The Colonel Spring 2019

the magazine of NICHOLLS STATE UNIVERSITY

COLONEL

THE

SPRING 2019 SOFTBALL SENIORS SET SIGHTS ON SOUTHLAND TITLE PG. 20

NICHOLLS ALUM, LGBT LEGEND PAVES PATH FOR NEXT GENERATION PG. 24

CLEANING UP THE COAST PG. 30

The Big Picture

Guess what day it is!

Nothing brings together thousands of Colonels like a good crawfish boil.

Every spring, Nicholls students, faculty and staff chow down on more than 5,000 pounds of mudbugs at Crawfish Day. 2 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

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the magazine of NICHOLLS STATE UNIVERSITY

COLONEL

THE

FEATURES

Ripple Effect Former Nicholls student Rip Naquin has been a beacon of hope for the next generation of LGBT students.

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Protecting the Environment Nicholls is leading the local effort to combat garbage build up in the waterways by spreading awareness and hosting cleanup days on the coast and in Bayou Lafourche.

Spring 2019

ON THE COVER

Azalea bushes in front of Elkins Hall signal the beginning of spring on campus.

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DEPARTMENTS 18 38

1 The Big Picture 4 A Letter from the President 5 Colonel Pride 5 One Team Member, One Pride: Monique Crochet 6 From Russia with Research 7 Nicholls Partners with Water Institute to Put the Gulf First 7 Getting the Criminal Justice Program Off the Ground 8 MBA Director Brings Experience to Growing Program 8 Making the Most of Mollusks 9 The Art of Researching Art 10 A Season to Study 11 Learning Humanity Through Crawfish 12 Changing Lives 14 Celebrating the Investiture of Dr. Jay Clune 16 Whatcha Got Cookin’?

18 The Red Zone

18 The Recruit 19 Ready for Big Time 20 Time to Meet Destiny 22 A Promise Fulfilled 23 Athletics Focusing On Off the Field Success 23 Coach Keeps Current

36 Alumni House 37 Borne Nicholls 38 Through the Lens

40 Campus Cornerstone

40 Oaks Society Created to Add to Nicholls’ Legacy 42 Nicholls Cheerleader 43 Honoring an Icon

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THE

the magazine of NICHOLLS STATE UNIVERSITY

SPRING 2019

COLONEL University President Dr. Jay Clune (BS ’86) Executive Vice President for Alex Arceneaux Enrollment and External Affairs

Executive Director of External Affairs Monique Crochet (BS ’98, MEd ’00)

Director of Alumni Affairs Katherine Gianelloni Mabile (BS ’14) Director of Marketing Jerad David (BA ’00) and Communications

NICHOLLS FOUNDATION

Executive Director Jeremy Becker (BS ’95, MBA ’97) NICHOLLS FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CHAIRMAN Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger

PRESIDENT Christopher H. Riviere (BS ’78)

VICE PRESIDENT Daniels Duplantis (BS ’69)

SECRETARY/TREASURER Arlen “Benny” Cenac Jr. (BS ’79)

BOARD MEMBERS Hunt Downer (BS ’68) Alexis A. Duval (BS ’92) Hugh E. Hamilton R.E. “Bob” Miller (BA ’75) Pat Pitre (BS ’72) NICHOLLS ALUMNI FEDERATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT Paula Arcement Rome (BS ’02, MBA ’13)

PRESIDENT-ELECT Archie Chaisson III (BS ’08) VICE PRESIDENT - ALUMNI RELATIONS Kristen Dumas Callais (BS ’10, MA ’11)

VICE PRESIDENT - MARKETING Cody Blanchard (BS ’10)

SECRETARY Sheri Haydel Eschete (BS ’84)

TREASURER David Heltz (BS ’84)

BOARD MEMBERS Dr. Tammy Cheramie (BA ’90, MEd ’93) David Ford (BA ’12, MEd ’16) Larry Howell (BS ’72) Brooke Huddleston (MA ’99) Lisa Daigle Kliebert (BA ’06, BA ’10, MA ’12, Ed. Cert. ’14) Shane Kliebert (BS ’06, MEd ’14) Deanna Duet Lafont (BA ’02) Grant Ordoyne (BIS ’15, MEd ‘18) Jennifer Smith (BA ’09)

Business Admin. Chapter Pres. Margo Oncale Badeaux (AS ’84, BS ’11, MBA ’14)

Education Chapter Pres. Sara Dempster (BS ’13, MEd ’15)

Culinary Chapter Pres. Hillary Scott Charpentier (BS ’15, MEd ’17) THE COLONEL EDITORIAL STAFF

EDITOR Jacob Batte

ART DIRECTOR Jerad David (BA ’00)

PHOTOJOURNALIST Misty Leigh McElroy (BA ’03)

CONTRIBUTORS Alexandra Aucoin • Dr. Chris Bonvillain (BS ’00) •

Dr. John Doucet (BS ’84) • Sharon Doucet (BA ’78) •Ryan Gaudet (BS ’05) • Minh Le (BS ’99) • Louisiana State Museum • Cain Madden •

Brent Mundt (BA ’77) • Ray Peters (BA ’78) • Wesley Rhodes • Courtney Richard (BIS ’13)

The Colonel is the official publication of Nicholls State University and is published twice a year by the Nicholls Foundation, Nicholls Alumni Federation and Nicholls Office of University Marketing and Communications. We welcome your story ideas, suggestions, alumni news and feedback.

Contact The Colonel at: P.O. Box 2033 • Thibodaux, LA 70310 Phone: 985.448.4141 • Email:thecolonel@nicholls.edu Nicholls State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. *The following person(s) has/have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Dr. Michele Caruso, Dean of Students (985) 448-4041.

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Nicholls President Dr. Jay Clune shares a laugh with Nicholls students at Chillin’ with the President to kick off a new semester.

Learning How to Be Leaders

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merican Author John C. Maxwell once wrote that “a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” Among the values that we list in our strategic plan, one of them is leadership.

Leaders come in many shapes and sizes and they rarely seek out that responsibility, instead they rise to the occasion. I don’t have to look very far to see the leaders in the Nicholls community. In this issue alone there are at least a dozen examples.

Our new MBA Program Director, Ray Peters, is a Nicholls alum who has spent his business career in leadership positions. He’s guided businesses near and far in a variety of roles and is now using that experience to guide our students. It’s fitting that he teaches a class on leadership.

Though many people recognize Dan Borne as the public address announcer for LSU football, we also recognize him for the impact he has made on the state of Louisiana. He spent a decade working in politics both in Baton Rouge and Washington D.C. and nearly three decades as a leader in Louisiana industry. He is an excellent ambassador for Nicholls.

You don’t need decades of experience to be a leader. Take our new men’s basketball head coach Austin Claunch. At 29 years old, he’s one of the youngest basketball coaches in the NCAA. He is dedicated to making his players better both on and off the court.

Our softball program is one of the premier programs in the South and that is a credit to coach Angel Santiago, but it is also a reflection of a senior class who have grown up together over the past four seasons. Their bond and their leadership have elevated the program to new heights.

One aspect of leadership is standing up for what you believe in. I regret how Bobby “Rip” Naquin’s time at Nicholls ended, but I am proud of what he accomplished after he left. His legacy has helped a new generation of LGBT students feel confident in themselves and the impact that they can have on our campus.

Brother and sister Boysie and Charlotte Bollinger didn’t graduate from Nicholls – though we did draft Boysie into our alumni with an honorary doctorate – but they recognize the impact that we have on the Bayou Region.

The Bollinger family has long been associated with our great university, and this past fall they have led the charge on projects to improve the Donald Bollinger Memorial Student Union, which is named for their father. We are forever grateful to the family.

To be the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Bayou Region we need to be a leader, and I am proud to say that we are fulfilling our role.

With Colonel Pride, Dr. Jay Clune Nicholls President

TEAM MEMBER PRIDE COLONEL SINCE 1986

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Monique Crochet When did your love story with Nicholls begin?

I grew up here in Thibodaux. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I was not going to go to a big school with 40,000 people and share a community bathroom. Monique was not sharing a bathroom like that, so that was not even an option. But it was always going to be Nicholls. My mom is an alum, and I spent my life going to the campus. Many of my earliest, fondest memories are on the Nicholls campus, like when I came here for the science fair when I was in fourth grade. When I was in the sixth or seventh grade, I wanted to be a teacher, and I would come to Polk Hall, which was the library back then, and I would check out the teacher version of a book, and I would keep it for two weeks and play school every day.

How did your time on the Nicholls campus enhance your love for the institution?

There was a point in time where I was 21 years old, working and putting myself through school in satellite courses in Houma and Morgan City. And I always knew I needed my education, but I just didn’t realize how important it was. That’s when I went back full-time. When I got back on campus, I worked with the Student Programming Association. I planned the Crawfish Day celebration and that was a blast. Knowing how important education was, I began working on master’s classes before I had finished my undergraduate work. I was a part of the first graduating class with the Higher Education Administration program in 2000. After that, I served as an adjunct instructor of family and consumer sciences, career counselor for all associate degree students, interim director of the Louisiana Center for Women in Government and director of continuing education.

What have you loved about your time working as external affairs director?

It’s one of my favorite things. If someone sees me, they see Nicholls. I’m loving that there is a lot more Colonel Pride. I wasn’t happy when I came home in 2010 because there wasn’t a connection between the city and the University, and I made sure my opinion was heard. Now, you’re seeing more and more Nicholls in the community. We know the Bayou Region wouldn’t be the same if Nicholls wasn’t here. I want people to realize how fortunate we are to have that in our backyard.

You played a big part in the creation of Red Out Friday. How does it make you feel now that you’re able to see that Colonel Pride in the community?

I say that whenever things make me happy, it makes my heart smile, and my heart is smiling. Sometimes now, I’ll sit back and think, ‘Oh my God, look at all this red,’ and I just have a big smile on my face. I also know that on Fridays – of course you know I’m wearing my red because its Red Out Friday – I have to wear red or else I’m going to get chewed out.

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Colonel Pride

FROM RUSSIA WITH RESEARCH

Aucoin visited St. Basil’s Cathedral (left) and Russia’s oldest museum, Kanstkamera (center) when she wasn’t working in the labs (right).

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f you took a poll of the more than 11,000 Morgan City residents and asked them if they had ever heard of Pushchino, Russia, how many would say yes? At least one.

Alexandra Aucoin, a chemistry student, spent her summer in the western Russian town of about 20,000 studying the microorganisms in dry valley, antarctic permafrost at the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science.

“Our main objectives of the project were to study the physiological and biochemical properties of the strains and determine the taxonomic position, temperature optimums and the influence of ultraviolet light irradiation on the viability of cells,” Aucoin says. “The results of the project can be used to study the influence of extreme environmental conditions on the viability of microorganisms.”

Aucoin was one of five students to take part in the International Research Experience for Students (IRES), hosted by the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“We experimented with four bacteria isolates from three sampling locations in Antarctica: Table Mountain, Wright Valley and Pierce Valley,” Aucoin says. “The bacteria isolate from Table Mountain was over a million years old.”

A 3-year project that began in 2016, IRES gives undergraduate students the chance to conduct research on unique 5,000- to 3-million-year-old permafrost sediment samples in the Soil Cryology Laboratory at the institute under the supervision of Russian and U.S. mentors.

More than a year ago, Aucoin heard about the project from her professors, Dr. Chad Young, department head and professor of chemistry and physical sciences, and Dr. Aimee Hollander, former assistant professor of biological sciences.

“I’m hoping this opens a lot of doors for her,” says Dr. Young.

“These undergraduate research experiences, our students come back

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changed people. They come back excited about their research, course work and advancing their education.”

Asked if he was surprised that a Nicholls student would be chosen to conduct research in Russia, and Dr. Young says he is not.

“Our chemistry graduates, they change the world in real ways.”

Nearly 6,000 miles away from the Bayou Region, where her family, friends and peers struggled with temperatures and humidity in the 90s, Aucoin enjoyed summers where the heat didn’t surpass the mid70s. However, what she traded in comfortable weather, she gave up in food with the local diet largely filled with beets and cabbage.

“It made me realized how privileged I am to live here,” she says.

“Where I was living, we didn’t have air conditioning, fans or dryers.

You take that for granted when you’re here.”

U.S. and Russian relations have dominated the news cycle over the past two years, but Aucoin says it wasn’t a topic she encountered during her trip.

“It was a little intimidating going to Russia,” she says. “You see the news here every day about Russia and you can think they’re the enemy. But they were really nice and it wasn’t at all like that.”

When she wasn’t toiling away in a lab, Aucoin was taking in the local culture. She toured Moscow and visited the Red Square and St. Basil’s Cathedral. She stopped by Saint Petersburg to see the Bronze Horseman, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and the Hermitage Museum. Seventy-five miles away, the World Cup was being held in Moscow.

