Letter from the Editor
Dear Fellow Students!
To those of you that are new students – welcome! And to those who are returning, welcome back! This is going to be a stellar year! As the recently appointed News Editor of your campus paper, I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself.
My name is Alycia Bacon. I am from Scottsdale, Arizona and I’ve lived in the great Upstate New York for about 4 years. This is my third semester at Hudson Valley. I am really passionate about news and what’s going on. I think it’s really important to be active in our community.
My goal this semester is to help keep students at Hudson Valley informed. We will cover campus events and student life. We will also cover national stories and relate them directly to us at Hudson Valley. There are huge developments going on worldwide: riots in Missouri, Ebola outbreaks, terrorism attacks in Ukraine and a whole lot of craziness in the Middle East. Everything that happens in the world has an impact on us.
A lot of these are very complex issues that are not only difficult to understand but may even be hard to relate to. My goal is to help you relate.
Everybody is busy with our personal priorities (family, school, career, etc.) and it can be difficult to make time for extracurricular activities. It is imperative that we have an active presence in our community. Being active is more than just showing up for the fun events, although that is important too – it’s being responsible, being informed and speaking out if you do not agree (also exercising your right to vote)!
It is essential that you realize YOUR OPINION MATTERS! That belief is how change happens, how movements become radical and how progression takes place. It has become so easy to hide behind our cell phones, tablets, Facebook pages, or somewhat anonymous online presences while it is becoming more difficult to reach out the person next to you.
That difficulty comes from fear, and fear is the driving force behind a lot of the fighting that you see going on the world today. We’re not going to be able to wake up tomorrow and change the entire world. As the old adage goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” That does not mean that we can’t be the resistance, the examples that challenge the status quo.
You can be a rebel by showing small acts of kindness. You have the power to make a difference and it starts by controlling your thoughts and actions. But first, you must decide what type of person you want to be. Anything is possible.
Let’s own this year!
Yours Truly,
Alycia Bacon