The Year in Highlights by MediaOCU

GRADUATION EDITION

THE CAMPUS April 26, 2017 – Volume 110 Issue 53

I'll make you popular Alumna Kristin Chenoweth coaches Megan Carpenter, music theater sophomore, at the third annual Kristin Chenoweth masterclass Sept. 6 at the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center. Chenoweth invited 16 music theater students to join her on closing night of My Love Letter to Broadway in November at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City. The one-woman show has special guests each night and features songs Chenoweth

Cou�tesy o� Hannah Potes and the Billings Gazette

Ball so hard

helped make popular. Students accompanied Chenoweth for performances of “I Was Here”

The women’s basketball bench celebrates as Junior Guard Daniela Galindo shoots a buzzer-beater against Montana Western. The Stars went on to defeat three other opponents at the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. They were undefeated in the tournament, bringing home the championship trophy and banner. Senior Forward Daniela Wallen was named NAIA Most Outstanding Player.

and “Upon This Rock.” Elina Moon Student Publications

THE YEAR IN

HIGHLIGHTS Congratulations! The academic year is nearly over and students already have started planning for the summer. But, before putting this year in the past, take some time to reflect on its highlights. Variety is one of the university’s strongest attributes. The Wi-Fi may be shoddy, and some housing facilities leak too often, but OCU can always boast a unique student body. Students come from all walks of life, representing different parts of the world, and bringing unique personalities and perspectives to the community. Students give the university life and highlight its most positive traits, even while living through negative ones. Students help the university achieve success academically, artistically and athletically. There were many ups and downs this year,

PAGE 2 HIGHLIGHTING COMMUNITY

but the highlights stand out, making it a good year overall. The country elected Donald Trump as the 45th president this year, and students elected Randy Gipson-Black as the new Student Government Association president. The new SGA executive cabinet and senators were also sworn in. The campus community crowned Camryn Sanders, biomedical science junior, as Miss OCU. Officials named Dr. Kent Buchanan as provost, Dr. Amy Cataldi as dean of the Petree School of Arts and Sciences and Dr. Helen Gaudin as her associate dean. Different departments said “goodbye” to beloved staff, but also welcomed new people into the mix. The basketball teams competed well this season, and the women’s team took it all the way, bringing back a national championship banner.

PAGE 4 HIGHLIGHTING PHILANTHROPY

Elina Moon Student Publications

Ali Wonderly Student Publications

For the first year, cheer was recognized as an official sport. OCU not only hosted the first ever national cheer championship, but also took the win. New shows this year didn’t just include the regular university seasons, but an abundance of student-produced, student-led productions on topics like sexual assault and women’s rights. This issue of The Campus highlights some of the best moments of the 2016-17 academic year, where students represented the university in a good way. This issue also highlights some graduating seniors with loving words from their families and friends. The Campus staff hopes you enjoy this look back at the year’s highlights. By Miguel Rios, editor-in-chief

PAGE 6 HIGHLIGHTING CREATIVITY

PAGE 7 HIGHLIGHTING TEAMWORK

Elina Moon Student Publications

Donovan Lawson Student Publications

Freshman follies

Making pancakes

Kicklining dino

All I do is win

Adam LaPorte, music theater/composition freshman, and Kenzie McIntyre, music theater freshman, play an icebreaker at First-Year Follies. The event focuses freshmen and encourages them to come together as a community that helps each other throughout the year.

Jessica Martens, music theater/vocal performance sophomore; Maddie Williams, dance universal sophomore, and Kristen Grooms, dance universal freshman, prepare for Pancake Palooza, Gamma Phi Beta’s philanthropy event benefitting the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.

Roary the Tyrannosaurus Rex kicklines with dancers from the American Spirit Dance Company during rehearsals for the Spring Show. The Spring Show highlights different styles of dances with unique choreography so students can improve in all areas of dance.

Seniors Mariana Duran, Amanda Ingram and Daniela Wallen show off their championship trophy and bracket after arriving back on campus from their tournament. The women’s basketball team worked together to bring home a national championship for the university.

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Crazy Kazoo Lady

'Death Week' distractions

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Get advice by emailing chawthorne@okcu.edu Read about possible distractions before finals

Shining stars

Read about the Jewish Stars organization

community

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I pledge alliance

Isn't she lovely

Randy Gipson-Black, religion sophomore, speaks after being sworn in as Student Government Association president Camryn Sanders, biomedical

at the SGA Inauguration on April 11 in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center. Gipson-Black

science junior, is crowned Miss

won 75 percent of the popular vote. His platform included repainting faded parking spaces, expanding the Aduddel

OCU 2017. The pageant was Oct.

Fitness Center, creating a new recycling bill, and getting the campus community more involved in SGA.