“You got to see all of these people from different nations celebrating their cultures together,” she says.

Aucoin described the transformative 6-week trip as the “experience of a lifetime.”

“It has given me experience and made me see what direction I want to go after undergrad,” she says. “Going to Russia for free, getting paid to go to Russia, not a lot of people can say they did that.” – Jacob Batte

Nicholls Partners with Water Institute to Put the Gulf First

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losest to the Coast.

Nicholls State University President Dr. Jay Clune began uttering the phrase in interviews, speeches and social media last year, shortly after he took over the top job at his alma mater.

The statement is true. Nicholls is the closest university, public or private, in the state to the Gulf of Mexico. But it also carries with it a statement of intent.

Louisiana has lost nearly 1,900 square miles of coastal islands and wetlands since the 1930s due to a variety of factors, including building levees that interrupted the land-building processes of the Mississippi River and allowing oil and gas drilling to take place in wetlands.

To Dr. Clune, Nicholls carries

a responsibility to be a leader in coastal restoration, and one of the first steps he took was signing a memorandum of understanding with the Water Institute of the Gulf.

“Given our proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and the large number of our students that live in coastal parishes, it is imperative that Nicholls play an active role in the restoration of our coast,” says Dr. Clune.

“We’re excited to work with the Water Institute of the Gulf. Their internationally recognized work in coastal resiliency aligns with our mission to protect coastal Louisiana.”

The MOU sets out the potential for collaboration in research, faculty exchange,

Nicholls President Dr. Jay Clune and Water Institute CEO Justin Ehrenwerth sign an agreement cementing a partnership.

student mentorship, as well as a shared workspace on the main campus, the Nicholls Farm and at the Fourchon Laboratory Camp.

Leadership between the institute and Nicholls will meet annually to discuss opportunities for collaborations. – Jacob Batte

Getting the Criminal Justice Program Off the Ground

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fter finishing his criminal justice associate degree at Nicholls State University in 2001, Lafate Day let 17 years go by between family and working at the Lafourche Parish Sheriff ’s Office. Sure, he had made a promise that he’d go back to school and earn his bachelors, but the time was never right.

However, when Nicholls announced its criminal justice bachelor’s, Day signed up and was the first to graduate in December 2018. The Lafourche police academy director has enjoyed learning about maritime law and private security, but one of Day’s biggest takeaways is knowledge he couldn’t get from a book.

“What I found really beneficial about being here at Nicholls is in one class you have

a diverse population from all backgrounds,” Day says. “When as a class we discuss issues, it can really help you understand how the community might be viewing certain issues.”

The process to create the criminal justice program began in 2012, when Nicholls submitted the letter of intent to the state education boards. This Fall, 60 students were enrolled in the program but administrators believe that number could rise to more than 100.

The Nicholls criminal justice program encompasses law enforcement from the patrol officer, detective, homeland security, wildlife law, maritime law to the courts and one student even earned an internship with the FBI. Additionally, private enterprises

are also covered, such as industrial and airport security.

Forensic science or cyber security emphases could also be created with other departments.

Nicholls student Danae Brown says she is interested in the program for the chance to go into law enforcement, perhaps the FBI, or enhance her skills in her current job.

Years ago, she also earned her associate from Nicholls, and from there, began working as a paralegal in Assumption Parish for Assistant District Attorney Thomas Daigle.

Brown says when she originally went to Nicholls, her plan was to study either law or education. Once she started taking law classes, though, it became apparent that was what she loved.

“It’s a lot of work but honestly I love my job and there is something new everyday,” she says. “Right when you think you know everything, here comes a new case that you have never dealt with.” – Cain Madden

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Colonel Pride

MBA Director Brings Experience to Growing Program

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ay Peters (BA ‘77) knows business.

A quick glance at the resume of the Nicholls State University MBA Program director reveals experience in just about every facet of the business world.

Labor relations, human resources, sales and marketing, Peters has touched it all over the course of a career that spans more than four decades.

It might surprise you that the former RoyOMartin vice president of human resources and marketing doesn’t have an MBA or an undergraduate business degree. But the understudy of former mass comm professor Dr. Al Delahaye will be the first to tell you he learned exactly what he needed at Nicholls.

Making the Most of Mollusks

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ou can find them fried, charbroiled, raw and along the coast protecting the shoreline from erosion as one Nicholls State University professor searches for a way to protect Louisiana marshes and culture.

Dr. Earl Melancon (BS ‘73), professor emeritus of biological sciences, has spent much of the last two decades working to see if oyster reefs could both serve as a barrier against subsidence and erosion, while also maintaining the delicacy’s place in Cajun and Creole cuisine.

He believes that by planting artificial oyster reefs, we slow down land loss enough to give the state time to find a permanent solution, while

also maintaining the oyster population in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes, as well as the Gulf of Mexico.

Concepts for his research began more than a decade ago, and three projects have come out of that original idea. The first, which was completed three years ago, targeted coastal Terrebonne Parish around Pointe-aux-Chenes. The second, which was completed a little more than a year ago, looked at Cameron Parish. Each project dovetails into another, Dr. Melancon says.

The Wisner Foundation contacted Dr. Melancon in 2017 about having him work on a private project in Grand Isle.

Wisner had sprayed concrete cultch over existing oyster beds

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“The most fundamental aspect of business is the ability to communicate,” Peters says.

Peters career has taken him from the Bayou Region to the Netherlands to Pennsylvania and back. Prior to RoyOMartin, Peters has served as director of human relations for DSM Copolymer, vice president for human relations and sales for DSM Engineering Plastic Products – North America and senior vice president for United Companies Financial Corp.

Along the way, Peters has also served as the chairman of the board for Central Louisiana United Way and as the chairman of the board for the Louisiana Healthcare Quality Forum.

Now, Peters is using that experience to lead the popular

MBA and Executive MBA Programs at Nicholls.

“My entire career has helped me prepare for this role, to give me a vision of what I’d like to do here,” he says. “We have a tremendous amount of mental muscle in Powell and White Halls. We have fantastic instruction. When you look at professors Dr. Luke Cashen and Dr. John Lajaunie, they’re just fantastic in terms of who they are and what they do and what they can provide our students. I bring scar tissue. I’m the guy that’s been there on the applied side.

“People in business are looking for the value proposition, you know the confluence of quality and cost,” Peters adds. “And that’s what we are. We’re an excellent program at a great price.” – Jacob Batte

that had been lost to subsidence and covered in sedimentation.

Oysters require a solid substrate, like the crushed concrete reef, to settle. Along the way, Nicholls students have aided Dr. Melancon in the research. He readily brags that seven theses have spawned from the projects. Rissa Insleman, who is working with Dr. Melancon now, will make eight.

“All of this leads to the same thing with shoreline erosion control, erosion abatement and developing oyster reefs,” Dr. Melancon says. “The research can’t be done without the students.

I may come up with the ideas, but then those ideas have to be implemented.”

Oysters are a staple in Cajun

cuisine and culture but the tiny invertebrates are more than an ingredient in your favorite po-boy.

Show me a healthy oyster reef, and I’ll show you a healthy surrounding ecosystem. These little mollusks are known as filter feeders, meaning that they clean the water by feeding on the sediment, nutrients and other algae that, when at an excess, can pollute the water.

“They clear up the water and also pull toxins out of the water and keep that water column healthy for fish, crabs and other things like that,” Inselman says.

“And it also makes for a beautiful fishing habitat, too, so you can throw in a recreational aspect.

Louisiana will definitely back you for that.” – Jacob Batte

The Art of Researching Art

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hen many instructors are taking a welldeserved break at the beach over the summer, you will find Dr. Deb Cibelli on a different type of vacation.

That’s not to say she does not get out to do what might be viewed as more traditionally fun, but for the most part you will find Dr. Cibelli in a library with several manuscripts nearby as she works on her next research paper.

“Most summers, I do a research vacation, if you will,” she says.

“I’ve been able to go to Italy for a few summers and teach a class.

But while there, you have about five or six weeks where you can go to different libraries in Italy and work on things there.”

Dr. Cibelli has been at Nicholls for 22 years, and during that time she has published numerous papers in scholarly journals and presented to many international conferences, totalling 62 between the two, has been successful in grants and endowments, and had selections published in books on art history.

“Dr. Cibelli is among the greatest scholars in the history of Nicholls,” says Dr. John Doucet, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Alcee Fortier Distinguished Service Professor.

“Her astute research and writings in art history are known internationally. We are fortunate that Nicholls has become her home. And I’m fortunate that I can call her a colleague.”

She ended up on this path of art

history while an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Geneseo. She originally pursued classes in foreign languages and English, but found the focus of her papers for those classes drifting toward artists.

During her master’s, she focused on women’s art of the 19th century and during her doctorate, she focused on the Renaissance.

Both degrees were also completed within the SUNY system.

“Everybody is first attracted to 19th-century art with Impressionism, but there’s so much more than Impressionism,” Dr. Cibelli says. “I wanted to find a woman artist and the 19th century was a good fit for me for that. So I found a woman military painter (Elizabeth Butler).

“The 19th century, the industrialization, the changes in society, modernization, colonialism, a lot of those things seem to resonate,” adds Dr. Cibelli.

“We’re still dealing with the legacy of colonialism. It sets the tone for today.”

While Dr. Cibelli says switching your focus for your doctorate isn’t advised, she decided due to her love of the Renaissance.

“The greatest craftsmanship comes from that period,” she says.

“One of the projects I got involved with after I came to Nicholls was attributions of drawings to Renaissance artists, and I was

able to publish some of those attributions. And since then I’ve been getting some invitations to work on different things because of that.”

That research led to two volumes of 16th century Italian drawings being published. A few summers later, she went to the University of Chicago on a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for a conference about Cervantes and Italian Art, which led to some collaborative projects. One of them was the creation of Art, Literature and Music in Symbolism and Decadence, which has hosted conferences and published papers over the years.

Years later, helping create and continue this group would lead to one of her biggest highlights of her career so far, being invited to the Sorbonne in Paris to present on the subject of angst in 2015.

Dr. Cibelli’s presentation was called

“The Continued Impact of the Renaissance book, the Hypnerotomachia: Beardsley’s Strife for Love in a Dream.”

All of these highlights have been accomplished while teaching a full class load for the art history minor and emphasis at Nicholls.

“You make the time really. I try to carve out a little bit of time every summer to make sure that I can get to a library,” Dr. Cibelli says. “When you find a library with the materials, you live a dorm life existence and you focus on research.

“Nicholls has been instrumental. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to teach. And it’s been really helpful for me to have the continuity so that I can pursue my research and continue to grow as a teacher.” – Cain Madden

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Colonel Pride

A Season to Study

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Top: Dr. Chris Bonvillain and Alexa Bollinger out in the field.

Bottom: Gabrielle Sisson and April Simmons record their findings.

rayfish or crawfish? Whatever you call them, they are a staple of Louisiana’s culture.

“I definitely called them crayfish,” Alden, New York native Gabrielle Sisson says with a laugh.

The Nicholls master’s student says New York has crawfish, but they are not like what we have in the bayou.

“I had not eaten crawfish until I came down, and we are definitely missing out,” she says. “I’m learning that crawfish kind of rule everything down here.”

Nestled within Beauregard Hall, the students of the Aquatic Ecology and Astacology Lab are doing important work for the future of crayfish, or crawfish, if you will, a generalist species that’s important both culturally and ecologically.

One project is with The Nature Conservancy, which owns land in the Atchafalaya River Basin.

Nicholls biology assistant professor Dr. Chris Bonvillain (BS ‘04, MS ‘06) says the ultimate goal of The Nature Conservancy is to improve the flood pulse in the basin, which could lead to more and larger crawfish.

Years ago, when canals in the basin were dug, spoil banks were created that impede the natural water flow and causes stagnation. Stagnant water is hypoxic, or low oxygen. If the water is stagnant for a few weeks, it may not be a big deal, but over months, Dr. Bonvillain says it can cause the crawfish to be smaller and fewer in number.

“Crawfish can survive in low oxygen water,” he says. “But what happens is crawfish have to come out of the water to breathe in the atmospheric oxygen, but they are doing that and not actively foraging for food.”

The spoil bank cuts being made is likely years away, though, as The Nature Conservancy has to go through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the meantime, students in the crawfish lab can collect data on the crawfish population leading up to the project.

Former Nicholls student Alexa Ballinger’s twoyear project was trapping and testing crawfish in the Atchafalaya River Basin and the Barataria Basin, which is more stagnate and no longer receives a flood pulse from the Mississippi River.

