Summer Baseball Preview – Millenial Influx

Cubs and Brewers leading NL Central

By Brittany Dole

The 2018 MLB season has been an interesting one so far, as the weather was a major topic of discussion due to so many postponements across the league.

The Cubs home opener was snow covered and pushed back a day in early April, much to the dismay of fans who lined up close to game time and learned of the news. What does this mean for the Cubs? Many doubleheaders to look forward to, might be fun for the audience but not so much for the teams.

As of May 2, the North Siders are 16-11 and about even with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals are only a half-game back in the standings, as well as the Pirates. The Cincinnati Reds sit way at the bottom of the division, with a sad 7-23 start to the season.

As warmer weather is welcomed in Chicago, the Cubs host the Rockies after dropping the first game of the series last night on a rather mild and windy night at Wrigley. Surprisingly, the big transaction acquired in the off-season, Yu Darvish, hasn’t had the best numbers so far, with a rather high ERA sitting at 5.26. His outings have been short, but struggles happen any time of the year.

Let’s hope its just a few adjustments that are needed to get him to where baseball fans have seen him before. Only concern is that signing him to a hefty 126 million dollar contract was the right choice for the starting rotation, time will tell.

It certainly has not been an easy start to the year for the Cubbies, as we’ve already seen Rizzo and Bryant out for a few games on the disabled list. Anthony Rizzo had a bad back, and Kris Bryant got nailed in the head with a fastball. They both recovered, but losing guys like that is a fear for every team.

The key for 2018 and pretty much every season is to keep the roster healthy. Off days can be superstars best friends, especially early in the season as games seem a bit more low-stake. I hope to see the Cubs greet former teammate and ace Jake Arrieta in Philadelphia when they play the Phillies later this summer.

As far as big picture MLB 2018, keep your eye on the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox.

Should be a fun ride to October.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.