I was lucky to wander upon the West campus of ASU and found five friendly students who were willing to share their stories of inspiration for choosing ASU and their program of study.
Special education freshman Yolanda Guebara. (Ryan Santistevan/The State Press)Special education freshman Yolanda Guebara - "I started off with secondary education, government and politics because I love politics. There's a lot of things that need to be patched for disabled kids. I knew that when you're applying for a job and you're a graduate from ASU with the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. They take that into consideration because ASU has one of the best teaching programs for teachers."
"I was in Best Buddies in high school, it's a program that's for an inclusion for students with special education. We are assigned buddies, my buddy became one of my best friends and she had down syndrome, that is what inspired me. My professor, which I've had both of my special education courses with, she's just been amazing."
Criminal justice sophomore Justin Ryan Calton. (Ryan Santistevan/The State Press)Criminology sophomore Justin Ryan Calton- "My original major was life sciences and it's only offered here at West. I switched my major. The classes were too hard (laughs). I realized I could get kind of the same job openings with the new major. I don't want to sit behind the desk; I want to be out in the field doing something."
"With criminology, I just want to go into law enforcement. The philosophy and religion, I want to add like an FBI chaplain, or just kind of get a different degree to put out there on my resume as well. I feel like I could branch off into different paths, such as a K-9 officer and having a dog."
Political science sophomore Ella Burris. (Ryan Santistevan/The State Press)Political science sophomore Ella Burris - "I feel like I do best in small environments, a big campus would be too overwhelming for me. The West campus is close to home too. I was accepted into Walter Cronkite but that's downtown and I wanted to go here. I figured if I ever did want to do something like that, you can apply your degree to any job."
"I like politics. I don't necessarily want to be like a politician or anything. The classes associated with the degree interest me. My family has always been liberal. Everyone that's liberal such as Obama, Hilary Clinton and Bill Clinton, that's who I've grown up with as my inspirations. Everyone wants to do something significant with their life, I just don't know what yet."
Political science senior Luis Gomez. (Ryan Santistevan/The State Press)Political science senior, Luis Gomez - "Political science is a popular major around here. People here are either political, life or social behavior major. I chose political science because I have an interest in the government and the United States. Poly science mixes the two pretty well. ASU is in my home state. It's a good school. I like it better than U of A."
"I plan on going to law school with my degree to practice law. I don't see myself getting involved in the political world. However, having a basic understanding of how it works is decent in having to interpret the laws. There are crimes, understandable, but then there's injustice in how people are punished for the crimes. Some people get more than they deserve and others are under deserved. I am not planning on making a big change, but trying I suppose."
Communications junior Taylor Benay Palitz. (Santistevan/The State Press)Communications junior, Taylor Palitz - "ASU is only a drive from home. I originally chose here for the great business program here, it's amazing for business. However, I found out about WUE, where California students can come in for cheaper tuition. Communications was in that. I have been very interested in how the communication world works."
"A lot of people do human resources with communications, but I want to do the business world of it. I want my own chain of food trucks. Coming from business to communications was really hard in the beginning. I had my Associates in business. I came into the communications world failing. However, I talked to my teachers and they taught me it was more psychological."
Reach the reporter at ryan.santistevan@asu.edu or follow @ryanerica18 on Twitter.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
