an institution whose endowment lies multiple orders of magnitude beyond any amount of money I could imagine, I found classrooms containing no technology more recent than electric lights or plastic…

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Why you don’t feel successful at Princeton

By Liam O'Connor | July 31, 2020

I spent my first two summers of high school completing state-required gym classes so that I could fit more science classes into my schedule during the academic year. Every morning, I had to run a lap on the track with my classmates under the searing July sun. I ran these sprints several dozen times, and…

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Understanding my inherited workaholism

By Ozge Terzioglu | July 17, 2020

My mind seems to be obsessed with this memory I have from second grade. I was playing with my friends at recess, telling them my dad got a new job two hours away from our home. I insisted we make a lemonade stand after school to raise money for him to stay. My naivete as…

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Let’s Agree to Disagree

By Michelle Shen | July 10, 2020

A few days ago, I graduated from Penn. It’s a moment I had anticipated for years, and now I am entering a world and workforce rife with uncertainty. While Penn taught me a lot of unexpected lessons regarding grit and perseverance, one in particular stands out in this current crisis: Try your best to understand…

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My body is not a joke

By Kirsten Keels | July 3, 2020

While casually scrolling Facebook (for the hundredth time that day), I noticed a meme about looking like a busted can of biscuits when it comes time to go back to work, to go to the beach, to go outside, etc. The comments underneath talked about how “disgusting” people would look going out to these activities…

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You Catch More Flies With Honey

By Savon Bardell | June 26, 2020

After discussing my last article detailing the performative allyship that happens on social media, my editor told me that while my article was precise and interesting, it was not as forward as he had expected. Here we are in the midst of civil unrest, where I spend my days constantly writing and detailing the injustices…

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This isn’t normal

By Julia Chaffers | June 12, 2020

A tweet went around this week saying that if you don’t come out of quarantine with a new skill or more knowledge, “you didn’t ever lack the time, you lacked the discipline.” It was a harmful manifestation of the paradox we all face right now: sitting at home, you think you should be doing more,…

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Panic and propriety

By Tommy Schacht | June 5, 2020

“What we need in the world is manners … I think that if, instead of preaching brotherly love, we preached good manners, we might get a little further. It sounds less righteous and more practical.” My grandmother has this quote, from Eleanor Roosevelt, above the stove at her home. In many ways, it embodies my…

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Graduating Jobless

By Jacqueline Horn | May 22, 2020

I graduated from Cornell with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering in 2016. Not only did I graduate without a job offer, but I never even had an interview. I certainly applied to plenty of jobs and I went to all the career fairs. Overall, I think I had a relatively normal and…

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On navigating isolation, together

By Caroline Spertus | May 15, 2020

Carl Jung defines an extroverted attitude as “a standpoint characterized by an outward flowing of personal energy — an interest in events, in people and things, a relationship with them and a dependence on them.” An extrovert is energized by their daily interactions; physically drained by their lack thereof. Those who know me well would…

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Accommodations, year-round

By Adam Moore | May 1, 2020

As we enter our third week of courses conducted entirely online and adjust to this new reality, we need to ask ourselves: Why weren’t these services readily available before the COVID-19 pandemic? These services include: every course material (including textbooks) available online, Zoom lectures recorded for future replay and review and more lenient attendance policies…

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How to succeed at “Zoom University” 

By Samantha Minnehan | April 24, 2020

Having half of our semester online due to the COVID-19 outbreak was a big shock to The University of Tampa community. These past couple of weeks have felt like an eternity, sitting in the house and not having classes to go to everyday. I can’t believe it’s been less than a month since the majority…

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An Open Letter to Queer Freshmen Considering Rush

By Julian Kroll | April 17, 2020

Growing up gay in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio, I got used to figuring things out on my own. Though I watched my peers follow all the same well-traveled paths as their friends and mentors, it didn’t occur to me that I deserved guidance as well. In hindsight, the impact of this lack became more clear…

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Unmasking the Racist Infection of the Coronavirus

By Sidney Malia Waite | April 10, 2020

My freshman year in high school, I was playing an improv game in my theatre class. Everyone stood in a circle; one person began acting out what object or noun they were and then someone else jumped into the circle, acting as another object or noun that was subsequently added to the scenario. Usually, if…

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Appreciating random acts of kindness

By Genesis Alejo | April 3, 2020

My mom and I have always used public transportation to get around town. Living in Oakland since 1990, by now my mom knew AC Transit, BART and the Bay Area like the back of her hand. You’d always catch me and my momma on BART or the bus, and if our destination was close enough,…

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Capable of closure

By Hala El Solh | March 27, 2020

The pain comes in waves. I hear “Come On Eileen” and remember all the times we drunkenly sang along, and how we will never do it again. Or I see a photo of Sterling on social media and remember the many late nights and tears. Yet I miss those study sessions, knowing that I will…

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College students need to normalize interracial friendships

By Cori Dill | March 13, 2020

“I have a black friend” is an unfortunate statement that some white people still feel the need to say. College students need to normalize interracial friendships, and that can start with leaving the “I have black friend” statement and other ignorant comments in the past, as the color of one’s skin should not be the…

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Does anyone really know where they see themselves in the next 10 years? 