“I found way fewer crawfish in the Barataria and much smaller crawfish,” says the Reno, Nevada,

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native. “And then kind of digging into the hemolymph (crawfish blood) protein levels, the protein levels were also lower in the crawfish from the Barataria.”

Incoming graduate student Benjamin Bates of Blue Springs, Missouri, will follow up Ballinger’s research in how hypoxic waters influence crayfish reproduction by examining gonad development, number of eggs and egg size in crawfish from hypoxic waters.

Meanwhile, Sisson is measuring the size of crawfish brought by crawfishers to the processors. During her first semester, she measured 52,131 crawfish, or 3.15 miles of crawfish. Measuring live crawfish has led to some pain, Sisson says, but it’s for science.

“I have scars, it’s okay,” she says, laughing. “At first I was a little nervous about them pinching me, but once you have been pinched the first time, it’s fine.”

While measuring crawfish is tedious and sometimes painful work, Sisson’s project is leading to a stock assessment to help get a handle on how healthy the population sizes are.

If the crawfish trend smaller, it’s a potential sign of overfishing.

Currently, the wild crawfish harvest is not regulated, and Ballinger says she can understand both sides of the issue after seeing the homes of crawfishers that are only accessible by water.

“A lot of people out there rely on the fact that they can trap as many as they want right now,” she says. “That makes the idea of legislation difficult.”

Dr. Bonvillain says his job as a scientist is just to provide the data to help leadership, including those with stakes in the crawfish industry, to make a decision.

Meanwhile, he’s hopeful that The Nature Conservancy’s project leads to crawfish numbers increasing more naturally, as the Mississippi River can breathe life into the blackwater.

“The Nature Conservancy has just a small piece of the Atchafalaya Basin comparable to how large it is,” he says. “But if we can show that we improved the water quality, and that improved the crawfish, then the other landowners in the Atchafalaya Basin will think, ‘Okay, we should do it too, then.’” – Cain Madden

Psychology professor Dr. Denis Soignier seeks to understand the human mind better through studying crawfish.

Learning Humanity Through Crawfish S o a professor, a student and a crawfish walk into a bar. No, it’s not the start of a bad joke, Nicholls State University assistant psychology professor Dr. Denis Soignier (BA ‘91) is getting crawfish drunk for science.

As part of the psychology program, Dr. Soignier, along with psychology professor Dr. Gary Rosenthal, run an animal lab to perform experiments designed to help us better understand human psychology.

“The animals are a proxy, a substitute for humans, and we take that seriously,” Dr. Soignier says. “Whether it is to help the students learn or if it’s actually for a scientific paper, we treat them with respect even though they’re crawfish because they’re teaching us about us.”

Though it is early in the process, among what they are looking for includes memory research for Dr. Soignier and aggressiveness for Dr. Rosenthal.

In Dr. Soignier’s experiments, he and students put the crawfish in the center of a maze shaped like an “X.” At each end is a piece of PVC pipe. Three of the pipes are covered so the crawfish can’t get in them, but the crawfish can’t see from the start point, so it either has to explore or remember which PVC pipe is open. Dr. Soignier says the on the first attempt, crawfish often take two to five minutes, but after a week that gets down to 30 seconds or faster.

Once the crawfish strings together three attempts at finding the pipe in under 30 seconds, it’s time to see how alcohol impacts their memory of the maze.

“Well, like people, they are less coordinated. They might just like sit there and sleep,” Dr. Soignier says.

The idea is to also replicate withdrawal and tolerance. A crawfish that is showing withdrawal symptoms might be just as bad, while one that has built up a tolerance to the alcohol might get back to normal.

Dr. Rosenthal, meanwhile, is looking at how they respond to threats while drunk. He is looking into different models of threats, bass, other crawfish and birds, to see how long the drunk crawfish will stand up to the threat rather than flee.

“A guy who has got a few drinks him, he’s more likely to become belligerent. My thought is, does that extend to crawfish,” Dr. Rosenthal says.

The goal for both professors is to advance the scholarly research on crawfish and produce papers for themselves, as well as students.

The students interested in psychology, meanwhile, benefit beyond potential papers.

“Learning how to handle an animal in an experimental setting is valuable, no matter what the animal is,” Dr. Rosenthal says. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff in addition to undergraduate classes that can favorably influence whether someone gets into graduate school, and experience in an animal lab would be one of them.”

Dr. Soignier says Thibodaux is the perfect place to host a crawfish research lab involving alcohol.

“It’s the two best things about Louisiana together,” he says, laughing. “I think there’s sort of poetic justice that we’re able to use a species that is so common and we’re so familiar with in behavioral research. And that it leads to interesting insights for understanding human behavior.” – Cain Madden Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

11

Colonel Pride

Changing Lives

With the help of Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Nicholls student-athletes delivered presents to Hi-5 children and their families.

N

icholls State University students are giving up their afternoons to change lives.

During the school year, they are heading to the community center in Government Circle, a low-income neighborhood in Thibodaux, to teach underprivileged, elementary school-age children life and social skills as part of the Hi-5 Mentorship Program.

“I’ve always wanted to work with kids,” says Houma senior Mikia Jackson. “Working with these kids who are in this situation, the environment that they are in, it pushes me to want to be a school counselor, or with a nonprofit one day.”

The program takes Nicholls FACS 448 students, who work one day per week with the kids in the program. There, they help the Hi-5 students with homework, before they rotate through stations that include arts and crafts, outdoor activities, life skills and more. Each month, a topic is chosen that guides many of the activities.

Robert Johnson, an 8-year old who attends W.S. Lafargue Elementary School is in his first year of Hi-5. His grandparents say they can see his grades improving and he’s becoming more social.

“I really like Hi-5 because I can do my homework, but I can also have a lot of fun,” Johnson says. “We learn about life skills that we don’t get at school, and sometimes we get to go outside, which is really fun.”

Before Carla Harvey’s daughter Rhianna enrolled in the Hi-5 program she was shy and struggled to speak in front of company. It didn’t take long for that to change.

“Once she started going to Hi-5, she began to open up,” Harvey says. “She’ll talk to adults, talk to kids. Her grades have improved,

12 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

and she’s more open about helping and wanting to give.”

Danielle Tardo, a senior family and consumer sciences major from Mandeville, was in the first group to go to Hi-5. She enjoyed working with the children on life skills.

“We taught them things they wouldn’t really learn in a classroom,” she says. “We taught them how to cope with bullying, what to do if you saw someone getting bullied and we really took an interest in what was going on in their lives and at school. I think that really made them feel good.”

For many of the children in the program, they don’t have support when they leave school. Their parents may be working and can’t take care of them, or they don’t have someone to look up to for advice.

“One of the little girls, she came up to me and was like, ‘Will you be my big sister?’” says Jackson. “She doesn’t have anybody to look up to. You’re more than just a student or a Hi-5 girl. You’re someone who can change lives.”

When the Nicholls students get started, they’re tentative and nervous, Hi-5 program director Janice Coleman-Wright says, but over the course of each semester, you can see them grow into their role.

“They start forming relationships with the students and they really blossomed,” she says. “I do my best to make them feel comfortable. We all play a part and it’s about why we’re there.”

“At first, it’s kind of a bummer to think about having to give up your entire Tuesday, but the more you go, the more you get to know these kids, you form a bond,” adds Zaenah Brown, a Houma senior studying psychology. “They become special to us.”

Dr. Kimi Reynolds, psychology department head, says the impact

on her students has been an unexpected effect of the program.

She talks of a student during the inaugural semester who met with a young girl whose career aspirations were working at Sonic.

That baffled the Nicholls student. Why didn’t she aspire to be more?

After mentoring the girl for the entire semester, the young girl had changed her goals. Now, she wants to be a doctor.

“My student was really empowered by that because all she did was listen to the little girl and talk to her,” Dr. Reynolds says. “We were so focused on enhancing the lives of the Hi-5 kids that we didn’t think about it being reciprocated.”

Hi-5 got started in 2014 as an idea before it officially opened in 2017. Dr. Reynolds was recruited to join a group who were seeking to create an after-school program to help underprivileged Thibodaux students.

“We didn’t want it to just be an extra class period,” Dr. Reynolds says. “We wanted to focus on at-risk youth who really just needed some extra reinforcement and somewhere to go in the afternoon.

We would give them the opportunity to work on homework, but we wanted to also help them with life and social skills.”

What also separates Hi-5 from the typical after-school daycare is that parental involvement is required, but also beneficial. Classes are held for the whole family, such as bringing in a dietitian to discuss healthy eating, a professional etiquette trainer to discuss etiquette and a CPA to discuss budgeting techniques.

“The reality is every parent we have involved works very hard, and they may have jobs after school. That meant before Hi-5, there were kids as young as 6, 7 and 8 years old going home by themselves,”

Dr. Reynolds says. “Now, they have somewhere to go, they have interaction, they have consistency.”

A goal of the program is to foster community involvement and less than two years in, it’s easy to consider that goal a success. The Thibodaux Housing Authority leased the community center for $1, Lynn’s Interiors donated furniture, St. Genevieve Catholic Church donated books and school supplies, while private donors made sure the kids had snacks and water. Pedestal bank donated bikes to each of the kids in the program during the holidays.

Meanwhile, the Hi-5 students volunteer at nursing homes, churches, food banks and pumpkin patches.

“We want our kids to understand what it means to give back,” Coleman-Wright says. “They love it. They don’t want to go home.”

Hi-5 students have also visited the Thibodaux Municipal Airport in Schriever to look at planes, they have gone to Nicholls baseball and football games and boated down Bayou Lafourche.

“We want to expose them to things that they’re not readily exposed to,” Dr. Reynolds says.

During the first semester, one of the Nicholls students passed away in a car accident. The topic for that month was dealing with death.

Hi-5 students were given an opportunity to write a letter to the student and the letters were delivered to her mother on the day of the funeral. The mother made a donation to the program in her daughter’s name.

“One of the little girls wrote, ‘You taught me to never let anyone tell me who I am,’” Dr. Reynolds says. “In that two months, this student had made a tremendous impact.” – Jacob Batte

Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

13

Celebrating

DR. JAY CLUNE

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Nicholls State University celebrated the Investiture of its sixth president, Dr. Jay Clune, on Friday, Sept. 28 in Peltier Auditorium with his family and special guests. The night before, Dr. Clune held an Investiture Gala in the newly renovated Cotillion Ballroom to raise money for students in the Bridge to Independence Program and the Nicholls Greenhouse Renovation Project.

Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

15

Colonel Pride

Whatcha Got Cookin’?

Fried Wild Caught Catfish and Lemon Rice INGREDIENTS 1 to 2 pounds fresh wild caught catfish Salt to taste 2 tablespoons hot sauce 5 cups yellow flour 1 cup cornmeal Peanut oil for frying 3 cups white rice Zest and juice of 2 lemons 4 1/2 cups chicken stock

Meet the Chefs Chef Ryan Gaudet (BS ‘05) is the executive chef at Spahr’s Seafood.

The Thibodaux native previously worked at restaurants in Chicago, most notably Moto under Chef Omar Cantu, and received the People’s Choice Award from the Louisiana Restaurant Association Bayou Chapter Culinary Showcase in 2015.

Chef Minh Le (BS ‘99) is the executive chef and owner of Alumni Grill. Le has worked in restaurants in Las Vegas, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, including an externship with Chef Kevin Graham. He opened Alumni Grill in 2014 after a decade as the executive chef at Spahr’s. Le has received the Louisiana Restaurant Association Bayou Chapter People’s Choice Award in 2014, 2016 and 2018, and Alumni Grill received the Daily Comet People’s Choice Award for Best Burger in 2017.

16 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

DIRECTIONS FOR CATFISH In a large dutch oven, heat the peanut oil to 350 degrees. Make sure catfish is dry by patting with paper towels. Season the catfish with the salt and hot sauce. You want just enough hot sauce to coat the fish. Mix the yellow flour and cornmeal in a mixing bowl, then dredge the seasoned catfish in the flour. Shake off the excess flour. Gently drop the catfish into the hot oil and fry for about three minutes. Remove the catfish from the oil with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate or tray lined with paper towels.

DIRECTIONS FOR LEMON RICE Zest and juice two lemons, removing any seeds. Place rice, chicken stock and the zest and juice from the lemons in a rice cooker. Stir gently and set to cook. Once done, fluff with a fork or rice spoon.

