When talking about summer travel plans, people often bring up places abroad. While going to Greece, Brazil or Fiji does sounds amazing, there are so many places to travel inside the United States that don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Staying in the country takes so much less money than trying to leave it and we have all felt the struggle of a college student budget at some time or another. The U.S. offers so much variety for travelers and because of the highway system it easy to travel from coast to coast.

If your budget is telling you to stay in the Pacific Northwest then head up to Washington where you can have a big city experience in Seattle or check out the natural beauty of the Hoh Rainforest. Many of us have seen numerous pictures of the gum wall at Pike Place, but visiting the market for yourself you may be surprised at everything it contains. With three national parks and the beautiful snowcapped summit of Mount Rainier, Washington offers endless fun for the lovers of the outdoors.

Many of the students at the UO are born and raised in California, but still haven’t seen everything the state can offer. This summer, take a drive down the California coast on the infamous Pacific Coast Highway to experience beautiful beaches, historic monuments, wine tasting and many other attractions. Monterey Bay Aquarium can be your window into the world of marine life and Hearst Castle in San Simeon is unlike any museum you have ever seen before.

Utah can surprise people with the variety of adventure the state holds. With beautiful rock formations and rivers, its many National Parks are natural playgrounds for river rafting, biking, four-wheeling and hiking. You may not be able to ski and snowboard during the summer, but the snow-covered slopes give way to flower-covered mountainsides. Take a trip to Park City to try out the Utah Olympic Park summer bobsled ride, featuring 3,000 feet of wild gliding and sliding, or soar above the trees on the Zip Rider, which features a 500-foot vertical drop.

Louisiana gets a lot of attention during Mardi Gras, but there are many things to do year round. This summer, make your way over to the French Quarter of New Orleans where you will find gorgeous mansions, neon-lit nightclubs and the powerful Mississippi River. If you do plan to head over to Louisiana make sure to check out one of the eight culinary trails across the state to dine in a whole new fashion. Dining will connect you to the diverse Louisiana heritage by experiencing anything from small mom-and-pop shops to fine dining establishments.

The Midwest often gets pushed aside when considering where to travel this summer, but if you’re going to make a stop have it be in South Dakota. Although the state mainly gets its recognition from Mount Rushmore, there are many other attractions to experience. You can walk in the footsteps of legends from the historic Old West, explore the underground Jewel Cave that sparkles with radiant color or check out the Badlands, one of the world’s richest fossil beds. For the quirkier travelers, there is also a two-story palace decorated with corn containing murals and light-up domes that get revamped with a new theme every year.

Washington D.C. is often in the news, but it is not often highlighted for its tourist attractions. You can see full historic monuments and memorials. The National Mall is a perfect continental destination to get as much bang for your buck. See the beautiful Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, without paying a cent. If politics aren’t your style then check out the numerous Smithsonian Institution museums that are also offered for free. The National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of African Art are just a few of the wonders waiting to be explored.

I have only touched on a small amount of the glory that this country has to offer. Just know that whatever your plans are for the summer, you don’t have to go abroad in order to have a great adventure.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

Although many of us have not been a part of protests and don’t know how it feels from the inside, we can put ourselves in the protestors’ shoes. It is often hard to watch as property is destroyed and lives are taken, but without social unrest many situations would not have the effect on America as they have had to this day.

Often with protests, the effects are not clearly shown and many results do not happen until many years later. Throughout American history, there have been large social movements regarding race, work, war and property. Many of which have been effective and some not so effective, but how do we constitute effectiveness?

Peaceful protests often get a better reputation. One of the most successful peaceful protests in America was the Montgomery Bus Boycott that took place in 1955 and 1956, where Montgomery’s black population refused to ride public transportation with the objective of lessening the inequality and segregation in the South. This peaceful protest was very successful and got an Alabama court to rule that the racial segregation was unlawful. The boycott gained national attention and in turn, served as a motivator for the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

In 1970, students, faculty and friends marched together on the Kent State Unversity campus for four days in order to get President Richard Nixon to stop the invasion of Cambodia and end the Vietnam War. Although the protestors were preaching a message of peace, on May 4, the National Guard took action on the protests and fired rounds at unarmed college students, killing four and injuring nine. The protest did not cause an immediate action with U.S. foreign policy, but it did cause a chain reaction for many other protests to happen across the country. These additional protests may have had an effect on the president and helped end the war.