By Madeline Messa | March 6, 2020

“Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?” The question is a favorite among job interviews and icebreakers for elementary school teachers and college professors alike. “What are your hobbies? What’s your major? Oh, and I know you’ve barely reached the legal drinking age, but what will your life be like when you’re…

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Kaleidoscope

By Kerr Heidinger | February 28, 2020

I hold my new kaleidoscope up to the light.  I am five years old, and it’s snowing outside on Christmas morning, like it never does anymore.  Well-kempt lawns throughout my neighborhood lie blanketed in white.  I turn the soft cardboard slowly to reveal the fragmented shadows of brilliant blues, reds, purples, and greens.  I long…

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Building bridges

By Zaporah Price | February 21, 2020

I opened Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Monday afternoon on January 20th looking to retreat from the old, white male readings that had become normal to me in and out of the classroom. While I’ll admit that my required Machiavelli reading was very interesting — given the current consequences in political affairs…

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The Ivy League Breeds Obedient Capitalists

By Jacob Brown | February 14, 2020

Prestigious universities like Cornell are, in theory, institutions where talented young people receive the education, ideas and skills needed to tackle the world’s most pressing issues.  A closer look into elite culture reveals that these conceptions are fantasies that serve privileged, wealthy sectors of society that equate their own interests with those of the rest…

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Colonization is not my burden

By Kendra Becenti | February 1, 2020

The challenges of studying abroad in Madrid as an indigenous student I am a Diné (Navajo) woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, the ancestral homelands of the Pueblo people. I come from the Black Streaked Wood People clan, born for white people, where I am a member of the Becenti and Holtz families. In this way,…

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The attention economy is corrupting the classroom

By Megha Parwani | January 24, 2020

Distractions engendered by the use of technology in class You have 15 minutes. What would you — a curious, respectful student, part of a privileged 4.3% — rather indulge: an Instagram post or the insights of a leading academic? The choice seems obvious. But our everyday practices speak to a bleaker reality. The promises of…

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Students should take some personal responsibility, stop vaping

By Jenna Wirth | January 17, 2020

The reality is that most people don’t know what they’re putting into their bodies when they vape. Teen and young adult vaping is an epidemic that needs urgent attention. On and around college campuses, it’s common to see people holding e-cigarettes. You might even own one. If you do, you should throw it out. You…

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The Downside of Positivity Culture

By Allie Birger | January 10, 2020

You see them everywhere. Those little journals that have you write down the answer to “one question a day” for five years or “something you did that made you happy.” Or books telling you how to always be in good spirits when everything might not be going so great. Or Instagram accounts with inspirational quotes.…

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The “upright” march on

By Brendan Campbell | December 27, 2019

I didn’t identify as disabled before I came to Yale. I saw myself as someone who happened to live in inexplicable, often debilitating pain, who happened to restructure his life in order to cope, and who happened to find success despite those major physical barriers. Like so many of my peers, I was accepted into…

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Professors, show that you care

By Christy Qiu | December 13, 2019

Extensive academic expertise is not enough to foster mentorships When I watched Good Will Hunting for the first time as a high schooler, I marveled over how the professor in the movie not only helped Will cultivate a passion for mathematics but also undertook Will’s personal strife and actively helped him overcome it. Although it’s…

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Consider the ethics of companies where you want to work

By Tyler Larkworthy | December 6, 2019

We have a moral imperative to avoid enabling unethical behavior It happens every fall at Penn. Corporate representatives flock like vultures to our campus, eager to take their pick of the brightest students here. From engineers to financial analysts to consultants, they search relentlessly for the students who will create the most value for their…

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On colorblindness and cancel culture

By Logan Welch | November 22, 2019

“I don’t see color; whether you’re black, white, blue, green, or purple, everyone’s the same to me.” As a liberal, black student on a socially liberal campus — and a black person in general —  I’ve had my fair share of uncomfortable conversations with well-meaning liberals. But none are more predictably cringe-worthy than the ones…

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On the other side of the screen

By Julia Bialek | November 15, 2019

It’s no secret that the transition to college is difficult. But for today’s college freshmen, social media adds a whole new layer to this transition, making an already difficult adjustment exponentially more difficult. If you don’t know what I mean, think about your social media feed. The photos of parties on Instagram; the Snapchat stories…

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More black journalists are needed to tell stories for us, about us and by us

By Jordan Sheppard | November 8, 2019

On July 14, President Donald Trump went on Twitter, and in a series of tweets, he attacked four politicians of color: Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). He explicitly told them to “go back” to the “broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Later that…

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Who gets to be a student?

By Josh Diaz | November 1, 2019

After two years at Yale, I have learned that move-in never gets easier. When I was a first-year, the chaos of move-in meant frantic runs to thrift stores and supermarkets to acquire furniture, climbing more stairs than I ever imagined and being thrown into a group of 15 peers I had never seen for nightly…

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Some advice about advice

By Alexa Stanger | October 25, 2019

I stopped calling my parents in the middle of sophomore year. Not because I was angry or withdrawn but because I knew that every conversation would lead to me asking the same question: Am I doing this right? It started with shopping period, when I would call my parents sometimes three times a day. Then…

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What is a belief?

By Tyler Eddy | October 18, 2019

When I first arrived on campus, I was afraid to discuss politics. It wasn’t that I was uncertain of my beliefs, but Princeton students have a formidable reputation. Coming from the dirt roads and cornfields of the Midwest, having never dreamt of attending an Ivy League university, I knew I was entering the lists. The…

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Lost voices

By Jacob Hutt | October 11, 2019

They said that prisoners liked to have fun with little boys like me. They said that I would soon find myself defenseless and scared, forced to complete unsavory favors to survive a lifelong sentence. It was only a matter of time before the sounds of sirens on the street would drown out the cries of…

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Hookup culture hasn’t liberated us — yet

By Mallory Stokker | October 4, 2019

Apps are free to facilitate easy hooking up, but they should encourage users to respect and engage their sexual partners, not disregard them, and they need to take a stand against discrimination. “Hookup culture” is a term that gets tossed around by everyone from the bitterest baby boomers to the most progressive Generation Z kids.…

