Northwest Missourian

Missouri reaches top ten state volunteer rates, local organizations give back

Missouri residents were ranked 10th in the nation for contributions to nonprofit organizations, charities and volunteer services Feb. 1 by AmeriCorps.

Thom Alvarez, principal of Maryville High School, said volunteering is a huge part of making sure the schools run smoothly. He said without volunteers, the high school wouldn’t be able to participate in half the things that it does.

“Volunteers are vital to the school system,” Alvarez said. “When you talk about just our band when they go to band days, it takes at least five or six volunteers to just get everything set up and be able to feed the kids. I don’t know what we would do without the volunteers.”

In 2021, over 1.4 million Missouri residents volunteered through organizations that contributed an average of $3.1 billion in economic value. While COVID began making it difficult on businesses and community members, more than 2.4 million people began helping their neighbors out while suffering the effects of the pandemic.

“It’s a little more difficult to volunteer in schools, you have to go through a background check and obstacles to be able to work with kids,” Alvarez said. “Sometimes that puts a barrier up, but

Equity, students guide Michael Godard’s career

SIDNEY LOWRY Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry

Equity and student achievement — the two main facets of higher education that drives one candidate in the search for Northwest’s 11th president. Michael Godard, provost at Southeast Missouri State University, has experience in both faculty positions and administration. He said that has impacted the way he has interpreted positions throughout his career in higher education.

Godard was the third of four presidential candidates to visit campus during the month on Feb. 9, participating in multiple sessions during the day with stakeholder groups and toured campus buildings. He started his education at Castleton University with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. Then he completed his master’s degree in exercise physiology from Adelphi University and a doctorate in human bioenergetics from Ball State University. After years of schooling, he never ended up leaving higher education.

Godard spent over two decades exclusively teaching before moving to the administrative side of the university, but still is a professor of exercise science at Southeast Missouri State University. He said his teaching background reminds him of what the main goal of a university is in the first place.

“I’ve gotten into higher education to mentor students,” Go-

dard said. “… Number one, I understand the challenges and the opportunities that are in front of students, you know, being a first generation college student. But number two, being a faculty member and devoting a you know, the early parts of my career to just teaching and mentoring students. That’s where our focus is. We are here to make sure that you have a successful experience as a student.”

Godard has worked in administration in multiple Missouri universities, starting at the University of Central Missouri and then his current institution of Southeast Missouri State.

He said spending the last decade working on enrollment management and student success within the state will give him an advantage in the presidential position.

“Serving as a provost at a different institution in the state, I think (I have) a firm understanding of what’s needed at an institution like Northwest in Missouri,” he said. “I have those established relationships here, and I’m able to really navigate through potentially what some of those solutions could be when challenges show up for Northwest.”

Being a first generation student himself, Godard said underrepresented groups of students are a big priority. He said having diverse faculty and staff helps make minority groups of students feel comfortable.

Northwest announces changes with new dining hall contract

we have so many that do it. It’s a testament to our community that they don’t mind some of those little hurdles.”

Maryville has many volunteer opportunities that give back to the community, some including Lettuce Dream, New Nodaway Humane Society, Maryville High School, Ministry Center and North Star Advocacy.

Lettuce Dream is a social enterprise that provides career and community opportunities and inclusion for people with disabilities. New Nodaway Humane Society seeks volunteers who can help with putting more animals to be adopted and put into homes. The Maryville High School takes volunteers in almost every department, sports and extra-curricular activities to keep activities open. The Ministry Center looks for volunteers that can help in the food pantry or with donations. North Star Advocacy provides direct and indirect volunteer opportunities that allows community members to provide support.

In 2022, an estimated 23.2% of Americans, more than 60.7 million people, formally volunteered with organizations between September 2020 and 2021. In total, these volunteers served an estimated 4.1 billion hours with an economic value of $122.9 billion, according to AmeriCorps.

Last semester, the Northwest student body was informed the dining hall contract with Aramark would be coming to an end, announcing a contract with Sodexo Operations LLC Feb. 8. Students should expect some changes coming to campus next academic year.

Northwest has agreed to a seven-year contract with Sodexo and an optional two-year renewal. The new contract is bringing many changes to campus, such as restaurant options and meal plans.

Forest Village Apartment residents will be required to purchase a meal plan. The available plans will be an all-access plan, 14 swipes per week or 10 swipes per week. Off-campus students will be offered a customizable meal plan.

People around campus have varying views on this change like Mooyah employee Christopher Ray, freshman Billie McCoy and sophomore Olivia Dorman.