22 in Kirkpatrick Auditorium in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. Her platform is “The Storybook Exchange,” a literary campaign and book donation drive. Sanders won first place in the talent portion for her rendition of “The House of the Rising Sun.” She will go on to represent OCU in the Miss Oklahoma Pageant competition in June.

Elina Moon Student Publications

Getting to know you Adam LaPorte, music theater/composition freshman; Andrea Strickler, acting freshman, and Melissa Campbell, music theater freshman, play Ships and Sailors at First Year Follies on Aug. 24 in Abe Lemons Arena in Henry J. Freede Wellness and Activity Center. The event is to help freshman get to know their classmates during orientation week and become more comfortable in their new community.

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Sharing the feast Celia Tedde, music theater/vocal performance sophomore, leads a Passover Seder on April 10 in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center. The Jewish Stars hosted the Seder so Jewish students would have a community to celebrate the holiday with and for non-Jewish students to be able to experience the culture.

Ali Wonderly Student Publications

Sing it out Leo Snow, vocal performance freshman, and Nic Rhodes, economics/finance junior, sing in Lambda Chi Alpha’s Spring Sing performance Feb. 22 in Petree Recital Hall in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. The fraternity won first place in the competition, which was an event hosted by the Blue Key Honor Society to unite the Greek organizations.

The Campus has served the Oklahoma City University community since 1907. It is published Wednesday during the academic year, with the exception of holidays and exam periods.

THE CAMPUS April 26, 2017, Volume 110, Number 53

Editor-in-chief: Miguel Rios Associate Editor: Sage Tokach Copy Editor: Chandler White News Editor: Zoe Travers Lifestyles Editor: Madelyn Parker Photo Editor: Elina Moon Community Manager: Lauren Berlingeri Web Editor: Nicole Waltman

Photographers: Courtney Beyer, Donovan Lawson, Ali Wonderly Staff Writers: Taylor Rey, Prisca Lynch, McAlyn Forbes, Nathan Moelling, Adrianna DelPercio, Jeremiah Rupp, Harrison Langford, Emily Wollenberg Film Critics: Danielle Petersen, Mary McLain

The Student Publications staff welcomes unsolicited material and let-

Videographer: Emily Haan Ad/Marketing Director: Madison Clark Circulation Director: Brianna Demuth Faculty Adviser: Kenna Griffin

ters to the editor. All letters must be signed and include the writer’s phone number, address, major, and classification. The staff reserves the right to edit all letters. The staff also reserves the right to refuse letters without explanation. Letters can be sent online at mediaocu.com, emailed to stupub@ okcu.edu or dropped off at the Newsroom in Walker Center for Arts and Sciences. Submitted items may appear on MediaOCU and in the print edition.

April 26, 2017

philanthropy

Chew on this

Crowning a king

Meagan Chew, acting senior, performs with OCUpella at Pancake Palooza on Feb. 12 in the Nellie R. Melton Panhellenic Quadrangle. Pancake Palooza happens twice a year to raise money for Gamma Phi Beta’s two philanthropies. In the fall, they raised $1,800 for Girls on the Run, a nonprofit organization that teaches life skills to young girls. In the spring, they raised $1,700 for the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. Gamma Phi hosted several other events including selling doughnuts and partnering with Chipotle.

Elina Moon Student Publications

Members of Kappa Sigma fraternity celebrate as Cole Cloutier, music theater sophomore, is crowned after King of Hearts at Alpha Phi’s philanthropy event Feb. 24 in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center. Fraternity men participated in talent and pageant competitions during the event. The categories of the pageant were swimwear, formal and Q&A. Kappa Sigma’s Theta-Psi chapter at OCU celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. They also hosted events throughout the year for their philanthropy of military heroes week Nov. 7-11. Events included Wall of Heroes, Penny Wars and the Boot Camp Obstacle Course. Throughout the year, they raised $2,083.

Ali Wonderly Student Publications

Dance your heart out Lucy Cole, dance freshman, and Christina Licarione, dance performance sophomore, create their own moves during the Move Your Phi’t Dance-a-thon to raise money for Alpha Phi’s philanthropy, the Alpha Phi Foundation, which raises awareness for women’s heart health. Alpha Phi raised about $10,610 this year, said Monica Brown, dance management sophomore and director of philanthropy for Alpha Phi.

Miguel Rios Student Publications

April 26, 2017

Balancing act

Elina Moon Student Publications

Austin Gipson-Black, religion sophomore and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity member, showcases his talent of balancing and spinning a basketball at Lambda Chi’s philanthropy event Hearts for Hunger on March 30 in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center. The event raised about $1,200 for Feeding America, a nonprofit nationwide network of food banks and food pantries.

