Frustration, upset, and proud describe the students of Jacksonville State University. As of recently, students from all departments have been expressing their concerns over housing, financial aid, scholarships, and much more. However, some of our questions have not been answered until the week of January 29, 2017, when Gabbie Manly wrote an article, “11 Questions For JSU.”
As she was acquiring personal concerns of the students, Gabbie posted on the Fitzpatrick Residents page to have the residents express their concerns as one of her sources. In result, Gabbie began writing her article while asking more students across the campus about their concerns. I find her article to be a turning point for the student body to get answers, but also to prove that students need to start becoming more involved with the Student Government Association and attending public meetings that the Board of Trustees holds. After her article was published, Gabbie started getting answers immediately from staff and SGA representatives. Accordingly, Gabbie decided to write a follow-up article for the whole student body to read in order for their concerns to be resolved.
Before going into my interview with Gabbie, I would like to share who she is a person and what she plans to do in her life. Gabbie Manly is a Family Consumer Science Major with a concentration in Child Development. When she graduates, Gabbie wishes to get involved with DHR, foster parents, and adoptive parents. One of her main goals that are awe-inspiring is that she desires to open a daycare for neglected and abused children and offer them resources to psychologists and counselors to help them through their past/current situation. Currently, as her goals for JSU, she just wants the best experience for students. When I asked Gabbie what she meant she replied, “It’s important for students to like their environment and understand why certain things are happening. I think all students should be more involved in what’s going on.” As we continued on, I began to ask her questions concerning “11 Questions For JSU” and if she continued to write articles concerning students and the campus.
What was your motive for writing "11 Questions For JSU?"
“My motive for writing ‘11 Questions for JSU’, was mainly the fact that our EIC wanted someone to do it but also because there have been a lot of complaints and rumors going around campus lately I felt the best way to get answers was to draw some attention to the concerns.”
Who or what inspired you?
“Really everyone in the Odyssey with me inspired me. Everyone in that group is so head strong and I know we'll all go great places one day, starting with helping our fellow students out the best way we can. We have an amazing opportunity to spread concerns through our articles and we'd be doing a huge disservice if we didn't use it.”
What is your logistics according to shares and views on muse?
“The last time I checked there were 3,887 views and 481 social engagements via ten different sources.”
Were you scared to write in the form of journalism?
“I really wasn't that scared, I just wrote what I thought would best get the point across. I wanted peoples concerned and experiences to be seen and I feel like I did a good job of that personally.”
We know that you have written a follow-up article with more questions towards the school, will you be writing more articles expressing students concerns in depth?
“My follow up article consists more of answers to our questions expressed in the first article. I've gotten a lot of feedback and answers and since that was the point of the article I feel it's my job to share them. However, I don't know if I'll write any more articles expressing students concerns, it really just depends on the situations themselves.”
Why did you decide to write for the Odyssey?
“Honestly, it was an accident. I'm very opinionated and would always express my feelings through a Facebook post and I felt like it was annoying to my Facebook friends and I knew someone who wrote for The Odyssey and thought it would be a good outlet for my own concerns.”
Did you feel (as you were told) that any of your content was inappropriate? How did you feel about your article?
“I really didn't. They were just questions! It wasn't meant to make any statements but it's how the students felt and their experiences. But according to some, I was wrong.”
What were your intentions to putting your article on the Fitz page?
“I only posted it on that page because those girls gave me most of my questions and statements and I also thought Peggy would have some answers to the questions.”
Gabbie is one voice that represented many, who aspires for Jacksonville State University to continue to improve for years to come. As a result of the reactions of her post, many students have received explanation to their questions and their issues resolved. The factor of most importance of the article proves to show that the student body needs to become more involved. Students should not be afraid to ask when budget meetings are or Senate meetings. Open yourself up and speak out on issues that should be addressed, the Student Government Association represents and speaks on behalf of the student body. How do they know what problems their colleagues have if we do not speak out?
