From the Classroom to the World Learning in Australia a Golfer's
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Ohio Wesleyan Magazine OWU VOLUME 86 ISSUE NO.2 r SPRING 2009 r From the Classroom to the World Learning in Australia A Golfer’s Dream Helping Out in New Orleans VOLUME 86 ISSUE NO.2 qwer SPRING 2009 Find YOUR Passion OWU Ohio Wesleyan Magazine www.owualumni.com Ohio Wesleyan Alumni Online Community FEATURES // Editor Pamela Besel Assistant Editor 8 THE QUALITY OF LIVING Ericka Kurtz OWU junior Lara Kobelt’s summer hospice work experience opened her Class Notes Editor Andrea Misko Strle ’99 eyes to the fact that people entering—and leaving—this world deserve at- [email protected] tention and dignity. Designer Sara Stuntz 10 CAUGHT AT THE CROSSROADS Contributing Photographers Saige Bardon ’10 - Tanzania photos Matt Jackson ’10 - Salamanca photos A look at the ‘powerful and powerless’ people of Washington, D.C., and Rhett Rybarczyk ‘09 - Tanzania photos how an Ohio Wesleyan mission trip cleared up a few myths about home- Jeff Bates less people. Doug Martin Paul Molitor Marketing and Communication Office (740) 368-3335 12 THEY LOVED NEW YORK! Director of Alumni Relations Meet two OWU students who immersed themselves in the arts, New Brenda DeWitt York City, and their future careers. Alumni Relations Office Phone: (740) 368-3325 Fax: (740) 368-3328 Email: [email protected] 14 PASSION FOR POLITICS Web site: www.owu.edu OWU Magazine: http://magazine.owu.edu A story about our Wesleyan in Washington program and a student’s powerful portfolio, including an OWU education and experience on The Ohio Wesleyan Magazine (ISSN 0030-1221) Capitol Hill. is published in Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring by Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio. Periodicals postage paid at Delaware, Ohio and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send 16 STUDYING IN SALAMANCA address changes to The Magazine, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio 43015. General From the classroom at Ohio Wesleyan to the province of Castilla-Leon, University telephone number: (740) 368-2000. an OWU faculty-student contingent studied and traveled together to Printed on recycled paper explore Spanish language, culture, and history. Editorial Board Members Pam Besel, Marketing and Communication Karen Crosman, University Relations Carol DelPropost, Admission & Financial Aid Roger Ingles, Athletics Ericka Kurtz, Marketing and Communication Ed Lenane, Alumni Relations Ida Mostofi, Marketing and Communication Melinda Rhodes, Journalism Department David Robbins, Provost Brenda DeWitt, Alumni Relations Sara Stuntz, Marketing and Communication DEPARTMENTS // 4 // FROM THE JAYWALK A National Award for OWU’s Outstanding Community Service Second EPA Grant for Ohio Five Road Map to Excellence Documentaries Highlight Human Rights Issues 19 // BISHOP BATTLES Chaz Narwicz’s Australian Experience 20 // GIFTS AND GRATITUDE Fore-ward Thinking 22 // ALUMNI HAPPENINGS Off-Campus Events Rebuilding Lives in New Orleans Class Notes Heather Werling ’11 (shown on left) and Noel Williams ’10 (shown on right) Students in the OWU in Tanzania learn traditional Program visited the Maasai (an ancient dancing in Dar es semi-nomadic group), shown here per- Salaam in Tanzania. forming the Adumu – jumping dance. r OWU SPRING 2009 1 Leader’s Letter >> Imagine the world as an OWU classroom Dear Alumni & Friends, Early this semester I had the opportunity In that context, I found myself to hear a presentation by a group of wondering, what would it be like if students who spent the fall semester every Ohio Wesleyan University student in Tanzania with Dr. Randy Quaye, had the opportunity to spend time Professor and Director of Black World away from campus, in the company Studies at Ohio Wesleyan University. of a member of our faculty, for study The students shared the stories of their and work in the midst of a different semester and the lessons they learned. culture? Ohio Wesleyan University has Their semester included three classes, a long history of declaring that the internships in various non-governmental liberal arts serve as a platform for a organizations, and immersion in the larger understanding of life and a larger Tanzanian culture. They spent a portion experience of the world. We understand of the semester living in the homes of that while our first responsibility local families. to students is a rigorous education President Rock Jones rooted in the liberal arts and set in the As I listened to their stories of classroom, we serve our students best classrooms, internships, and cultural when we challenge them to extend immersion, I found myself wondering, their education beyond the walls of in which of these settings did they learn the classroom and the boundaries the most? In which of these experiences of the campus. Our students gain were they most challenged, and perhaps immeasurable benefits when they have most changed? I could not produce the opportunity to test the