As the weather gets hotter and my coursework gets more intense there’s no more denying it; my time at Parkland is coming to an end. Ever since I slowly began my college career in January 2021, I’ve been given innumerable opportunities to improve myself and unending support in my academic endeavors. Our team has decided that exiting students should write about their experience at this school and with the Prospectus to say goodbye. The following is my farewell:
January 2021 was an especially tumultuous time for our country, my personal life included. That month featured a viral pandemic —at that time— responsible for over 3000 deaths a day, a failed attempt to steal the presidency and the subsequent incitement of a violent attack against our legislature, and the subsequent transfer of power to the rightful victor of that contest; all of this and more was playing out alongside my first semester of college after finishing high school a semester early.
Already contending with my mental health leaving high school, with this much chaos it’s safe to say I was a little scrambled. Parkland quickly swooped in to help with my troubles. To dip my toes into the college experience, I took a light course load my first semester. It didn’t take long to learn that Parkland has collected abundant educational resources and the most passionate, compassionate, and talented faculty possible.
Without exception, each of my professors at Parkland provided a unique and effective learning environment whether the classes were online or in-person. Many of these instructors have gone above and beyond to help me through my coursework by providing reasonable support at a moment’s notice, understanding and accommodating periodic hiccups, and exuding a dedication that helped me cultivate a desire to seriously engage with my classes. Because of their contributions to my education, I’ve learned to take the most benefit —academic and personal— from any material assigned to me and in doing so my professors have changed my life.
My professors haven’t limited this dedication to me alone, they offer their services to hundreds of students a semester. On top of this, many of these professors set positive examples by playing active roles in extracurriculars among other community organizations. These professors have provided me with a benchmark to attempt to live up to in my own contributions to society; they have inspired me to pursue a life that similarly values serving the community.
By Aug. 2021 in a desperate search for scholarships, I noticed the Prospectus. Though found under unwelcome circumstances, this newspaper has turned out to be the highlight of my time at Parkland.
Here I’ve improved my writing skills, learned to conduct interviews, and done both of these publicly for everyone to see. Facing the early anxiety this spurred helped me build self-confidence that’s already paid off in my mental health and my personal life.
This academic and social exercise has also allowed me to have some interesting experiences and meet interesting people. I have been lucky enough to engage with serious local and national issues by discussing them with Parkland VIPs, a successful congressional candidate, and even local labor leaders. Further, for my efforts, I rose to the position of Editor-in-Chief and have brought home 6 statewide journalism awards for this paper.
The work I’ve done and the accomplishments I’ve earned have been a direct result of Parkland’s support. As seen in the structure of the paper I joined, Parkland understood the value of independent journalism. Parkland offered us, staffers, the academic resources necessary to learn the mechanics of journalism while providing a near-complete degree of autonomy to individual workers and promoting self-governance on group matters. All of these aspects created the ideal setting for the cultivation of informative, critical, and creative skills and content that have earned our paper much praise in my tenure. I hope the paper’s staff will maintain the unified front that’s been needed to defend this traditional form so that it can continue to provide students with the rich experience that was afforded to me.
As a political science student, co-founder of Parkland’s new Political Science Club, and the Prospectus’ resident political commentator, I must comment on the progression of our country’s condition and politics over my time at Parkland.
As I mentioned, my college experience has almost entirely coincided with the Biden presidency. As we approach another presidential election, I can unconditionally say that this presidency has proved one thing: corporate-Democrats must go. I was lied to by President Biden who promised we’d build back better and his influential supporters who presented him to be the next FDR. Unlike FDR, Biden couldn’t achieve his legislative goals, has refused to supplement that fact with all possible executive action, and has allowed persistent economic hardship to remain at the feet of working people.
Biden and his acolytes have valued vague notions of civility and bipartisanship above the interests of working people —the vast majority of their constituents— which has coincidentally allowed corporations and their major investors —their significant donors— to have unprecedentedly profitable years through my time in college.
Sadly, this misdirection has played out in our community with a congressperson who suggested to me that they were a champion of women’s and workers’ rights but turned out to value aligning with those ripping them away more greatly than working with those who most strongly advocate for them.
I’m no fan of turning the reins over to Republicans, the party most vocally opposed to the empowerment of working people. Through his faults, I will always be happy to have had President Biden to extend the student loan repayment pause, push watered-down legislation addressing some climate concerns, and provide the necessary votes on the National Labor Relations Board to give the unionizing efforts of Amazon warehouses and Starbucks shops a fighting chance.
It’s clear, however, that something must change. I can only imagine what results we could’ve seen with a President Bernie Sanders who, unlike the current office holder, has no ties to the big banks, oil companies, or union-busting corporations that support establishment Democrats and oppose real solutions to working-class immiseration. If these minor successes were achieved through a Democratic coalition in which working people are at least slightly valued —unlike Republicans who are wholesale opposed to working-class interests— imagine what we can achieve with a political movement of our own in the driver’s seat.
I plan to use the skills I’ve built at Parkland and with the Prospectus to ask this question in our community and do what I can to bring about leadership aligned with working-class values. Whether it’s supporting Parkland’s faculty, staff, and contractors, organizing for or against local politicians, or continuing to write about all of the above, I hope you’ll join me in the future. Until then, speak out, organize, and resist. I’ll see you on the picket line.
Trent Chassy
Editor-in-Chief