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The role of a role model: Inspiring girls in school from a younger age

By Priya Sarma | September 27, 2019

Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I saw little representation of women in STEM fields. The inspirational autobiographies I read while growing up mostly consisted of women politicians or writers. The shelves of our libraries were always lined with books written by the likes of Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, or Beverly Cleary. Once in a while,…

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Khan Academy highlights deficiencies in conventional teaching methods

By Alex Silberzweig | September 22, 2019

Why our existing educational support system isn’t enough Have you ever prepared for an exam, only to realize that you didn’t understand what was taught in class? How often do you rely on Khan Academy to learn the material that you didn’t understand from your lectures? Khan Academy has truly changed who we are as…

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Why a decision that lasts a lifetime for students should receive more attention and assistance

By Kasey Baller | September 11, 2019

Students are settling for majors they are not happy with just to make a decision. Thinking back, most can relate to the ambitious change that occurred when moving into college. You felt eager to take on the challenges of the unknown and try new things. It is a foreign experience that is difficult to fully…

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1st-year students should wait to join Greek life

By Bethanie Viele | September 6, 2019
[Last April], new members of Syracuse University fraternities got bids to their new houses — many of these new members were freshman or first-year students. The ability to go through recruitment freshman year prevents the process of independent self-discovery. Because houses look for very specific types of people, members of Greek life go through self-discovery…

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Requiring sex education in college can change lives

By Grace Harmon | August 23, 2019

A lack of sex education leaves students unprepared and at risk in their sex lives. Of all the subjects we learn in college, sex education is one of the more complex and crucial topics that we should leave college understanding. Of all the required classes that the UW has set out for us, sex education…

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Don’t let your parents determine your career path

By Alex Silberzweig | August 16, 2019

It’s up to you, not your parents, to decide what you do with both this summer and the rest of your life There’s something about going home for the summer that initially seems so satisfying. It’s been about two months since your last break, and you’ve just finished a grueling round of finals, so you…

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Data are just one point in the real story of sexual assault

By Lauren Victoria Clark | August 9, 2019

Sometimes epiphanies happen when you least expect them. Mine came in the form of a question from a middle-aged father as he approached the microphone in front of our panel at SXSW [South by Southwest] 2019 about how to take action in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. Looking me in the eye, he told…

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Student Studying

Giving credit where credit is due

By Thomas Johnson | August 2, 2019

As I headed into this semester’s midterms, I tried to figure out how I was going to study for my four exams. The stress of the semester had culminated in the challenge of attempting to ready myself for my tests while keeping up with regular class work, as well. Most of this semester has been…

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The romance of friendship

By Emily Kaplan | July 19, 2019

I have spent much of my Yale career looking for love. I have dated dozens of athletes and musicians, scientists and writers, boys and girls. As my friends entered into serious relationships and my own history of failed relationships and flings piled higher and higher, I only searched more fervently. However, as graduation drew near,…

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Uber safety: A forgotten concept among the app users

By Ana Carolina Mejia | July 12, 2019

When Uber first came out, my parents were terrified at the thought of my using it. They were skeptical because it was a new and different concept, especially for a small country like Panama. Four years later, the only method of transportation they fully trust for me to use is Uber. When the news of…

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A few thoughts on “racism” towards white people

By Jae-Kyung Sim | July 5, 2019

A columnist at the Harvard Crimson recently wrote a column titled “Who Can Be ‘Racist’?” The columnist explores the question of whether minorities in the United States may make comments such as “I hate white people” — and whether such comments may be labeled as racist. This debate has recently surfaced at our own University. In response to a…

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Writing Never Gets Easier — That’s the Point

By Melanie Pineda | June 29, 2019

You’re sitting in Bobst Library between classes, being the responsible student that you are and actually using your only break of the day to start that essay due at 8 a.m. tomorrow. But almost immediately, you find that your brain decides to fry itself and forget the entire English lexicon. You end up staring at…

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one way or another road signs

When the dust settles

By Joey Patton | June 23, 2019

I guess I can start by telling you I graduated from college a few weeks ago, which is a pretty big accomplishment considering I got rejected from every university I applied to out of high school. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I had originally been accepted to San Jose State as a music major, and…

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Why we need to take more decisive measures to address racism in sports

By Shannon Chaffers | June 14, 2019

About a month ago, Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook was told by two Utah Jazz fans to “get down on your knees like you used to.” A few weeks ago, English soccer players Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi were subject to racist abuse from Montenegro fans while playing for England. And last week, Italian striker Moise Kean faced racism from…

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Santa Fe vigil highlights nationwide apathy

By Shani Israel and Iris Chen | June 7, 2019

I received a text message from a friend who knew one of the victims from the Santa Fe High School shooting, and she asked if I’d like to attend the vigil on May 20. Shocked and overwhelmed, I agreed to come with her to honor those who had passed away the day before. When I…

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Studding

Acknowledge the narratives of black students at Penn

By Kaliyah Dorsey | May 24, 2019

Why I decided to join The Daily Pennsylvanian The art of being black at a predominantly white institution isn’t always pretty. It is noting the experiences you have that others do not, simply because of the color of your skin, whether those experiences bring tears of grief or joy. It is searching the school newspaper’s…

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The idea of love is great and all, but…

By Hailey Payea | May 17, 2019

Since coming to Columbia, I have been in far too many romantic entanglements. But once I realized that I was actually unhappy with myself as a person, I finally gave up on love. It wasn’t just my personal experiences that led me to this conclusion, though. After seeing a friend of mine leave an abusive…

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It’s taxing to be a girl

By Dana Pierangeli | May 10, 2019

A couple of months ago, I had to review a concert taking place in Kerrytown that would force me to go through the heart of Ann Arbor. It started at 7:00 p.m., which, being in winter, seemed like the dead of night. Not finding anyone to accompany me and knowing all too well the dangers…