While many protests start out as peaceful, they can often take a turn for the worse and end in tragedy. Chicago workers came together in 1886 to push the idea of an eight-hour workday. On May 1 of that year, 35,000 laborers walked out of their jobs, and thousands more joined them just days later. On May 4, the crowd held a meeting at Haymarket Square. Police officers marched to the gathering and ordered the protestors to disband. Someone from the crowd threw a bomb at the police, killing an officer, which led to the police opening fire on the crowd. Throughout the upheaval, 60 officers were injured and eight were killed, but the number of protestors who were killed or wounded could not be determined. This riot got the American Federation of Labor to set May 1 as a day when American workers should not work more than eight hours. Over the next 20 years, many other unions and organizations would win their battles for the eight-hour day.

In 1968, riots took place in at least 110 cities around the nation following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Rioters smashed windows, started fires and looted stores. Many firefighters were met with rioters throwing bricks and rocks. Over the next couple of days, over 13,000 troops would be called in where the riots were taking place. Although Martin Luther King, Jr. was a strong supporter of nonviolence, his followers could not stop from turning to ferocity after his death. These events had been the greatest wave of social upheaval that the U.S. had seen since the days of the Civil War. These events led to the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which provides equal housing opportunities no matter a person’s race or national origin.

Although many of us do not like seeing the devastation that our fellow countrymen can cause by taking action, we can look back in history and see that it sometimes takes that push in order for movements to be successful.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

This column is one part of a series of articles on sexual assault awareness at the University of Oregon. Read Emerald editor Sami Edge’s letter to find out why we’ve dedicated today’s edition of Emerald Monday to the topic.

One out of every five college-aged women in America will be a victim of sexual assault — compared to one out of every 16 college-aged men, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

As a man with healthy, platonic and romantic relationships with women, I cannot comprehend why some men feel that sexual violence is acceptable. Although it can be difficult to take a stand against this issue, there are things that men can do, and need to do, to help.

Different forms of oppression such as sexism, racism and heteronormativity largely intersect with sexual violence. Gender is at the center of social structures all over the world, often with men as the dominant group, so we must use our power and privilege as men to create safer and more equal communities.

Men have been linked to being in control and being aggressive, but we must reject the popular belief that dominance means strength. Toxic masculinity cannot be overlooked any longer. No more “boys will be boys.”

Activism can be small-scale; one of the most powerful things we can do as individuals is just listen. Whenever someone tells a story pertaining to sexual violence it means that they trust their audience. They just need someone to listen. They don’t want to be blamed and they don’t want to know how they can protect themselves, they just need someone who will validate their experiences. Even if the violence was never reported, it is still very real.

When a survivor puts their trust in you and tells you their story,  do not get involved in your own feelings, you must just worry about them. We are not always aware when we are being judgmental. It is not your job as a listener to tell a survivor how they could have prevented sexual violence. These survivors are looking for a nonjudgmental response – and it’s important that they get that response every single time, no matter when their experience occurred. Getting infuriated about the situation will not make the survivor any more comfortable about telling you.

No survivor should be told what they have to do next. They are the only person who knows what is best for their healing process at that time.

It is not always easy to believe that our brothers, coworkers and friends are the men committing these acts. No matter how many great qualities someone has, when they cross the line they must be called out. By crossing the line I don’t just mean committing sexual violence, but also calling women inferior names, telling or supporting sexist jokes, etc. It takes courage to intervene and stand up for someone, but men listen to men. Even if it is not how it should be, men have a certain power and connection to other men that women often do not.

Communication plays a key role in preventing and intervening in sexual violence. We cannot remain silent; we must be models of respect for our peers.

We need to educate ourselves on these issues because they are not something that many of us were taught by the education system or media. Consent is such an important concept that often gets blurred by society. Consenting to one sexual activity does not mean you have complete permission for all sexual activities and, contrary to popular belief, sexting is not consenting. For most of us there was no talk of how to get consent in high school, and much of popular media has actually portrayed overcoming a woman’s resistance as romantic. Sex without consent is not romance. It’s rape.

