Have you ever noticed how a song can bring back all kinds of memories? It might remind you of your first school dance or maybe a fun vacation you took with friends.

There is no way to count how many awesome songs are released every year. However, there are always a few great songs that come along that can embody a season. For me, 2010 was definitely the year of “Stereo Love,” while last year was more of a “Hey Soul Sister” year. Surprisingly enough, both of these songs made their big debuts during the summertime.

This got me thinking: what have been the biggest summer songs of this century? Whether by the pool, on a road trip, or at the gym, this definitively summer playlist will help you bring back and make plenty of new memories.

2000: “Say My Name.” Destiny’s Child

2001: “Get the Party Started.” Pink.

2002: “Hot in Herre.” Nelly.

2003: “Crazy in Love.” Beyonce, featuring Jay-Z. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer time is a great time to fall in love. Or at least to have a fun summer fling. But, let’s be honest, following the same dating pattern year round can get kind of boring. Who really wants to meet up for dinner, go see a movie, and then call it a night every season of the year? Not this girl, that’s for sure. So here are some fun, summery date ideas that you can try out this season to keep your love life from getting stale.

1. Show off your inner American Idol. Karaoke bars are a lot of fun, especially if you actually get up and perform. However, even if you don’t perform, this is a fun date because you can judge others on their abilities. Grab your date and some extra bravery and head on out to a local karaoke groove session.

2. Go for a picnic in the park. Pack your own lunches and find a shady spot under a tree in your favorite park. Take along your favorite childhood board game and show your date how awesome you are at Monopoly or Chutes and Ladders. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s summer time! This is my favorite time of the year because…drum roll please… there aren’t any classes! That’s right; school is out and you have three glorious months to do whatever you please. Isn’t it fantastic?

It’s absolutely wonderful until about three weeks into it, when you’ve slept in late every morning, lounged around in your pajamas all day, and caught up on all of your favorite television shows. Then, summer time can become a little boring.

Luckily, we’ve come up with a list of fun things you can do this summer to keep yourself entertained without breaking the bank. Here’s our list of the top five summer activities to make your summer as much fun as it possibly can be.

1. Start a book club with your friends. There are other books out there besides just textbooks.

Why it’s fun: You get to pick a few fun books to read with your friends, instead of slaving over a textbook and comparing notes over those readings. You’ll get to see your friends on a weekly basis and have something more interesting to talk about than which Kardashian sister has the best clothes.

How to keep it budget-friendly: Borrow books from your local library. You can also check out garage sales and second-hand book stores, which often sell books for as low as $0.50. Read the rest of this entry »

Deep Springs College is a small, prestigious school that is situated on a 120-square mile ranch near Death Valley, California. Students at the school spend their time earning a liberal arts education and also learning important life lessons, such as how to milk a cow or bale hay. The school was founded 95 years ago as a males-only school, and that tradition has remained unchanged…until now. In 2013, the school plans on allowing women to attend.

However, this decision is being challenged by two school trustees who want the school to remain true to its founding mission, educating “promising young men.” Kinch Hoekstra and Edward Keonjian, the college trustees who filed paperwork at the Inyo County Superior Court, are asking the judge to not allow the school to become an institute of co-education. The school was originally founded by Lucien Lucius Nunn who wanted to create a place where men could escape the distractions of women and alcohol, and instead solely focus on their studies. Hoekstra and Keonjian say that by allowing women to attend the school, the school would be faltering on its original mission.

“If the trustees wish to have a coeducational college similar to Deep Springs, they are free to donate or raise the funds to create one according to their own vision,” the two men said in their court filing. Read the rest of this entry »

Ahh young love. It’s fantastic, isn’t it? You get butterflies in your stomach whenever you see them, your heart pitter-patters, and you might feel weak in your knees. OK, so those symptoms also sound like a really bad illness, but when it’s love, it’s great. Trust me on this one.

But what do you do when the object of your affection is one of the popular kids? Someone who you normally don’t stand a chance of getting? Or even worse, what if your special someone is celebrity basketball player Jeremy Lin?

Lina Yeh, a senior at the College of William and Mary in Virginia found herself in this position. Her senior formal dance was quickly approaching, and all Yeh wanted was to go to the dance with the famous basketball player. Obviously, the odds of Lin showing up on Yeh’s doorstep on the night of the dance were a little slim, so Yeh decided to take matters into her own hands.

Yeh made a hilarious video to convince the basketball star to go with her to the dance. What qualifications does Yeh mention that should convince Lin to go with her? According to the video, Williamsburg is a great party city, she’s a fantastic student, and she’s “kind of a baller,” as in basketball. Sadly, none of these claims are proven to be true in the video, but it really is pretty funny.

