We want to hear your opinions

For years, St. Ben’s and St. John’s have technically been separate campuses. For most of my time being here, however, I’ve felt like St. Ben’s and St. John’s were one school. I share classes with Johnnies, and I’ve had classes on the St. John’s campus.

We were recently sent an email about the changes to commencement. Instead of having Bennies and Johnnies have commencement on separate days, we will be having commencement the same day. However, both commencements will be held at their respective campuses—essentially still separate.

The last year or so has been focused on stronger integration between the two schools and a question on a lot of students’ minds is, “does this mean having a joint commencement ceremony?” Is this a better or fair alternative to having joint commencement?

As the Opinion/Editorial editor for The Record, I would like to hear your thoughts on the recent changes to commencement or any opinions you may have for that matter.

I firmly believe one of the greatest ways to express one’s thoughts or opinions is through writing. And what better way than to write for the Opinion/Editorial section of the school newspaper?

As someone who is naturally reserved, I think writing opinion pieces has been a great creative outlet for me and a helpful tool in getting my voice heard.

Not only have I been able to write about an array of topics over the years, some of the pieces I’ve written in the past have created some great conversations with people I usually would not come across on campus.

Opinion columns can be written on any topic of your choosing and tend to usually be anywhere from 400-600 words. However, it can definitely be more or less. We ask that submissions be sent to our email at record@csbsju.edu on Tuesdays by noon.

Writing opinion columns have definitely helped me step out of my comfort zone and I’ve had some of the most interesting conversations because of it. I hope that you too share your voice and step out of your comfort zone.