Archive for October, 2010
OU at the 3-Day for a Cure
Posted by: | October 29, 2010 | Comments
Last weekend, Oglethorpe University served as a Pit Stop along the way during Atlanta’s 60-mile Susan G. Komen 3-Day for a Cure walk that ended at Turner Field.
Among the thousands walking for a cure were at least two OU alums…
“I’m not sure who set up for OU to host a Pit Stop for the Komen Atlanta 3-Day Walk, but I couldn’t have been more thrilled! I walked this year, for the third time, and I was so pleasantly surprised to walk down Peachtree and find that my alma mater was hosting almost 3,000 walkers! It was even more special to have one of my old OU roommates walking with me and sharing our memories of college. Thanks so much for reaching out to the community and such a great cause!”
– Stephanie Ervin Szalkowski ’89
First-Year Seminar Class Has “Eyes on Africa”
Posted by: | October 29, 2010 | Comments
Dr. Mario Chandler and Dr. Jay Lutz led a group of freshmen students to New York City for a seminar called Eyes on Africa. The group is pictured in front of the African Burial Ground National Monument.
Last weekend, as part of their “Eyes on Africa” seminar, 14 first-year students flew to New York for a one-day excursion. Their learning trip included a visit to the African Burial Ground National Monument and tickets to Fela!, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical based on the life of legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.
The class also visited one of New York’s best kept secrets—the African Burial Ground National Monument. Hailed by historians as one of the greatest archaeological finds of our time, the site serves as the final resting place for an estimated 15,000 freed and enslaved Africans dating back to the 17th century. Professor Chandler described the burial grounds as his most memorable part of the experience, and wanted to make sure his students saw the monument before heading back to Atlanta. Read More→Halloween “More than a Party” at Oglethorpe
Posted by: | October 28, 2010 | Comments
Photo: Michelle Maurin.
These students are part of an organized effort called Hallow’s Eve Diversion, a canned food drive based at Georgia Gwinnett College. The event involves groups from several Atlanta-area colleges, and, together they collected over 13,000 cans of food last Halloween.
“It’s such a team effort, it’s hard not to bond with the people in your car,” said Annie Morgan ’12. “Last Halloween was cold and rainy, but no one said anything about wanting to get it over with or wishing they hadn’t come. Plus, at the headquarters where you drop the cans off, there are lots of college students sorting through food and music is playing….it’s sort of a party. The mission that underlies the event only makes it better—you’re having fun and you’re making the world a better place.”
Halloween also comes with a civic twist for other OU students.
Earlier this week, at Alpha Phi Omega’s Trick or Treat in Traer residence hall, tiny costume-clad kids ran through the dorm courtyard in search of goodies. For 20 years, this service fraternity has organized the event, which featured a haunted house and Halloween-themed crafts for their pint-sized guests from the neighborhood.
Just on the other side of campus, Read More→
OU’s Christopher Huff ’12: Award-winning Youth Advocate
Posted by: | October 26, 2010 | CommentsIt wasn’t long ago that Oglethorpe junior Christopher Huff ’12 took the words of Dr. King, one of his role models, to heart and created Operation Uplift, a service program for disadvantaged youth in his community.
As a result, the Campus-Community Partnership Foundation (CP2) has awarded him and his advisor, Dr. Peter Kower, the Community Academic Service Entrepreneur Grant, a prize of $2500 to implement his program at a school in South Atlanta.
Still in its early stages, Operation Uplift is a mentoring program aimed at “at risk” youth and designed to help steer them away from the harmful activities of the streets and encourage them to channel their energies toward positive academic goals.
During its first year, Christopher is planning for Operation Uplift to help ten high school students from South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice in their personal development and vision for their futures. Through the program, he plans to engage the students in volunteer projects that might spawn an interest in service and introduce them to the services of other nonprofits so they can receive academic and career counseling. Chris believes that Atlanta’s youth have a lot of untapped talent and skills, often wasted on detrimental pursuits.
“Did you know that the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice reports that African-American youth make up over 90 percent of youth serving for criminal offenses in Fulton County? …That there are 50 gangs in the city of Atlanta?” asks Christopher. “Operation Uplift seeks to establish academic, social and professional networks in our city. It’s a hands-on approach to the idea that…you don’t have to go that route. You’re smarter than that. Look at all you can do.”
At the young age of 20, Christopher’s experience growing up on the southside of Chicago—and losing a friend to gang violence–explains the personal connection he has with the cause. “The way I see it—where I’m from, there are only three things you could do—you can sell drugs, play ball, or go to college…and I chose college. I want others to do the same.”
OU Alumni Find Common Ground in Philadelphia
Posted by: | October 26, 2010 | Comments
Alumni Board Chair Randy Roberson '97, Chelcie Rowell '09 and Taryn Cooksey '08 in Philadelphia
We didn’t exactly know what sort of evening to expect when Taryn Cooksey ’08–who was visiting Philly from Atlanta–and I entered Solstice Restaurant at Loews Philadelphia Hotel for an Oglethorpe alumni reception. Would we be the only young alumni there? Would we be overdressed? Would we even be able to find a parking spot in Center City so close to City Hall?
All those anxieties were for nothing, of course, because as soon as we got there, we were swept into conversation with alumni who shared a formative undergraduate experience with us and who live and work and play in the same city as me. It would have been hard to populate a room with people who had more in common with each other!
Bahar Shariati ’02 dropped by to chat before returning to late-night bowling with colleagues at her law firm. We had both lived in Traer and could laugh about the ups and downs of communal living with college freshmen in a building with a courtyard. But that evening for the first time I realized that the sense of community I experienced while I was living on campus also extends beyond Oglethorpe’s front gate. As the wife of one alumnus exclaimed, “I went to Penn State, but whenever we go to Oglethorpe alumni events, it seems like he knows everyone in the room.” Read More→