Red Velvet Cheesecake INGREDIENTS 12 ounces vanilla wafers 1/2 cup cocoa powder 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temp 1 cup sugar 4 large eggs 4 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk 2 tablespoons red velvet flavoring DIRECTIONS FOR CRUST Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grind wafers in a food processor and place in a mixing bowl. Add cocoa powder and melted butter. Mix well and place in a 10-inch springform pan. Spread and press crumbs to the bottom and side of the pan, using a flat bottom cup or utensil to press the crumbs. Bake for about 25 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Sweet Garlic Bacon Green Beans INGREDIENTS 1 pound fresh green beans 1 head of garlic, peeled and trim root end 3/4 cup heavy cream 1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 slices bacon, rendered DIRECTIONS Place garlic cloves in small sauce pan with cream, sugar, salt and bring to a boil, about three minutes. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes until cream is thick. Bring a gallon of water to a boil, and cook green beans about 8-10 minutes until tender. Strain and set aside. Render bacon in a frying pan and set aside. Discard most of the bacon grease and reserve pan to finish green beans. Finish beans by heating the creamed garlic and bacon in the frying pan for 1-2 minutes, then add bacon. Toss until green beans are coated and hot.

DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place cream cheese and sugar in a mixer with paddle, and mix until soft and creamy. Scrape down sides to prevent lumps. Add eggs, one at a time, while mixing and run until evenly mixed.

Add in flour, buttermilk and flavoring, and mix on low until batter is evenly incorporated and smooth. Pour batter over the crust and line the springform pan with foil. Double line to minimize chance of leaks. Place the lined springform pan in a baking sheet, and place in the oven. Fill baking sheet with about 1 inch of water, and bake for 90 minutes. Remove and cool to room temp, then chill in refrigerator overnight or for 5-6 hours. To slice, remove from pan and place on cutting board. Run a long knife under hot water, then make a cut. Repeat process, cleaning knife after each cut.

Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

17

The Red Zone

The Recruit

I

t’s a chilly November Saturday morning on Ben Meyer Diamond at Didier Field as the sun shines down, with few clouds in the sky. It was an all around perfect day as Jax Roussa ran the bases with his friends. All while Coach Seth Thibodeaux and his new Colonels teammates looked on, as the 10-year-old Gonzales native had just signed his National Letter of Intent.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see that,” Jax’s mother, Misty Roussa, says, as she looks on with tears in her eyes as her son slides into home. “This is incredible. It really is. This isn’t an opportunity parents of cystic fibrosis kids get a lot.

“They don’t get to run around, and especially not in the cold weather. So to see him just run around and enjoy himself and not have to think about it right now, it’s good, it’s big.”

Roussa is one of 30,000 patients in the United States living courageously with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that mostly affects the lungs, predominantly diagnosed in children by the age of 2. There is no cure, but advances have pushed their life expectancy from less than five to six years in the 1950s to their mid-40s in 2017, according to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation data.

Jax also enjoyed meeting his new teammates, Coach Thibodeaux included, and he got a high-five from each of them as they took the field to watch him sign. His mother sitting beside him, his new coach, Athletic Director Matt Roan, as well as Nicholls President

Jay Clune nearby, Jax let out a big smile as Thibodeaux offered him a cap, a hoodie and other Nicholls gear. Seeing that infectious smile, Thibodeaux told Jax his job was to show off his pearly whites.

“It’s a remembrance of the battles other people fight, and Jax is pretty good at hiding what he’s fighting,” Thibodeaux says. “He’s always got a smile on his face. It’s very inspirational for us and we’re proud to lift his spirits as well. And I’m really happy that he will be around the ballpark for many, many games and many days to come.”

Though you wouldn’t know it by looking at him, Jax has a nonfunctional pancreas, so he has to take medicines to help him digest food. He also has to regularly receive treatment for his lungs, such as breathing practices with a special vest and regular trips to the Tulane Medical Center.

“Cystic fibrosis is a what is called an invisible disease, where you see him and you think he’s not sick,” Misty says. “But he is because every day his body is at war.”

The signing was through Team IMPACT. Team IMPACT is a national nonprofit that connects children facing serious and chronic illnesses with local college athletic teams. Jax will attend practices, games, team dinners, events and more.

“It’s the opportunity to give back, and we think that we have an opportunity to make an impression on Jax,” Roan says.

“And Jax will certainly make an impression on us with his fight and the spirit and just who he is.

18 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

COLONELS

Jax Roussa The Colonels got better today.”

Misty says her son is usually pretty reserved, so seeing him so outgoing with the team was also a special treat.

“He’s extremely comfortable here,” she says. “I can tell you he felt at ease, and I appreciate Nicholls and the Nicholls family for making him feel so at home because he needs that.”

Landon Roussa, Jax’s father,

says the Colonels taking the time like this for his son shows that the school cares about the community.

“It’s good to know that he’s got people that care about him and are looking out for him and want to keep him included in everything,” he says.

“It’s good that Nicholls and Coach Thibodeaux have taken him under their wings, and it’s made them part of his family as well as making us part of their family.” – Cain Madden

Ready for Big Time D uring basketball season, you can drive to Stopher Gymnasium any time and have a good chance of finding Coach Austin Claunch’s vehicle parked outside.

The new Nicholls head basketball coach was probably inside watching film and working on the scouting report for the next game.

“I love watching film. I don’t even see that as work,” the Houston native says. “I love watching basketball. I mean, I could go home and either watch us or watch our next opponent or just throw on a game. I love basketball.”

It’s that passion for the game that helped Athletic Director Matt Roan in deciding to make Claunch among the youngest head coaches in the NCAA. “Since even before his hiring, I have been impressed with his basketball acumen, commitment to academic success and strong relationships with his players and our community,” Roan says. “My expectations for the program are probably only outmatched by Coach Claunch. He is a competitor and wants to win every single game we play. Together, we expect to continue to get better every day, and compete for championships and the NCAA Tournament in time.”

Claunch had a challenge on his hands this season, with only three players from the reigning regular season Southland champion team returning.

“I believe that we can beat anybody we go out there and play against,” he says. “Now we have a lot of work to do but the thing that’s interesting about the Southland is anyone can beat anyone.”

Considering the first season, Roan says you can’t lose 10 players and expect to just pick up where

Women’s Beach Volleyball

you left off in Division I basketball.

“I think we’re right on track,” he says. “For a program that lost so many seniors, he’s brought great stability to the program and has continued its upward trajectory.”

As far as coaching style, Claunch says it all starts with building the relationships.

“The best programs have trust,” he says. “If our guys don’t know that I have their back through everything, if I can’t trust our players to show up to practice on time or things like that, then we’re not going to be a good team.”

As an assistant coach under former head coach Richie Riley, Claunch primarily worked with guards and was a former point guard himself. Now, Claunch says, coaching is primarily about the overall view, recruiting and looking at that next game. With most of the team in place for next season, player development was a big part of what he did in 2018-19.

“I love staying in the gym with these guys and just working on different things,” he says.

“Sometimes it’s shooting, dribbling, passing.

Sometimes it’s just concepts more than anything.

I just want these guys to grow as players.”

Claunch says he learned a lot from Riley, who he had also worked with during his days as a graduate assistant back at Clemson.

“Winning in college basketball is very hard,” he says. “Maybe the X’s and O’s are different from when he was coach, but there’s just so many things that can be overcome when you’ve got a tough team that will play together and that’s some of what I took away from him.”

Going into every season, Claunch says he will

have two goals, win the regular season and win the tournament, and that will take him into what every program wants to achieve, an NCAA berth.

He says the Colonels foundation is strong in that he believes the guys are willing to run through a wall for each other.

“Next year’s team is going to be tough,” Claunch says. “They are going to have to buy into the things that are going to help us win, and if they do that, and we continue to bring in guys that are not only tough and good kids, but good players, then we’re gonna have a chance to win.”

And Claunch himself? He says he’s willing to dedicate everything to the program because of his passion for basketball.

In fact, when asked about what he likes to do outside of basketball, the list didn’t get long before he was forced to mention basketball.

“I’m kind of a basketball junkie, and I don’t have a huge life outside of it,” he says with a laugh. “This consumes me a little bit.” – Cain Madden

Starting Now

Men’s Track and Field

Beginning Spring 2019, Nicholls has added Women’s Beach Volleyball and Men’s Track and Field to its roster of quality sports.

Beach Volleyball will play several matches at the Covington Digs Beach Complex.

Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

19

The Red Zone

Time to Meet Destiny

A

s freshmen, five young women joined a program knowing they wanted to be part of a change, a path that would lead Nicholls softball last year to its first conference championship in two decades.

Now, as seniors, along with two transfers who joined them along the way, they hope to go out by taking the program even further.

Amanda Gianelloni, Veronica Villafranco, Megan Landry, Gretchen Morgan and Kasey Frederick all signed up four years ago with the idea that Coach Angel Santiago’s Colonels were on the rise. Two years ago, that senior class was bolstered with the addition of Meagan Ellis and Kali Clement.

“When we were all freshmen, we all had a pact that we were going to make a change somewhere in this program because we were so unified,” Morgan says. “We were all like, ‘We have the power to do something.’ It’s kind of surreal how it has all happened.”

Landry says with both Coach Santiago and Assistant Coach Jessica Seamon at the helm, this put her freshman class in a position to lay the foundation toward establishing that

20 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

winning culture. She says there are several factors to the culture, but the first is that each player, as well as the coaches, hold each other accountable.

An example she gives is during this last offseason, in which the team not only took the fall semester seriously, but that also extended to breaks.

“Even when we went home for Christmas, we kept our group text message pumping through pictures and videos of us working out and practicing hitting, throwing and doing all the things that we need to do to prepare,” she says. “It is just a constant flow of positivity. It was nice to see because it’s hard to work out by yourself.”

That holding each other accountable part isn’t just for the seniors and coaches, Frederick says.

“Anybody can be a leader, no matter what age you are,” she says. “If you see something wrong, that even maybe an older girl is doing, don’t be afraid to say, ‘Hey, you’re doing this wrong,’ or, ‘Hey, this is how you do it.’”

Their work ethic has certainly gotten

results. Since 2016, the team has not finished worse than third in the conference. Then, last year, the Colonels finished 40-15 overall and 21-6 in the Southland, but ultimately lost a heartbreaker, as McNeese scored three in the final inning to win in the conference tournament championship.

Gianelloni says that loss drives the team to go further. The goal is to win the regular season, the conference tournament and represent the Southland in the NCAA Tournament.

“We just came back hungrier and with more of a mindset of this is our ultimate push this year,” she says. “So, everything we’ve done in the fall and now is trying to achieve that goal that we so much deserve.”

Thinking back on the beginning, many of the seniors cite the family atmosphere in what brought them to Nicholls. And that has brought them all together as a team and a class, with Ellis pointing to Villafranco as the team mom, a title that she readily accepts.

“I bring snacks for practice, and I make sure everybody brings their jackets when we

From left to right, Amanda Gianelloni, Megan Landry, Gretchen Morgan and Kasey Frederick.

Below, Kali Clement, Meagan Ellis and Veronica Villafranco.

go,” says the Spring, Texas native Villafranco, with a laugh. “I love that we are a family, considering I’m not at home with mine.”

That home feeling extends to Nicholls and Thibodaux, says Ellis, who is originally from West Point, Mississippi.

“When I talked to my mom over the break, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going home.’ But I’m talking about going back to Thibodaux,” she says, laughing. “She’s like, ‘No, that’s not your home.’ But it is. You really do feel like you’re at home here. And that’s what I love the most about this place.”

Clement is originally from Thibodaux, but

started at a different college. However, when her coach at Spring Hill left, she spoke to Santiago who told her she always had a home at Nicholls. She says this team means the world to her.

“This is by far my favorite team I’ve ever played with, coaches and girls alike, hands down I will not find a better group of girls with the best hearts in the world,” she says.

“And the coaches, they literally took one of our other seniors (Morgan) to the hospital last year and they were there until her mom flew in from Texas.”

Santiago says his seniors, who have laid a

strong cultural foundation, have shown that you do not have to be the big state recruit to have a positive impact on a program.

“They’ve really grown to be just the most responsible young ladies,” he says. “They are awesome in the community service they do all the way down to just handling their team leadership functions. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people.

“Unfortunately, they are going to leave the program after this year, but it’s going to be good for the world when they do. Whatever they chose to do, they are going to have a big impact.” – Cain Madden

Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

21

The Red Zone

A Promise Fulfilled

A

s the Colonels cut down the nets in Katy, Texas, Assistant Coach Justin Payne (BGS ‘09) looked to Coach DoBee Plaisance with a smile and remembered a promise she had made almost a decade ago.

That promise started when Payne joined the women’s basketball program after a four-year career playing on the men’s team, which in itself was somewhat improbable.

Ever since Payne was two, he’s had a basketball in his hands. It was his first love. But as his senior year at Opelousas Senior High School was ending, his dream of playing college basketball was looking bleak.

“I know I was a shorter guard, so it was going to be harder, but I knew what I possessed and what I could bring a team. I got my looks, but something was missing,” Payne says.

“One day, we got together as a family, and I remember falling on my knees, crying and just begging God to give me a chance with college basketball.

