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While letters from me have been sparse this year, this is my final one as Editor of The Ranger News. I have one more year until I graduate...but I knew it was time that I passed The Ranger News on to someone else. It's hard, because I've grown quite attached to The Ranger News in the three years I've been a part of its staff and eventually lead it.

I remember starting out as a copy editor, working hard to make sure that our stories were written as correctly as possible, that names were not misspelled, and that the articles were organized in an easy-to-read manner. From there, I started writing stories while continuing to edit others' stories. And in January of 2008, I was elected Editor in Chief of The Ranger News, since the now-previous Editor had stepped down to focus on other aspects of her life.

It was a tough learning curve. I knew nothing of procedure for purchasing things through the school, who to contact with questions about our contract with Hometown Publishing, or even how, exactly, to send our .pdf file to Hometown for processing and printing. It was a lot of anxiety, some tears, and triumphant fist-pumps as things started going better. Once I got the hang of it, I poured my heart and soul into this publication...and I think it shows. In the three years I've been here, I've written dozens of articles, copyedited hundreds more, and moved an entire publication to the internet from paper.

Professor Dean Karpowicz has been an English professor at UW-Parkside for ten years. Starting with a part-time job, he eventually became full time around six years ago. "I knew I was going to be an English major in high school," he said, heavily inspired by J.D Salinger's book, Catcher In The Rye. After trying out a biology major for two semesters as an undergraduate, he made the switch to English, and by his junior year he knew that he was poised to graduate with that major.

Bernard Anthony Lewandowski directed the dramatic comedy, 'Starts Friday.' It premiered at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Apr. 3, 2010, at 7 pm in the UW-P cinema. The film is a low budget independent movie that was cast by University students, and was filmed on the east side of Milwaukee, which took twenty days to complete. According to Bernard, “Starts Friday was made for less than a month’s rent.”

Hello there. It's been a while, hasn't it? The last time I wrote anyone a letter was to let the student body know we've moved online. I'd like to think this transition is going well. It's a huge learning process for all of us, and progress is slow, but we're getting there. I haven't written one of these in forever, mostly because I was so burnt out from doing it every week. I felt like I had run out of things to say, or more frequently, I felt like I was repeating myself and starting to beat a dead horse into a pulp.

About a year ago I found out that being a Wisconsin resident--at least 60 years of age--qualified me to audit a maximum of two courses per semester at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. No credits or grades, but also, no reports, exams, homework, term papers, or tuition—no tuition? That's right. Absolutely no charge--nada--zip--zero. As 'freebies' go this is a great one and just when we were getting use to the idea that nothing in life was free.

1) Would you pay extra tuition for a parking garage or new parking lot?
"We don't need a parking garage, but a new parking lot would be cool, so yes on that."
2) How do you handle the stress from finals and schoolwork?
"I study and take breaks, try to relax as much as I can."

--Lisa Gagliardo, major undecided, freshman

1. Do you think school spirit would be increased if UW-Parkside had an NCAA football team?

“Yes. I’m a football fan, I like football and I think students here would like to see football games and have homecoming.” –Theodist Johnson, sophomore, Theatre Arts major

” I agree with that. School spirit would be increased because we would have a homecoming game and it would just be a lot better out her. It would bring more students to the school also.” –James Stokes, senior, Communications major

1. The four hallmarks established for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside this year are student success, academic excellence, community engagement, and diversity and inclusiveness. If you could pick a fifth hallmark to represent the school, what would it be?

2. If you could pursue a different major, what would it be and why?

"Outgoingness, and Accounting."
-Monika Jones, sophomore, undecided

Pride awareness, and “Web design, because I know some stuff about it.”
-Lisa Rosenberg, freshman, graphic design

My wife and I were privileged to attend the University of Wisconsin-Parkside's 40th Anniversary Gala held Saturday, November 7th. The theme was aptly titled “Celebrate the Past--Embrace the Future.” Both were done to perfection thanks to Vice Chancellor Lenny Klaver and many others, both on and behind the scene.