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Local Talent: Lacey Brown the Next American Idol

1/31/2009 10:55:00 PM • , , , , , • 5 comments

Have you been watching American Idol? Well if you have you may or may not have heard that a local from Amarillo got a ticket to Hollywood!

That local is, former AC student, Lacey Brown she auditioned in Louisville, Kentucky. The episode aired on January 21, 2009. Her audition was not shown on the air, but the first half of the episode is littered with clips her. If you watch carefully it shows her holding a "golden ticket" after the end of day one.

As per A.I. contracts she is not allowed to speak with the press until the show is over, but what we do know is, based on the episode that has already aired, that she is going to Hollywood!

According to tvgrapevine.com there were 10,000 people who auditioned and only 19 "golden tickets" were given out. Round 2 in Hollywood begins February 3 according to TV Guide.com.

Lacey's Official Music Myspace Page

UPDATE #1 - 02/03/09: Lacey made it through day 1 eliminations in Hollywood.
UPDATE #2 - 02/04/09: Lacey made it through day 2 eliminations in Hollywood.
UPDATE #3 - 02/10/09: Lacey made it through day 3 eliminations in Hollywood.
UPDATE #4 - 02/11/09: Lacey is out.

Note: All information for this blog entry came from news sources, websites, and what I have seen on aired episode of American Idol. Neither Lacey Brown nor her family or friends were interviewed or asked to comment in any way shape or form as per AI contracts.

Tough Times and a Cup of Coffee

1/30/2009 07:54:00 AM • , , • 2 comments


Well I woke pretty early this morning for no apparent reason - so.... here I am!

Coffee? Check.

Bagel? Check.

CNN American Morning? Check.

Now I can safely start the day! Watching the news is pretty depressing here lately. Not just the national news, its in the local news too. Everyone is talking about job layoffs, tough times, quarter reports are down, companies are shutting down. Even just making coffee gets me thinking about the economy, every time I see that green logo on the my Starbucks coffee container I can't help but think about the their layoffs and a recent news story of Starbucks abandoning their two new locations here in Amarillo.

Where are the stories of hope? They seem to be in short supply here lately.

What I am more concerned about is:
How will this affect the job market once I have my bachelors degree?
Will there be much of job market for me by then?
If people aren't buying - will there be a use for advertisers?

Who knows, by the time I get my bachelors degree (in two years), everything could be on the upswing and everything could turn out to be really great! Well that's what I hope for anyways.

I think we're all trying to learn to deal with poor economy right now, at least locally. For so long Amarillo has been insulated from such things and now the state of the economy is starting to filter down to us. My coworker's husband lost his job about a month ago and is still looking for work and he a very skilled mechanic. I'm not worried about finding a job after college, I'm just concerned.

Thankfully I work for with staff of about three people at private practice so it will take a while before layoffs head our way if at all (business has been steady, not great, but I'll take it).

I guess that's gonna do it for now just voicing a concern of mine, what are yours? do your have any? do even care what's going on with the economy? If not why do you not care?

Come One, Come All, Come Comment

Jon in the house!!!

1/29/2009 08:17:00 PM • , • 0 comments

Hey everybody.

I'm a 23 year old Public Relations and Advertising Major with a minor in Political Science. I previously attended Texas Tech but decided to come to AC to cool down a little bit and really focus on school. Hopefully I can make it back. haha.

My interests include hiking in Palo Duro Canyon (I have the yearly pass), rock climbing, commercials, playing basketball, riding my R6, and the blues. I also have two really cool Husky's, Smokey and Bandit, who I train for 1 to 3 mile sprint races. I usually take them on the bike trails in the canyon to keep them in shape and in tune to following a trail. 

I am a Canyon, Tx native and graduated from Canyon High.

Upon receiving my bachelor's degree I would like to become a lobbyist or an ad-rep for a snowboarding company. 

I am a fairly decent golfer and have been known to be called the Harlem Globe Trotter of Nerf mini-basketball.

Any other question?...just hit me up and I'd be obliged. 

My thoughts on federal student aid.

1/29/2009 04:48:00 PM • , , , • 6 comments

Let’s talk FAFSA.

I am a 21 year old, self-supporting, full-time college student. I have no children, no husband, and I am not a veteran. My parents have five children and have adopted two of my cousins. All in all, they financially support 6 children.

The FAFSA is used by the government to determine eligibility for federal student financial aid (grants, certain loans, and work-study programs). FAFSA uses the Expected Family Contribution, EFC, calculator to decide if a student needs grants and what the family should be able to contribute financially. Family size, income, number of children in college, and assets are all used to determine their EFC. My first issue with FAFSA is that it does NOT take into consideration if a student is self-supporting, and what the parents actually contribute financially to a student.

When you file the FAFSA and they calculate the EFC, that is assuming that your parents do and will contribute financially to your education. …what if they don’t?

“Most students in the United States attending college are above the age of eighteen, which relieves their parents of any financial responsibility for them whatsoever, according to US law. This brings the question of why parents' assets are a factor at all, because of the fact that they are no more legally related to the student than is a complete stranger. Students who will not be receiving parental aid for college expenses may be able to appeal directly to their school of choice for a reevaluation of aid awards based on their personal circumstances.” www.wikipedia.com/fafsa

Don’t get me wrong, my parents are great people and want me to succeed in life, but do not have an extra $3000 to dish out every six months for me to attend WTAMU. This is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about Amarillo College. I come here, get a great education, best professors ever, at a reasonable price. However, I won’t be at AC for all four years to receive my Bachelor’s degree. I have to go to WTAMU eventually. In comparison to other universities, WTAMU is reasonable in price but still- costly.