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The Problem With Colleges Fetishizing POC Struggles

By Melanie Pineda | May 4, 2019

With the recent attention given to college admissions processes, one question remains: Why are universities so obsessed with hearing trauma stories from students of color? It’s no secret that it is much harder for students of color to be admitted to elite institutions. A New York Times analysis from 2017 indicates that black and Hispanic…

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Tough on trade (schools)

By Sophie Aanerud | April 26, 2019

The bias against blue collar is hurting the country and its students When Aidan, who requested his last name be omitted, graduated from north Seattle’s Roosevelt High School in 2016, he knew almost nothing about vocational schooling. “I feel like Roosevelt was pretty focused on getting students into college,” Aidan said. “Most of the time…

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In defense of Black American culture

By Colby King | April 19, 2019

Since arriving on campus, I have been involved with many conversations with my peers similar to the following: “So… what are you?” Huh? “Like, where are you from?” Texas. “No! Like where are you really from?” Texas. Something that I quickly learned upon arriving here is that I am a minority. So now you’re probably…

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Conquering the fear of loneliness through independence

By Brigitte Harbers | April 12, 2019

Loneliness is an inevitable feeling. No matter how many people you may surround yourself with, you’re going to feel lonely at some point. It may sneak up on you during a quiet moment in the day walking between classes, or when you’re pulling an all-nighter and find yourself alone in a group study space. While…

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When Your NYU Community Doesn’t Respect You

By Sarah John | March 29, 2019

NYU is the first community I have truly chosen to be a part of. I love this community and the people in it. I smile at people in my dorm’s elevator. When I share a table with someone in Kimmel, I strike up conversation. In every NYU student, I see someone whom I share an…

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Hold On Tight

By Kerr Heidinger | March 22, 2019

Floating alone with my life preserver in the middle of rippling black water, I feel the whole world slow down. I push wet hair out of my eyes and watch the scene in front of me as if through a TV screen. The sound of the boat’s engine and the touch of the waves slapping…

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Perks of being sober

By Brandon Hill | March 15, 2019

Staying sober might be the best part of a drunken Saturday night The music is too loud. The room is too crowded. The people are drunk. Believe it or not, bars are not all they’re cracked up to be­ — at least if you’re sober. I came to college knowing I wouldn’t drink. When family…

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Finding Your Voice

By Kyle Chen | March 8, 2019

Writing is difficult – especially when what you’re writing will be published on the Internet, where anyone and everyone can read it. I started this column last fall hoping that it would help me improve my writing. I’d always enjoyed the rewarding feeling that comes with putting your thoughts down on paper, and I’d reached…

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 The Finale, for Now

By Gabrielle Leung | March 2, 2019

We had four hours on the road before we had to officially call ourselves final semester seniors. The road was a safe haven — if you didn’t look at the hills of snow everywhere, spindly trees and the depressingly gray sky. Still, we were safe. “Would your freshman year self have thought you would be…

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Condemning white nationalism is too easy

By KiKi Gilbert | February 23, 2019

In 1991, a brutal video of police officers beating motorcyclist Rodney King was released to the general public. Across the country outrage surged, with anger towards King’s assailants crossing racial and political lines. As critical theorist Kimberle Crenshaw describes, the video represented an “easy event for the entire mainstream of American culture to abhor, it did…

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Rejection: The hardest part of winter

By Rachel Kennedy | February 8, 2019

The winter is the most dangerous time of the year — not just for chapped lips, bitter finger tips, and icy ground, but for a University student’s pride. Whether it’s applying to internships and spring classes or approaching someone on the Street to initiate cuffing season, rejection looms in the air. Hearing “the applicant pool…

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Today is the Day: I drop down

By Emma Marton | January 18, 2019

It’s week two of my sophomore year, and I’m already near tears. I don’t belong here, I think as I flip through the test. “Skip the hard ones,” they tell you. But what if they’re all hard ones? I had taken honors biology the year before and done well in it, getting a pretty solid A. I…

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Textbooks

Were our textbooks really that helpful?

By Alex Durham | January 4, 2019

Before break, some friends in my dorm and I were discussing the different types of educations we received from elementary school through high school. There were the expected differences that arose between private and public schools, but we also realized there were stark differences based on where we grew up. Three of us — from…

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Want to help the world? Don’t do drugs

By Liam O'Connor | December 28, 2018

Three days after the 2016 presidential election, I watched a protest against President Donald Trump outside of Nassau Hall. People railed against the president-elect’s racism, misogyny, and conservatism. His heated rhetoric of Mexicans “bringing crime” and being “rapists” rocketed immigration to the forefront of national dialogue. After that day, there were rallies, op-eds, petitions, and clubs created to oppose his policies. Since…

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Rigor is not value

By Braden Flax | December 14, 2018

Taking a course at Princeton, conventional wisdom would have it, requires a commitment to intellectual life and academic output. Yet it seems evident that our institution prioritizes rigor — or perceived rigor — over other considerations. This isn’t because rigor is required for understanding, nor because difficulty-for-the sake-of-difficulty is a pedagogical necessity. Rather, the point…

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Pause the podcast, take out your earbuds, and listen to your own thoughts

By Joel Lee | December 7, 2018

Your inner voice is your most important podcast When I would start to stress out about school, my hands would immediately go to my phone and earbuds. I needed to listen to something to take my mind off my thoughts. I would put on a podcast or listen to some music. But soon, it became…

