The degree was previously only offered to College of Adult and Professional Program (CAPP) students.

Dr. Aisha Williams, program director, and Dr. Elaine Barclay, human services professor, are the sole human services professors for CAPP and now traditional. Both Williams and Barclay have advanced degrees in human services as well as counseling.

Williams’ goal is to get 30 to 40 students to declare majors in the program. Within three weeks after the announcement of the degree, the two professors had one major declaration and one minor declaration. The interest students are already showing is making Williams’ goal appear more feasible.

“I have extremely high hopes for traditional student involvement in the program. I fully envision the program thriving under the traditional side,” Williams said.

Senior natural sciences major Madelyn Anderson thinks the new major may be the answer to some students’ career needs.

“The degree being offered to traditional students is beneficial to those that are looking to help people on the emotional side rather than the strictly medical side of healthcare,” Anderson said. “I’ve heard students talk about wanting to help people through life, but have no interest in the medical field.”

The human services industry itself is on the rise.

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the human services field will grow by 11 percent between 2014 and 2024.

With more jobs becoming available in the field, more students who choose to claim human services as their degree will have an easier time finding a job out of college.

Williams and Barclay have promised to help their traditional students adapt to the differences in this type of degree, in addition to adapting themselves as there will be some differences between the traditional program and CAPP.

Because traditional students will take the course in 16 weeks, they will get more time to stretch the same curriculum and content that CAPP students squish into eight weeks. Barclay and Williams believe the traditional students will most likely benefit more from the program due to the extra time they get to understand and practice the material, especially with the guidance from their professors.

Barclay especially wants to focus on guiding the new students through the seriousness of the field as she has already done with CAPP students through providing counseling as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC).

She believes strongly that a career in human services is more than just a career. She said the degree can give students something to leave the university with besides a piece of paper.

“I want the students to leave with confidence in their calling and purpose, not just a degree. They will be confident in how to use their God-given gifts to help others,” Barclay said.

Rachael Minard
Staff Writer
rachael.minard@hawks.shorter.edu

According to the Washington Post, Trump claimed that he would create 25 million jobs, pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (Obama’s trade deal linking countries around the Pacific Rim) and completely repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something better.

Trump also promised to deport undocumented immigrants who have committed a crime, have an expired visa or have benefited from government assistance programs. In addition, the president emphasized that he wanted to fully fund the construction of a wall along the southern border of the United States with Mexico.

Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, the president has made numerous executive orders, many of which he promised to execute before he was elected. Trump provided relief from the Affordable Care Act, withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and increased border security measures, according to politico.com.

Lastly, he empowered state and local law officials to act as immigration officers as well as to re-evaluate visa and refugee programs, which involved enacting a temporary travel ban on certain foreign countries.

Trump’s executive orders are heavy and do not come without reaction from United States’ citizens. It seems that Trump is doing what he said he would do. He made promises to dismantle Obamacare and strengthen the borders. He did just that, and people are now frustrated that it’s actually happening.

Evident from the many political FaceBook posts, blogs and riots happening, people have strong opinions on both sides about Trump and his actions.

Trump is not doing anything unexpected. He is implementing the policies that he promised during his campaign.

Whether or not Trump’s actions to “better the country” are right in Christian eyes does not lead to a black and white answer, and only time will reveal how the country adjusts to his decision-making.

Rachael Minard
Staff Writer
rachael.minard@hawks.shorter.edu

Some college students often go to school with a motive other than receiving an education. That motive is to find “true love”.

Some are often under the illusion that you are meant to find your husband or wife while in college…that this is the time to search for the perfect match and your lifelong partner.

People must realize that this is not the case.

When did college become the time where you searched for your “soulmate” instead of searching the library? When did college become the time to go on dates instead of go on adventures with your best friends? College is the time to focus on books, not your future marriage.

Granted, there are successful relationships that began in college, such as Rome natives Susan and Troy Fitzpatrick. They met at Berry College and were married three years later in 1989 before Susan graduated there. Although they are married to this day, she says, “I do not know how on earth my parents let me do that or how we survived marrying so young.” But these people are the exception.

An even crazier notion is the idea of getting married before you graduate. How can you expect to fully devote yourself to schooling and a spouse at the same time?

College is not the time to be engaged, let alone be married. College is the time to focus on school and make yourself into the person who is ready to be married.

The benefits to waiting are exponentially great. You will be settled as far as schooling goes and have already earned your degree.

According to a CNN article of college marriages, money is one of the biggest challenges in college marriages. “It’s financially more difficult for married students today than just five years ago,” the article stated.

It’s just better to wait. You will know what you want to do with your life, or at least a solid direction you want to go in. You will not need to try to balance your love life with your school life.

You can truly focus on your significant other after you get your degree.

While you are in school, you should focus on school. When you get out, you will have given your schooling the attention that it deserves.

So don’t take the bait of married life in college, and just wait.