“And then Nicholls popped up, and I’ll be, that’s how I knew that this

is the spot God had for me.”

Coach J.P. Piper had given Payne a shot as a walk-on in the 2005-06 campaign, and by year two, he was in the starting lineup, and he would go on to lead the team to a 20-11 record during his senior year in 2008-09, which had been the team’s best record this century until 2017-18.

Payne says he remembers the crowds that year, in which they finished in second place, particularly on senior night against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a game they won. And then they went to the tournament in Katy and were able to win the first tournament game the school had won in a long time.

Though he came up short on his ultimate goal of winning a championship, Payne says it was a good ending. But with his playing career over, it was now time to pray about his next step, and just like that, Piper got him an interview with Plaisance, then in her second year as head women’s basketball coach. She says two aspects of Payne stood out.

“He works really hard,” Plaisance

22 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

says. “And then somehow or another we got to talking about God and he reads the Bible, and he is strong in his faith.”

As they worked together, it became apparent they also complimented each other as a coach and assistant coach should, Payne the point guard and Plaisance the post player.

“Even in recruiting, he’s going to get the ball down the floor then he’s going to get me the ball and I got to get the slam dunk,” she says. “I’ve always appreciated tough minded point guards.”

That coaching intensity between Plaisance’s and Payne’s styles would come in handy last season. Nine games into the conference schedule, the team was 3-6 and, like Payne’s chances at playing college basketball, the season was starting to look bleak.

“We had a tough, tough practice,” Payne says. “From that point on, the kids really held themselves accountable, the coaches held them accountable and we really got hot and we started peaking at the right time.

“I mean, God definitely had his hand on us, and we definitely worked our tails off.”

The Colonels went 8-1 to finish the season in fourth place, and started advancing through the Southland Conference Tournament.

On March 11, 2018, the Nicholls women’s basketball team made history by beating Stephen F. Austin 69-65 and won the conference tournament for the first time in school history.

“I kept telling him, ‘Look, I made a commitment to you,’” Plaisance says with a smile. “I said, ‘I’m gonna get you that ring.’”

Payne finally has that Nicholls’ championship he wanted, but he says it’s only a start.

“As a player, I fell a little short and as a coach now, winning this championship here, it feels so good,” Payne says.

Now, Payne seeks to win a championship on his own as the head coach of women’s basketball at Georgia Southwestern State University. – Cain Madden

Athletics Focusing On Off the Field Success

B

eing a student athlete isn’t all blood, guts and glory.

Student athletes at Nicholls State University have very little free time, spending most of their days at practice, working out, traveling, playing in games and studying to remain eligible.

That makes it difficult to work, get an internship or enjoy the social benefits of attending college.

Enter the Nicholls Athletic Life Skills Workshop. The program provides resources such as panels and seminars to help freshmen manage their time, while teaching upperclassmen about building

resumes, interview tips and other soft skills.

“Having such a precise schedule did not allow me to have the full college experience of learning about where is the best place for me to submit an application for an internship, or what exactly needs to go on my resume,” says former football player Christian Boutte (B.S. ‘18). “The workshop had many options to guide me in the right direction when it comes to things like that.”

Jobs and internships are a crucial aspect of the college

experience that helps prepare the individual for life after school, says Lindsay McKaskill, executive associate athletics director for internal affairs and senior woman administrator for Nicholls. The primary goal of the workshop is to help student-athletes succeed on and off the field.

“We want our student-athletes’ lives to be as balanced as possible,” she says. “We believe the less stress they have to deal with will allow them to be more successful in both the classroom and the respected sport they are a part of.” – Wesley Rhodes

Coach Keeps Current says. “For all of the players, Mark Simon would, if you had your picture or your name in the paper, cut it out and give it to you with a little note. I’ve been doing that these past two years.

“Now, I know everything is electronic these days, but there is something about that printed paper, it’s something you can keep. The players are always stopping me at practice and telling me they got it.

They are enjoying it.”

For all his service to the university, his coaching career, his involvement with the Huddle Up Club and countless other aspects, hen Coach Tim Rebowe added 10 years to my life.’ That’s was beginning his because he has been so good to me,” he was honored at a football game on Nicholls Hall of Fame weekend football program, one of Clements says. his first calls was to the first football The former coach attends practice last fall. It was a particularly special coach Nicholls had ever hired, Coach a few times a week, and mainly what weekend for Clements, as several “Clements Colonels” would be there Bill Clements. he likes to do is mentor the players because one of his players, Terry Even though Coach Clements and get to know them. But he’s also Magee, was being inducted. resigned from the football program in paying forward something a fan at “We had 30 to 40 of my former 1980 to ultimately work in education, Tulane had done when Clements was players there,” says Clements, who is he’s remained a constant fan of the a lineman for the football team. also a member of the Nicholls Hall of Colonels and a fixture at games.

“I was a kid from Kentucky, and I Fame.

“It meant a lot to me, it really “I told Tim one day, ‘You have didn’t know anyone there,” Clements

W

did. And it meant a lot to my players.

I give them all the credit.”

Athletic Director Matt Roan says Clements’ value, both during his time as a coach and now as a supporter and fan, cannot be overstated.

“He’s a great ambassador and representative of Colonel football, and is the epitome of class,” Roan says. “We wouldn’t be the program we are today without the foundation he helped lay.”

Coach Clements was hired in 1971 as the defensive coordinator, the final year the Colonels fielded a club team.

He was named head coach in 1974.

Under Clements, the Colonels won their first conference championship in 1975, the Gulf South Conference, with an overall record of 8-2.

“I love Nicholls State University and Thibodaux,” Clements says. “I could have left after 1975, if I had wanted to, but I just love it so much here. Now, I think we have the right people in place, and I’m just excited to see where we go next.” – Cain Madden

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EFFECT Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

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t’s 2015 and the infamous Ambush Mansion on Bourbon Street is in utter chaos. Caterers and florists are in full-on party mode, police guard the entrance, reporters from local media, including the New Orleans Times-Picayune, are waiting for an interview and an official representing New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu is on his way.

by Brent Mundt Larry Bagneris Jr., then executive director of the City of New Orleans Human Relations Commission, will present Rip Naquin, a former Nicholls State University student, and his partner, Marsha Delain, with a proclamation thanking them for their work to charity and growing the popular New Orleans parade and party, Southern Decadence.

“I was responsible for escorting several of New Orleans’ mayors to the legendary Magnolia Cotillions,” says Bagneris Jr. “It was always astonishing to visit the mansion and learn of the funds they had raised for good causes.”

Known for their philanthropy and their ability to throw a party, Rip and Marsha were the unofficial king and queen of the French Quarter. But life wasn’t always this glamorous for Rip, and the people weren’t always this accepting.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Life was simpler at Nicholls State University in 1973 when Bobby “Rip” Naquin pulled on a fraternity jersey, a pair of jeans and ran from the Pi Kappa Alpha house to a Student Government Association meeting to an interfraternity council meeting and then to a Nicholls Worth student newspaper meeting.

Rip’s roommate, Bill Pousson, (BS ‘75) remembers their first day in Long Hall, when they both got recruited to join Pike. A guy knocked on the door and invited them to a party.

“The next thing we knew, we were at the Colonel’s Retreat, with pitchers of beers and sorority women all around us,” Pousson says.

Rip was, to his core, a Category 5 tornado of activity. In the fraternity, he was known as the “house mother.”

Rip planned the parties with

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precision, and we would have starved without ‘Mother Rip,’” fraternity brother Keith “Poobah” Hester says. “He brought us the leftovers from the pizza parlor he ran — and he even managed the books at the Pike house.”

His accomplishments produced a ripple effect across campus, and in the index of the 1973 La Pirogue yearbook, Rip totaled eight citings.

But the only sighting that really mattered was not in the yearbook.

That year, Rip visited the legendary gay bar, the Bourbon Pub in the French Quarter, and fell head over heels in love with a man named Marty Greeson — a kind soul who would later adopt the persona of Marsha Delain and remain with Rip for 43 years.

Rip had been seen by a fraternity brother. A special meeting of the fraternity was called, and Rip was called out.

“Even though it was a very

small group of narrow-minded members who sided with the outing, it created an unfortunate scene that certainly embarrassed Rip,” says Kenneth “Rat” Zeringue, the Pike fraternity president at the time. “Maybe I should have contacted the national office about the treatment Rip received. I sure wish I had a do-over.”

MOVING ON Whether it was the nasty frat kerfuffle or cupid or both, Rip left Nicholls before graduating.

He returned home to Morgan City and came out to his father.

“It didn’t go so well,” says Cathy Vaughn (BS ‘84), Rip’s sister. “My father would eventually soften, but he made it pretty difficult on Rip for many years.”

Never one to let barriers deter him, Rip was determined that future generations of LGBT youth would walk easier paths to parental acceptance. He wanted

Photo courtesy of the Louisiana History Museum and Larry Graham Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

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Photo courtesy of the Louisiana History Museum

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to afford courtesies to others not initially extended to him by his own father. He began raising money for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays — a support group for parents and family whose lesbian and gay children have come out.

Rip and Marsha became New Orleans’ first recognized domestic partnership in 1993, and lived glittery yet fulfilling lives dedicated to charity toward the LGBT community. Their fingerprints are all over the French Quarter, including iconic events like Southern Decadence and the French Quarter Easter Parade.

Together, they founded the LGBT-centric Ambush Magazine in 1982. Not content to confine the Ambush outreach to New Orleans, the couple soon started distribution from Texas to Alabama becoming “The Official Gay Magazine of the Gulf South.”

According to the publication’s website, readership is estimated at 1 million annually.

“What strikes me most is how Ambush was a beacon of hope during the AIDS crisis,” Bagneris Jr. says. “While the paper was swamped with tragic obituaries, the paper also showed us that we would survive. By recounting the parties and cotillions and smiling friends at the pubs truly gave us hope that we would come through this epidemic.

You can’t overstate what that meant to our community.”

A HEALTHY CAMPUS CLIMATE Rip would be proud that progress has been made in the Bayou Region. Take Austin Wendt and Dr. Leah Peterson, for example.

Wendt, the SGA president and member of Kappa Sigma, is a gay man who doesn’t worry about hiding or running to New Orleans.

Austin’s path was indeed simpler.

He returned home his junior year of high school from a student retreat with news.

“I’ve prayed about this for two days and this is who I am. It won’t change. I can’t change,” he told his mother, Jennifer, who embraced him for who he was.

Not all families open their arms immediately. Dr. Peterson, assistant professor of education and a member of the 2016 Nicholls State University Athletics Hall of Fame, received friction when she broke the news.

“I was raised a strict Christian attending church three times a week with my family,” says Dr. Peterson. “Homosexuality is something my parents said they would never accept, and despite being supportive of all other aspects of my life, their view of my sexuality has never wavered.”

But the Patterson, Louisiana, native found a home in Thibodaux, where she starred on the softball diamond for four years as a player, and three years as a coach before joining the College of Education staff.

“I have been blessed to have been surrounded by high school friends, college teammates and now colleagues that have supported me without a second thought regarding my sexuality,” Dr. Peterson says.

“Nicholls has been my refuge for a part of my life that has been filled with guilt and self-doubt. Much of who I am has been shaped by the unconditional love and support of the town and university that I have called home for the last 15 years.”

One of Austin’s heroes on campus is Dr. Todd Keller, vice provost for academic affairs at Nicholls and friend of Rip and Marsha.

“Austin is living the life that so many before him — like Rip — were unable to have,” Dr. Keller says. “He is an amazing young leader, always willing to step up and be part of the solution. Austin isn’t defined by being a gay man; rather, he is defined by his accomplishments. He lives a life as the man he was meant to be, out of the shadows, out of the Naquin, far right, pictured with friends and fraternity brothers. shame and out of the constraints that forced so many to be who they their voluminous collectibles to No 19-year-old should support and most importantly were not. Forty years after Rip, it the Louisiana History Museum, experience the nightmare that unconditional love. But I also know most certainly got better for him.” including their portraits, engraved Rip did in 1973. Rather than I stand on the shoulders of folks invitations and the original neon defeat Rip, it propelled him to like Rip who had a tougher road.”

A BRIGHTER FUTURE Ambush sign that hung over their make a real difference. Together, Rip Naquin passed away in Asked about Rip, and Austin is doorway on Bourbon Street for his friends, family and current 2017 at the age of 63. Marsha philosophical. decades. His memory, and the Nicholls staff and students “I’m well aware of the necessary died soon after. Their deaths memories of so many men and can make sure the momentum were mourned by diverse ‘great migration’ to big cities that women like him, live on in the continues and that future students was part of life for LGBT folks such communities across the South. opportunities afforded to the LGBT never go backwards. And a ripple Rip’s memory lives on in as Rip,” Wendt says. “I’m thrilled community in South Louisiana. always goes forward.