It is not enough to know that since you aren’t committing the sexual violence yourself that you are done doing your job. So many men don’t think that rape is okay, but then do nothing to put a stop to it. It’s time that men get their voices out there and take part in organizations that help survivors and promote healthy relationships.

I hope you will join me in being a real man who stands up to sexual violence.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

It is often hard to wait for the new season of our favorite shows to come out or for our favorite artists to release their next album. In this “now generation,” the Internet puts almost everything we need right at our fingertips, including material that the producers don’t want us to have yet.

Movies, music, shows and books have all been getting leaked on the Internet for years and will continue to be leaked endlessly. Any retailers who have received copies, music insiders, hackers, etc., can leak the material to the public.

One of the highest-profile books to be leaked was J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book of the epic series. While many people downloaded leaked images of the pages, the true fans were still ready to wait in line at a bookstore in the middle of the night in order to be the first to receive their copies.

While a leak for a book of that nature probably did not do much to affect sales, another leak severely affected the work of author Stephanie Meyer. An early draft of the first twelve chapters of her book, Midnight Sun, was released on the Internet in 2008. The leak then prompted Meyer to suspend her work on the companion novel to Twilight (which may or may not have ended up being a good thing).

Leaked media can have a large affect on the writer, artist or producer, but also on the viewer. Many people are into binge-watching their shows and just want to finish an entire series through and through as quickly as possible.

That method works for certain shows, but for some shows it can be very exciting to wait. Letting the anticipation build up between episodes and trying to make your own predictions can pull you deeper into the show than just getting it over with in one day.

The first four episodes from the fifth season of Game of Thrones were recently leaked, but watching them quickly would detract from the experience. The quality is not as high as it could be and since most people have yet to see them, you would have no one to sit down and analyze the episodes with. This show is full of surprise deaths, plot twists and intense arguments that you want to see in the moment before people take to the Internet to discuss every specific detail.

The producers of weekly shows have a certain plan for when the viewers should see what. They, more than anyone, know the perfect rhythm for each episode and the perfect final scene to allude toward what will happen in the upcoming week. Waiting to watch these scenes happen with the rest of the world on the night they air is the best way to get the full intended experience.

Just as with television, this has been happening in the music industry for many years. Artists spend years writing lyrics and making music, then they don’t get to release their own album how they wanted or when they wanted to.

When people leak artist’s albums they take away their creative control from the last step of the production process. These artists no longer get to choose which songs get released as singles or what order the album should be played in. Albums often tell a complete story that could be lost when leaked on the Internet.

On Twitter, dedicated fans and artists alike have shown their disagreement with the method of illegally releasing music. Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar expressed his annoyance with Internet leaks after his album “To Pimp a Butterfly” leaked just days before its official release in March.

No matter how bad you want to watch or listen to something new that gets leaked, if you are a true fan you will be patient. For most releases, you have probably been eagerly waiting for months anyways so let the excitement build just a little bit longer and the end result will be much more rewarding.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

With the announcement of four candidates for the 2016 presidential election, campaign season has officially begun. The elections take place in November 2016, so now we can expect to see hundreds of television advertisements, billboards and bumper stickers.

This early on in the campaign process most presidential candidates, and their committees, are just trying to get their campaigns off the ground, but not surprisingly some have already started attacking each other.

Republican senator Rand Paul released the first ad attacking another official presidential candidate in the 2016 election. The melodramatic ad features dark video clips, ominous music and a direct shot at Hillary Clinton saying, “Hillary Clinton represents the worst of the Washington machine, the arrogance of power, corruption and cover-up.” It isn’t until almost halfway through the 60-second ad that a narrator commends Paul and his running platform while an uplifting song plays in the background.

Paul’s website also has photos available for download that are specifically designed to support his campaign on social media. There is a section of profile photos, Twitter cover photos and Facebook cover photos with the slogan #LibertyNotHillary plastered in red, white and blue.

