Thursday, September 14, 2023
Outdoor Adventure encourages outdoor involvement Ashton Miller Staff Reporter Kat Bailey knew she liked the outdoors, although to what extent she wasn’t sure. Now working outdoors is her job. Bailey, coordinator of Outdoor Adventure and Leadership at OSU, started as a beginner before taking her job. “When I applied for this job as a student, I knew I liked being outside, but I didn’t know a whole lot about it,” Bailey said. “I think I’ve definitely grown as an outdoors person through this job and just getting out more.” Bailey now coordinates the various series and events Outdoor Adventure has to offer. One series, a backpacking trip, gained the attention of various Outdoor Adventure employees who are looking to perfect their backpacking skills while sharing the joy of the activity with others. Hannelore Copland, an employee for Outdoor Adventure, has enjoyed backpacking since she went on a school-led trip in high school. Copland
Courtesy of Hannelore Copland Outdoor Adventure hosts different events, like a backpacking series, for students to enjoy the outdoors.
said the trip gave her a good foundation for backpacking, but taking a trip with Outdoor Adventure made her feel prepared to go backpacking completely on her own.
Last spring Copland revisited her love for backpacking and led one of the series Outdoor Adventure provided. “At that point I hadn’t backpacked in a few years so while the participants
were learning, I was also relearning,” Copland said. Getting to learn and grow as a group is what sets Outdoor Adventure apart from other private organizations. See Outdoor on 5
Jimmy Buffett lives on through students Hayden Alexander munity of fans, artists, family and Staff Reporter
friends. The wandering musician created a culture built on rock music, country tunes, calypso rhythms and margaritas. OSU’s Music Industry program director, Mark Perry, says Buffett’s music is one of a kind. “I think he created it as his own genre of music,” Lester said. “That’s why it’s so hard to classify him.” The artist’s shows, like his music, were unique. Lester has seen Buffett perform 20 times across eight states and fell in love with Buffett’s main product, escapism. “Just for those two hours, you are sort of in the moment,” Lester said. “So, when you’re there, he will lighten the load for those two hours and have you transported to another place for just a little bit where there were no troubles or concerns.” For Lester, Buffett’s music helped him escape a cancer diagnosis. During his first year at OSU, Lester spent most of his time at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to battle cancer. “His music and brand of escapism were exactly what I needed in that moment,” Lester said. “So learning after the fact about all the brave and selfless ways he fought his battle with cancer has also been a big part of this ordeal for me.”
The night is young, and the Cowboys are fending off Central Arkansas. Chuck Lester sits with his headset on, watching the game unfold. The battle is thrilling, but Lester’s mind is elsewhere. That morning, he heard Jimmy Buffett passed away. As a longtime ‘ParrotHead,’ Lester knew Buffett deserved a tribute. “I run headset for Larry,” Lester said. “I told him as soon as I got a headset on that I better hear some Buffett today.” Lester got his wish when Buffett’s famous song “Margaritaville” sauntered its way through Boone Pickens’ sound system. The stadium began to sing and lift the beachside lyrics to the sky. “When you hear the stadium singing along just like they would at a concert, it’s very bittersweet,” Lester said. “It’s nice to see the reaction, and it’s nice to realize the joy that would probably bring him.” Jimmy Buffett passed away Sept. 1 after a four-year battle with skin cancer. The multigenre musical entrepreneur inspired several artists and encapsulated casual escapism within his music over five decades. From playing the guitar in college to shows for hundreds of thousands of people, Buffett built a comSee Buffett on 8
Jessica Pearce Since April, the student farm has produced and donated 45,000 pounds of produce to community partners.
OSU’s student farm grows community Jessica Pearce Staff Reporter Education and community is now homegrown in Stillwater. In September 2022, work began on an unused plot of land between the OSU Research Park and Stillwater Visitor Center. The goal: Transform the former swine farm that had sat vacant for nearly 20 years into a vibrant and productive vegetable farm capable of serving the Stillwater community. A year since development began, OSU’s student farm has provided invaluable practical experience to OSU horticulture and landscape architecture students and has become a key resource in the university’s efforts to address food insecurity in Payne County and across Oklahoma. Since April, the farm has produced and donated 45,000 pounds of produce to community partners. The farm was the brainchild of Justin Moss, department head of horticulture and landscape architecture. He previously worked with Our Daily Bread Food and Resource
Center’s executive director, Rachael Condley, to develop a small produce garden for the food pantry. While the garden was productive, it could not meet the demand of Our Daily Bread’s clientele. Moss saw the need of Our Daily Bread— and the potential in the 140-acre abandoned farm. It would take months of labor to prepare the farm for plantings, but Moss was eager to take on the project. “We had to get approval and funding,” he said. “And then we got to work.” Lynda Carrier, one of the farm’s managers, oversaw much of the farm’s development. “We had to get a lot of infrastructure underway, being that there’s no utilities here,” she said in an interview with Oklahoma Gardening. “We had to start at square one.” For six months, a team of students, faculty and staff collected community input, tilled 2.5 acres of gardening space, installed irrigation systems and built fencing around the first garden. By mid-April, the farm yielded its first harvest.
From the outset, Moss was keen to have students at the center of the project. He wanted his students to have practical horticultural experience. Moss said classes for environmental science, soil science, food science and urban horticulture have already taken advantage of new space, and about 150 students have worked at the farm. One of the first students to get involved was Sophia Darrow, a senior studying horticultural science. “I was at a scholarship ceremony last September,” Darrow said. “Dr. Moss briefly talked about it— just a big vision. And I went up to him afterward and I said, ‘I’d love to be involved in this. It’s my passion.” Since last September, Darrow has spent countless hours working at the farm with her peers and securing grant funding for future projects. She said she enjoys the opportunity to learn and work alongside her classmates. “In the summer, we’d all be out here at the same time. That was our big production.” See Farm on 6