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‘Woke’ men need to wake up

By Madeleine Marr | November 30, 2018

Among those who identify as liberal, a certain type of man has emerged: he calls himself a feminist, has many female friends, and has donated to Planned Parenthood. He prides himself in his interest in gender, and shakes his head when another prominent man is revealed as a sexual harasser. He also interrupts the women…

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Why I’m happy with my useless majors

By Anna Banerjee | November 17, 2018

Impracticality matters much less than you’d think when the alternative is a practical field of study that’ll lead to lackluster and underwhelming performances and interests.   I have a useless major — two of them if you ask some people. As a cinema and political-science major, with a creative-writing interest, I feel as if I’ve…

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Posture and confidence at Kenyon

By Eve Bromberg | November 10, 2018

As a senior, I’ve been battling feelings of anxiety of being ordinary and failing to stand out. In a world of competition, you can never really feel too comfortable in your own skin. When we try our hardest and give our best attempts, there’s an internal pulse that carries us to the next step, ideally…

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Professors are right — taking notes by hand leads to greater comprehension, learning in class

By Mitch Rogers | October 26, 2018

Though banning laptops seems juvenile, taking notes by hand eliminates distractions, making lectures more conducive for learning   It seems as though the age of laptops in classrooms came and went in the blink of an eye. To start off the school year, many professors have put their foot down and begun to insist that…

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Penn may have changed my bond with my father, but it’s just as strong

By Isabella Simonetti | October 19, 2018

How college changes your relationship with your parents My dad and I are unusually close. When I was nine, my mother died following a six-year battle with breast cancer. In many ways, experiencing something like that at such a young age was a curse, but it also bonded me to my father. Starting college inevitably…

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Lessons from high school

By Reilly Johnson | September 28, 2018

“In a few years you’re going to college,” my ninth-grade English teacher cautioned us. “And no one is going to care about what you did in high school.”  Similar sentiments have echoed around me for years — from teachers, parents and, just this April, students at Yale. “Next year, nothing from high school will matter anymore.”…

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Me, too

By Sri Nimmagadda | September 16, 2018

The #MeToo movement has come, but it has not yet gone; while the testimonials of women who were sexual harassed have largely faded from our Facebook and Twitter feeds, the issue of sexual harassment — in the workplace, in the classroom, at the bar — has continued to dominate public discourse. In the wake of the…

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Startups, a Millennial Myth

By Anita Ramaswamy | September 7, 2018

Earlier this month, I went to watch my best friend pitch her non-profit startup at Harvard’s 2018 President’s Innovation Challenge. Of the fifteen competition finalists, only two teams were entirely composed of undergraduates. This surprised me — at a top school with no shortage of young talent, where entrepreneurs have access to a vast array of resources and a…

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Selfishness Won’t Save Us

By Nesi Altaras | September 1, 2018

Last semester, I went to an event at Oxford organized by The Economist called “The Future of Work.” This title has become shorthand for nebulous concepts such as “the AI/Automation revolution” and how they might lead to mass chronic unemployment in the near future. I have had a keen interest in this for a couple of years and…

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Re-orientating our attitude toward loneliness

By Caroline Mulligan | August 24, 2018

Recalling first-year orientation brings back little besides the sensation of immense loneliness. Watching as my peers made fast friends with each other, feeling like an outsider observing social rituals conducted in a foreign tongue. I didn’t connect to anyone that first week at Brown, or the second. As my first semester slogged on and I…

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The effect of Adderall on abusers is staggering

By Taylor Newby | August 10, 2018

With the quiet start of finals week settling over countless college campuses across the country, the even quieter exchange between buyer and seller of mixed amphetamine salts resounds with an estimated 6.5 million non-medical users of prescription drugs, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health — including college students, who use one…

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In moments of trial, are we ready to act?

By Jon Ort | August 4, 2018

My blood ran cold as I watched the man smash his fist into his victim’s face. The other man crumpled to the floor, but the assailant continued to strike. I was terrified. This was neither a scene from an action movie nor a training simulation. It was real-life violence, unfolding before my eyes. *** Last…

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The Reality of Being Black in Iowa

By Wylliam Smith | July 28, 2018

When I was about to graduate from high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, many people ridiculed me for only applying to three colleges. My classmates had applied to eight or nine colleges and insisted I needed to broaden my options. But I didn’t need to apply to 15 schools because I knew that no matter what happened,…

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There’s probably nothing wrong with you

By Leora Eisenberg | July 21, 2018

I spent almost the entire two first years of my college experience wondering if there was something wrong with me. I never liked going out to the Street — every time I’d tried, I hadn’t had a great time. Maybe I hung out with the wrong people or went to the wrong clubs, but when…

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The faces of autism

By Hari Srinivasan | July 6, 2018

It’s serendipitous that I write this column in April, which just happens to be Autism Awareness Month. It’s promising to see events that raise awareness about autism, such as the annual 3K walk organized by Spectrum: Autism at Cal. But despite these causes, there is still a lot of confusion surrounding this diagnosis. And as…

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The endless uphill of social media

By Sophie Stuber | June 29, 2018

Stanford’s beautiful campus and close access to open spaces were a huge draw for me. Growing up in the mountains of Colorado caused me to appreciate the value of nature. I knew that I needed places to escape campus, to hike and to run. Open space brings vitality to my soul and helps me mentally reset…

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Don’t romanticize destructive habits

By Chanel Johnson | June 23, 2018

According to the American College Health Association, nearly one out of five university students is affected by anxiety or depression. There are many reasons why these disorders may be prevalent on college campuses, including smartphone addiction, the rising cost of college and mental exhaustion. Nearly all students at Brown experience some form of mental exhaustion at least…

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Changing the way we teach race

By Natachi Onwuamaegbu | June 16, 2018

In the eighth grade I was asked if I wanted to step out of the room while the class learned about slavery. When I politely declined, I was allowed to sit with my classmates as we were taught the wonders of slave culture — the music and religions cultivated from a beautiful blend of two cultures,…

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Are Your Shoes Classist? Are You?

