Athena Palmer – The Hilltop Monitor

Jameson O’Connor Selected as Field Representative for Senator Moran

Athena Palmer — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 13:00:46 +0000

Jameson O’Connor, sophomore political science and international relations major, was recently hired as a field representative for Kansas Senator Jerry Moran. Senator Moran is running for reelection.

“As a field representative, I will be responsible for the canvassing, campaign event coverage and GOTV strategy implementation of an assigned section of counties in Kansas. I will be responsible for completing and regularly updating County Intelligence Reports, communicating with my county chairs, building working relationships with some local elected officials, finding and organizing staff or volunteer representation at all parades, pertinent events or political gatherings,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor began the application process in March after he was encouraged to apply by Michael O’Donnell II, a Kansas state senator from Wichita, Kan. O’Connor submitted a basic application which included information about his education, past political experience and reference information. After submitting the application, O’Connor was interviewed via phone call by the Deputy Campaign Manager. A week later he was selected for the position.

O’Connor states that he is looking forward to expanding his knowledge about the day-to-day operations of a state-wide political campaign. He is also excited to have a more modern and technological approach to campaigning.

“I’ll get to use new software that will allow me to record my interactions with voters and upload the information that I gather to a database available immediately not only to the rest of the staff, but also to other campaigns that our campaign decides to share information with,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor will have the opportunity to expand his network while getting back into the American political system.

“I will have the opportunity to meet many of those who run Kansas, as well as to meet other politically-active young Republicans. But what I’m most excited about is getting back into the nitty-gritty of the American political process. It isn’t always pretty and isn’t for the faint of heart, but I got hooked years ago and it’s been far too long since I’ve been seriously involved in the process,” said O’Connor.

Humans of Jewell

Athena Palmer — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 15:00:24 +0000

Angela Martin and Cindy Eggleston, baristas at @TheBeak, came to William Jewell College to help support their children through college. Martin has been working at Jewell since 2011 while Eggleston started in August of 2015.

Martin and Eggleston shared with me why they love working at a school with such a tight knit community feel.

“The community network and how the kids really like to visit, they like to tell us how they’ve been doing and what they’ve been working on. We see them here early in the morning, even before I’m here,” said Martin.

Both Martin and Eggleston agree that working at Jewell has allowed them to form close connections with people they probably would not have met otherwise.

“I’ll be here for a while. I have a junior in high school and a seventh grader so I plan on staying for a while,” said Eggleston.

“When the kids come up we already know what they want and they love that. Or they’ll say, ‘Oh I’m going to change it up today’ since they know we already know what they want,” said Martin.

Photos courtesy of Harper Vincent.

Jewell alumni make Kansas City home after graduation

Athena Palmer — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 02:26:03 +0000

Many William Jewell College graduates have found their home in Kansas City, Mo. A wide variety of careers have taken off in the downtown metro area. Job opportunities such as healthcare services, teaching and sales have given many recents Jewell graduates a place to call home.

Cameron VanDyke and Hillary Holt, class of 2015, share why they believe the time they spent as Jewell prepared them for life outside of college.

“The CTI mentality that Jewell has was a great talking point for me in interviews, and I think employers find it interesting. Having that background in critical thinking shows that someone is able to thrive in difficult situations where the answer may not be spelled out blatantly,” said VanDyke.

VanDyke decided to stay in the Kansas City area because she believes it is a hotspot for starting businesses and companies. She is currently working at Lockton Companies, an insurance brokerage firm.

“I am basically the ‘middle man’ between businesses buying insurance and the carriers who sell insurance. I can absolutely say that insurance is an industry where the answer is almost never black and white. Critical thought and inquiry is a necessity in this business, so that background has worked to my advantage,” said VanDyke.

Holt believes the transition from college to life as a graduate is just as difficult as the transition between high school and college.

