CampusPage 3

Cyrus Oliver iiStaff Writer

Ottawa University alumni from every walk of life re-turned to the campus over May’s first weekend for a Re-union Celebration.One of the celebration’s

biggest events is the Alumni Association Annual Awards Banquet, which drew rough-ly 250 registered attendants in the cafeteria.Reverend Jim McCros-

sen welcomed the nostalgic audience back to their col-

lege roots as they found their seats amidst the sea of tables.University President Kevin

Eichner also greeted alumni.“We’re grateful to all of the

contributions you make and continue to make,” Eichner said, “[You’ve] brought great honor to Ottawa University.”As the dinner commenced,

attendees were treated to music by choir members from the past and present.After the dinner, alum-

nus Don King presented a $60,000 check to the univer-sity on behalf of the class of

1959, followed by a leader-ship transition to 2000 grad-uate Kelly Parker as OUAA president.Still, an awards banquet

would not be complete with-out awards. Four alumni were awarded for their con-tributions to the world. This year’s award recipients in-cluded: Patricia B. Wolf ’85, MA ’89; Ruth Claypool ’52; Wayen E. Koons ’56; and Dr. Tom Trigg ’74.Wolf received the Esther

Ruth Award, given to alumni who have improved student

life and helped the college in one form or another. Wolf owned a software company and has served on the Board of Trustees for over a decade.“My dream for Ottawa

University is that we grow and develop a nationwide reputation of being a premier institution,” Wolf said.Wayne Koons was also rec-

ognized for his achievements, receiving the Outstanding Achievement Award. Koons contributed decades

of his life as lieutenant col-onel in the Marine Corps,

but perhaps most impressive is his work with NASA. For 13 years Koons worked on the first space shuttle to land on the moon, while simulta-neously developing a process for retrieving astronauts and spacecraft from the ocean. This ingenuity led Koons

to guide the helicopter crew that retrieved Alan Shepard along with his spacecraft in the Atlantic.In his acceptance speech

Koons acknowledged the important role young peo-ple play in society, noting

that when preparing the first space shuttle NASA almost exclusively hired people un-der the age of 30.Koons also had advice for

current students.“Always stay focused,” he

said. “Learn all you can and take every opportunity to tackle a new challenge.”The school anthem, “My

Ottawa,” was sung at the conclusion of the banquet.

Megan spinksStaff Writer

As the end of another school year draws near, the talk of summer plans begin buzzing around campus.Some students’ summer

plans consist of leaving home for a change of pace. Dively Zarate, freshman, has plans to travel to Mexico. “I’m really excited. I always

have a great time when I go but what I’m most looking forward to about my trip is my family and friends that I will get to visit while I’m there,” Zarate said.Freshman Mike Mesle

is traveling to Australia through the university with his Cross Cultures in Busi-ness class.“I’ve been to Canada and

Jamaica before so this isn’t my first time going out of the country,” Mesle said. “We’re going to be visiting the Uni-versity of RMIT and we’ll also get a chance to talk to the American Chamber of Commerce”. Junior Chelsey Weaver

is staying in the states but heading to Florida. “I’ve been to Florida before

and I think my favorite part of the trip is lying out on the beach and getting a tan. I like to swim a little bit too but I’m not a big fan of the salty water,” Weaver said.Freshman Traci Hawkins is

also headed to the beach.“When school lets out, I’m

going to keep my roommate company on her 20 hour drive back to California. It’s cool because I get a little va-cation out of it, too,” Weaver said. “We’re going to lay out on the beach, go downtown, see a Padres’ game, visit the San Diego zoo and go to Sea World. After that, I plan to fly home to Vandalia, Mo., to work at The Rose, which is a restaurant I’ve worked at in the past, and the sub-division pool. I’m also mov-ing to Kansas with my mom in July.”A vacation isn’t always is

the cards but that doesn’t mean there’s no summer fun to be had.

Freshman Ashley Clark has plans to work at a children’s camp over the summer. “I love working with kids,”

she said. “We get to take them on field trips once a week and the rest of time is spent teaching them. It may not be a cool vacation where I get to lay out on a beach but I find it just as rewarding”.Another idea some students

plan to take advantage of is a float trip with some friends, a combination of camp-ing, boating and swimming where one can spend the day relaxing on the water and coming back to a social bon-fire at night.The pool is another way to

cool off under the hot sum-mer sun. While no substitute for the beach, the pool can be just as relaxing and re-freshing and one can still get a great tan (or sunburn, if a person’s not careful). Many students will be bar-

becuing, as well, getting fam-ily and friends together to cook and play outdoor games for some classic summer fun.

aManda rOseberryManaging Editor - Print

Due to a recent directive, changes made on Ottawa University’s academic calen-dar have bumped up the end of the semester to May 1 and graduation on May 8 for the 2009-10 school year.The academic affairs of-

fice has given a mandate re-quiring that the college and adult campus calendars par-allel. Karen Adams, univer-sity registrar, created the cal-endar and believes it creates greater prospects for the stu-dents on the campus.“As the two calendars align,

college students will have more opportunities to take online or adult classes,” Ad-ams said. “This was done for the students and in compli-ance with government and financial aid.”With advisor approval, all

students except freshmen with a 2.5 GPA from the prior semester will be al-lowed to take online cours-es that would not have been

available to them previously.“There’s an advantage in

that students can take class-es that might not be offered that semester on campus,” Adams said. “Students can take necessary courses now, in order to finish up or to avoid scheduling conflicts. There’s also an exposure to other instructors.”Sophomore, Meg McFar-

land sees the advantage in the alignment.“It’s going to help further

the education for people that are behind, or trying to get done early,” McFarland said. “They work hard and want to advance - it makes it easier for the student.”For the 2009-2010 aca-

demic school year, the fall semester would start on Au-gust 24 and end December 12 while the spring semester would begin January 11 and commence May 1.“To some students, this may

sound like it is earlier,” Ad-ams said. “It’s still a full se-mester: still 15 weeks,” Ad-ams said.

Though classes will be end-ing earlier, there could be possible conflicts with spring athletes and their conference tournaments. These sched-uling conflicts could be dif-ficult but Adams is hopeful that they can be worked out if not completely avoided.“Scheduling with athlet-

ics is an issue now,” Adams said. “Everyone [students, instructors, coaches] will be working together to do the best to take care of the stu-dents. It may be difficult but the goal is to make sure ex-ams are done and students meet their goals.”Lori Ewalt, junior elemen-

tary education major, sees the schedule as a bit of a challenge in her final year.“The change in the sched-

ule adds a bit of pressure to senior spring athletes next year,” Ewalt said. “We’ll be trying to finish up a lot of different things and then to balance a possible reschedule of our finals around our sport makes it seem pretty tough.”

Academic calendar changes

Ready for summer break

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Alumni return for reunion celebration

Dorvonda Payne

Patricia Lane and Lisa Poe make flower pots for the Martin Hall special Earth Day program. The women of Martin Hall also designed tie-dye t-shirts.

Earth Day Celebration

Some of this year’s summer trends are traveling abroad, camping out, barbecuing

Dorvonda Payne