Unfortunately, my parents didn’t start me a college fund when I was born; they were 17 years old and trying to put food on the table. When my grandparents past away, they didn’t leave money for their grandchildren to go to college; “we didn’t go college- why do they need to?” I don’t have money saved up for college and I should not have to take out loans when certain people are getting college tuition for free.

This would be my second issue. On FAFSA, in order for you to file without using your parents income you must be: 24 years old, veteran of the Armed Forces, currently on duty with the Forces, working on your Master’s or Doctorate, married, a ward of the court until 18, or have children that are dependent on you.

I think it’s great that veterans and people in the Forces get this advantage, as well as wards of the court. But… married? Children? This is what I need to be able to apply on my FAFSA and not list my parents income?

Well, IF I WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT I WOULD HAVE HAD A CHILD AT 18 SO I CAN GO TO COLLEGE FOR FREE! Or maybe I’ll just get married so I can get a few PELL GRANTS.

As I said before, my parents were 17 when they had me and that is a very unfortunate situation but they made a mistake. I am not judging young parents or people who get married young, I am only saying that it is not fair that they get this FAFSA advantage because chose to start their family life early. I do not want children for a few years (to my parent’s relief) and I have not met anybody that I would even consider for marriage. However, if it’s going to save me $40,000 (4 years of college tuition), I might start thinking of finding a husband!

I work just as hard as young parents and I don’t receive financial assistance from my parents- but I have to “act” like I do on the FAFSA.

I have a relative that is not 24 yet, but she has 3 children and is married. She now stays at home with her children and her husband does all the working. On a personal level, I think it’s great that she is able to stay home with her children and see them grow up. Because they don’t make much money, they receive HUD housing from the government and for an estimated $300/mo they rent a 3 bedroom town house. They also receive thousands of dollars in grants each semester (which also enables her to stay at home). On a fair level: I’m mad. Her first child was an accident… BIG accident. After that, they enjoyed it and recently got married. Now, she gets cheaper rent than me and gets her entire college education paid for by the government? Does anybody see how this is not fair?

I don’t hope that young parents or young married couples get their FAFSA advantages taken away from them, I just hope that it can be for everybody. I hope FAFSA will start taking into consideration everybody’s personal circumstances.

I can’t even imagine what kind of a pain that would be for FAFSA but if they’re going to make it possible for some people, I think it should be available to all people.

Please let me know, respectfully, if I am off-base here. I can’t imagine that I’m the only person that feels this way?! Feedback—please!



In case you're curious, here is a link to the EFC Calculator: http://calculators.collegetoolkit.com/College-Calculators/resCalcEFC.aspx

Hi.

1/29/2009 09:28:00 AM • , , , • 0 comments

Howdy, I’m Tiffany, Advertising and Public Relations major at Amarillo College.

I’m a third year AC student, and I’ll be graduating this semester, yay! It has taken me so long because I’m an independent person and have lived on my own since I graduated HS, therefore I’ve been working my boo-hiney off to pay bills. I work 40 hours a week and I’m taking 12 hours of school.

Speaking of HS, I attended Amarillo HS, born and raised in the heart of the Panhandle.

Important things to me: Jesus, water, air, my family, my career, sleep, coffee, ANY kind of food, Grey’s Anatomy, the internet, and my dog- Duke.

I work at the largest credit union in Amarillo, and I serve as the Financial Education Coordinator. I speak to local high school students about finance, anything from setting up their budget to using credit wisely.

Now, I’m really having a hard time thinking of more things to bore you with.

Follow me on Twitter...

That’s it!

Hello World! Its Me Zack

1/28/2009 05:02:00 PM • , , , , , • 0 comments

Welcome to my little corner of the web. Let me start off by telling you just a little about me.

My name is Zack and I’m an advertising and public relations major here at Amarillo College. This is my last semester at AC and I’m super-excited about graduating this may. Graduation is going to be a bittersweet moment because on one hand I will be one more step closer to achieving my goals. On the other hand, AC is the place where I discovered what my career goals are and the direction I want my career and my education to go. In addition to blogging here I am also writing for The Ranger, Amarillo College’s newspaper – but I’m sure you already knew that.

I am originally from Hereford, Texas (The Beef Capitol of the world just in case you were wondering) and I currently live here in Amarillo. I work for an eye doctor where I just recently got an unofficial promotion to what I am calling Media Relations Specialist. Basically I meet with any one from the media who is interested in working with the doctor’s office. I have also created advertising and marketing materials for Hillside Christian Church’s college ministry Infuse. I like to spend my free time with my friends, watching movies and TV, combing the internet for anything interesting and fun.

I am 100% career driven. To me the most important thing right now is getting my career in full swing. My goal for the future is work for a well known advertising agency in a big city. I want to work on creating ads that are seen all over the nation on TV, in magazines, on the Internet, etc. My ultimate goal is to win a CLIO award. I know it’s a big goal, but if you want to make it big, you’ve got to dream big.

That’s me in a nutshell!

Click Here to Follow Zack on Twitter