Editorial | Celebrating what we have
Illustrated by Kaz Fantone
It has been a turbulent semester.
Perhaps no one knows this more than us. It’s visible in the issues we’ve published this semester and the news stories we have covered. A lot has gone on at Chapman.
The first week, it was coverage of a white supremacist group posting fliers on our campus. Then it was controversy surrounding Dean Lisa Sparks and her congressional run. Then it was George W. Bush’s visit to campus and the fact that The Panther didn’t attend. We’ve covered controversial speakers, emails, petitions, elections, protests and even an adult film actress. It’s been a whirlwind from start to finish, and yet it feels as if this semester went by in the blink of an eye.
We know that sometimes it’s difficult to focus on the positives. As students, we fall into a routine of classes, work, eat, homework, sleep, repeat. We cycle this daily, forgetting to stop and enjoy college while we can. This is supposedly the best few years of our lives and it’s important to remember that.
As a staff, we’ve struggled with focusing on the news of campus and the unfortunate tension surrounding it. In addition to being wrapped up in our student life, we have to engage in complicated, contentious topics that can leave us forgetting why we’re here in the first place.
We don’t always acknowledge the good around us and that’s why this issue is all about the best of Chapman. We wanted to wrap up the semester in a lighthearted way. And honestly, it’s nice for us to take a beat and focus on all the positive qualities Chapman has in store.
When all of us applied to come here, we were so excited to experience all that Chapman had to offer. We were excited to meet new friends and take courses that were actually relevant to our interests. And now, it’s easy to forget that excitement when we’re busy studying for finals, stressing about graduation and just dealing with being a student.
Chapman is such an amazing school. We have one of the prettiest campuses, filled with beautiful people and stunning scenery. We get to take interesting classes and study and work to fulfill our goals. Orange is such a unique place to live and we’re lucky we get to attend class in such a beautiful city and location in Southern California. And it’s easy to forget all that.
It’s nice to be able to pause and reflect on what’s around us rather than consistently focus on the next piece of news. So go and do the same. Walk around campus with no destination and take in all that it has to offer. Play with the dogs in the Attallah Piazza and be late to class because you were hanging with your friends. Stop and look at the busts on campus. Remember why you came here in the first place, and enjoy it. Because before you know it, we won’t be students at Chapman anymore and we’ll want to look back on our time here and smile.