“I mean I’m sad about it because (Mooyah) is the only build your own burger place in town, but it’s not really up to us on what we can do about it,” Ray said. “It’s a new company coming in, and they’re going to be the ones that decide what businesses will be here.”

The new restaurant options include a Buffalo Wild Wings To-Go replacing Mooyah and a “ghost kitchen” with MrBeast Burger

and Qdoba. A ghost kitchen is a restaurant that prepares online orders for delivery to customers.

“I am quite excited,” Dorman said. “I mean, I more prefer Buffalo Wild Wings than what we have right now.”

Campus will also now have a Kiwibot, an automated delivery robot, to deliver MrBeast

Burger and Qdoba.

Sodexo expects to meet student expectations regarding daily needs, wellbeing and engagement on campus, according to its website. It plans on doing this with improved allyship and communication.

Missouri’s oldest and largest independently-owned and operated bank.

The third of the four finalists in the Northwest presidential search to attend campus, Michael Godard, responds to a question from an audience member at the open session Feb. 9 at the Mary Linn Auditorium in the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts.

In Missouri, there are over 27 million acres of farmland and nearly 100,000 operating farms, each with its own purpose and products. Many farms across the state contribute to farm-to-table restaurants like William Coy’s in Maryville.

Mitchell Cosby, the owner and head chef of William Coy’s, started his culinary career at a farm-to-table restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri. He was then offered the opportunity to create a farm-to-table in Maryville.

“After working there and seeing the quality of the food and just the difference in myself from eating that way for so long, I decided that’s the only way I would cook,” Cosby said.

The idea for William Coy’s sparked from a school project Cosby had while in culinary school. The name pays homage to his brother, William, who passed away when Cosby was 17 and Coy was his grandfather’s name.

Since its creation in 2018, Cosby has worked with many farms for supplies. When first looking for suppliers for the restaurant, he started with just driving around looking for farms.

“I was just driving around the country looking for houses without power lines, and I would stop in and I’d be like ‘Hey, you guys sell produce?’” he said. “It was really just like kind of a grassroots campaign getting out there

FARM-TO-FORK

Local farms partner with farm-to-table restaurants

cessed. She uses a USDA certified processor where all of the meat is inspected there. After the meat has been processed, it comes back to the family frozen so they can deliver it to customers.

Originally from California and marrying a fifth generation farmer, Koch said there are a lot of adversities they face while producing meat.

“You just have to know how to pivot,” Koch said. “You have to be resilient. That’s why farming is so hard. That’s why a lot of small family farms are not making it because farming is not easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and everyone would still be raising their own food.”

With over two years running Farms Wide Open and being in a partnership with William Coy’s, Koch said farm-to-table restaurants help small family-owned farms by reminding people of the ripple effect when they spend their money locally. She said when people go to buy a package of beef at the store, farmers are getting only nine cents for every dollar of meat. By having local buyers, more money is going back to the people who are raising and processing the animals.

and meeting the people and then just slowly over time, more people have found out about us.”

Nearly two hours from Maryville, TableTop Farms was the first farm to partner and supply goods to the restaurant. Ta-

bleTop Farms, located in Chillicothe, Missouri, has been there since the beginning. Lisa Geiser said she was visiting the Mozingo Lake Golf Course, and while on a tour of the area, she saw William Coy’s. She then asked if the restaurant was looking for a chicken provider, and the partnership grew from there.

TableTop Farms started at the end of 2017, not long before William Coy’s opened, with the mission to produce and supply nutritious food locally. Geiser and her family mainly supply chicken to the restaurant, but sometimes vegetables and other produce if available.

“We are a certified naturallygrown farm, which means we practice organically growing, but we are not organically certified,” Geiser said. “So we are certified by other farmers that come and inspect our farm or like the extension center. We grow vegetables, mostly greens, as well as our pastured animals like the chicken and then we do pastured pork.”

The menu at William Coy’s features multiple different dishes highlighting locally-sourced chicken from different farms. Before it’s served, there is a long process of raising the livestock. Geiser said she also likes to support small family-owned farms as TableTop gets its chickens from a family-run hatchery in Georgia.

After receiving the chicks in the mail, they are transferred to a brooder for around four weeks.

After the chickens start to develop their true feathers and can regulate their body temperatures, they are moved into a protected pasture and are grass fed. Depending on the size of the bird, Geiser said they can be moved to different feeding areas twice a day.

“They’re just happy,” Geiser said. “I mean, they see you come in and they just run and they’re like little tiny dinosaurs, and they’re just happy being out on pasture, doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”

TableTop Farms have raised

thousands of chickens, sometimes a thousand at a time, and said the quality of meat people get from a locally-owned farm when compared to commerciallevel production is unmatched.

