Here I am, something like 52 issues and editorials later, and about to wrap up my time at the University of New Haven. It’s been a good run for the past four years, and I can honestly say that I don’t regret my decision to attend UNH over any other school I considered, granted, I didn’t even finish applying to another school because I was accepted and set on going here before I finished any other applications! I’ve seen the school grow, do good things, maybe do some not so good things, but overall I’m more than happy with how things have progressed.
When I first arrived at UNH, I remember living in New Hall in the music LLC, seeing the year old Rec Center, and watching so many people go home every weekend. While I know there are still plenty of people who go home on the weekends, trust me, the situation has greatly improved over time, and it will only continue to do so as new housing is created (in the planning stages as we speak!) and as new buildings are added (new science building anyone? It’s happening!). If any student looks at just their experience in a week, or a month, or a year at a university, it’s not a big enough picture to really see the changes that have happened. Looking back over my four years, I saw the addition of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science building, the Bartels Dining Hall expansion, the C-Store/Sandellas move/expansion, the lights added to Kayo, and close to my heart, the creation, updating, and renovating of the music facilities with the MIDI lab and the studios. A lot else has been done, but there’s too much to mention here, so you’ll just have to trust me on this.
I’ll probably make some enemies with this next paragraph, but I’m okay with that. Let’s talk about the things that people love to complain about! Housing changes? Check. Adding a portal for everyone on campus to connect through that doesn’t really work? Check. Moving the registration time to 6:01 a.m. instead of 12:01 a.m.? Check. Let’s knock these out. First, I’ll cover housing changes. I know it can seem frightening trying to find off campus housing, but it make sense to keep the underclassmen on campus and move the upperclassmen that don’t fit off campus. That’s how a sense of community is created, and UNH is trying to instill that in every student a little more every year. Old traditions are being kept around and improved slowly and new traditions are being created. It’s a slow process, but if everyone keeps the big picture in mind, the university will get there and every alumni can honestly tell themselves that they helped UNH get to that point.
Round two, the infamous portal. In theory, the portal should have been a great thing. Unfortunately, a lack of convenience and publicity combined in the perfect storm of no one ever using it, or the resources it offers via the portal. Essentially, everyone does everything exactly as they had in the past, making the portal just about useless. I know time will improve the portal, but rushing into things really got it the way of effectiveness with this one. Patience everyone, the portal (and ChargerConnection) will grow soon enough as it becomes a staple for incoming students!
Finishing up with class registration seems appropriate, as it is probably the most stressful five minutes to a few months of time that you will experience. Sure, it’s a little lame that everyone needs to wake up early to register now, but fortunately, the issue of Matrix crashing may be solved soon enough! An email was sent out a few weeks ago letting everyone know that the cart feature would be removed for the next registration period. This will cause the system to experience less stress during registration; therefore (hopefully), eliminating the crash issues. Yay!
So that’s that, my last editorial for this fine newspaper. I hope that you readers out there enjoyed what Joann, myself, and our staff had to offer for the past two years, and I wish the best of luck to Liz and Liana who will be taking over as Editor-in-Chief and Assistant Editor next year. You two will do a great job! Congratulations to the class of 2012 and good luck with finals everyone!
