By Jack Jeffery
University Communications and Marketing
This fall marks the beginning of the end of Ohio University journalism student Camden Easterling's undergraduate journey. It's not the senior year she envisioned when she entered the University. The events of Sept. 11 have had a very real effect on how she charts her career course.
"It's definitely changed what I see myself doing in the future as far as a career. Previously, I pictured myself doing regular magazine journalism but now I see myself doing political journalism as opposed to travel writing, which I had looked at in the past," Easterling said. "It also made me feel that maybe I should stay closer to my family when I graduate. Before, I thought about going abroad, but now I'm thinking about sticking closer to home, at least in the States."
It has also caused Easterling to re-examine what it means to be an American, and she likes what she's discovered.
"I'm definitely a lot more patriotic than I used to be. Before Sept. 11, I had a lot of interest in going abroad. For a large part, I took being American for granted. Since Sept. 11, I have a lot more pride in my country and realize that, even if we don't always agree on what we're doing as a country, we're still all Americans and we stick together," she noted.
Easterling has noticed a different atmosphere on campus, with conversations focusing on broader topics than previously discussed among students.
"Before this, I tried to keep aware of what was going on in the world. More students are now interested in keeping up on what is going on," she said. "There's more of a dialogue between students, faculty and other professionals about what America is and where we're going.
"It's fairly easy to feel isolated in a relatively small town in the Midwest but, at the same time, students on campus are definitely more serious and they're at least talking about the events even if they're not doing things differently. They're talking more about politics and things that weren't greatly discussed before."
As Easterling is ending her undergraduate career, freshman Jonathan Lorek of Perry, Ohio, begins his college career riding the crest of the post-Sept. 11 class of college students. Lorek said the events of that day won't alter his future plans, but he believes it will affect the path he and his classmates take toward meeting them.
"It won't affect what we want to do, but I think it's going to impact how we do things and how we go about running our lives. It's not necessarily going to change what we do but how we go about it and we'll have to find alternative ways to do things. It's going to take more time from now on to get through things. It might spark interest in some other areas," Lorek said.
Although living a somewhat sheltered life as a high school student, Lorek realized that things were different and normalcy suddenly took on shifting meaning when the attacks on American soil began.
"As a high school student, it didn't affect me as much as college students or other adults. I understood it and saw was what was going on, but it didn't have a direct impact on me," the telecommunications and theater technology major said. "It opened my eyes a little bit. I realized that anything could happen anywhere, any time to anybody and that we have to be aware of what's going on in the world and what could be the next problem."
