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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 • OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
DAILYBAROMETER.COM
Beavers head to Eugene for Civil War
VOLUME CXVI, NUMBER 93
The most interesting athlete at OSU No one would be surprised if Josh Smith was secretly Superman By Warner Strausbaugh
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The Daily Barometer
osh Smith pauses after discussing his plans for after college. “Now I’m just getting deep into myself,” Smith says. “Now I’m just thinking.” The junior midfielder on the Oregon State University men’s soccer team has plenty to think about. In addition to being a Division I athlete, Smith is a chemical engineering student who has maintained a 4.0 grade point average his entire life. He plans to run track for OSU after his soccer eligibility ends this fall. And he said he might run for ASOSU president after that. It’s no wonder Smith was voted OSU’s “most desirable bachelor” by the female athletes in the Valentine’s Day issue of The Daily Barometer. “He has everything that a person would want. He’s athletic, a genius, he’s a handsome fellow, I’m not afraid to say it,” said his roommate and soccer teammate Will Seymore. “He’s talented on the dance floor and one of the funniest people I know.”
When I commit to something, I’ve made that commitment. I hate the idea of letting people down.
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A competitor growing up Smith grew up in a family of four in Federal Way, Wash., about 30 minutes south of Seattle. His father, Sean, said whenever Josh got a new toy as a toddler, he would spend more time color-coding and categorizing them than actually playing with them. On a family vacation when Josh was 7 years old, they were playing a game of miniature NEIL ABREW
golf. Josh noticed the scoring sign and asked what it meant. His father explained it was the number of strokes to reach par. After that, Josh became frustrated every time he didn’t hit par. He began throwing his clubs. “He was just a complete freaking mess,” Sean remembers. “It fits his personality to a T. If there’s no real goal or objective, he’s good and laid back. And if there is a goal or objective … he’s going to figure out a way to get to it.” When Josh was in eighth grade, his father told him if he beat his time in the mile he would buy him a Chevrolet Chevelle. He ran it in four minutes and 32 seconds. Josh’s parents both teach, and his father was a youth pastor when Josh grew up. His parents fell in love in high school, as did three sets of aunts and uncles. The whole family lives in Federal Way, and everyone went to Decatur High School. He had a tight-knit group of friends in high school who never partied or drank, and were all focused on the future. “I don’t think I’m that special,” Josh said. “I was blessed with a good environment that created me and allowed me to be who I am.” He balanced playing on a traveling soccer team, maintaining a 4.0 GPA and being the student body president. Josh was also a National Honor Society member and a United States Achievement Academy All-American Scholar. See SMITH | page 8
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
First Year Celebrating 112 years with the newly-declared Linus Pauling Day Experience open The life, times of Oregon State’s own two-time Nobel Prize winner to Greek life n
By Dacotah Splichalova
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OSU has decided to allow Greek organizations to apply for a stake in First-Year Experience By Jack Lammers The Daily Barometer
As of yesterday, Oregon State University will allow select fraternities and sororities to apply as additions to the First Year Experience program. The program, established in 2012, will require first-year students to live in residence halls and co-ops on campus and, as of now, selected Greek life organizations. “There was significant interest on behalf of Greek alumni to exempt fraternities from the First Year Experience program,” said Steve Clark, vice president for Oregon State University Relations and Marketing. “Our decision was not to provide for an exemption, but to allow them to become certified and allow them an opportunity for approval.” Out of the organizations on campus, 25 are eligible to apply to take part in the program, and two more could join the group. “The selected fraternities and sororities have recognized status with the university,” Clark said. Eligible organizations have the option to write letters of intent by April 1, and then the university will set a deadline for See EXPERIENCE | page 2
The Daily Barometer
Ken Hedberg was pursuing a doctorate at Cal Tech. It was the 1940s. He worked hard. He worked weekends. Seventy years later he still recalls one sunny Saturday with particular fondness. A smile came to Hedberg’s face with the recollection of this memory. Chemistry professor Linus Pauling padded into the lab, still wearing his bedroom slippers. He often stopped by — sometimes to work, other times just to find out what others were doing. Hedberg was in awe of the man. Pauling sat down in Hedberg’s chair and rested his feet on Hedberg’s desk. “Hello Ken,” Pauling said. “Hello, Professor Pauling,” Hedberg replied. No one ever called Pauling by his first name. Pauling scanned the room. Then he picked up a spyglass key chain attached to Hedberg’s keys. The spyglass contained an image. He put the spyglass to his eye and dropped his head back up into the light. Hedberg felt uneasy, he remembers so many years later. The image showed a beautiful — and naked — woman smiling from her perch on a boulder. A stream flowed in the background. Pauling looked at the poster through his small looking glass. Then he looked down and replaced the glass on the desk. He stood up and began walking out. At the door he turned. “That rock is basalt,” Pauling said, and left. Friends and colleagues of Pauling remember him not only for his intelligence, but for his curiosity. He was known to have called curiosity “one of the greatest sources of happiness in life.” The Oregon State University alumnus and native Oregonian is the only person ever to have been
awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes. He was first honored in 1954 for his research into the nature of the chemical bond, the theory which states how atoms are bound together into molecules and how these molecules are built in various ways depending on their intermolecular forces. In 1963 he was honored for his work regarding nuclear disarmament and the establishment of a foundation for global peace negotiations. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber has declared Feb. 28 as Linus Pauling Day. The chemist would
have been 112 years old today. Pauling is by far OSU’s most celebrated and famous graduate. His name can be found in the Valley Library, the Linus Pauling Science Center and there are chairs endowed in his and his wife’s name. The Pauling Papers, archived in the Valley Library, are comprised of 500,000 documents covering the lives, work and legacies of Pauling and his wife. “In terms of linear feet, the collection is close to a See PAULING | page 2
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| THE DAILY BAROMETER
The Linus Pauling special collection contains nearly 500 boxes of letters, Pauling’s personal library, manuscripts and awards. The collection includes 47 honorary doctorates and two Nobel prizes.