Welcome back to school, Yellowjackets! With the new year and the new semester underway, it’s time to make your resolutions for the future. There’s always the standard promise to go to the gym or to eat better, but our student body has some more ambitious ideas.

Most students are focusing on their academic pursuits. Sophomore Louis Fusilli says, “My resolution is to get a 4.0.” Freshman Sophie Sackstein wants to do well, too — by reading her chemistry textbook.

Others are more concerned about dealing with the elements of beautiful, but frozen, upstate New York. Senior Philip Meyers is hoping to “walk to class without freezing in the cold.”  Many students are also hoping to motivate themselves to continue attending club meetings and office hours, even if it means trudging through the snow and ice outside. A few have outlined plans to buy another pair of gloves or new boots.

Many just plan to focus on themselves. Sophomore Rachel Gehring hopes to find “personal happiness.” Senior Ezekiel Starling wants the same, adding, as he took out his earbuds, that he also “wants to make more music.”

Despite all this, some students are wondering why a resolution can only be made once a year, and are consequently shaking up the established system. Sophomore Margret Thursten explains, “I’m planning on giving myself challenges every week.” She argues that small goals are the best way to avoid becoming discouraged and allow flexibility for changing priorities.

Even though resolutions come in all shapes in sizes, they all have the same goal. When asked what his resolution was, freshman Hai Vu smiled, shrugged, and said, “I want to be a better person.”



Realistic Rochester resolutions

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Realistic Rochester resolutions

We teach the Dust Bowl as a cautionary tale. In every American history class, we learn how farmers in the 1920s and 1930s tore up millions of acres of native grassland across the Great Plains to plant wheat, how the deep-rooted prairie grasses that held the soil and trapped moisture were replaced by shallow crops and bare fields, and, when drought came in 1930, how the exposed topsoil turned to dust. Read More