University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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STUDENT LIFE In tough times, students work HARD TO MAKE ENDS MEET AS THEY BEGIN TO REALIZE THAT MONEY REALLY DOESN’T GROW ON TREES. As Jason Pelton took his apron off and headed for the door, he heard the echoes of “You’re cut” from his manager. With his book in one hand and a wad of dollar bills in the other, he opened his car door and counted his money. He got all the way to eight when the cash stopped. He recounted it and checked his pockets to see if he had missed at least a $10 bill. Jason found nothing else. The economy slump in the 2008-09 school year left many students like Pelton with empty pockets. Pelton, a senior biology major, had been a waiter at Logan’s Roadhouse for almost a year. To encourage people to come eat, Logan’s provided promotions such as two meals for $ I 3.99 three days a week. “Instead of getting six bucks for those meals, I got three dollars because of the price change,” Pelton said.“I put in just as much work and only got half the tips.” Pelton remembered his tips before the economy crisis and said it was good if he made more than $100 on weekend nights. After the economy went down, he would make about $40 on weekends. He said his worst night was when he made eight dollars during a four-hour shift. “If someone didn’t leave me a good tip it built character because I was working to survive and this put me at an advantage,” Pelton said. Pelton worked almost 40 hours a week to support himself. “Although it wasn’t a hard job, it was still a job and when people didn’t tip good it was like I was their slave for 30 minutes to an hour,” Pelton said. Ginger McKinney, a senior Spanish major, was also feeling the affects of the recession. She started riding her bike to help save money on gas. “I believe our oil on Earth is going to be depleted in the next 50 years at the rate humai are using it,” McKinney said. She rode her bike to the grocery store, 1 school, work and even to Dickson Street. McKinney said before the recession, sf would go climbing at Lincoln Lake, but stopp when it got too expensive. “It constricted my leisure activities McKinney said.“I was still working just as mu and wanted to do those activities, but with wh I made an hour compared to gas prices, it W 1 impossible.” Although students like McKinney and Peltf struggled during this time with the recessK they both kept good attitudes. “Every time I saw a fellow biker it provoke sense of joy in me,” McKinney said.

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STUDENT LIFE TEXT: ROSALYN TAYLOR HELEN CHASE IMAGES: JONATHAN GIBSON Campus tragedies across the NATION SPUR UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS TO FIND INNOVATIVE WAYS OF KEEPING ALL HOGS SAFE. The sidewalks lining the Greek Theater were thick with students fighting the crowds as they made their way to class. As many chatted with friends or sipped their morning cup of coffee, phones suddenly began ringing or vibrating in almost every student’s pocket or purse. As they flipped their phones open or rummaged to find them in the bottom of their backpacks, they realized all their screens said the same thing: A violent act has just occurred on campus. Take cover until further notice. In the sender box, there was one word: RazALERT. After the tragic shootings on campuses such as Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and the University of Central Arkansas, more schools across the nation became aware of the need for a way to notify entire campuses of emergency situations. At the UA that system, RazALERT, came together in 2008. With RazALERT, there were three specific routes taken to ensure proper and reliable notification. Whether there was an act of violence or an extreme weather warning, anyone registered in the system would be notified via e-mail, text message and voicemail simultaneously. Students were given the choice through their ISIS account to register for the service. Another feature that set RazALERT apart was that all of the information was trackable and automatic, and communication was two-way. Two-way communication added an important multiple electronic means of communicatic was what set RazALERT apart from the simile emergency alert systems used at many colleg and universities nationwide. The UA began working on the project in 200 Contact Info A violent act has just occurred on campus. Take cover until further notice aspect to campus security and safety because a person who had been alerted could reply, letting officials know they were safe and out of danger’s way.This could assist in getting an estimate on how many people were safe and how many people may had been harmed. “[RazALERT] shows that the Emergency Preparedness Committee is doing something to help make students more aware of their surroundings and of possible threats to their security,’’ said Bailey McBride, a sophomore journalism and anthropology major. The creative mastermind behind the idea, UA webmaster Chris Nixon, said the use of after the Virginia Tech tragedy. Nixon said tf reason it had taken so long to implement tl 1 system was due to the need to create a syste 1 advanced enough to keep up with curre 1 technological standards. Most systems, like the one used at UCA, on alerted resident halls or administrators throu£ e-mail. Nixon said this was inefficient because the possibility of the e-mail not getting to tt recipient in time, or even at all. “I like RazAlert because I know that A matter where I am on campus, I can know wh is happening,’’ freshman Brooke Peeples said. ' makes me feel safe.”