“Your quality of food is not as high,” Geiser said. “You know, they grow in confined animal facilities, so the health of the animal or the health of the vegetable is not their number one priority. Whereas your small farmer, you know, they really take pride in it.”

Despite being two hours away, Geiser said delivering the chicken to William Coy’s is no problem because her family all get to sit down and enjoy a meal together while they’re there. She said a big part of having a farm-

“That’s why farm-to-table restaurants are so important because the concept of farm-totable restaurant leads people to think ‘Where’s my food coming from and what impact does that have?’” she said. “It puts more of that food dollar back into the hands of the farmer. So that’s why it’s important for farmers to either sell directly to consumers or sell to places like farm-to-table restaurants that help farmers educate consumers about where their food comes from.”

Cosby said William Coy’s menu changes with the seasons and what products he gets at what time. Another local supplier is Lettuce Dream which provides produce to the restaurant weekly. Not only does it supply lettuce, but occasionally basil, cilantro or any other microgreens that are being grown at the time.

Greenhouse Manager Alex Chang started volunteering at Lettuce Dream three years ago but has since stayed to work with other volunteers, work study students and other employees. Lettuce Dream grows all its lettuce right inside the greenhouse, packages it and supplies it to many different businesses around Maryville.

“I feel like the more restaurants can be sourced locally, the less hands it has to go through and the more fresh it is,” Chang said.

to-table restaurant is building connections to keep the community running.

Another supplier for William Coy’s strays just 10 minutes from the restaurant in Ravenwood, Missouri. Farms Wide Open, a pasture-raised meat producer ran by a fifth generation farmer, also supplies chicken and other meats. Courtney Koch and her husband, Boyd, started Farms Wide Open in 2020 during the pandemic. Koch follows a similar process to Geiser when raising her chicken before sending them to be pro-

Cosby said working with local suppliers not only helps the local economy, but also helps reduce the carbon footprint as they don’t have to have meat and produce shipped to them from all over the country. Working with those local suppliers helps build the community and create more connections.

“Once you get to know your farmer and know your restaurant, your small business owner, everybody does become a family,” Geiser said. “Even though you’re all working your own separate businesses, you get to understand and you know exactly what’s going on with things, and you build that relationship in that community with each other.”

Rows of lettuce sit in the final growing bay inside of the Lettuce Dream greenhouse. Lettuce Dream supplies produce to multiple different businesses in town, including William Coy’s.

SIDNEY LOWRY MANAGING EDITOR

Couples and families enjoy a Valentine’s Day dinner at William Coy’s Farm-to-Table Restaurant located at Mozingo

Lake Golf Course. William Coy’s sources its fresh ingredients from local producers in Maryville and Chillicothe.

GRACE ROTHWEILER MISSOURIAN PHOTOGRAPHER

SIDNEY LOWRY

“ Once you get to know your farmer and know your restaurant, your small business owner, everybody does become a family.”

-LISA GEISER TABLETOP FARMS

Mrs. Mickey says goodbye to Northwest

Mickey Ashley, also known to students as Mrs. Mickey, left the Northwest Bearcat Commons Feb. 10. She was most known for her positivity and left a meaningful impact on students' lives.

Ashley’s positivity showed through day in and day out. When talking about her years working at Northwest as it came to an end, she became very emotional. Mickey loved the people she got to interact with everyday.

Mickey was born in Saint Joseph and graduated from Nodaway Holt in 1982 with honors. She said she had been working at Northwest Bearcat Commons for eight years, and it was time for her to move on.

“I’m gonna miss the kids,” Ashley said with tears. “The faculty, staff, everybody has just been amazing. I am just so proud that I got to share everybody’s journey with them. … I’m gonna miss the people more than anything.”

Through swiping Bearcat cards in the Union, Ashley made fond memories working at Northwest. She said she enjoyed meeting different kinds of people.

“I probably have learned as much from them as what I hoped they would have learned from me,” Ashley said. “Like the kids that are from different

countries. We sit and talk, and they tell me things that go on in their countries, what they do, and their kind of cultures and yeah, I have learned.”

Assistant Professor of education Dr. Tina Ellsworth, said Ashley meant a lot to them. Ellsworth said she really enjoyed her outgoing nature and cheery attitude. She also said Ashley can take an average day like a Wednesday and turn it into something that makes people smile. This is something many students refer to as “Hump Day.”

“She’s got her camels all out and her sign out, and she tells everybody you know in her voice in the way that she does, ‘Happy Hump Day,’” Ellsworth said. “And then even on Sundays where there might be some special event in the Union and they have music playing, she’ll get students to dance with her while they’re in line.”