April 26, 2017

creativity

Courtney Beyer Student Publications

Who do you believe? Kaiden Maines, acting freshman, portrays “Angel,” and holds Andrea Amaro, acting junior, who plays “Marisol Perez.” In Marisol, guardian angels leave the humans they protect to enter a war against heaven. Perez must fend for herself and decide who to trust as the war spills into New York City. Marisol was part of TheatreOCU’s Stage II season and ran April 20-23. The show addresses topics of theology, personal relationships and loneliness.

Elina Moon Student Publications

We’re one big, happy family The cast of The Juniper Tree unites for a final moment of harmony after a show full of jealousy, poison and murder. The opera was part of Bass School of Music’s Spotlight season and ran March 3-5. The show’s ensemble creates the juniper tree where the mother and son’s bones are buried.

Cast me! Jaeli Wolf, dance performance junior, performs in “Alto’s Lament” during an Oct. 14 dress rehearsal for the Student Choreography show. The dance tells the story of a performer who feels frustrated with the lack of good roles for women with her vocal range. The annual show features

Moving on

dances choreographed by dance performance seniors to highlight what they’ve learned in their

Donovan Lawson Student Publications

Hannah Green, music/theater senior, and Tyra Bullock, acting senior, portray

dance classes.

“Bev” and “Francine” in TheatreOCU’s Clybourne Park, which ran Feb. 2-5. The two characters share their perspectives of life in a 1950s segregated neighborhood, touching on themes of race and gentrification.

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Let’s misbehave Stephanie Feeback, music theater senior, sings about letting loose to Matt Flowers, music theater senior, during an April 19 dress rehearsal for Bass School of Music’s Anything Goes. The show features a complicated love triangle between passen-

Love conditionally

gers on the S.S. American. Any-

Ali Wonderly Student Publications

thing Goes touches on themes of race, crime and following

Gareth Forsberg, acting freshman, portraying “Sims/Papa,” specifies the terms of his love for “Iris,” portrayed by Paige Konger, acting senior. The Nether, directed by Hal Kohlman, tells the story of humans engaging in a virtual universe where they can log in, create their own identity and explore their strongest desires. A detective named “Morris,” played by Haley Fortune, acting senior, discovers the world and unravels its mysteries. The show explores ideas of love, reality and the line between right and wrong. It ran Nov. 3-6 in the Black Box Theater in Wanda L. Bass Music Center.

your heart.

Elina Moon Student Publications

We’re better together Patricia Irwin, music theater/ vocal performance sophomore, and Daniel C. Brown, acting senior, portray zookeepers and sing a duet about finding their misplaced lion at the improv show April 21 in Clara E. Jones Administration Building. The final weekend of improv shows highlighted the group’s musical talents as they improvised a full musical with various song styles.

Elina Moon Student Publications

Life imitates art

Elina Moon Student Publications

Brent Greenwood, a local Native American artist, paints during the Spring Equinox exhibition March 31 in the Nona Jean Hulsey Gallery in Norick Art Center. The event highlighted the making of Native American art in Oklahoma.

April 26, 2017

teamwork

Going for the gold The university’s competitive cheer squad shows off their championship banner after winning the first National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics Cheer Championship on March 11. The championship was hosted in Abe Lemons Arena in Henry J. Freede Wellness Activity Center. The Stars defeated runner-up Saint Francis by 4.15 points, finishing with a final score of 87.08. Cou�tesy o� OCUspo�ts.com

Swing batter, batter Senior Infielder Jerame Littell rears back to swing at the Feb. 26 game against Texas A&M-Texarkana at Jim Wade Stadium. The Stars won the game 3-1, their second victory against Texas A&M, finishing off a 5-0 week. The team has a 41-8 win-loss record at presstime. The next home game will be against Southwestern Assemblies of God University at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. April 29. The Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament will be from May 5-8 in Jim Wade Stadium. Elina Moon Student Publications

April 26, 2017

Hard work pays off

Donovan Lawson Student Publications

The women’s basketball team shows off their bracket and trophy after winning the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics Division I Tournament against Lewis-Clark State, 73-66. Coach Bo Overton was named the NAIA’s Coach of the Year, and Senior Forward Daniela Wallen was named the NAIA’s Most Outstanding Player.

April 26, 2017

Congratulations,

Chloe

Congratulations

to the 2017 Honors Program Graduating Class!

These students have completed all requirements of the University Honors Program and will graduate cum honore:

You fill our hearts with joy and pride. Love always, Mom & Dad 9

Arrash Allahyar Noelle Bradley Jordan Braunnan Lauren Branum Liza Clark Hannah Descartin Tamara Doherty Audrey Harris Sylvia Hayes Grace Lewis Judah Maxwell Anna Nguyen Eric Odum Felicity Owens (Dec. 2016) Karina Salazar-Lopez Kenzie Slothower Monica Thompson Elizabeth Wasson Kenneth Williams Patience Williams Takayoshi Yago April 26, 2017

April 26, 2017