Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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Gregg Stevens M any freshmen occasionally blewgpf their studies, as Dave C ushnie did, and studzed harder a5 upperclassmen. owever, a 5i hi icant number of M iamians optedfor an alternative strategy: build a good P early at M iamz because a se- nior with a D still meant degree. This diligence in the pursuit of extra-curricular activities often left small time for considerations of the mind a namely studies. Studies took a devastating blow during the freshman year. For some, the damage was irreversible; their grade point never would attain a meritorious level. For others it was time to Change bad habits, to shift priorities before it was too late. Many Changed their majors. Career-oriented Changes often came from the realization that the Chosen course would prove too difficult ltoo difficult to main- tain a healthy social lifel. Other Changes underscored the sudden, scary insight that onels present major really had no purpose and would probably award the holder only a diploma, not a job. Priorities underwent a subtle change from late during the sophomore year and continuing on through the junior year. Wednesday and Thursday uptown drinking nights were forgone more often in lieu of staying caught up with a professors syllabus. Entire Sunday afternoons became devoted to the place most peo- ple didnlt know about during freshman year - the library. In the senior year, the nagging pressures of reality nudged in- side the Close-Confined security of twenty-one years under paren- A drastic Changefmm the usual Miami preppie wardrobe was the Classic blue three- zece suzt worn when mtervzewmg. Andy DeSollar, a marketing major, looke hzs best as he prepared hzmself mentallyfor a critical interview. tal and university wings. Reality tap-tapped with bothersome pers15tence. It was a year ofinterviews, of applications forjobs and graduate school, medical and law schools. It was a year of waiting, hoping and fearing. For some, job offers and graduate school acceptances prom- ised an intellectually-challenging and economically-rewarding future. Education majors who had spent one semester student- teaching found that their taste of the real world gave them a desire for more. Priorities shifted again. And what had once been a college coed became a member of the world outside - an adult. a Christy Rumpf Student Life 23 Karen Linch

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Karen Linch 22 Shifting Priorities eople changed. Their list Of likes and wants altered in a quite erratic, sometime quite unfathomable direction. What made them do it? What made the freshman international studies major turn into a bonaflde businessman replete with suitcoat, tie and fmance degree in hand at graduation? Or, turn it around and ask, what made the dedicated freshman systems analysis major graduate as a marine and wildlife coordina- tor? Perhaps the answer could be gleaned from a Closer study of the shifting sands of that mystic agent called priorities. When freshmen entered college, most were charged with electri- fying thoughts of staying up all night, drinking beer, meeting guys tor girlst and in general being out from under the scrutinous eyes of parents. These activities were diligently pursued. Wasting some time between classes, systems major Laura M ille'r stopped to check out the 0b listings on a Laws H all bulletin board. Though she was only a fresh- man, If 6 time dzdn? seem too early to start looking toward thefuture and a prom- isingjob.

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Tim Folker 24 Games he room was dark and full of smoke. He stood poised in front of the screen, fingers dancing on the controls in nervous anticipa- tion. He knew what to expect; the veterans had briefed him well. The visual display ignited in a fluorescent Hash. The invasion had commenced, there was no turning back. Electronic games evolved as one of the most compelling crazes 0f the year. Along with pinball machines, the electronic wizardry of Space Invaders and other electronic games found new audiences in the Uni- versity Center and the majority of the uptown bars. Young and old alike joined in the fad: crowding around the machines; pockets bulging with assorted change; waiting for their chance to take on the little men from Mars. Space Invaders, popularity even cascaded into the music industry with a try at the Top Forty entitled Space Invaders? The song, al- though not an artistic success, heightened the Space Invaders hysteria. Off the academic playing field and away from the Classroom, stu- The always busy bowling lanes in the basement 0 the Res often needed a uich clean-up to keep the hat 5 rolling smoothly. Mar Hayt polzshed the lanesqbefore the next bowler arrived.