By Alejandro Villa Vasquez | June 8, 2018

You see them every day, probably. They’re ugly, but we’re expected to believe they’re a subversive type of ugly, emblematic of revolutionary sentiments and avant-garde innovations in fashion and culture itself. Yes, I mean the Balenciaga Triple S Trainers. People that sport this clunky, worn-in footwear probably don’t realize that their ironically and offensively expensive apparel choices…

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How campus culture cultivates body-image issues

By Ellen Schneider | June 4, 2018

College cultivates a toxic culture surrounding beauty expectations for women and forces us to try to imitate unrealistic ideals. As college students, we tend to be under perpetual stress. It’s an expected, although unwelcome, aspect of school. Exams, essays, loans — not to mention the ever-elusive social life — are enough to break down even…

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The stories we choose

By Meghana Mysore | May 26, 2018

In her TED Talk on the “single story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addresses our adherence to single stories — of places and their political landscapes, of others, and of ourselves. We advance the single story because it allows us to understand the world in a linear, comfortable way and to comprehend ideas of excellence one-dimensionally. From…

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Am I Growing Up?

By Lucas Du | May 13, 2018

We’re told that college will fundamentally change us, but that’s not how it always pans out. Back in high school, everyone was clamoring to get out. “I can’t wait to leave,” they said. “Senior spring can’t come soon enough,” they said. And when August rolled around and summer came to an end and college loomed large right…

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Connecting the Ivory Tower to the real world

By Quentin Thomas | May 5, 2018

The classes I’m taking this semester have me circling back to this one thought: How applicable is the stuff I’m learning in the classroom to the real world? We’re so fortunate to attend a place like Brown. Only a small minority of us will ever get the chance to receive a college education, live in…

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For the miles ahead

By Kelli Reagan | April 28, 2018

As a senior on the track and field and cross country teams, my time at Yale has revolved around seconds, miles and a 15-minute bus schedule. Like all distance runners, each day brings its own demands, including a consistent stream of prescribed miles. Though a mile may seem to be a uniform measure of distance,…

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Combating sexual harassment in middle schools

By Carmen Molina | April 7, 2018

Despite every middle school’s valiant efforts, cramming hundreds of pubescent kids into a building is an uncomfortable experience for everyone involved. Yet the most uncomfortable issue that emerges with the onset of puberty is also the one least discussed: sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is appallingly common in middle school, and unfortunately the incomplete education students…

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Kindness is a powerful form of activism

By Rebecca Okin | March 24, 2018

After a year that even the creators of South Park found impossible to parody, current events have lost their ability to shock us, and something of a formula has formed. As attentive and impassioned students, we see the way things are, we measure our dissatisfaction, we react. But a realization struck me last month as I…

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Overcoming rejection

By Leora Eisenberg | March 17, 2018

It was only Thanksgiving season, and I’d already been rejected by three academic conferences, three a cappella groups, two fellowships, two summer internships, and one guy I really liked. I’m not even done yet; I’m applying for a multitude of other programs, with the hope that maybe I’ll be accepted to one for the summer. I once thought…

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It’s time for Syracuse University students to address our self-segregation problem

By Obi Afriyie | March 10, 2018

Let me start by saying segregation is far from dead. It might not be politically enforced, but institutions have ways of naturally segregating people, and colleges fall into that category. From the moment students step on Syracuse University’s campus and are handed their first Otto’s Army shirt, they’re instantly pressured to find their place and…

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Hooking up ousts firm relationships

By Rachel Selvin | February 24, 2018

Teenage relationships commonly consist of casual hookups or long-term couplings. To say this generation is inadequate in forming emotionally intimate relationships is probably the understatement of the century. Instead, we seem to be creating  non-relationship relationships. Just the other day, while walking through the hallowed halls of Brookline High School, mindlessly eavesdropping and people-watching per…

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Toward a broader job search

By Samantha Savello | February 17, 2018

As the spring semester begins, students are scrambling to secure summer internships and post-graduation positions. The pressure is especially high for seniors, who will soon be completing their final semester and walking through the Van Wickle gates into the dreaded “real world.” For those of us seniors who still don’t have a job lined up…

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Leave millennials alone about their piercings and tattoos

By Sophie Allen | February 10, 2018

Over the summer, I interned at Long Beach City Hall. I had to apply for the position and was eventually interviewed. My interview went well: I brought my resume, dressed for the occasion and made sure I appeared qualified. I also had bright blue hair in high school, including when I interviewed for my internship.…

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Another kind of doctor

By Casey Ramsey | February 2, 2018

From the time I was in elementary school to the summer before I came to Yale, if you had asked me what kind of career I was going to go into, I would have told you that I was going to go to medical school and become some kind of physician. When people back home…

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Does the stress of high school ever end?