The Republican National Committee created a campaign against Clinton before she had even officially announced that she would run for president in 2016. To kick off the #StopHillary campaign, the group created a 30-second ad, which features different sound bytes from news reporters that aim to call out Clinton on parts of her running platform. The TV ad is just one facet of the #StopHillary campaign; recently members of the RNC were seen handing out “Stop Hillary” beer koozies at a Washington Nationals baseball game in D.C.

Although the official candidates have yet to attack a republican, the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America released an ad relating Paul to President Barack Obama and calling him “dangerous.” It is costing the 501(c)(4) conservative organization $1 million to air this 30-second ad for just a week. The ad will run during prime time on Fox News across the nation and on broadcast TV, statewide cable TV and online in four states. Organizations, such as the FSPA, often get called “secret money groups” because they do not have to disclose their donors to the public.

The 2016 election could be the most expensive one in American history, with billions of dollars being spent on campaigns. During Clinton’s first event of her 2016 presidential campaign, she called the nation’s campaign finance system “dysfunctional” and said she would support a constitutional amendment to get unaccountable money out of it. Clinton’s campaign is expected to be heavily funded by Priorities USA Action, the political action committee that helped Obama win his election in 2012. Political action committees differ from 501(c)(4) because they must disclose their donors.

We have not yet seen an attack ad from Clinton, but that may be because she is the only democratic candidate to have officially announced her spot in the 2016 election. As other democrats begin their campaigns will they take aim at each other or focus on putting down their republicans counterparts?

Put downs and attacks from candidates are inevitable during the long months of campaigning, but the people must remember what they are voting for. In order to really be educated, voters have to do their own research and form their own opinions.

We cannot let ourselves get sucked into the drama of advertisements or let some overly opinionated television show host get us riled up. We have to keep a level head or this upcoming year is going to be long and strenuous  As students on campus begin getting into the election, we can expect to see some slanderous stickers and slogans. Instead of taking these as personal attacks, have a quick conversation with these people and try to get a real sense of why they chose to support their candidate.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

With passwords on our phones and Snapchats (supposedly) disappearing after just a few seconds, people often feel safe sending nude pictures and videos. Although sharing these pictures with a partner can be exciting, it is important to make sure you can fully trust the person on the receiving end.

When sending naked pictures or videos you usually only expect one person to be viewing the content, but, when relationships go south, that is not always the case. After a break up some people just delete their ex’s nudes, while others decide to share the material. Because of these careless ex-partners many people around the world are becoming victims of revenge porn.

While you may have only heard of this happening to celebrities in the news, it is a very real thing for people just like you and me. Revenge porn is when someone, usually an ex or a hacker, uploads private explicit messages online. These pictures are shared to shame or embarrass the individual and often includes their full name, links to their social media accounts and even their addresses.

But it doesn’t stop there. These pictures are uploaded to sites such as UGotPosted.com, IsAnyoneUp.com and MyEx.com that are specifically designed for revenge porn. Once the explicit material is uploaded, it is very hard to get taken down. If you happen to come across a picture of yourself and want it taken down, the owners of the site won’t care that you didn’t give permission. These people are scum and will try to swindle some money out of you in order for your picture to be removed. While the perpetrators identity is often hidden behind the computer screen, the victims often have to change jobs, move away or even legally change their name.

As the issue is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society, many organizations and activists are trying their best to combat it. End Revenge Porn is a campaign that was founded in 2012 in order to start working in favor of criminalizing revenge porn in the United States, with the founder being a victim of revenge porn herself.

Twitter has made its stance on revenge porn by updating its guidelines in March. The new addition reads: “You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.” This means that if certain content gets reported and the user cannot prove it was posted with consent then it will be taken down.

While many people feel ashamed by these pictures, one Danish activist was not going to let her ex-boyfriend take her down. Emma Holten had naked pictures of her posted on the Internet without her consent and began receiving repulsive messages from people calling her a slut, telling her they would show her boss, etc. Instead of letting someone else decide how the world was going to see her body she decided to post her own set of naked pictures looking how she wanted. She teamed up with a photographer and shot topless photos portraying herself as a human subject doing random tasks in her apartment, not just some sexual object.

