Jeanea Epps

• People flooded the streets of Louisville marching and chanting “Black Lives Matter” for the fourth night after a grand jury declined to charge officers in the unnecessary and unfortunate shooting of Breonna Taylor. Fires were set, windows were broken, and graffiti was sprayed by people breaking curfew. [The Journal Gazette/ Dylan Lovan]

• Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher tried to encourage people to head home about an hour before curfew, which was supposed to begin at 9p.m. but they continued to march. Some police cars followed to crowd, telling them to stay out of the streets and march on the sidewalks instead. [Wjhg/ Associated Press]

• On March 13^th, Taylor was shot multiple times after her boyfriend fired at officers who entered her home during a narcotics raid by Caucasian officers. Her boyfriend was unaware of who was coming in and wounded one officer because he fired in self-defense. [Fulton Sun/ Associated Press]

• The city settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with her family earlier this month for $12 million. This was the highest amount ever paid out in a case of this kind by the city. [Los Angeles Times/Kurtis Lee]

• There were at least 25 arrests overall following the dangerous and bold actions of the protest participants. The individuals faced charges such as rioting in the first degree, curfew violations, and possession of a controlled substance and trafficking marijuana. [Fox Carolina/ Madeline Holcombe and Alta Spells]

In today’s society online dating is gaining popularity and more people are giving it a try. The positive stories and outcomes have been outweighing the negatives and friends probably encourage others to jump on the trend and try their luck.

With all of the capabilities to set your profiles up a certain way and display your preferences in categories such as interests and physical looks, many find it easy to find matches. The next step in some of these situations might be towards actually meeting in person and seeing how things unfold.

On the opposite spectrum, some individuals could be a little less lucky and have an experience that is not worth bragging on. Some of the things that could take place may be “cat-fishing” where a person is pretending to be someone else. This could include using photos of another person and/or changing the sound of their voice if phone conversations are held.

Another discouraging event that could occur might be not receiving any notifications about matching with someone.

 An article describes that 60% of female users ages 18 to 34 said someone on a dating site sent direct messages that they did not ask for. This can make them uncomfortable to the point where they are frustrated or even feel like they should completely delete the applications.

Antorres Simon, sophomore at Missouri State University believes that it is okay to give online dating a try, but not get your hopes up too high.

“I often times match with girls and even if we do not go on an actual date, it is nice getting to know them,” Simon says. These could be potential friendships if the relationship aspect does not go as planned.

Simon also elaborated by saying that “when I look at profiles, I know that some may actually be worth pursuing, while others might easily be a hard pass at first glance.” He tries to stay open minded because after all, the online setting is still relatively new to some individuals just joining.

The survey also explained how those with a high school education or less are not as likely as college graduates and those with some college experience to say they have online dated. Age difference could play a factor because in high school it may be easier to just confront the person face-to-face.

Joshua Rivers, sophomore at Parkland Community College feels like “technology continues to advance and make a mark on us. It is almost like we have to audition online and if we earn the part we get to meet in person.”

He essentially feels like it is almost less personable because you can say anything behind a phone screen, but in reality, when you actually meet you may get a different impression from them. The safety of online dating runs across the minds of those who do and who do not engage in the websites. The survey states that “Americans who have never used a dating site or app are particularly skeptical about the safety of online dating.” These individuals would most likely stick to a more traditional way of meeting potential relationship partners.

University students may often find themselves slacking off in classes due to the lack of getting out and getting active. There are various ways to try and make a conscious effort to change their habits such as getting a good amount of rest, going to the gym, dieting, and not smoking or drinking often. Friends can also be big factors in the journey because they may have influence over each other. The friends could provide support by simply encouraging them along the way, or they may even join them and participate as a group.

College students may begin to engage in exercising and in return, receive better grades. These activities might take place during undergrad or graduate school depending on when or if the students see a drop or seem uninterested in their grades. The locations that these things could take place would be a wide range, you could work out in your own residence, running or biking around the community, or at a local gym or facility with equipment. For example, if they were a student at the University of Illinois, they could visit the Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE), Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE), outdoor sand volleyball, tennis, basketball courts and more, of course following social distancing rules. The reasoning behind why they may decide to start these activities might be to feel more energized compared to just laying around all day considering the COVID circumstances, or to see if being active will have a positive impact on their grades.

According to the article on Best College Reviews, “Getting enough exercise is vital for students to have a healthy body and sharp mind”. In the sharp mind sense, this could mean that the exercise is directly helping the student in their classroom aspect of life. The article provides different tips to try to help and guide you towards things that can help you be successful balancing good health and school. Cutting out most of the junk food in the student’s diet could be a start, then eating healthier and adding fruits and vegetables could be quick way to follow up. Setting small goals to meet would be better than just trying to dive in with no plan of action. When you begin to exercise you do not have to try a variety of things at once. Working your way up to a more complex workout routine by gradually doing more reps or doing the exercises for longer is better than trying once ang giving up. Kashief King, a friend and junior at the University of Illinois said that “I believe that being active might actually be helping my grades.” When asked why he thought and felt this way he responded with the fact that he runs and weight lifts and this gets him up and in a good mood. He finished by saying that “If I did not workout I might not even want to get up and do homework, I would just lay around not being productive instead.” Another effect that college and the workload can have on students would be their mental and emotional wellness. In the article Health and Wellness in College, it is stated that “Many college students struggle with body image, self-worth, stress, anxiety, and depression, which can negatively impact their nutrition.” Working out may be a way to relieve some of the stressful thoughts. If you are not in a healthy state of mind then you most likely will not want to complete your assignments, which could result in receiving low grades. Students should try to seek help if they feel themselves sinking into a low space. For example, most schools may have counseling or wellness centers where the students can go talk about their feelings and receive feedback and answers on what to try to do next. Some of these places may even have workers that leave your situations confidential and do not allow anything you discuss with them to leave their offices. Finding the motivation to get active may be hard but once you know you have people supporting you and cheering you on, you may be able to try harder to achieve your fitness goals and bring your academic performance up.

Considering COVID is so new and this is the first full semester that most schools are completely online, or primarily online and meeting in person minimally this may impact students more than usual. Students who are staying inside and making contact with small amounts of people may be feeling bored and lonely and find it hard to produce good grades. Some ways to get active during this time could be just trying at-home workouts online or virtually working out with friends who are in different locations. Makayla Summers, a high-school friend says that he feels like COVID is draining, so she makes a it a task to work out more now than she did before the pandemic.

            In conclusion “the pain you feel today, will be the strength you feel tomorrow!” Do not become a couch potato just because of the circumstances you are going through, try to push through and work out and you may receive better grades than before.