By Cameron Austin | January 27, 2018

I have thought about the above question for as long as I have been at Kenyon, and even as a sophomore, I am still not sure if I can answer it. The preoccupation with getting into a “good” college consumed my life beginning in the ninth grade. Even though admissions officers encourage potential applicants to…

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Detriments of living in a college bubble

By Jake Russian | January 19, 2018

For many students, college exists as a place to escape reality; an environment in which avoiding pressures associated with the outside world can be avoided. There’s fresh, hot food available at multiple dining halls, without any personal preparation necessary. The bathrooms are perfectly cleaned, without any manual labor from the students who use them. There…

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Group projects are horrible

By Eileen Tyrrell | January 5, 2018

There are a few things a professor can say that will automatically make me fear taking a class. For example, “This class is not curved,” or, “I expect half of you to fail or drop out of my course,” or the awful “The final is cumulative.” But in my opinion, nothing is worse than the…

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A Case of Mistaken Identity

By Lucas Du | December 30, 2017

Escaping some stereotypes while embracing others presents a difficult task. Stereotypes have always followed me around. In elementary school, the “Asian” accent was a running joke. All my friends did it and I did it too, perhaps as a way of deflecting the joke, owning the joke, showing that it didn’t matter and that I…

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Improving our civic knowledge

By Samantha Savello | December 15, 2017

Last week, while investigating a politician using public records from the Rhode Island Superior Court and State House for a course, I made a startling discovery: I quickly realized my basic high school education about American government had slipped away from me. As I spoke to administrators who asked me what type of court case…

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Teaching tolerance

By Isabel Lichtman | December 9, 2017

When my sister told me she was trans, her eyes wide open for my response, I almost laughed. I told her that she should give it some time, that she was too young to make such a big decision. I didn’t understand why she took off in front of me when I suggested that maybe…

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Students should understand the benefits of getting involved

By Adrienne Dunn | November 25, 2017

Being active in your field of choice early on increases the likeliness of future success There is no denying that college life is busy. The average student’s planner is filled with lists of commitments, exams and work schedules. But college is also a time to grow, make memories and develop foundations for the future. Amongst…

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My mid-college crisis

By Fabiana Vilsan | November 18, 2017

As a junior who came into Brown thinking she had it all figured out, I’m more confused about what I want to do with my life now than I was as a bright-eyed freshman. In high school the choices seemed black-and-white: I imagined I’d spend my undergraduate years preparing for either law, medical or business…

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The importance of time to oneself

By Andrew Friedman | November 4, 2017

When I think back on my summer, some of my favorite moments were spent alone. Oddly enough, I really enjoyed my daily one-hour commute in Los Angeles traffic from the San Fernando Valley to Pasadena. My falsetto dramatically improved with all of the R&B music that I sang along to in the car, and my…

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Saving for retirement, now

By Louis DeFelice | October 27, 2017

Two weeks ago, I wrote an article in the News encouraging students to over-borrow for their education while simultaneously investing money for the future. This week, I want to backtrack and answer the question: “Why on Earth would I save for retirement during my bright college years?” As is so often true, the limitations of…

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Inbox anxiety

By Catherine Yang | October 21, 2017

There are a lot of things about myself that I expected to change once I started college — more friends, better classes, less junk food (a delusion and a failure, I assure you) — but one thing I didn’t expect was my newfound addiction to checking my email. Walking to class? Let me refresh my…

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Credentials over color

By Randi Richardson | October 14, 2017

This year has been a big one for women’s tennis. Serena Williams, arguably the greatest living tennis player, won a Grand Slam while pregnant and delivered a beautiful baby girl. Meanwhile, her rival Maria Sharapova not only returned to the circuit after fulfilling the conditions of her suspension for using banned substances but also authored a book. That book immediately…

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For God, for country and for friends

By Adam Krok | September 23, 2017

If you left Yale at this exact moment, how many people would you honestly still keep in touch with in a meaningful way? When I asked this question of myself, I recoiled at how few people would have made the list. I have many people in my life who are friendly. There are the smiles…

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A message from “dumb” athletes

By Paige Vermeer and Stephen Barmore | September 10, 2017

While some seem to believe that nothing athletes have to say is worthy of their time, we want to discuss why recent statements about student-athletes have underestimated just about every Yale student, in addition to shaming and devaluing a specific group within this community. The central message of these negative stereotypes is that student-athletes do…

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Growing up (wanting to be) white

By Jessica Li | September 1, 2017

On Hollywood whitewashing and why representation matters When I was younger, I wanted to be an author. I wanted to write short stories and plays and novels. I thought something was keeping me back, though — my name. I didn’t think the name “Jessica Li” would look good on a byline, underneath the glossy title…

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Dismantling Consistency

By Ioana Solomon | August 26, 2017

Our lives are fuller if we accept that our personalities are malleable. Stanford University researcher Walter Mischel’s “Marshmallow Experiment” has become a classic child psychology test. A group of 3- to 5-year-old children were given a choice between eating a marshmallow immediately upon receiving it or waiting 15 minutes and being rewarded with a second…

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More Than a Token

By Elizabeth Adetiba | July 31, 2017

Parting reflections on being black at UChicago. “If I were you, I would just go to whatever state school you’ve already been accepted to. The University of Chicago is really a tough institution, and I’m not quite sure you’d do well there, if we’re being honest.” I felt my heart beating fast, my mouth getting…

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What I (actually) wish I knew freshman year

By Ryan Dukeman | July 20, 2017

As of writing this, two weeks from now I’ll be sitting on a beach somewhere. Three weeks from now, I’ll be enjoying my last Reunions as a student. And four weeks from now, I’ll probably be at home, waking up and wondering if this was all a dream. Knowing this is my last column for…

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The art of opinion-making

By Rekha Kennedy | July 8, 2017

I love opinions—I energetically spatter them around with Pollock-like imprecision, with the Columbia student body as my canvas. And at a campus like Columbia, that is not a distinct characteristic; the campus is colored by our vehemently expressed viewpoints and opinions. However, before being an opinion columnist this semester, I honestly believed that my opinions…

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The exciting uncertainty of the future

By Janelle Tam | July 2, 2017

What do you want to do with your life? A lucky few Princetonians will be able to answer that question with certainty, knowing exactly their vision for their life and how they will make it a reality. Most will have at least a general idea, but may be less certain of the path that leads…