Along with these activists and organization, authorities have passed laws against revenge porn in Germany, Israel and 16 states within the United States. Recently in San Diego, the operator of revenge porn site UGotPosted.com was sentenced to 18 years in jail after being convicted on six counts of extortion and 21 counts of ID theft. After explicit pictures were posted on his website without the victim’s consent, Kevin Bollaert would charge up to $350 in order to get them removed and is believed to have made around $30,000. In addition to his jail sentence, the perpetrator must also pay $15,000 in restitution to victims and a $10,000 fine.

With men like Bollaert getting served the justice they deserve, hopefully it will scare anyone with your old nudes into deleting them. We should be able to express ourselves in any way we want, but we must make sure that we know what we are getting into and who we are getting into it with when sending out explicit material. No one wants to end up as the next victim of revenge porn.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

When a new bill was signed by Indiana Governor Mike Pence to protect religious freedoms, the state immediately received backlash from people all around the country.

Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act was created to protect those who feel as though the state may be able to interfere with their right to exercise their freedom of religion. While this law hides under the name of religious freedom, it leaves room open for religious discrimination. Many activists have argued that it would give businesses the right to refuse service to LGBT individuals.

The way the bill is set up gives the state government two circumstances where it can limit a person’s right to practice their religion freely: (1) essential to further a compelling governmental interest; and (2) the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling governmental interest.

The bill was signed on March 26, but after being under fire from organizations across America the state “fixed” the law on April 2 by adding language to give some protection based on sexual orientation. This amendment marks the first use of the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in an Indiana law.

Companies, athletes, organizations, celebrities, politicians, etc. have come out against the new legislation. Comedian Nick Offerman cancelled his Indiana tour dates, 40 tech industry leaders have signed a joint statement supporting the addition of protections and Connecticut governor Dan Malloy even signed an executive order that prohibits state-funded travel to Indiana.

Chicago band Wilco had cancelled their May 7 show in Indiana upon hearing about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but has since rescheduled after the law was amended. While many have embraced the amendment, some believe it is insufficient and are still asking for the repeal of the original bill.

Two days after the law was amended, hundreds of people marched through downtown Indianapolis on Saturday asking the local government to add protection for LGBT people. The rainbow flags, big signs and chants asking for acceptance attracted the attention of many college basketball fans who were there to attend the NCAA Final Four, giving the issue a voice in the world of sports.

These types of laws are not new for America, 19 other states and the federal government also have Religious Freedom Restoration Acts. The original federal law came to be in 1993 after an Oregon Native American man lost his job due to him testing positive for the drug peyote, which he had used for religious practices.

While the federal law and state laws are relatively similar, one major disparity between the Indiana law and the federal law is that Indiana’s clearly protects the exercise of religion of organizations that operate for profit or nonprofit purposes. Many opponents of this bill believe that this would grant religious rights to any corporation or business no matter if members actually share a religious belief or not.

Although many have denounced the new law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has opened a door for marijuana lovers. Just a week after the bill was signed Indiana’s secretary of state has approved The First Church of Cannabis Inc. Marijuana is currently illegal in the state of Indiana, but the church will plan to grow hemp. The Church’s Facebook page has racked up almost 27,000 likes and has raised over $7,000.

The situation that formed around the new law has left Indiana tourism agencies in a real life nightmare. The uproar has caused them to quickly establish campaigns highlighting that everyone is welcome, but the scramble might not have been quick enough. After all the negative light that was shown on Indiana in the new media, people started cancelling vacations and organizations started cancelling conventions.

These next few weeks are critical for Indiana. After causing the problem, members of the local government gave their shot at “fixing” it and now it is time for everyone else in the state to give it their best shot at restoring Indiana’s image.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

Choosing the right place to live can have a huge effect on the school year. When thinking about housing each year, the  three main criteria are size, roommates and location. While size and roommates do matter, after sharing a 140 square foot room with a stranger freshman year, location is the most important thing to think about.

Many students want to be as close to campus as possible, and with all the new apartment complexes surrounding the university, there are many options available. While it does seem like living right off campus would be the best possible situation, however it is not for everyone.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to determine how far from campus you should live:

Do you often attend campus events?