Louisiana history. Cathy donated that I have more options, more

•

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Protecting the Environment

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t was a particularly hot September, but that didn’t stop Ethan Naquin and Ethan Guidry from wrestling with a rope that was anchored deep in the sand.

Stories and Photos

by Cain Madden Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

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For the International Coastal Cleanup at Elmer’s Island, as well as the Bayou Lafourche Cleanup, it’s pretty common to find students having some fun by wrestling with large objects like tractor seats, tires and lawnmowers. It’s an opportunity for students to blow off some steam while collectively picking up hundreds of pounds of trash, as Nicholls leads the local effort to face this international cleanup challenge head on.

“This is important because this is our home, and we definitely have to take care of it,” Naquin says. “I mean, we only get one planet and the things that we’re picking up here, it’s just easy things that people can bring home or just put it aside and throw it away later. It’s little things like bottle caps and grocery bags and easy things that take two seconds to pick up.”

The pre-med biology majors found the rope only a few meters from where the tide was currently rolling in, the oil rigs visible on the horizon. Just a short distance away, nursing student Kayla Pitre and friends were wandering on an incline, where the grass grew before the beach dipped down to merge with the gulf. Like all the students, they were carrying a bucket filled with trash. Pitre says she was happy to see how many people had shown up.

“It’s important that Nicholls supports this effort,” she says. “We’re so close down here – we’re literally an hour away – so I think it’s

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important that we take the lead.”

Nicholls hosts just one location of many for both the Bayou Lafourche Cleanup and International Coastal Cleanup. The BaratariaTerrebonne National Estuary (BTNEP) is the lead agency for the Bayou Lafourche Cleanup, while the Ocean Conservancy leads the coastal cleanup, which around the world picked up more than 1.5 million plastic bottles in 2018.

The trash picked up wasn’t all plastics, though. There was also an assortment of unusual items that shocked students and volunteers. Syringes, condoms, shotgun shells, razors and a can of Japanese roach spray were just some of the items students found as they were scouring the island.

But most of what they were picking up is not unusual, it’s trash we see everywhere – cigarette butts, plastic bottles, food wrappers, plastic bags and take out containers. Trash that people throw out of their cars onto the roads, trash that litters our bayou and finds its way down to the beach. At least, that’s one complicated path to the beach, as many of the items were simply left there by people enjoying the water.

“Every year, we’re picking up thousands of pounds of trash from the beach. So it’s making a difference,” says Dr. Allyse Ferrara, Jerry Ledet Endowed Professor of Environmental Biology. “But it’s such a big scale problem.

We can do cleanups, and we can collect data,

Nicholls student Butsaraphorn “Sara” Sunprahat picks up trash on Elmer’s Island. Left page, top, Jordan Bourg, poses with a piece of trash; top right, Dr. Milton Saidu, Nicholls Petroleum Engineering Technology and Safety Management head, picks up trash with his daughter. Left page, bottom, Dr. Allyse Ferrara, professor and site captain, tallies the final numbers.

but we really need to get people to think about how they dispose of garbage.”

As part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup in 2018, students and volunteers from Shell picked up more than 3,500 pounds of trash, and Dr. Ferrara says they get around that number every year, more or less depending on how hot or rainy it is.

As part of BTNEP Bayou Lafourche Cleanup, students and community volunteers collect anywhere from half a ton to two-and-a-half tons per year.

“I’m really glad that (Nicholls President) Dr. (Jay) Clune is a strong proponent of the ‘Closest to the Coast’” campaign,” Dr. Ferrara says. “We are the university that is the closest to these habitats. We are right on Bayou Lafourche, we’re the closest to Fourchon, Grand Isle and Elmer’s Island. We need to

be good environmental stewards.”

In a state that has, since 1932, lost more coastal land than exists in Rhode Island, Dr. Ferrara says we could do without the trash problem.

“Coastal habitats protect inland cities and towns,” she says. “There’s billions of dollars worth of infrastructure located in the coastal habitats that is protected by the surrounding coastal habitats.”

Every 100 minutes, Louisiana loses a football field of land. According to experts the most likely causes of land loss are human-related, including global climate change, rising sea levels and the loss of sediment inputs into marshes and wetlands due to levee construction.

Coastal land loss and marine debris might appear to have no connection, but we must care for all aspects of our environment including aesthetics.

“I think it’s also important to show that we are good stewards of our environment when we ask for money for coastal restoration,” Dr. Ferrara says. “If our coastal habitats are covered in trash and garbage, it looks like we don’t care.”

The cleanup isn’t just about the results of the day, or how much data they can collect over the years, Dr. Ferrara says it’s also about building good habits.

“I’m hoping that the students and people that participate think about how they dispose of items,” she says. “It’s good for people to realize that we’re picking up tons of items that should have been recycled and could have been reused.

And you can see how much we’re actually contributing to the problem of plastic debris in the oceans.”

On the Nicholls campus, there are bins where you can recycle aluminum, plastic Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

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Nicholls students wave bye as the event comes to a close.

bottles and paper by Elkins Hall and the Colonels Tennis Complex.

Bridge to Independence students also pick up bins three times a week at the president’s office, Elkins Hall, Peltier Hall, Polk Hall, Beauregard Hall, Shaver Gym, Stopher Gym, the Student Union, Talbot Hall, the cafeteria, library, Scholars Hall and Gouaux Hall.

Particularly at the student union and cafeteria, Director of the Bridge to Independence program Tara Martin encourages students to only put recycling materials in the bins, but otherwise says the program is going great.

“We’ve been pretty busy,” Martin says.

“They go for two hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and they are busy the whole time, which is a good thing, it means people are recycling.”

There is also a bin behind the student union for cardboard recycling.

If you are interested in furthering the

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recycling efforts on campus, Green Club advisor Dr. Mary Jackson says you can contact her at mary.jackson@nicholls.edu.

“If I can get anything across, I’m hoping that people think twice about using plastic water bottles,” Dr. Ferrara says. “And if they do, make sure that the bottles are recycled.”

Dr. Milton Saidu with the Petroleum Engineering Technology and Safety Management program says he also hoped to have an impact on developing habits.

The department head brought his family out to the beach to help with the cleanup.

“They learn that they have to be responsible, that they have to be actively involved in making the environment clean,” Saidu says. “If we don’t take the lead to actually contribute in one way or the other in our own little niches here, eventually this is going to be a global crisis.”

Saidu says his family also likes to go to the beach. The debris people leave

behind and throw out on the road spoils that experience at both Grand Isle and Elmer’s Island, where Naquin had also spent many summers while growing up in Thibodaux.

Though he and Guidry were not able to pry that particular bit of rope free, they picked up several other lengths of rope, swimming clothes, a handheld fan, a toothbrush, a glow stick, a few tampon applicators, socks and a lot of cigarette butts, Styrofoam and plastics.

“In Louisiana, the coast is our livelihood,” Guidry says. “It’s what drives our economy. It’s how a lot of people make a living, in the oil field and the seafood industry.

“We have a lot of people that rely on the coast to be able to make their living and provide for their family.

So I think taking care of our coast is our duty as citizens of Louisiana, but also our responsibility as caretakers of planet Earth.”

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Dr. Quenton Fontenot, Nicholls biology head, takes a picture of some of the trash collected.

Beautifying the Bayou

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ne way to increase buy-in for keeping the bayou clean, is to show the potential of the waterfront.

Across from Elkins Hall, Friends of Bayou Lafourche Inc. have been working with university officials and local stakeholders on an $8.2 million renovation that could bring a park, additional recreation options and a bayouside classroom to the 7.5 acre tract of bayou-side property owned by the University. The Nicholls project, which is just one of the organization’s projects along the 106-mile stretch of the bayou, began about two years ago, and the plan is to work in phases to bring the park to life in more manageable financial chunks.

“You often see students looking for a place to lay out a blanket, have a picnic or just hang out and relax,” says Ryan Perque (BS ’10), executive director of the Friends of Bayou Lafourche. “This project will definitely have areas for passive use, but will also include walking tracks, art exhibits and access to the bayou.”

The first phase, which they have submitted to the state for two potential funding sources, includes the initial access to the bayou, bayou-side parking, a pavilion, walking paths, a boardwalk and a floating dock.

The totality of the project includes boat houses, a kayak ramp, a raised intersection by the street to aid access to the park from campus, an outdoor classroom, an area for an art department

sculpture garden, sidewalk, a bike path, swings and a sculptured gathering place by the water.

“We are in such a beautiful area, and so making it easy for people to use those spaces, I think is a great idea,” says Dr. Allyse Ferrara, Jerry Ledet Endowed Professor of Environmental Biology. “I think the more people use the bayou, the more they’ll appreciate it and care for it.”

Local stakeholders have included Nicholls faculty, staff and students; Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou; and Thibodaux and Lafourche governments and quasigovernment agencies.

The Friends of Bayou Lafourche is a nonprofit organization, and Perque says they wouldn’t be able to operate without the support of the community.

“We’ve come a long way in producing some good projects and programs in order to create more access points along the bayou,” he says. “People just think of it sometimes as a little drainage ditch that passes through our community, but if the bayou goes dry tomorrow, we’re in a lot of trouble. Bayou Lafourche is a staple of our community.”

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Alumni House Once a Colonel, Always a Colonel

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t’s an incredible experience being the director of Alumni Affairs at Nicholls State University. The best part of the job is getting to meet you, our alumni.

When I graduated from Ascension Catholic High School, I knew that Nicholls was for me. I can confidently say my education has prepared me for life after college, that the friendships and connections I made as a student are still thriving today and that the lessons I learned outside of the classroom have helped develop who I am. With every Colonel Caravan or Alumni Golf Classic I attend, I continue to meet people who had the same experience as me.

It was a joy to meet so many Nicholls alumni this past fall as Nicholls celebrated the university’s 70th Anniversary and the Investiture of President Dr. Jay Clune.

To those of you who aren’t already members, I encourage you to join the Nicholls Alumni Federation. Members can also join alumni chapters for the College of Business Administration, the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute.

Yes, there are many great benefits, such as local and national business discount benefits and invitations to exclusive events. The best part is reconnecting with fellow Colonels. My favorite part of the job is interacting with our alumni, whether it be collaborating with our passionate alumni board or hearing your stories about how Nicholls has impacted your life.

Nicholls’ reputation is quickly growing. Across Louisiana and the South, we are being recognized for our great value, unique culture and academic excellence. Even as alumni you can be a part of this movement and contribute to our positive momentum. I encourage you to join our group of passionate Colonels who believe in, support and promote the future of Nicholls.

To learn more about the great opportunities available to you, visit nichollsalumni.org or call 448-4111.

With lots of Colonel Pride, Katherine G. Mabile(BS ’14) Director, Alumni Affairs katherine.gianelloni@nicholls.edu 985.448.4109

Everyone has a story...

We want to hear yours!

Reach out to us at TheColonel@nicholls.edu 36 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

Colonel Notes denotes Alumni Federation member 1970s Richard Fernandez (BA ‘74, MBA ‘76) named President’s Circle Member of the Top Attorneys of North America.

Christopher Peña (BA ‘75, BA ‘06) recently got his book, “Death Over A Diamond Stud: The Assassination of the Orleans Parish District Attorney,” published.

1980s Boo Schexnayder (BS’83, MED ‘88) is head of the strength and conditioning program for LSU track and field.

Rebecca Pennington (BA ‘86) was named CEO for Girl Scouts Louisiana East.

B. Troy Villa (BS ‘86) was named Baton Rouge Lawyer of the Year for Mergers and Acquisition Law by The Best Lawyers in America 2019.

1990s Reed Peré (BGS ‘91, MEd ‘06) was appointed to Danos’ executive team in July 2018. He will serve as vice president of business development, sales and marketing.

Nicol Blanchard (BS ‘92) was named chief executive officer of the HoumaTerrebonne Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Alyson Theriot (BA ‘93, MEd ‘98) has earned her Ph.D from University of New Orleans and is now the department head of teacher education at Nicholls.

Brooke Matherne Huddleston (BA ‘95, MEd ‘98) was elected president of the Lafourche Parish School Board in January 2019. She is also currently serving as a member of the Nicholls Alumni Federation Board of Directors.

Daniel Kariko (BA ‘99) is one of 56 artists selected by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. for the project, “Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South.” The largest exhibition ever produced of photographs of and about the American South in the twenty-first century, Southbound presents multiple ways of visualizing the region. After its

Borne Nicholls

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ost people associate Dan Borne (BA ’68) with purple and gold. But get to know the man, you’ll know it all started with Red and Gray.

