Aug. 22 by MediaOCU

THE CAMPUS August 22, 2018 – Volume 112 Issue 1

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Elina Moon Student Publications

MaKayla Baxter, music theater freshman, ceremonially touches the gold star after

Matriculation Convocation on Aug. 15 in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. Students touch the star twice in their time at OCU, upon matriculating and at graduation, to signify

the start and end of their college careers. Above: Freshmen act out the building of the Meinders School of Business in a skit about former President Tom McDaniel. The skit was a part of the new Stars Week

event, the Traditions Rally. Students were split into groups and learned about important OCU figures, like Wanda Bass, Herman Meinders, Florence Birdwell, Starsky, and Bishop W. Angie Smith. The top six skits were then chosen to perform at finals.

Officials start year with new Stars Week orientation events Chandler White

I have great faith in the class of 2022 in doing great things for Oklahoma City University because they are so excited to be here.

COPY EDITOR

Academic affairs officials implemented group activities into a new tradition-oriented rally for this year’s Stars Week. Stars Week is the weeklong schedule of orientation activities meant to help freshmen acclimate to the campus community before classes start. It was Aug. 13-19. Students participated in traditional activities like Matriculation Convocation and First-Year Follies, as well as new events like the Traditions Rally. Freshmen of the class of 2022 were put into small groups called “Stars Groups,” each of which put together a five-minute presentation or skit focused around an assigned OCU tradition. The top six Stars Groups presented these performances at the Traditions Rally on Thursday in Petree Recital Hall in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. Colbi Beam, senior coordinator of first-year experience, said the Stars Groups and Traditions Rally are helpful because they indicate more clearly who the university should try harder to connect with. “We’ve never taken real attendance in any meaningful ways,” Beam said. “We might know about how many people are there, but this allows us to see who is engaging with our programs and who isn’t and try to capture those who we missed in the past. The beauty of having these small groups is that we actually know who’s coming and who’s also having a really hard time so we can reach out to them.” The Stars Groups were assembled randomly and independent of major. Beam said this was to ensure students are acquainted with others outside of their classes or interests. “The whole point is that they get to know people who are different than them, that aren’t living on their hall, that they’re not going to share classes with all the time,” she said. “The New Student Orientation Leaders are the same way. They all have two or three orientation leaders to each group, and we try to really diversify those so that there’s not the same major and there’s not a lot of redundancy.” Blue Out Blow Out and Stars on Bricktown, former Stars Week events, were cut from this year’s activities. Beam said Blue Out Blow

Colbi Beam

first-year experience senior coordinator

Out, a spirit rally in Abe Lemons Arena, was fun but didn’t have enough of a learning outcome or create real connections between students. She also said Stars on Bricktown, an opportunity to visit Oklahoma City’s downtown entertainment district, was cut because it conflicted with Greek recruitment and was too expensive for a low level of engagement. “They outlived their legacy a little bit,” she said. “When I look at our programs and how we fund things, I need to make sure that the things we’re introducing have some real teeth, and we’re making sure that it benefits them and we’re not wasting their time or wasting our money on it.” Stars Week is planned by Beam and the New Student Orientation Leaders, a group of more than 50 upperclassmen who plan and prepare Stars Week starting in October of the previous year. Beam said this year the staff tried to orient events and attractions toward students who are less likely to feel comfortable at OCU in their first week. “We know the students who are going to be really successful and that Stars Week is going to appeal to. We know that our music theater students and our dance students are going to eat it up. We could literally just put them in a room and most of our students could find a way to have a good time and fall in love with OCU,” she said. “But there are other students that we’ve always catered our programs to, that get lost in the shuffle. So we’ve talked about, with every program we do, ‘let’s talk about the student who’s not the performer, or the student who isn’t going

