We here at The Prairie would like to give our take on what’s hot and what’s not. If you find yourself in the Hooves Down category…you might want to reconsider your choices.

• Horns up for both WT softball and baseball teams upping their game this season with a winning start.
• Hooves down to the men’s baseball team playing in Amarillo instead of at home in Canyon.
• Horns up for renewed hope that President Obama will get us out of this economic crisis.
• Hooves down to the U.S. economy getting so bad it’s taking a second stimulus package totalling $787 billion to try and fix it.

Web Editor’s Note: Be sure to vote in our Valentine’s Poll!

Michael L’Esperance
Freshman, Business
It’s my girlfriend’s & my first Valentine’s Day, so I’m taking her out for dinner.

Morgan Reagan
Freshman, Psychology
I’m going home to see my boyfriend. We’ll eat dinner at the plaza & then probably go watch a movie.

Tara Meraz
Grad Student, Math
My husband & I will be relaxing at home.

Renarko Cunningham
Senior, Sociology
I have no plans, really. I’m just going to chill & probably watch a movie.

We here at The Prairie would like to give our take on what’s hot and what’s not. If you find yourself in the Hooves Down category…you might want to reconsider your choices.

• Horns up for Shepard Fairey standing up for his rights as an artist to be creative after the Associated Press tried to sue him for copyright infrigement.
• Hooves down to the reality that not everything taken off of a Google search can be legitimately used without consequence.
• Horns up for the theatre department successfully bringing back  our childhood memories in their portrayal of “Beauty and the Beast.”
• Hooves down to only having a couple more days to see it.

We here at The Prairie would like to give our take on what’s hot and what’s not. If you find yourself in the Hooves Down category…you might want to reconsider your choices.

• Horns up for WT football players being the top story on local news.
• Hooves down to the coverage not being a winning score, but an embarrassing extracurricular event.
• Horns up for college graduates making $1 million more than high school graduates in a lifetime.
• Hooves down to the current economy slowly shrinking the job market.

Supposedly, nothing is ever free.

The sad reality is that someone, somewhere is paying for “free.”

Hopefully it’s not us.

Here, generous donors and organizations are footing at least part of the bill for students to get an education.

And yet, we complain.

We complain about our professor, we complain about our dorm and most often we complain about the cost of higher education.

This year, our administration has made quite clear that tuition will increase, but by how much is uncertain.

Sure, no one wants to pay more for anything.

Our budgets are already streched.

However, not everyone is taking advantage of “free” money.

That’s right, priority scholarship deadline passed and only about 2,700 students sat down to fill out the application.

There are roughly about 7,000 students that go to WTAMU, and only less than half were responsible enough to get their applications in on time.

I guess some people don’t need money for school.

But, c’mon — that’s maybe 10 people on the entire campus?

There’s no guarantee everyone will get a scholarship, but there’s no guarantee against getting one.

As a senior in high school, if Mr. or Ms. Senior made decent grades and perhaps was involved in a couple organizations—colleges suddenly started throwing money at them.

Seems that after freshman year of college, less money was ending up on their doorsteps.

One simple factor separates the high school senior and college freshman—personal initiative.

In high school, a guidance counselor walked Mr. Senior through the scholarship applications and held his hand while he put the stamps on the envelopes. Now, he’s all alone to do the work and he doesn’t have the time.

Rachel Owen
Sophomore, SES

In Chi Omega, we turn off all the lights when we leave the room. Also, I “rent” books online instead of purchasing new ones.

Tara Rowland
Sophomore, Biology
At home we recycle cans and re-use grocery sacks.

Travis Field
Freshman, undecided
I generally throw my trash away. I’ve also hauled junk metal to a refinery.