Known as the voice of LSU Tiger football and basketball, and the man who originated the infamous lines, “The sun has found its home in the western sky, it’s Saturday night in Death Valley,” and “chance of rain: never,” Borne also worked for three U.S. senators, a governor and spent 27 years as the president of the Louisiana Chemical Association.

And he says he wouldn’t have accomplished any of it if it weren’t for his education at Nicholls State University.

Borne grew up across the street from Nicholls after his family built a house at the corner of Menard Street and Audubon Avenue in 1953.

He essentially grew up on the campus and admitted that though he had other options, he was always going to be a Colonel.

“Smaller schools are

going to give you more opportunities and greater responsibilities than a larger school,” Borne says. “I’m a minted copy of that. I couldn’t have gotten any of those opportunities without Nicholls, and I’m glad I did.”

The first of those opportunities came when he was a freshman and he landed a job with local radio station KTIB. Within his first year on the job, the station made the decision to broadcast all of the Colonels baseball games on the radio, both home and away. They named Borne, who had done some sports writing for The Daily Comet while in high school, their play-by-play announcer, a job he would hold for four years.

“I traveled with the team and felt like I was part of the team,” Borne says. “Coach (Raymond) Didier treated me like a team guy, and he became a father figure of sorts for me while I was there.”

That experience helped him land a job at WAFB Channel 9, where he would befriend Sid Crocker, then the public address

announcer for LSU football.

“Had I not had that Nicholls experience, that job would have been a nonstarter,” Borne says. “One day, (Crocker) invited me up to his booth and told me, ‘You might be doing this one day.’”

Another opportunity happened when he was elected as student body president at Nicholls.

Sen. Allen Ellender invited the rising senior to intern in his office in Washington D.C. over the summer.

Several years later, after he had left his job at WAFB Channel 9 and returned to Nicholls as director of publications and public information, he received a call to come back to work for Sen. Ellender.

Over the course of the next few years, Borne worked for Sen. Ellender, Sen. Elaine Edwards, Sen. Russell Long and Gov. Edwin Edwards.

“Had I not gone to Nicholls and gotten involved in politics, then I would never have had the opportunity to work for a governor, or to go Washington and work for

three U.S. senators,” Borne says. “All of that because of the opportunity that Nicholls gave me.”

The rest of Borne’s career included a stop at Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation before he joined the Louisiana Chemical Association and Louisiana Chemical Industry Alliance as president. He has chaired

the board of Blue Cross Blue Shield and now helps out in various roles for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

Though he’s most often recognized for his work with LSU, he knows which university set him on the path of success.

“It’s part of your roots,” Borne says. “For me, Nicholls helped orient me for the rest of my life.” – Jacob Batte

debut here in Charleston, Southbound will travel nationally, including stops in Raleigh and Durham, N.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Meridian, Miss., and Baton Rouge.

of Commerce Board for 2019. She is also currently serving as a member of the Nicholls Alumni Federation Board of Directors.

and AMO Title Services.

Outside of practicing law, Matt is a commercial real estate investor.

Laura Terrell Lyles (MBA ‘07) is the new president of the Natchitoches Area Chamber of Commerce.

David Vicknair’s (BS ‘07) firm, Scott, Vicknair, Hair & Checki, LLC, is listed by entrepreneurial website Inc. 5000 as one of the seven fastest growing companies in New Orleans.

Mandy Broussard (BA ‘08) is now the director of the Case Management Department at Abbeville General Hospital.

Jessica Jones (AS ‘09, BS ‘12) is now employed by the New Orleans Police Department as a social worker. Her responsibilities include professional and supervisory work overseeing the social services provided to individuals, families and groups in the community, institutional, clinical and home settings.

2000s Deanna Duet Lafont (BA ‘02) was named chairman of the Lafourche Chamber

Matthew Ory (BS ‘04) is an attorney servicing the Lafourche and Terrebonne area. He is the owner of AMO Trial Lawyers

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Alumni House

THROUGH THE LENS N

ame a major event in the last thirty years and Abby Tabor (BGS ’03) was likely there, taking the photo.

In Tabor’s 31 years as a photojournalist for The Daily Comet and Houma Courier, he has covered assassination attempts, hurricanes, oil spills, Super Bowls, National Championships and numerous criminal court cases. He’s also met governors, congressmen and women, and presidential hopefuls.

An unconventional student at Nicholls State University – it took him more than 20 years to complete his degree – he still found lifechanging inspiration in the form of art instructor Dennis Sipiorski’s photography class.

“I thought it was going to be easy but it ended up being a really hard class,” he says. “I loved it. Nicholls did change my life. It really did.

“Sipiorski forced me to slow down and realize if I’m going to do this, I need to spend some time in the darkroom, spend some time taking the image,” Tabor adds. “He told me that if I want to be a photographer, I needed to learn to take my time, find the image I wanted to capture and go in the darkroom and make it right.”

Born in Michigan thanks to a dad in the Army, his family moved back to Thibodaux when Tabor was about one year old. After graduating high school, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life. Maybe he wanted to be a dentist? Nope. Perhaps a historian?

Nope. He even tried his hand in the oilfield when that industry boomed in the early 1980s. However, the infamous oil slump came just a few years later and Tabor was back in the classroom.

Sipiorksi’s class changed everything. The class itself wasn’t what sparked his interest in photography – Tabor already owned his own equipment – but it did open up the possibility that it was something

38 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

he could do for a living.

In August of 1987, Tabor took a job as a photojournalist with The Daily Comet.

“The best part about being a journalist was the opportunity to do all the things you wouldn’t normally be able to do,” Tabor says. “I had never been trawling before, I had never seen how crabs were caught, I had never been in a saltwater marsh before. These people, these areas were beautiful.”

That also meant being present for the stories that bordered on fiction.

“One of the biggest memories I have is in 1989 when former Lafourche Parish President Bobby Tardo tried to blow up Sheriff Duffy Breaux,” Tabor says. “Breaux was going to an event at the Civic Center and Tardo hired these two guys to build a bomb and stuck it by his car. He survived but was injured. That was the first major story that I covered.”

When it comes to the disasters, Tabor says he’s torn. Flames pouring out of the roof of a home, flood waters drifting down a street or the rubble of a house destroyed by a tornado can make for beautiful but haunting photographs.

“If somebody’s house is burning down, it’s hard to take that photograph when you realize they don’t have a place to live anymore,” Tabor says.

“Visually, you look at the flames and it’s a great image but I hated taking it because I know what it means.”

Now that he’s no longer waking up and hitting the ground running, Tabor plans to spend more time riding his bike and visiting his camp in Arkansas.

Asked about his retirement plans and he calls back to the advice that Sipiorski gave him all those years ago: take it slow and do it right.

– Jacob Batte

The Nicholls campus attracts world-renowned talent to perform for the community, including the Grammy-nominated Liverpool Legends, renowned jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr., pictured above, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few.

with borrower’s and Miriam Davis (BGS ’10, BA finding them the lowest ’12, MEd ‘17) is a member Interest rate and monthly payment. He also guides of the Louisiana School Counselor Association and them through the entire she was recently elected to home buying process by the position of elementary providing the mortgage financing. vice president for the 2019-2021 term.

Rae Eschete Breaux (BS ‘13) Rachel Bolotte Lewis (AS ‘11, married Justin Breaux (AS ‘05) on October 5, 2018.

BS ‘12) married Joshua Rae is an HR generalist for Lewis on November home and office furniture 17, 2018. Rachel is the rental company CORT. program manager and Justin is a senior operator ProStart coordinator for for Valero. the Louisiana Restaurant 2010s

Association Education Foundation.

Garett Charpentier (AGS ‘12, BS ’18) is now a mortgage loan officer at American South Mortgage Lending. He is responsible for meeting

Megan Cloutet Jouclas (BS ‘13) married Mason Jouclas (BGS ‘13) on January 5, 2019. Megan is the environmental services director at SMS Healthcare. Mason is currently at Nicholls working on his bachelor

degree in nursing. He is planning to graduate in May 2019.

Meggie Mayberry LeBlanc (AS ‘13, BS ‘13, MEd ‘15) and her husband Daniel LeBlanc (BS ‘14) announce the birth of their son, Philip Daniel LeBlanc, on May 1, 2018. Meggie is a kindergarten teacher at St. Genevieve Catholic Elementary School.

and eighth grade English Language Arts teacher.

Katherine Gianelloni Mabile (BS ‘14) married Matthew Mabile on October 20, 2018. Katherine is the director of Alumni Affairs at Nicholls State University and Matthew is a field engineer for Chesterton.

Anthony Joseph (MEd ‘15) is currently employed by Terrebonne Parish School Carly McInnis Martin (BIS District as the director ‘14) is now a health of bands at Ellender teacher and head Memorial High School. volleyball coach at He has also served as the Thibodaux High School. president of the District VII Band Directors Chelsie Bergeron (BS’14, Association and president MED ‘16) was named of the Terrebonne Lutcher Middle School’s Parish Band Directors Teacher of the Year for 2018. Association.

She is currently a seventh

Grant Ordoyne (BIS ‘15, MEd ‘18) is coordinator of University Graduate Studies at Nicholls in July 2018.

JaDante Frye (BIS ‘16) is now playing professional basketball in L’Alfàs Del Pi, a city in Spain. He signed to play with CB Terralfas, which plays in Liga EBA. Aldrian Smith (BS ‘17) is currently an admissions counselor at Nicholls.

Caroline Marcello (BA ‘17) is a multimedia journalist for KLFY-TV in Lafayette.

John Warren (BA ‘17) began a new job as a licensed sales producer for Brian Mustin: Allstate.

Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

39

Campus Cornerstone A True Community

I

am proud of the Nicholls State University community. I was just looking at the results of our second annual Give-N-Day fundraiser and checking in on the progress of the Nicholls Forward Annual Fund, and you guys have really stepped up to support your fellow Colonels.

Give-N-Day is such a wonderful event because it touches every corner of campus, and every penny raised goes directly to the organization. This year we raised nearly $20,000 more than last year. We had more donors who gave more donations to more organizations. That is the kind of support from the Nicholls community that will move our university forward.

Speaking of moving forward, the Nicholls Forward campaign has cleared the halfway mark, which is a significant milestone. This is our first big fundraising push in some time, and it makes me happy to see the support we’re receiving. If you have been considering making a gift to Nicholls, I encourage you to support this campaign.

The money will go toward improving and maintaining campus facilities, supporting faculty with additional development and resources, creating and maintaining student scholarships and enhancing a rainy day fund.

This is the kind of support we need to remain successful, and it fills me with pride to see it happening here.

The Nicholls Student Firefighter Organization is such a great new addition to campus, which really delivers on serving our university and community. In the fall, I was pleased to reveal that a longtime anonymous donor who created a scholarship benefiting local firefighters was my friend, Maurice Adams.

We have such a supportive community, from our students, to our alumni, to our retirees and even to folks who didn’t graduate

from Nicholls. One such family has been the Bollingers. Donald G. Bollinger’s name graces our student union and now his children are leading the push to renovate the building and bring it into the future.

Charlotte Bollinger – Dr. Clune often refers to her as the Nicholls cheerleader because of her passion and positive spirit – organized fundraising and other resources to renovate the Cotillion Ballroom in the fall in such a short time period. If you haven’t been in the ballroom since the summer, I recommend checking it out. What was once a dreary room has become a hidden gem on our campus.

Now, her brother Boysie has donated $300,000 to renovate the rest of the student union. Boysie is synonymous with the words leadership and philanthropy. His gift is a signal that he believes in Dr. Clune’s vision, and he supports the impact that Nicholls makes on the community.

And what better way to honor the brother and sister by having them on the stage at the same time during our Fall commencement?

Boysie received an honorary doctorate and Charlotte delivered a beautiful commencement speech.

Let me once again thank everyone who has donated their time and resources to Nicholls. If you want to get involved, visit NichollsFoundation.org.

Sincerely,

Christopher H. Riviere (BS ’78) President, Nicholls Foundation

Oaks Society Created to Add to Nicholls’ Legacy

M

ary Alice Van Sickel (BA ’66) knew it would have been tough financially for her parents to send her to college. That’s why she is so thankful that Nicholls State University awarded her with an academic scholarship after she graduated from Lockport High School in 1962.

“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my teachers and the administration at Nicholls who made it possible for me to get

a first-rate education without the burden of having to take out student loans,” she says.

Van Sickel, who retired in 2014 after a 33-year career in marketing with architectural firm Carol R. Johnson Associates, credits the connections she made at Nicholls to getting into the University of Arkansas for her graduate degree.

“My years spent at Nicholls were among the most enjoyable of

40 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

my life,” she says. “Nicholls gave me the confidence to go out into the world, knowing that I was academically prepared to forge my own path, wherever my path would lead me.”