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Demanding respect for women in intramural sports

By Caroline Malin-Mayor | June 25, 2017

A few weeks ago, I played in an intramural soccer game in which I was the only woman playing. When I walked into the gym and saw four or five extremely tall, muscular men warming up on the other side of the field, I was a little intimidated. As a 5-foot-3-inch, 140-pound woman, I wasn’t keen…

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Why Young People Should Embrace the Whole Life Movement

By Jillian Veader | June 17, 2017

At first glance, the term “whole life” can conjure up numerous different feelings, depending on the context. There are those who believe it’s just another euphemism for the right-wing anti-abortion mob; there are those who see it as another movement in the Christian community that won’t actually take us anywhere. I believe it to be…

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The cult of eating disorders

By Jessica Magro | June 10, 2017

I was admitted to the eating disorder ward at a psychiatric hospital the day after my junior prom. By the time I decided to enter treatment, I had been struggling with anorexia for two years. Two years of disordered behaviors took a toll on my health: My medical complications included malnutrition, dehydration, lanugo, insomnia, hair…

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Combating intellectual laziness

By Jasmine Liu | June 3, 2017

I discovered the subreddit /r/changemyview two years ago. I was immediately fascinated by it, and it has charmed me ever since. Reddit gets a lot of flak for imparting a safe haven to anonymous, misogynistic, white male trolls. Change My View is special. It stands out as a forum that houses some of the most productive discourse…

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From 4,200 Miles Away: Real life doesn’t have an Instagram filter

By Teresa Turco | May 28, 2017

It’s cliché for a reason — nothing good comes from our obsession with picture-perfect lives I spent fall 2016 studying abroad in Seville, Spain. From across the ocean, I watched as President Donald Trump was elected. I listened to Spaniards quote satirical Simpsons episodes, making fun of Americans. I weathered all the American stereotypes thrown at…

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Ex-Stream Entertainment

By Fred Kardos | May 22, 2017

Netflix exploits and distorts serious issues to create binge-worthy shows. For a large percentage of students, exam procrastination takes the form of Netflix. I love Netflix. But it’s a love-hate relationship. While I appreciate the instant access to a wide variety of easy procrastination, recently released Netflix shows like 13 Reasons Why have capitalized on the addictive…

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Embrace failure

By Sarah Gathro | May 16, 2017

Steven Spielberg was a repeated failure. He received unimpressive grades in high school, and was rejected three times — yes, three — from the University of Southern California. Yet Spielberg went on to direct 51 films, win 3 Oscars and amass a wealth upward of $3 billion. It is no coincidence that before succeeding, Spielberg…

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The Era of Not Knowing

By Gabrielle Leung | May 6, 2017

I know enough about myself, and what I tend to write, that this final, end-of-the-semester piece will be reminiscent of this school year. I’m no longer the freshman who can write about the conflicting feelings of dorm life and the realization that everyone struggles, but never wants to leave Cornell. And I’m not a senior,…

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Peer Mediation as a Viable Option for School Conflict Resolution Programs

By Racheal Whiteside | March 19, 2017

Editor’s note: This is an interesting research article written by an undergraduate when she was attending the University of Buffalo. It is the voice of a student providing insight into adolescent aggression and conflict resolution. Albert Bandura (1977) developed the Social Learning (SL) theory to explain that people learn how to act from each other.…

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The Honor Code Vote – One Student Senator’s View

By Alyssa Vangelli | November 5, 2016

Should an honor code place one student against another? Is it the best way to ensure an honest and trusting atmosphere at a high school? Will it ensure moral action and thinking? In the Final faculty-Student Senate meeting of the winter term, we voted to adopt an honor code for Lawrence Academy. I left with…

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Getting Along with Others – Article

By Erin Donahue | September 9, 2016

As students we should learn to live with one another right now, because we’re going to have to do it the rest of our lives. By learning to live and accept that others are and will always be different, we take a step away from ignorance, and a step towards knowledge. Address to New Students…

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Supporting What We Don’t Believe

By Joel Rosne | September 9, 2016

– November 1999     Freedom of speech is not absolute, as Supreme Court decisions have told us. Yet what rights do we have about seeing our funds being used as we want them? The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that will affect colleges and universities across the nation, including Columbia. In…

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Public School Reform: Innovation Not Renovation

By Michael Ricci Sophmore | September 9, 2016

– November 19, 1999       Public schools are in serious trouble: Standardized test scores have not increased while dropout rates, teacher turnover rates, and school violence rates have all increased. Students are more belligerent, curricula are less modern, and teachers are less skilled than ever before. Is there a cure? From Columbia Spectator,…

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gun

The Rise of Gun Violence – Who Shoots Whom

By Ethan Perlstein | September 9, 2016

– November 16, 1999     What can be done to end the senseless mass killings? Are the Media to blame? Can the Media paint a more accurate picture? It was by chance last week that I caught wind of a breaking story of another shooting, this time in my hometown in South Florida. The…

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students in class

The Most Productive Third of Your Life

By Igor Rybinnik | September 9, 2016

– November 12, 1999    Sleep is needed to rejuvenate the body and mind. What is the most important part of sleep? Too little sleep can be very detrimental to your health. People spend one third of their lives in an altered state of consciousness. This is required for normal growth and development, and it…

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people drinking

BINGE-DRINKING PLAGUES EVEN THE IVY LEAGUE

By Suzanne Dressler | September 7, 2016

Is boredom a factor in binge drinking? Is it a pressure relief, or a way to fit in? Ms. Dressler examines these and other possible causes of this dilemma. Many people are under the impression that Columbia University does not have a problem with campus drinking, at least not as much as the Big Ten,…

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