Week 12

Happy Thanksgiving!

Week 11

Our assignment was to choose something that we considered ourselves an expert on at Saint Xavier University. Since I do not live on campus and commute everyday, I figured I was an expert at being a commuter student. We first were assigned to write a 1000 word essay on our topic. I chose to talk about traffic, construction, accidents, rising gas prices, commute time, etc. So in order to shoot pictures I chose to pull out things that got you in the mood of being a commuter student. I took 20 pictures of construction, gas signs, cars, and so on.
Once we accomplished that assignment we started to do the layout of our magazine article using the InDesign software. We first had to complete our folder organization in order to be prepared to create this magazine. Once that was done we were free to design our four page spread. I used a few techniques including pull quotes, title fonts, pictures, etc. We learned how to use font colors by using color in the windows option and also text wrap around for the pull quotes. Magazines need to have some order and class, so I decided to combine both words and pictures on each page. I made sure that the pages looked organized and interesting.
I decided that it would also be interesting to get some input from other commuter students. So with my text I did an interview column where I asked four students what their commute to Saint Xavier is like. I used pictures to represent their answers and organized it on the last two pages. I used pull quotes and text wrap in this section as well. I decided to use red for pull quotes and titles to really draw them out of the text.

Week 10

Commuting to Saint Xavier can have its positive and negative aspects, but what would be fun about telling you how great it is to drive here? Driving here each and every day gets real old sometimes, between leaving early to be sure you’re on time, construction, traffic, gas prices, accidents and so on. Being a commuter can really start your day off on a negative note.

Being a commuter student can be quite expensive. Not only do you have to pay for the gas to get to and from school, but also the $125.00 fee for the parking permit. Not only does the expense get to you, but the time you waste to get to and from school. The biggest pain is leaving the house almost an hour and half before class. This time truly depends upon how far away you live as well as you have to wake up at least a half hour earlier than that. So in reality, if your class is at 10 am, you have to be up by 8 am at the last to ensure you will be on time.

The problem of time is just the start of the commute. The real problems start when you leave the house. This is when traffic becomes the problem. Traffic can vary with the time you leave. Rush hour between 4-6 pm and 6-8 am are the worst to be driving. In these cases, leaving for student teaching, observing, clinical etc., can take even longer and require you to leave even earlier. Time is a precious thing not to be wasted in a car for hours and hours.

Traffic jams and parking lots on the highway range from time of departure, construction and accidents. Everywhere you turn there is another delay in commuting time. The most common is construction traffic. There are many ways to get to Saint Xavier and each way has some instances of construction. Construction can include road paving, lane merging and much more. All construction causes problems for commuters, not only can it make you late but can also damage your car.

Commuting can have its perks, but for me I dislike the commute very much. I like the perks of being a commuter, but the traffic, construction, accidents, etc can cause a lot of irritation. It costs money to live on campus and it costs money to commute; there is no happy medium really. Freshman year and sophomore year was not bad at all, but getting into junior and senior year the commute is frustrating.

Interviews
Where do you commute from? I am a senior here at Saint Xavier. I commute from my house in Tinley Park.
How long is your commute? My commute time truly depends on traffic. It can be anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes.
What do you dislike most about being a commuter ? The one thing I dislike most about commuting to school is the traffic you have to drive through. You have to leave your house so early because you can never predict the unexpected.
Why did you decide to commute? I chose to commute because I live close enough to drive without paying so much to live on campus. I could not justify paying that much money to live so close to home.

Where do you commute from? I live in and commute from Orland Park. I am a junior here at Saint Xavier University.
How long is your commute? I commute from roughly 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. I can make it in less time when it’s around 10 o’clock in the morning. It also adds time to the commute when we have bad weather.
What do you dislike most about being a commuter? I don’t like that you have to leave early to park and get to class on time. It’s so hard to park at school because a lot of people drive and classes are all pretty close in times, so the parking lot is jammed.
Why did you decide to commute? I chose to commute because I can live in my room at my house and have more room to live without paying so much money to live here.


Where do you commute from? I commute from Mokena. I am a sophomore here at Saint Xavier.
How long is your commute? It changes from semester to semester; during the winter time my commute is about 35-45 minutes. During regular morning traffic and normal weather my commute ranges from 25-30 minutes.
What do you dislike most about being a commuter? I dislike the construction on every route you take to get to school. The pot holes and the re-paving of the roads are the worst. Not only are they irritating, but they damage your car.
Why did you decide to commute? I chose to commute because I don’t think I could live in a dorm and eat cafeteria food. I like living at my house with room and good food.

Where do you commute from? I commute from Homer Glen. I am a freshman this year.
How long is your commute? My commute is about 40 minutes depending on the weather and traffic. Also depends on speed limits and construction speed limit changes.
Why do you dislike most about being a commuter student? I don’t like the parking and how jammed the lots are all the time. You have to get to school about a half hour before class to make sure you find a parking spot somewhere.
Why did you decide to commute? I chose to commute because it’s cheaper to live at home than to live on campus in my eyes.