Watch a video of University of Montana students speaking their minds.
In any case, a whole bunch of them didn't mind taking the time to answer scattershot questions from a team of roving reporters wandering campus the other day.
Texting vs. e-mail was a 50-50 split in our unscientific survey. Most students watch videos on YouTube. Not everyone has an iPod or a laptop computer. Phone calls are still the preferred method of talking with favorite people, and everyone has other things on his or her mind besides academics.
Jared Trilling, 21, was busy setting up a MontPIRG information booth in the University Center. He has about 5,000 songs on his iPod right now, and his three favorite artists are the Meat Puppets, REM and Neil Young.
The resource and conservation major prefers black coffee over pricey espresso drinks, and anywhere he can trim his personal budget, he will.
“I only recently started doing the texting thing - out of necessity,” Trilling said.
Aside from academics, the U.S. presidential election is on his mind.
“I'm thinking a lot about the political race - change will be nice,” he said. Closer to home, he's busy helping MontPIRG develop an initiative to make Missoula run on 100 percent renewable energy.
“We want to get something on paper and start a dialogue in the community about how it might happen,” he explained.
Whitney Sjostrom, 20, is listening to the Rascal Flatts these days, but her iPod is filled with songs from across the music spectrum, thanks to her boyfriend who keeps the playlist fresh.
Her most recent technology purchase was a Blackberry so she could be in instant communication with her friends and family. She's not sure if the purchase will interrupt her time on Facebook, which is how she stayed connected before the Blackberry.
“Right now, my career is on my mind,” Sjostrom said. “I recently got into the ROTC program. It's my junior year and I want to go to law school.”
Student loans are helping pay her tuition, and she's splitting a $725 monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the lower Rattlesnake.
Her favorite class? Ranger Challenge.
Sarah Bassing rarely goes anywhere without her iPod, cell phone and Mac laptop. While studying data she collected during her summer research project on wolves in Yellowstone National Park, Bassing was listening to the soundtrack from the movie “Almost Famous.”
E-mail, she said, is her favorite way to communicate, and yes, her summer tracking wolves in Yellowstone was the highlight of her academic career.
“It was amazing,” she said. “Lots of hiking ... and it was so beautiful.”
The experience was just another reminder of why choosing UM over the University of California-Davis was one of the best decisions she has made.
Although she pays out-of-state tuition at UM, her four-year degree will cost less than if she went to UC-Davis and paid in-state tuition.
“It's really worked out well. I am so happy I came here,” Bassing said. “I really like the campus.”
The November election will be the first time 21-year-old Bassing will vote, and she looks forward to the experience.
Marea Johnson is a newcomer to cell phone ownership, she's just learning how to text, doesn't really use e-mail and doesn't own an iPod.
After explaining her technology preferences, the sociology graduate student was compelled to explain that she stays connected with people via Facebook and listens to music on her laptop. These days, she's listening to Radiohead, the Ranconteurs, Taj Mahal and G. Love.
Texting, she said, has its advantages.
“It comes in handy at bars when it's loud,” she said.
When she's not studying, she's got her mind on other matters.
“I'm planning a wedding,” she said. “I'm hoping to convince the boyfriend to elope in Hawaii.”
Standing in front of kiosk plastered with band fliers and other entertainment announcements, Genny Moffatt was hooked up to her iPod listening to the Flobots and trying to take a picture with her cell phone.
Asked to explain, the 20-year-old psychology and German major laughed and said she was learning how to use all her new technology.
She confessed she doesn't like to read the “how-to” manuals that come with the purchases, and so must force herself to learn by plunging in.
The Missoula native said she spends her nonstudy hours hiking and playing folf - and planning her post-graduation trip to Germany.
“I plan to take time off before graduate school and go to Germany,” she said. “I want to have some fun before I become an adult.”
Her dream job, she said, is to lead a research team to unlock the mysteries of autism - or be a German translator.
Favorite class right now? “I'm in the History of Rock and Roll. It's a blast.”
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