Check it out for yourself and then decide if you think Lin should accept Yeh’s invitation to her senior formal.

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While students at Barnard College are thrilled that President Obama will be delivering their commencement address this year, their peers at Columbia College were less than thrilled with the announcement. Several Columbia students recently posted comments on the school’s student-run blog, Bwog, that protested Obama’s decision to speak at Barnard instead of Columbia, his alma mater, and also that insulted Barnard students’ and their intelligence. Many of these comments were highly anti-feminist in nature.

Some of the comments were more offensive than others. A few of the most offensive were submitted to Jezebel.com, and refer to Barnard students as “c*m dumpsters,” “academically inferior,” and “feminazis.”

There has been a great amount of opposition from the student bodies at both schools towards these sexist comments. A Facebook group has been created to admonishes those who were making the comments and many administrators and students have been speaking out against them as well.

Debora Spar, president of Barnard College, and President Less Bollinger, University President, made a joint statement in which they showed their displeasure at the comments which were made in several online communities.

Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve heard of Occupy Wall Street, but have you heard of Occupy Rev. Holtschneider’s Office? Well, if you are a student at DePaul University, you might have, but if not, you are about to learn all about it.

Last Thursday night, around 20 students occupied the office of their school’s president, Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, in order to show their displeasure about the proposed tuition increase the school is facing. For the 2012-2013 school year, DePaul University has proposed increasing tuition by 2.2 percent for the entire student body, and incoming freshmen will be charged 5 percent more than this year’s freshmen.

The students who are against this proposed tuition increase staged their occupy movement in order to ask the school to postpone voting on this issue until after a public forum could be held on the subject.

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What do you expect to see when you enter a library on an university campus? Besides dozens of students cramming information into their brains in the hours before an exam, I expect to see thousands upon thousands of books. However, as part of its overhaul of its library, San Francisco State University is going against the norm and has hidden away 75 percent of its books in favor of digitizing its collection.

This school is not alone. In fact, many schools are digitizing their libraries in an effort to make it easier for students to find the volumes they are looking for. At San Francisco State University, the old library was a “rabbits’ warren,” according to the librarian, Deborah Masters. Now, after its “facelift,” the library has put an emphasis on open spaces, more computer and technology available for students’ use, and areas where students can study in groups or grab a coffee in the new cafe.

Some books will remain on display where students can access them on their own. These books will be the ones that are in highest demand, were published recently, or are recommended by a specific department. If a student wants to reach one of the many other books that are not currently on display, he can enter his query in a search engine, which will then cue a robot in another building to retrieve the book and delver it to the student in the library. This entire process is expected to take less than 10 minutes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Shelby Kaho is a college sophomore and a professional blogger for CeliacsInTheHouse.com. She has also not eaten anything that contains gluten for the past six years. In case you are wondering why Shelby has given up cakes, breads, and other products that contain gluten, it is because she is a celiac, which means she has a gluten allergy/intolerance.

In order to raise awareness about living gluten-free, Shelby recently wrote a series of blogs for DietsInReview.com. Her recent articles on this website have address concerns that celiac college students face, such as how to avoid eating gluten on their college’s campus.

Voicing Concerns Made Dining Safer for One Gluten-Free College Student.
In this article, Shelby shares her story of when she first moved to college and had to face a dangerous place for celiacs: the campus cafeteria. Shelby says that although her school promised to help her stay safe by providing foods that were gluten-free, the cafeteria workers were uneducated about what “gluten-free” really means and accidentally cross-contaminated her food with foods that contained gluten. Luckily for Shelby, her efforts and wiliness to work with the cafeteria staff and dining manager paid off and her dining hall is much safer for celiac diners. At the end of the article, Shelby offers advice for celiac students who are trying to fit in and feel included on their school’s campus.

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Forget the local drug store. Students at Shippensburg University can buy emergency contraceptive from an on-campus vending machine. The public university, secluded in the mountains of Cumberland Valley, Penn., traded out its chips and soda for Plan B, condoms, decongestants and pregnancy tests.

The university’s Etter Health Center started selling these items two years ago, and no one has taken notice until now. With the recent uproar over Planned Parenthood funding and religious disputes over access to birth control, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided to take a closer look at the vending machine.

Tuesday, an official resigned from the The Susan G. Komen foundation over Planned Parenthood funding. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates disputed over the Obama administration’s recent decision to require church-affiliated employers to offer birth control.

Anyone 17 and older can purchase Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, without a prescription. Records show that all current students attending the school are at least that age. However, the FDA is contacting both state officials and the university to collect more facts, said FDA agency spokeswoman Stephanie Yao.

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