Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2009, Page 108

Description:	■WhatbreaKs46%shopping20%buying gasfigg mmm bh■S 9B I I14%eating outstudies When times are touqlIt seemed that the only part of the 2008economy that was to be preserved inhistory books was the stock marketcrash and the corresponding 401(k)s,lost retirement funds, and layoffs. Inother words, what would be remembered were the stories of the adults, andwhat would happen to them— not theirchildren and grandchildren. Studentsat Bloomington South felt a burden,but they also felt the responsibility tofix it, or at least not make it worse. Thestories that might not have been havegotten as much attention, but were notless important, were the stories of howSouth students had to rearrange theirlives because of one of the worst recessions in American history.collegeSenior Phoebe Hodina had beenswimming since first grade. For her thecompetition had always been in thewater, but her in her senior year, oneof the most important competitions wasthe one between her two schools —IUPUI and the University of Evansville.They both had swimming teams andfacilities that appealed to Hodina, butit quickly turned into a matter of thescholarship money that each schoolwould present to her. Without the benefit of scholarship money, she wouldexpect more debt after college. I wantto graduate with little to no studentloans. Ive seen whats happened tothe banking industry. Im not going tokeep my money under my mattress,but I dont want to accumulate a lotWhen times are tough every penny counts.This years shaken economy challengedstudents to see just how far they could stretch their dollars.of loans to contribute to this problem,explained Hodina; already seniors likeher were trying to avoid the contagioussymptoms of the crippling economy.gasSenior Sarah McCammon wassomeone that caught the plague ofthe economy. For her family, just likealmost any other, gas was one of themain concerns, as she lived a considerable distance from South. Around thetime when gas was as high as $4,259per gallon in Bloomington, her parentscarpooled to work. McCammon alsorode in the carpool to get dropped offat South. Then after school she wouldwait for that carpool, or her grandparents would pick her up if she had afterschool activities. During the summerwhen her parents had work, her mother got her a bus pass so she could stillgo into town and be with her friends,not stuck at home.the bailoutOne of the components of the failing economy, which would have beenrecorded on a large scale in history,was the job layoffs due to factory andfranchise closings. These layoffs werenot restricted to the adult population;in the February of her junior year, McCammon got a job at the MCL Cafeteria, and lost the job because it closed;so she got another job at Goodys, adepartment store, and again lost thejob because the effects of the economyforced the chain store to shut down.She had one experience that stuckwith her as a parallel to the economy,specifically the $700 billion bailout. Notonly was the big bailout infamous because it nearly contributed another $1trillion to the national $9 trillion debt,but it was discovered that bankingcompanies like AIG were using thesefederal funds on frivolous purchasesThe money that was supposed to gointo the hands of hard working Americans who had already lost so much wasbeing misused. And there was nothingwe could do about it. On a smallerscale, McCammon had her walletstolen, including banking cards, herdrivers license, cash, and other thingsof high value and security risk. I feltso hopeless—its a similar feeling: I wasleft with nothing, you cant do anythingabout it. You dont know who to pin iton, you have this horrible gut feeling,and youre probably not going to get itback, said McCammon.Adult life at this point in the economic time was certainly difficult. But forsome that were just 18 years old, theresponsibility of adult fife was thrustupon them. Hodina and McCammonwere forced to project what life (not tomention the economy) might hold thesecond after college graduation, as wellas what real adulthood and independence might entail for our generation.Probably the most unbearable andfrustrating thing of all: we had no ideawhat would happen next. -MARGARETMCGILLIVRAYm not going to keep my money under my mattress,but I dont want to accumulate a lot of loans.—Senior Phoebe Hodina108 \| STUDENT LIFE \| economy
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/8130
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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