The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
What is a Pointer? You hear this term tossed around a lot when you attend the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, but no one really tells you exactly what it is.
Is it the little metal thing on a compass? A hunting dog? I honestly thought it was just someone who points when I first heard the term.
It is all of these, but it is so much more.
A Pointer is someone who makes it to an 8 a.m. class when it is -36 degrees outside without the wind chill, which happens way more often than it should.
They are the people who have overload credits, two jobs and somehow find time to binge on 10 hours of Netflix in a single weekend. 
A Pointer is someone who shows no shame in owning seven different articles of camouflage clothing. They are also the people who have no problem running around in seven different fabric patterns with no shoes on.
A Pointer is the person willing to move across the state, across the country, across the world, to follow a dream, whether that is choosing to come study at UWSP or taking the risk after graduation to move to a great unknown.
A Pointer is someone who truly loves this university. There is a certain nationalism here, shared among these people. They realize that UWSP may not be the most well-known and prestigious university on the planet, but they love it anyway.
A Pointer is someone who embraces this university to its fullest, getting the most out of the time at UWSP, no matter how long or short that may be.
You don’t become a Pointer from enrolling here at UWSP. You have to earn it.
The fact is there are people who graduate not knowing the true meaning of their title.
My freshman year here, I had a fascination with the compass rose design. I drew it on everything: the margins of my notes, napkins at Upper Debot, even on a couple walls around campus . . . but I could never bring myself to draw the arrow. It had something to do with not knowing where I was going in life.
Four years and a college career later, I am an entirely different person graduating with a completely different major. I am packing to leave the state I had sworn never to leave and somehow I am writing an opinion for, ironically, The Pointer. But one thing remains the same.
I still draw these same compasses, and I still leave out the arrow. I really don’t need it. I am my own Pointer.
I promised I wouldn’t write about myself for this, so I will end with a separate parting note. This campus is so fantastic. Embrace it . . . be a Pointer.
Carly Caputa
Multimedia Reporter
ccapu770@yahoo.com
