Yuba College student news is now available via the Internet. Anyone connected to the web can visit www.theprospector.org to find out what’s happening on campus and around the world. Now in its second semester, The Prospector web site features information and links useful to students, faculty and staff.
Web editor Chris Miranda uses her Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) experience to fill the information gap, crediting The Prospector web site as “a really good source for students to easily find out what’s happening on campus and keep updated.”
The Prospector web site is updated weekly, while the printed edition is produced only twice per semester, thanks entirely to the Appeal Democrat. Faculty advisor Brian Jukes explained, “If it weren’t for the Appeal, we wouldn’t have a paper at the college. Until the administration values a student newspaper more, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to come out in print more often.”
Producing a printed newspaper only twice per semester is disheartening to Jukes, who feels that the lack of adequate funding represents a lack of commitment to better student dialogue and student/faculty relations that only a student press can offer. However, with The Prospector’s web site in operation, students can now access news, student forums and entertainment daily.
At the site, complete Prospector articles can be read, along with national and global news, with links to the Appeal-Democrat and the Associated Press. Visitors can post comments in forums, submit letters to the editor and apply to receive a weekly newsletter.
“There’s so little dialogue between students at Yuba College,” Jukes remarked. “This site gives them a chance to talk about important issues facing all college students.”
Free classified ads and weekly chats are coming soon, along with a chance for readers to add their own web page links.
Visitors to The Prospector web site will also find a link to WebAdvisor, a useful service for Yuba College students and faculty. Still in its infant stages, WebAdvisor will allow students to access their grades, transcripts and GPA. They will also be able to add, drop and pay for classes, buy textbooks and even apply for graduation. With the exception of a handful of students working as beta testers, only faculty and staff can currently take advantage of its services.
However, WebAdvisor will be open to all students by next semester, said Karen Trimble, Yuba College Information Systems Supervisor. According to Trimble, all returning students next semester will be automatically registered with WebAdvisor within 24 hours of application approval.
Aside from service and college links, entertainment is only a click away. The Web Editor has added links to cartoons, horoscopes, movie listings, and one to “The Satyr,” an amusing, alternative news site. There is even a page for the artistically inclined reader who wishes to submit poems and scanned artwork for display, ensuring that The Prospector is more than just business as usual.
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