The University of Oregon offers events almost every night of the week, ranging from concerts to lectures. If you catch yourself on campus most nights, then living somewhere close, such as the Capri apartments, would be the best choice. Living farther from campus makes it easier to attend events elsewhere, depending on where you choose to live. The residents at 13th & Olive can walk out of their apartment complex and right into downtown Eugene for all the shopping, dining and entertainment they want.

How do you get around?

Many students choose to walk to school everyday, while others ride their bike, take the bus or drive their car. The mode of transportation you prefer can have a big effect on where you want to live. Living close to campus makes it easier to walk or ride your bike. If you have a car, good luck trying to find a solid place to park without paying extra. As you get farther away from campus, the free parking opens up immensely, and the bus routes are often more accessible than students believe.

Is quiet time important to you?

The streets nearest to campus can have some noisy traffic happening nonstop. Hearing car after car whizz down 18th Avenue and drunken student after drunken student yelling as loud as they can in the wee hours of the night can get old very quickly. Sometimes it is good for students to be able to go home and completely remove themselves from campus life. If you are one of those students, living across the river in Chase Village or Stadium Park would be a perfect choice for you. You are still surrounded by students, but it is a much quieter and more relaxed setting.

Do you like to get easy exercise everyday?

Living too close to campus makes you lazy. Many of us come from bigger cities where it takes around 20 minutes to even drive anywhere, but then we get to Eugene and feel like we all need to be right on top of each other. Too often, I hear students say that a 15 minute walk or a 10 minute bike ride to school is too much, but when asking someone who actually makes those walks everyday, they say it’s not even an issue. Even if it is a bit difficult to make it back to your house between classes, is that really a bad thing? In the end, it may help you by making you stay at school and get some work done.

How much are you willing to pay?

Unless you are one of the lucky ones, living in a nice place near campus is going to be more expensive than something of the same caliber a few blocks away. Some of these new apartment complexes are charging students more year after year and they continue to get service because students feel the need to be by campus. Consider if saving a few thousand dollars a year is worth living a little farther away.

Wherever you choose to live next year, just make sure you have weighed the different options. Don’t let anyone make you feel like where you choose to live is wrong because everyone has different needs. Some people find the perfect place to live freshman year and stay there until they graduate, while others move every single year in search of the best possible situation.

There is nothing that makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck like a professor delivering the news that we will have a group project due at the end of the term.

No matter your grade or major you will have to go through the experience of having a group project at least once throughout your college years. Professors want students to gain the understanding of how to work with other people, but trying to split work up between a couple of lazy twenty-somethings is not always effective.

Professors will often give less guidelines and restrictions on a group project because they want students to lead and make their own decisions. Every group needs a leader, but it is not always that someone wants to step up. By choosing not to be the leader you could end up doing less work, but also end up having your grade suffer for it. If you do choose to take a leadership role then you may end up getting angry with a few classmates and losing some sleep, but have more control over what your group’s final grade will be.

For some group projects you get to pick your group members, but for many, the teams get chosen for you. No matter how good of a leader you are or how hard you try, the members in your group can have serious implications on your grade.

Samantha Twardoch, senior accounting major, often has to work with groups on projects in the Lundquist College of Business Honors program. “Group projects are fun, but in a lot of cases it honestly comes down to having to pull the weight of your teammates,” Twardoch said. “I would rather just know from the get-go what the project details are and take it on myself.”

College students’ schedules are so different every day of the week, groups try to plan ahead and schedule out times to work together, but the majority of the time you can expect a text from a group member 10 minutes before you are supposed to be there saying they need to reschedule. I can’t even comprehend how difficult some group projects would be without the amazing invention of Google Docs.

While many people, myself included, like to wait until the last possible second to get our work done, that mentality does not always work for group projects. As group meetings continue to get rescheduled and the due date is approaching quickly, I find myself freaking out while it seems that my other group members are completely fine being half way done with only a few days to finish.

Sometimes the hardest part is that group members don’t realize that they aren’t doing nearly as much work as others. During the times when we actually can make time to meet up they are on their phone texting, complaining nonstop about other classes or doing something else just to waste time.