“Honestly, I decided to stay because this is what felt comfortable. There’s a transition stage after every big moment in life. Transitioning from high school to college is tough in the same ways transitioning out of college is tough. You have no idea what you’re doing. Everything is new. How do you find an apartment when you’ve never had to worry about doing that before? How do you cook food for yourself when you can’t run down to the Cage, and how the heck do you actually have time for sleep? That feels a little strange, too. With all of those hard transitions and changes, it made sense for me to not add learning a brand new city and community to the mix,” said Holt.

Holt feels that her liberal arts education was also helpful for easing her through this transition.

“I’ve definitely used my liberal arts education more than I thought I would. I think that when you’re in the middle of it, it’s easy to lose track of why you’re learning the things you are or why you’re focusing on certain areas more than others. I’ve found that the critical thought and especially all the writing that I did at Jewell has helped me immensely. I don’t go a day where I’m not writing or using the lessons I learned at Jewell,” said Holt.

Holt and VanDyke are two of many graduates who have decided to stay close to Jewell after graduation. According to the William Jewell College LinkedIn page, 3,706 graduates currently reside in the Kansas City area. The top three jobs held by these graduates are sales, education and healthcare services. The top businesses where graduates work are Cerner Corporation, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Hallmark Cards and Sprint.

For additional information about recent graduates’ careers please visit the William Jewell College LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/edu/alumni?id=20144&trk=edu-up-nav-menu-alumni

Feature photo by Kyle Rivas

Infographic courtesy of LinkedIn

To be honest…with Athena Palmer

Athena Palmer — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:00:08 +0000

To be honest, I’m not okay but that’s perfectly okay.

Recently I have come to the overwhelming conclusion that I am not entirely happy with the current state of my life. I use friendships, work and classes to avoid the pressing issue that I am not my normal self. Instead of dealing with negative thoughts and emotions, I would rather bury them deep within me and pretend like they are not there. Because of this, I have lost sight of who I am. By using people and places as a distractions rather than dealing with my issues, I am subconsciously making my quality of life worse for myself.

In college, students are constantly pressured to have their lives together. We all know the drill: you go home for Thanksgiving break and almost immediately you are bombarded with questions, such as, “Do you have a boyfriend yet? Where are you living after college? How will you get a job with that major?” These questions, though seemingly harmless, are not always what students want to talk about.

Why is it that no one ever asks the tough questions? Questions such as, “Are you actually happy with your decision to go to college? Do you ever feel lonely? Are you scared that you won’t be able to make a life for yourself?” I think the reason people would rather focus on your current relationship and job status is because they already know the answers to the tough questions. Much like myself, they bury themselves in simple issues rather than dealing with the difficult ones.

It has taken me a while to come to this conclusion, but I have realized that it is okay not to be happy. It is okay not to have your life together. College, while supposedly some of the best years of your life, can also be some of the most challenging. For most of us, this is the first time we have truly been on our own. Because of this, it can be easy to want to rely on others for help, support and happiness. Since coming to college, one of the more strenuous lessons I have had to learn is that, at the end of the day, the only person you can truly rely on is yourself.

Being comfortable with every aspect of yourself can be challenging. As I mentioned before, we often rely on others to distract ourselves from negative thoughts and feelings. While college is great for developing lifelong friendships with others, it is also great for developing a lifelong friendship with yourself. I believe that coming to terms with your true feelings, emotions and thoughts can be one of the most powerful things a person can accomplish. It takes guts to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I am not okay today.”

How do we deal with the negativity and unhappiness? If you are anything like me, you may be tempted to hide away in your room all day, contemplating an endless cycle of negative thoughts and emotions. Instead of trying to change what you can’t fix, try embracing what you can. Let yourself truly feel the negativity and unhappiness. Realize that there is nothing wrong with not being your best 100 percent of the time. Yes, it can be hard to accept situations or emotions that make us sad. Take a moment to let yourself be sad, and then pick yourself right back up and move on. Cut off all your hair, hang out at a coffee shop downtown or dance really badly to really loud music in your room. Thank yourself for always being there for you at the end of the day. Become your own best friend. Learn to fall in love with who you are, and be proud of it.