It is that impact on her life that led Van Sickels to become the first member of the newly created Oaks Society at Nicholls.

The Oaks Society, named for the oak trees that have graced the Nicholls campus since and before its formation in 1948, is

a new initiative for the Nicholls Foundation, focusing on planned gifts.

“Joining The Oaks Society is like planting a seed, and like the oak trees across our campus, when that seed blooms it will have a beautiful impact that benefits the Nicholls community,” says Jeremy Becker, executive director of the Nicholls Foundation. “Just like the oaks, Nicholls will benefit from these long-lasting gifts

Nicholls Forward

Foundation Membership

$1,000 to $2,499

Will receive all benefits of being a member of the Nicholls Foundation.

President’s Circle

$2,500 to $4,999 Same as Foundation, plus invited to

Dr. Clune’s “State of Nicholls” address and a reception that follows.

Red and Gray

visit nichollsfoundation.org

Introducing The Nicholls Annual Fund

What is the Nicholls

Annual Fund?

Gifts to the Nicholls State University Annual Fund are used in essential areas across the campus to sustain and improve campus facilities, provide opportunities for faculty to further their skills, create stronger learning environments, enhance the student experience and meet unexpected needs.

Why are

Annual Gifts important?

Declining funding from the state has resulted in a reduced operating budget. State funds and tuition dollars alone fail to meet the entire budget of the university. Annual gifts augment that money to help maintain existing programs and enhance them by allowing for the planning and implementation of potential new programs.

$5,000 to $9,999 Same as President’s Circle, plus invited to a special dinner with Dr. Clune.

Colonel Inspired

$10,000 plus

that will impact students for generations to come.”

Also known as legacy giving, planned gifts are made in lifetime or at death as part of a donor’s financial or estate planning.

“By leaving a bequest to Nicholls upon my death, I hope to be able to give back to Nicholls, who put its faith in me so many years ago,” she says. “The bequest is my way of helping future generations of students to achieve a degree in

higher education and to reap the benefits of all that Nicholls has to offer.

“Colonel Pride engenders in me a feeling of belonging to, and caring about the future of a very special academic community,” Van Sickels adds. “No matter how far away life has taken me, I will always be proud of my achievements at Nicholls, and grateful for the role it played in making me the person I have become. Nicholls remains in my heart always.” – Jacob Batte

Same as Red and Gray, plus invited to a select roundtable and individual gatherings and meals with Dr. Clune.

The Oaks Society NICHOLLS STATE UNIVERSITY Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

41

Campus Cornerstone

Nicholls Cheerleader

C

Dr. Jay Clune presents Charlotte Bollinger with an appreciation letter at the Fall 2018 Commencement Ceremony.

42 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

harlotte Bollinger is known for her passion, her upbeat attitude and her commitment to education.

It’s those traits that have led to Nicholls President Dr. Jay Clune to refer to her as the “Nicholls cheerleader.” They are also the traits that led to her selection as the commencement speaker for the university’s Fall 2018 commencement ceremony.

“Education has always been in my heart,” says Bollinger, a former English and speech teacher at Central Lafourche High School. “I definitely enjoy education, I love supporting it, and I still think of myself as a teacher.”

Since stepping away from the classroom, Bollinger has spent the last three decades in the family business, Bollinger Shipyards, as the executive vice president and corporate secretary. When she started, her brother Boysie was the President and CEO. Now, it’s her son, Ben Bordelon.

Boysie says that when he invited his sister to join the company, he would have her come and sit in at the meetings. Though she had been trained as a teacher, she quickly picked up on the way that business works. However, she was most valuable for her ability to relate to the company’s employees.

“She was a big contributor, especially when it came to soft skills,” Boysie says. “We made it a point to meet with all of our employees to determine what was important to them. She would get to know them.

They would talk about their families and other things that they probably wouldn’t talk to me about.”

The ability to connect with other people and to communicate

effectively is becoming a lost art, Bollinger says, citing the frequency in which she chastises her grandchildren for spending too much time on their cell phones.

“If you can communicate in business today, you can make more money,” she says. “Those are the people that connect with the customer or articulate their plans to the people on the floor.

Regardless of what team you’re on, if you can communicate, you can add value.”

Bollinger was the driving force behind the Cotillion Ballroom renovation. She met with Dr. Clune, who said he wanted to do the project with private money.

“Families look at tuition and fees when figuring out if they can afford to attend the school,” Bollinger says.

“It was exciting to see this big project happen without increasing fees.”

Bollinger says she was shocked when she was asked to be the commencement speaker.

“I’ve done speeches before, but a commencement speech is different,” she says. “Doing a commencement speech, you have a responsibility to say something worthwhile. It was a humbling experience.”

During the ceremony, she shared the stage with her brother, Boysie, who received an honorary doctorate.

“It was more important to me that she was the commencement speaker, and she gave a wonderful speech,” Boysie says. “I am so proud of her, and it felt wonderful to be with her on stage.”

So what does she think about being labeled Nicholls cheerleader?

“I appreciate that they think of me as a cheerleader because I’m telling the story of Nicholls to everybody I talk to.” – Jacob Batte

Honoring an Icon From left, Dr. Marilyn Macik-Frey and Dr. Velma Westbrook don Boysie Bollinger with an honorary doctorate hood.

B

oysie Bollinger never set out to be a leader. He just naturally is one.

It’s that rare ability that has made him an icon in the shipbuilding industry and one of the most influential people in New Orleans. His dedication to South Louisiana and to philanthropy is the reason why he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Nicholls State University.

“It was a great honor,” Bollinger says. “If I never get another honor, I don’t deserve it, but I was proud to get the honorary degree.”

It might surprise you that no one from Bollinger’s immediate family has attended Nicholls.

But the former President and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards knows how vital Nicholls is to the region. His company hired many Nicholls graduates, he helped create the unique maritime management concentration and he serves as chairman on the Nicholls Foundation Board.

He, along with sisters Charlotte and Andrea, donated the first $1 million endowment in Nicholls history in 1997. In 2019, he donated $300,000 to renovate the Donald G. Bollinger Memorial Student Union.

“I think the future is bright at Nicholls,” Bollinger says. “Nicholls is perfectly situated to be a tremendous benefit to the Bayou Region.

It’s a great asset to the community, and I will continue to support it.”

Bollinger says he can see the growth happening at Nicholls under President Dr. Jay Clune, noting the growing community support Nicholls has received in recent years.

“The pride of the alumni and the pride of the students has a huge effect on recruitment and student performance,” he says. “It says something when the ivory tower sits back and says we don’t want to give to sports, we want to give to student life.”

In fact, Bollinger is a passionate advocate for education as a whole. He has served on the Louisiana Board of Regents and the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.

“I think many of the problems we have in America go back to education,” says Bollinger.

“To me, our education is wonderful, we need to have the best schools we can have.”

Bollinger says learned how to be a leader from watching his father. After he graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Bollinger came home to work in the family

business. His dad had him work in his office.

“A man told my father this once, and he told it to me, the smartest thing you can do is hire smarter people than you and have them work for you,” Bollinger says. “My dad was a very generous person. He always believed in helping other people, and he taught us all to give back.

The leadership and philanthropy lessons we learned from him were extraordinary.”

Charlotte says her brother is one of the hardest working people she’s ever known.

“At one point I think he was on 30 different boards, and I’ve known him to book seven things in one evening,” she says. “He’s a very special person. I don’t have that kind of stamina.”

One of their shared passions is supporting Nicholls.

“Every time I’m doing a project that involves Nicholls, I have to tell Boysie because he cares so much about this place,” she says. “And he always says, ‘I’m in.’”

Bollinger may be weaning himself off of the numerous boards and organizations that he is involved with, but he’s not done yet. After all, there is always someone or somewhere in South Louisiana that could use his help. – Jacob Batte Nicholls State University • The COLONEL • Spring 2019 |

43

A Colonel of Truth

Thursday Edition

J

udging from photos, it must have been a mild week for bayou folks. Young men were pictured dressed in white tees or short-sleeved button-down oxfords, often plaid. Women’s dress sleeves similarly fell only halfway to the elbow.

Background trees and shrubs seemed lush and thriving, and sunny lighting was noticeable even when reproduced in black ink on pale gray newsprint.

There was an abundance of important news to be read. Raceland Bank and Trust now offers the novelty of bank-by-mail service designed to save you from trips to the teller and long lines when you get there. The Gas Distributors Corporation now sells the new Servel-brand gas-powered refrigerator that stays silent and lets your food last longer. The state health officer urges parents to get their children immunized against whooping cough, diphtheria and smallpox before school begins. And Autohome Garage encourages you to give your pre-war Buick today’s zip and go with factory-fresh power from its new fireball engine.

But all this important news didn’t begin before Page Two. On the front page, in prime location left of the masthead, a small announcement in a small box reads “Nicholls College Opens Its Doors Today.”

That small text profoundly defines The Lafourche Comet of Thursday, September 23, 1948. Articles telling the story of our university’s origin in contemporaneous terms permeate through all eight pages of the issue. There, a biography of the college’s namesake, Francis Tillou Nicholls, begins, followed on Page Six by an article about his gravesite in the then 100-year old cemetery

44 | Spring 2019 • The COLONEL • Nicholls State University

of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Thibodaux and on Page Seven by the story of his historical home, Ridgefield. Appearing with the Nicholls biography on Page One is a chronicle entitled “Work and Cooperation of Large Number of Persons Finally Builds Junior College.” With a turn of a page, the article “Nicholls Faculty and Staff Arrive to Hold First College Class in Parish” collects small biographies of founding Nicholls employees, including first faculty members Bonnie Bourg, Marie Fletcher and Mima Babington.

In 1948, Nicholls began its long history of attracting honors students. The first person to apply for enrollment at Nicholls was James Maurin, salutatorian of the Class of 1948 at Catholic High School in Donaldsonville. He told the Comet, “I feel it a privilege to be the first applicant… and hope in my future career to be a credit to the college.” The valedictorian of the Class of 1948 at Raceland High School, Margaret Hodson, attended Nicholls with a $50 scholarship from the Raceland Women’s Club—the first scholarship awarded to a Nicholls student.

Maurin, Hodson and 159 others in the inaugural class of Nicholls followed closely the procedure for registering outlined at the bottom of Page One: (1) Report to Registrar’s Office, (2) Report to Room No. 2 to fill out papers, (3) Report to faculty advisor for trial schedule, (4) Report to Room No. 10 to check schedule, (5) Return to Registrar’s Office to get fee slip, (6) Report to Auditor to pay fees, (7) Buy books and supplies.

Businesses were proud to welcome faculty and students to Thibodaux, and their advertisements demonstrated that enthusiasm. Peacock Jewelry

Illustration By Sharon Doucet (BA ‘78)

on St. Louis Street congratulated “the Faculty and student body and wishes them every success in the teaching and pursuit of higher education.”

Badeaux’s Department Store hopes for “a long and lasting association with all.” Having serviced and sold style-right quality merchandise locally for three quarters of a century, Ellis Braud, Inc., extended “a hearty welcome” to the new college.

“May your stay here be happy and most profitable,” wrote Leon Bloch’s Department Store, the selfproclaimed “off campus headquarters.” And Roth Drug Store told the new college students “Our folks want you to feel at home, to become one of us.”

What we don’t get to see in print, however, is the thrill and pride and appreciation of all the tens of thousands of people living in the bayou region who, with the establishment of a college serving their ancestral lands, were finally recognized as a population worthy of intellectual growth and opportunity. The vast majority of those 1948 bayou folks would never attend Nicholls, but they nonetheless smiled and cried and cheered for the validation of their heritage as well as equitable opportunities for their children and grandchildren.

It wasn’t long after that famous Thursday edition when school buses would descend on Thibodaux like yellow butterflies to a nectar party.

They carried to the new college young men and women whose sleeves fell midway to the elbow and whose slacks and dresses fell well below the corresponding joint at the knee. Each one of them carried a copy of that Thursday edition of the Lafourche Comet strapped with their textbooks and composition books like an encyclopedia of their new college. – Dr. John P. Doucet

NICHOLLS ALUMNI FEDERATION

YOUR MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

Joining makes it possible for the Nicholls Alumni Federation to: • Fund alumni student scholarships • Host alumni tailgate parties featuring food, drinks and live music at every Colonel home football game • Publish a redesigned Colonel magazine for alumni and donors

• Honor outstanding alumni and supporters at the Alumni Awards for Excellence event • Promote Colonel Pride on campus and in the community • Organize alumni networking socials

...and much more!

Join today at nichollsalumni.org/membership

THE

COLONEL the magazine of NICHOLLS STATE UNIVERSITY

P.O. Box 2074 Thibodaux, LA 70310

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