jenna tynan's blog

Now that I'm in my first year of college, I find that everything is so different from highschool.  Classes are harder, there are less grades and absolutely no "gimme" grades like there were some times in highschool.  Sometimes, I find it difficult to cope with all the work and pressure.  Also, a lot of times, I find myself lost in the sprawling campus.  This is what I like to call student displacement syndrome.  It's when you're in a new big place and in high school, you might have been a big fish in a small pond, now you feel like a fish out of water.  The key to this is not to let it progress into something worse.  I was alarmed to find out that 45% of college students report being so depressed that they can't function and 10% seriously considered suicide and 1100 are expected to take their own lives on campuses this year.  Though this might seem like a small number, any number is unacceptable.  Life should never get that stressful and burdensome to consider taking your life.  Read More »

How many of you have a car?  Well I did while I went to highschool in Northeastern Florida and to say the least, I took it for granted.  Now, I'm in my first year of college and my travel plans outside of the campus area are dictated to by the bus schedule, you know the dreaded public transportation.  Well just as many Americans, I once took part in "America's love affa  Read More »

   Every day it seems as if our nation has discovered a new epidemic: obesity, SARS, and even the bird flu.  It seems, however, that we don't pay attention to one of the most egregious epidemics of all: poverty and homelessness.  Now I'm not saying that all of us should give away everything expect the cloths off of our backs, but here's some food for thought.  The highest percentages of homelessness and poverty is found among single mothers with chlidren under the age of 10, the elderly, and the mentally disabled released too early from clinics.  Though we have programs such a Medicaid and Medicare to try to assist these groups many are still denied benefits because of clauses in the "fine print" and many are too defeated to even search for help.  Further, when specifically referring to the young children in this category, think of the impact on poverty for the rest of their lives.  Studies have shown that conditions of poverty have lead to a drastic reduction in cognitive, emotionial, and physical development that carry on through adulthood.  Even programs such as welfare to work and food stamps haven't achieved their goals of raising its recipients out of poverty.  It was alarming to learn of the nationwide "heat-or-eat" decision among welfare recipients.  Because of the lack of money, many must choose to heat their homes or feed themselves and thier children in the cold winter months.  When the families choose heat, the children suffer as evidenced by a 30% surge in emergency room visits due to undernourishment and malnutrition complications.   Read More »