Spartan Echo The Voice of the Spartan Community
Vol. 60, I ssue 3
10.10.12
SpartanEcho.org | 700 Park Avenue. Norfolk, Va. 23504
last minute
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Stories Inside
cramming limits learning By: Ashley Clarke
Read about NSU’s softball team and their preparation for the spring season. See page 4. Photo credit: Keith Offutt|Spartan Echo
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign rally at the Ringling Museum of Art Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, in Sarasota, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
College students
are an asset for
Democratic Party By: Ashley Clarke Read how the MEAC champions brush up their defense. See page 5. Photo credit: Keith Offutt|Spartan Echo
Want to see what local arrtist is making headlines? See page 6. Photo credit: facebook. com/illy.wil
In preparation for the upcoming election, the Democratic Party has focused much of its energy into bringing college students to the polls. In the months leading up to the election, the Obama campaign has focused strongly on visiting young, diverse and enthusiastic college towns such as Norfolk, Charlottesville and Boulder. According to Dr. Aberra Meshesha, professor and department head of the Political Science department at NSU, the Democratic Party’s visitation choices make sense when compared with the history of the party. “Going back to the history of the two parties, the Democrats are known to be the party of the working class, while the Repub-
licans are known to be the party of the rich,” said Dr. Meshesha. Dr. Meshesha explained that the Republican Party does less frequent college visits because
“It was a historic event that a black man was becoming President of the United States...” -Dr. Aberra Meshesha they do not have many promising policies for students. “As Romney put it, kids can get money from their parents for their education,” said
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Last minute cramming for tests or papers may seem like a great idea but all-nighters negatively impact students’ grades and information retention. The ill effects of sleep deprivation combined with a lack of brain power to download complex information in a short time period gives a student little chance for success. Senior English major and ENFL Writing Center tutor Maranda Hall said that during midterms and finals she works with the largest volume of students who waited until the last minute to study or write a paper. “Last semester I would say at least half of my students
came in for last minute help,” said Hall. Students would come to her for help with an assignment due an hour later. Professor and Chair of the Biology Department, Howard B. Duncan, Ph.D, explained that the human brain functions best with repetition of information over a long period of time and cannot be expected to remember information the first time it is introduced. “What you want to have is long term knowledge,” said Duncan. “That’s derived from repetitive development of facts that can be applied to any par-
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youth unemployment
remains struggle Despite economic growth By: Ashley Clarke Despite the economic growth following the American financial crisis, young adults are still struggling with a high unemployment rate. According to data collected by Generation Opportunity, a non-partisan organization, the youth unemployment rate, consisting of 18 to 29 year olds, was 12.7 percent in Aug. 2012. The same data shows that the
unemployment rate of AfricanAmerican youth was 22.4 percent, Hispanics 13.7 percent and women 12.6 percent. Senior business finance and accounting major Teanna Banks said that jobs are simply hard to come by these days. “I’m currently looking
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