Aggies looking forward

1. Same-sex marriage:

“I think the way that’s going to affect 2014, it’s definitely brought up a lot of passions on a more local-specific level than ever before … My hope is that it will show that human rights are not something that can be voted on … That’s a problem right now because everyone’s like, ‘Well, we voted on it,’ but it doesn’t matter if you vote on it. It’s a human right. Those are inalienable. Beyond that, I’m really hoping that we can see a positive side of it of people coming out in support and showing that, although this is a state where the LDS religion is the majority, that there actually are people that are supportive and that the majority is no longer as opposed as it was a couple of years ago when this measure was passed.” – Alec Player, undeclared sophomore

2. Pepsi on campus:

“Coming from an outsider, like somebody who is neither into Pepsi nor Coke, I don’t think it makes a tremendous difference … If it means more Mountain Dew on campus, I think that’s going to make people happy. However, I think there’s bigger fish to fry. People are getting worked up on Twitter about it because it sounds cool to get worked up on Twitter about it. People are passionate about it, but if you’re more verbally passionate about your prefered soft drink over social issues, I think it’s a red flag.” – Mike Rees, senior in exercise science and communications studies

3. Affordable Care Act:

“I just think government shouldn’t force people to buy health care. It should be their choice if they want health care or not. Honestly that’s my opinion, simple and short. I think probably medical care is going to go down. It won’t be as good because we won’t have as well-trained doctors because people won’t want to do it because they’ll get paid less and it won’t be as big of a deal anymore.” – Nicole Jaynes, undeclared freshman

4. Air Quality:

“I don’t really know much about it. I just know that the air quality sucks here. I think there’s a lot of students that travel to and from home, like I know I did that a lot during Christmas break. I just travelled by myself instead of carpooling, and a lot of car exhaust can add to inversion, so that definitely doesn’t help it. Carpooling is much better.” – Hayden Loftus, sophomore in pre-law economics

5. Count My Vote initiative:

“If Count My Vote is put on the ballot and passed, one opportunity it will provide is for students to vote in a primary, which students in the past who couldn’t attend the caucus meetings because of military service, missionary service, late classes, jobs, being a young parent, they couldn’t attend those meetings, and so there were barriers there. With the count my vote initiative, it would allow them to vote in a direct primary.” – Doug Fiefia, USU/SA president

6. Wolf overpopulation in Yellowstone:

“I’m a biology major, so the whole wolf thing interests me a little bit. I think it’d be interesting to let it play out because I feel like nature has a way of balancing itself out, so it will balance out eventually.” – Emily Anderson, senior in biology

7. Sochi Olympics:

“I think it will be interesting to see how the Olympics play out considering recent developments with gay rights and Russia’s take on homosexuality. I don’t know if it will be better or worse than communism. Maybe it would lead to another world war.” – Casey Peterson, junior in physics

8. Changes in campus Wi-Fi:

“I think it would help productivity for people that are actually trying to be productive, but also, in classrooms, it could be a distraction.” – Tyler Travis, junior in computer engineering

9. Extreme weather:

“I think the extreme weather is very interesting. They finally got rid of the global warming because it’s always so cold, but it’s crazy. I was reading on the internet last night that there’s this frozen storm that came down from the North Pole that’s supposed to kill all of America and this, that and the other, but I think it’s funny that it was so hot these last couple of winters and all of a sudden, everywhere it’s negative degrees. But I’m interested to see if that means a lot more snow or if it’s just going to be cold, cold, cold. We’ll have to wait and see.” – Brian Speckhard, senior in business

10. Recreational marijuana legalized in Colorado:

“In Colorado, they made marijuana legal for recreational use, and I went down this weekend because I figured it’s kind of a big deal, and all the stores, I don’t know how many were open, but I went to two different ones, and they were both super packed. The lines were super long, and I waited for maybe an hour in one of them. But it was really calm. People were worried that people would be freaking out on the street and stuff, but it was actually just like no big deal. People were cool about it, and it was really no different than any other time you go to Denver … I think what might happen with it is, I guess Colorado made a ton of money just in one weekend, and I think other states will see how much money they’re making and the government will see how good it is for the economy, and other states are going to start legalizing marijuana.” – Kaitlyn Hunter, junior in English education

11. Expansion in technology (Google glass, Samsung Galaxy Gear)

“I feel like those devices might be sort of trendy. I’m not sure how far they’ll actually get, but I don’t  know. I guess I think it’s cool they’re bringing watches back. I think that could be really convenient. I think it’s interesting how these are devices that are on people all the time, so it’s like we’re even more attached to our technology than we’ve ever been before because it’s always there.” – Scott Sorensen, senior in computer science

12. Aggie Radio applying for FM license:

“If we were to go FM, it would be a huge step for Aggie Radio because we’re now actually on the air waves. You could actually reach us in your car when you’re driving around Logan. Students could actually tune in and listen to us. You don’t have go to an obscure part of the Internet to find us … and that’s going to be huge because college radio is supposed to be a place where you find brand-new music and things along those lines.” – Zak Ricklefs, junior in public relations

13. Wayne Estes Center opening in April:

“We’ve been doing renovations and things for the football stadium, and they made that big weight strength and conditioning center, which is for all athletes, but this is the biggest thing we’ve done to improve the volleyball and basketball programs in a couple decades. The spectrum, besides the new jumbotron, has been the same since like the ’70s … In all honesty, it will probably help out ticket sales. A better venue makes more people want to go.” – Charley Riddle, athletics and campus recreation vice president

14. Amazon Drones:

“I’ve heard a little bit about it. I think if it does come into play, it will change security and maybe it could change the postal system and those people that already do the delivering job.” – Jamien Herron, sophomore in history

-m.noble@aggiemail.usu.edu