theory of the an answer. I suspect that the total classroom with practical experience in learning was greater than the sum of the world. the parts, and that the real value of this experience rested in the opportunity to In this issue of the OWU Magazine, study, work, and live in a culture very you will read about ways in which different from the ones they call home. our students today benefit from this As an enhancement to the curriculum understanding of the importance of of one of America’s finest liberal arts connecting theory and practice with universities, I cannot imagine better an education that extends from the preparation for students who aspire to classroom to the world. It happens be leaders in the rapidly changing world routinely at OWU, and our students of the 21st century. and recent graduates often report that r 2 OWU SPRING 2009 >> their experiences beyond the campus research and more, I encourage you to these life-changing experiences. were among the most memorable dream with me about ways in which This year, more than ever, I ask for parts of their OWU education. I we can provide even more robust your support as we seek to preserve have listened to a theatre student opportunities for experiential learning the transformational nature of an describe her experience as an intern as a core component of our liberal arts OWU education. With gratitude for at the New Theatre in New York education. The world is our classroom, your support, I invite you to join me while participating in the OWU New and this increasingly small world will in celebrating the fine work of our York Arts Program. I have listened be the office in which today’s students faculty in assisting our students to a politics and government major live their professional lives and find in identifying and structuring describe his experience as an Arneson meaning and fulfillment in their experiences that allow them to Institute intern in Washington, D.C. personal lives. prepare to be global citizens and, I have listened to a Latin American along the way, to have the amazing Studies major describe her amazing As you read these important stories, I experiences about which you will experience spending a semester in thank you for your role in making them read in this issue. Argentina, where she did not know possible. Approximately ten percent a single person before her arrival. I of the cost of an OWU education is have listened to numerous science funded by gifts made each year to the students describe the power of Annual Fund. Your generous support research on campus in the Summer of the Annual Fund, especially in this Dr. Rock Jones Science Research Program and in difficult economy, helps make possible President settings on other campuses and in other laboratories. I have listened to dozens of students describe the eye- opening and life-changing experience of a spring break mission trip at a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C., a food bank in Chicago, or a Sisters of Mercy mission in Rome. Rhett As you read in this issue, the stories Rybarcyk ’09 of students who have extended their visits orphans learning environment beyond the in Arusha, Tanzania. campus with internships, volunteer service, study travel, undergraduate r OWU SPRING 2009 3 From the JayWalk >> The members of the Ohio Five—Ohio A National Award for Second EPA Grant for Wesleyan University, The College of Wooster, OWU’s Outstanding Ohio Five Denison University, Kenyon College, and Oberlin College—hope to create environmental Community Service The Five Colleges of Ohio has been awarded management systems and protocols that can a $49,894 grant from the Ohio Environmental Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2008 be implemented at other schools in Ohio and Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of President’s Higher Education Community across the nation. This grant allows the group Environmental Education. The grant spans Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for to take another step in its quest to make a more two years, 2009-2010, and is geared toward National and Community Service. The sustainable and environmentally stable world. developing new, more effective environmental University also received a “With Distinction” management systems. designation on the honor roll, which -Kate Walker ’09 The Ohio Five’s first EPA grant, which recognizes exemplary service efforts and ended in 2006, was education-based. This initial service to America’s communities. grant was used to teach different campus “Ohio Wesleyan has been committed departments about pollution prevention. The to community service and civic engagement new grant is more action-oriented, but also is Road Map to Excellence since its founding,” says OWU President Rock intended to result in an “educational outreach Jones. “More than 80 percent of our students Greek Life at Ohio Wesleyan is on the move— culminating in a workshop,” says Jann Ichida, participated in community service projects both literally and figuratively.