But that is the glory of group projects, right? When doing a final project on your own, you know going into it that you are going to have to do every bit of work yourself. While having all the control is nice, everyone likes to lessen their workload if they have the chance.

In a study from The Journal of Higher Education, interviews with students showed that participating in group projects, “improved communication, conflict management, and problem solving skills even when they received minimal guidance about how to work together.”

While there may be actual benefits for working in groups, it is hard for me to say that I have ever experienced them. Allison Burk, junior public relations major, has seen the benefits of working with groups first hand.

“Group projects give students a chance to understand team dynamics and how to overcome obstacles that arise when working in a group,” Burk said. “It’s also important to acknowledge the strengths that you can bring to a group and to understand how to have confidence in decision-making.”

“For what it’s worth, I want my group members to be pallbearers at my funeral so as they lower me into my grave they can let me down one last time.”

That’s not my quote. I don’t know where it came from (nobody does). But it’s how we all feel about group projects. Admit it.

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

The post Owens: Getting through group projects appeared first on Emerald Media.

In high school, PE classes were always a pain. The students weren’t excited to be there, the activities weren’t fun and the coaches had no idea what they were talking about. People took exactly what was required and then tried their best to stay out of those smelly locker rooms as much as possible before graduating. Well PE classes in college aren’t required, and that makes the dynamic much more interesting because the coaches and students alike actually want to be there.

We all know how hard it can be to make ourselves shut down Netflix, roll off the couch and get some exercise, but having a scheduled class forces you to get up and workout. It seems that everyone wants to be in good shape, but, as most of us know, not everyone has the will power to get there.

The Physical Education department at the University of Oregon offers over 160 activity courses each term, which can be taken for credit or non-credit. These PE courses are not just for people who having been playing sports their whole lives, they are for anyone of any fitness or skill level. With so many different courses, students can choose to gain wilderness survival skills, work on speed and agility, learn how to meditate or participate in many other fitness-based activities.

Exercising is good for your health in more ways than just staying in shape, it can help reduce stress and get your mind off of your academic workload. Taking a PE class will give you a scheduled “break” twice a week where all you have to think about is the sport you’re playing and nothing else.

In PE classes, you have the chance to interact with your classmates differently than you do in a lecture setting. Cathy Nelson, the volleyball instructor at the U of O, enjoys seeing friendly competition in her classes. “I always try to mix my classes up so everybody gets to know each other.” Nelson said. “In volleyball, it’s a team sport, so you have to work together and if you get a good set you go slap each other’s hands. It’s easy to develop personal relationships.”

Some students choose to take PE classes because they know that the coaches will be able to help them get better at their sport. Many coaches at the U of O have been playing and coaching their sport their entire lives, some even on the professional level.

Tracy Mok, junior accounting major, has had positive experiences with PE classes because of the coaching staff. “I took volleyball I and II because I’ve played volleyball for six years and wanted to continue playing and improving my volleyball skills,” Mok said. “Cathy is great so that’s why I continued taking more volleyball classes with her.”

Prior to this year we had a large array of PE classes being offered, but with the recent renovation of the Student Recreation Center many new classes are being offered such as water polo and water fitness in the new pool. No matter where your skill level is, most PE classes have multiple levels so you can jump in wherever you want, then if you like where you are you can repeat each class twice for credit.

PE classes at the U of O are not graded, but up to 12 PE credits can be applied to a bachelor’s degree. When taking classes for credit, you pay $60 per credit, take the class as pass/no pass, are required to do some form of assignment or test and cannot miss more than four classes in a term.

If that sounds like too much of a requirement, any classes that can be taken for credit can also be taken for non-credit. For these you pay a flat rate of $100 that covers the cost of instruction, equipment, and everything else, and you get to decide for yourself if you want to go to each class or not.

There is also a new program where the rec center is going to offer five classes that are completely non-credit called FLEX courses. These courses include CrossFit, yoga, life guarding and YardWork Circuits. Peg Rees, the associate director of physical education at the U of O, is excited about the new courses that the new rec center allows the department to offer. “No assignments, no tests, no mandatory attendance and of course they cost less.” Rees said. “We are hoping that is going to be a new, attractive option for students.”

Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21

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