The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 30, 2004, Page 4, Image 4
Graduate students seek release from work
■ GRADS ways, get the best of both worlds.
Continued from page 1 “I’m still kind of living the
college life,” White said. He gets to
study and work on a college campus,
going for the right reason, though. doesn’t have a boss (although he has
He said he hopes most students an adviser) and gets to interact with
are in graduate school because they students.
want to be there. For Laughlin, undergraduate
“They want to learn. They want school was quite different. Laughlin
to make themselves better,” said he had to play catch-up for the
Laughlin said. “There are those who first two years of his master’s in
are doing it just for a pay raise. You piano pedagogy, which worked into
can always pick those out.” his doctorate, because of the band
Not every graduate student’s focused curriculum of his alma
experience is the same. However, mater, the University of North
most will agree that the workload Alabama. Fortunately, he said, he
is more rigorous than as an had an “absolutely fabulous” piano
undergrad and often more than teacher, and that helped him get
they expected. where he is today.
“It’s a lot to balance,” said Elyn But don’t be fooled: USC grad
Blackman, a first-year master’s students aren’t just behind desks or
student in English and library confined to labs, practice rooms and
science, noting the challenges of classrooms.
managing coursework, life at home, White said he has to have an
working for a professor and other outlet, something separate from the
responsibilities. physics work that engrosses him
Fully immersed in his studies at daily. For him, it’s music. Physics
the physics department, White said student by day, White is a disc
“you don’t have time to really do jockey on the side with weekend
anything else” besides your graduate gigs and a weekly radio show on
work. WUSC.
“It’s something you have to get Blackman, too, has her own
used to,” he said. In graduate WUSC radio show and was station
school, “you have to be willing to manager as she completed her
just drop most other things because undergraduate degree in philosophy
you have to get the work done, or at USC last year,
else they’ll drop you.” Laughlin takes a break from
Yet, graduate students, in some music every now and then to serve a
r———
tennis ball or two, although he said
that when the school year starts up,
he spends a lot less time on the
court.
“Oftentimes, people in graduate
school have strong leadership
skills,” said Christine Ebert, interim
dean for USC’s graduate school.
The graduate school puts on
special programs to help encourage
this leadership and also develop
professionalism, including various
workshops and meetings called
“Friday Forums.”
Graduate students can also get
involved in an organization formed
especially for them, the Graduate
Student Association, and can be
spotted around campus and
Columbia in other organizations.
Ebert said that although the
exact numbers have yet to be
counted, there are approximately
7,000 graduate students enrolled at
USC, probably half of which are
part-time.
And, despite seeming
overworked and underpaid,
Laughlin, Blackman and White
remain focused on the prize.
Receiving his doctorate last
spring, Laughlin returned to USC
after being unable to land a
university position. An uncertain
future awaits him, but he
continues looking ahead and
looking for work. “I’ll start back
up (applying) in September or
October,” he said of the job
search. Laughlin is versatile; when
faced with unemployment this
summer he took up construction
work while teaching piano lessons
on the side.
Blackman, though just
beginning her graduate work,
hopes to be a librarian.
And there will be no more
detours for Ryan White. After
enjoying a brief break from school,
he’s now moving on to bigger ancf
better things and hoping that he’ll
get his degree within a few more
years.
But for White, the final result is
well worth it.
“The reward is really good. I’ll
have a doctorate,” he said with a
smile. “I’m a real scientist at that
point.”
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ALEXIS STRATTON/THE GAMECOCK
Mark Laughlin has a doctorate in piano pedagogy from USC and has returned for his master’s in .
Music Theory. "They want to learn. They want to make themselves better,” he said about graduate
students. “There are those who are doing it just for a pay raise. You can always pick those out.”
■ GASTON
Continued from page 1
officials said.
Second-year economics student
Andrew Imbeau was picking up
his 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse from a
repair shop in Charleston on
Saturday after flood waters
damaged it a few weeks ago.
Imbeau, originally from Florence,
had planned to spend some time at
Folly Beach and enjoy dinner with
friends at Applebee’s on James
Island. But when he looked up
from his plate of riblets and saw
the forecast on TV Saturday
evening, Imbeau’s plans changed.
“There was a big tropical storm
coming right at us,” he said. “I was
like, ‘Check please.’”
After taking a circuitous route
around the city to 1-26, Imbeau
and his friends were back in
Columbia by about 10 p.m., he
said.
USC’s 2003-2004 Online Fact
Book reports that, of 19,439 in
state students enrolled at the
Columbia campus last year, 1,822
came from Berkely, Charleston
and Dorchester counties.
Some students braved
darkening skies and stayed in
Charleston on Saturday night.
Second-year criminal justice
student Joseph Jacobsen was
celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday
on Coming Street in Charleston
when Gaston made landfall early
Sunday morning. Jacobsen, who
grew up in Charleston, was
unimpressed by Gaston, this
season’s seventh named storm.
“It was just a big thunderstorm,
basically,” he said. “I slept through
the biggest part of it.” Jacobsen
added that the excitement of the
coming storm may have added to
the party’s mood.
“People were pretty crazy last
night,” he said. Jacobsen said the
biggest inconvenience in the
storm’s aftermath was snarled
traffic.
Utility trucks blocked traffic
lanes Sunday afternoon, and
strong winds knocked out stop
lights all over the Lowcountry.
Flooding in low-lying areas caused
Charleston police to close some
streets downtown.
Like Jacobsen, many
Charlestonians took the storm
lightly, especially those who lived
in the area when Hurricane Hugo
brought 135 mph gusts in late
September of 1989. Several took
advantage of the cool weather and
cloudy skies to run downtown.
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■ VOTING
Continued from page 1
follow through and vote.
“We can’t really make sure that
students actually go out and vote,
but registering to vote is a step in
the right direction,” Rainey said.
The student organizations on
campus representing the two main
political parties, the College
Republicans and the Young
Democrats, are planning
registration drives as well as other
activities to encourage students to
participate in this year’s election.
According to the College
Republicans’ co-chairman Randy
Dargan, the group wants to be the
most visible political organization
on campus. To ensure visibility, the
College Republicans will be
holding registration drives at every
home football game this season,
and the organization’s new
elephant mascot will be parading
around campus as members
volunteer to wear the costume.
Dargan said the Republican
group is also working to help local
Republican candidates by bringing
them to campus to speak to
students. According to Dargan,
making the local candidates known
and stressing their campaigns is
imperative due to intensified
competition of local politics.
“A lot of local candidates are
going to have tough local races,”
Dargan said.
Young Democrats President Katie
Day said her organization would be
holding voter registration drives on
Sept. 7, 15 and 23 from 10:30 a.m.
to 2:30 p.m. The group will also
have a table on the Pickens Street
bridge Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to
2:30 p.m. where students will be
able to register to vote and learn
more about the Young Democrats.
Day said the Young Democrats
are planning an event for late
October to remind students that
absentee ballots are due. On the
day of the election, the
organization will have a table set up
in front of the Russell House to
remind students to vote.
Day said the Young Democrats
are considering working with the
College Republicans to speak to
some of the University 101 classes
about the importance of voting.
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