to walk in and have 10 friends already that they met at camps here.’” Tiera Matthews, acting freshman, said she enjoyed being so active during Stars Week because it showed her that officials genuinely want her as a student. “Always having somewhere to be, and just feeling super welcome, and knowing that you won’t be idle is comforting,” Matthews said. “In a college experience, I look for a community that wants me and that has a place for me, versus a super big school that’ll just place me somewhere.” Landon Honolka, music performance freshman, said he came to OCU because officials seemed to care about him more, based on scholarships and his impression of the campus. “I chose to go to OCU because I was offered a lot more than any other school, which means they probably care a little bit more about me here than other schools,” Honolka said. “They seem like they really care about what they’re doing here.” Beam said the class of 2022 is her favorite and the largest freshman class she’s ever seen at OCU since joining the faculty in 2011. The class is about 375 students. “I adore them,” she said. “They are so much fun. I have great faith in the class of 2022 in doing great things for Oklahoma City University because they are so excited to be here. I can feel it at all of our events.” Beam said, more than anything, she wants the class of 2022 to learn from OCU how to be adaptable. “I would be misguided in saying that I don’t think they’re going to have hardships, I don’t think they’re going to question their decision to be at OCU at some point or I don’t think that they’re going to have some struggles while they’re here,” she said. “But I hope that we give them the tools to make them adaptable to those situations and to learn to overcome them. My goal always is for them to find community here.”

President Burger takes office, discusses priorities for new academic year Nicole Waltman

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

President Martha Burger is beginning her career as university president by implementing new programs and expanding on the university’s strengths. Upon the retirement of former President Robert Henry, President Martha Burger took office July 1. Since the start of her term, Burger said things are going great. “It has been mostly what I expected,” she said. “Because I’ve been so close to the university for a number of years, I knew a bit about what to expect.” Burger is an alumna and was a member of the board of trustees since 2008. Burger said she’s been able to experience “the other side of things” as president. “I have been spending time this week with the students and parents, and that was a part of OCU I had really not experienced as much,” she said. “I’m smiling when I say that because

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it has been a really heartwarming experience.” Freshman interaction The new freshman class of 2022 consists of about 375 students. “What I have noticed is the degree of poise and confidence they have as freshmen,” Burger said. “I don’t even think I was in the same league when I was a freshman. The ability across the board to carry on great conversation and just the way that they interact is so full of confidence and poise. I am impressed.” This freshman class is the largest class since 2010, Burger said. “We know our mission—our mission is to serve students,” she said. “Our success is our incoming class, that’s what we all gather around.” Goals moving forward Burger has several goals set for this academic year, she said. First is a physical therapy program that is in the works. “We’re working on accreditation. We’re going to need to have

President Martha Burger addresses the audience at the Matriculation Convocation Ceremony on Aug. 15 in Kirkpatrick Auditorium in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. Burger, OCU’s 18th president, took office July 1 and is beginning to implement her goals for this academic year.

some labs ready, so we’re going to work ahead on that,” she said. Another goal is to make further progress on building out OCU’s online educational infrastructure, Burger said. “We’re never going to be known to be a top online university, but there are some programs that really help us meet students where they are,” she said. Burger said she’ll also be spending a lot of time fundraising, and that’s how she’ll work closely with a lot of the deans and

faculty on campus. While she’s set goals for the university, Burger said students shouldn’t expect major changes in how the university runs. “The student experience that we offer students is excellent, it is unique, it is one-on-one,” she said. “Those things will all be the same, and we will just continue to build on them.” Trusting the vision Burger said her style of leadership and interaction with the

campus community will implement shifts and changes in an organic way. “Everything, to me, is built upon trust,” she said. “To have an atmosphere and a culture that’s based on trust is what makes an organization the strongest that it can be.” Burger said it’s essential for the campus community to come together in a safe and respectful way when faced with challenges. “We need to listen to other people’s points of view, and although we don’t agree with them, necessarily, we have to remember that people have positive intentions,” she said. Burger said her belief in the university is what drives her. “I hope that donors can sit across from me when I’m talking with them and know that I’m speaking from the heart because I absolutely believe in this place,” she said. Burger said her best advice to students for the academic year is to “let it be,” which was also the title a song performed at this year’s Matriculation Convocation.

“Take it in, have moments just for you where you sit and just kind of absorb the atmosphere here at OCU,” she said. While Burger bases her presidency on trust and implementing it through the campus community, she recognizes that it starts with herself, she said. “I am learning every day, so I do not have all the answers. I will work as hard as I absolutely can on behalf of OCU– that’s my pledge,” she said. Jordan Tarter, English senior and Student Government Association president, said Burger’s intentions are positive. “She has presented herself as an extremely qualified and dedicated president,” Tarter said. “From the interactions I’ve had with her, I could definitely vouch that her character as a person is stellar, and her intent seems to be to run a very student-focused administration.”

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Star-studded week

See more photos from the different Stars Week events