Junior Carly Breen was not only there on “Hump Days,” but nearly every day of the week. She also felt Mickey was able to have a meaningful impact in the lives of others, including her own. She said Mickey went out of her way to help her when she was going through a tough time.

“She’s just always there for other people,” Breen said. “She says hi to everyone, she knows everyone by name. And at that

point, I realized, like, why she was able to do that. Because she does genuinely care about each and every student that she sees everyday. She genuinely cares about what they’re going through, what they have gone through and what they might go through.”

Although Ashley has had a great impact on the students and faculty at Northwest, she said she has accepted a job at the Mound City Post Office for personal reasons. Ashley said her leaving had nothing to do with her job since she loves it. She also wanted to give advice to Northwest stu-

dents before she left.

“Just do your best,” Ashley said, trying not to cry. "And don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not important, or you’re not worth anything, because each and every one of us is just as unique and important, just as much as the next person.”

Art exhibit to bring light to biases in America

The Northwest Art Club's students have created an exhibit called "Biases of America," which delves into various biases prevalent in society, including those related to race, religion, feminism, mental health and gender.

The exhibit will be presented during the end of Black History Month and continue to the beginning of Women's History Month. Some of the pieces that will be shown are paintings, sculptures, murals and interactive pieces.

Caylea Dill is a senior majoring in art education and the president of the Art Club. Her goal when she became president was to bring new ideas and build a stronger community. When the Art Club was choosing its display theme, it had to think about what would bring the most creativity to the artist.

“It's an important theme, we really wanna create more representation,” Dill said. Bias of America was the theme that the Art Club finally decided on. Dill mentions biases are ongoing and even if people don't think they have any, everyone has their own internal biases. The members split up and thought of their own vision of biases and have been working on turning these biases into artwork since September 2022.

The Executive Board decided it would do a group immersive piece. The board members are Treasurer Avery Andell, Secretary McKinley Daniels, Historian and Service Chair Devin

Kernes and Dill. The board decided to focus the project on feminism. It was inspired by its own board which is led by all women. Dill wants to be able to challenge their viewers with pictures and quotes from magazines from the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Dill also has independent projects she is working on like bias in religion and a series of portrait paintings eliminating stereotypes that will be part of the exhibit as well. Daniels will be doing a separate piece as well, she is creating a sculpture touching on the topic of mental illness and health. Many of the other members outside of this group project will be creating artwork touching on their visions of biases.

“The past two years I’ve been on this journey of exploring what are my own biases,” Dill said. “I took this class, multiculturalism, and I had a great teacher. She made it known that everyone has biases, and it's not something to be ashamed of, but it's something that you work towards to better yourself.”

The Executive Board's piece involves a revolving darkroom door that Dill found in the basement of the school. Inside will be a mood board of feminine figures and things that have been said about femininity in the past. When people enter the dark room, they will hear audio from interviews where they asked people in the community about what feminism means to them.

Avery Andell is a sophomore majoring in broadcasting and production. Her role in the group project is the audio portion, with the help of Wil-

liam Murphy who is a television and video engineer in the School of Communication and Mass Media.

“I am excited to see the finished project because we’ve had a lot of different stages and ideas of what we were gonna do so to finally have something locked down that we all feel good about, just to see how it finally turns out is exciting,” Andell said.

Daniels is a senior majoring in biomedical sciences. She joined to still be able to express herself through art and meet new people. She is most excited to see their art come together in the final pieces as well as see viewers' reactions and what questions they have after their experiences in the exhibit. Through the immersive piece, she believes femininity is not secluded to women and is more than just women in dresses and makeup.

Her sculpture piece is a selfportrait of her own mental illness like PTSD and anxiety that affects her. Her vision is someone who can look solid on the outside but can be fragile mentally.

“The thought process behind it is like what you see on the surface is not what is always happening behind the scenes,” Daniels said. “Mental illness has a lot of different faces and is expressed differently in other people like some people handle it a lot stronger than others.”

The exhibit will be open at 5 p.m. Feb. 20 in the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. An opening presentation by students and Northwest Assistant Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Justin Mallet will begin at 5:30 p.m.

ALYNA THIBAULT Missourian Reporter | @TheMissourian

Art Club President senior Caylea Dill sits on the floor surrounded by scraps of magazines before adding them to its interactive piece in the exhibit at 5 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building.

DAKOTA WEAVER PHOTO EDITOR

Mickey Ashley is known for her energetic personality while swiping Bearcat cards entering the J.W. Jones Student Union. Mickey was emotional while saying her goodbyes to individuals she has grown close to Feb. 8.

MALLORY SCHEELK MISSOURIAN PHOTOGRAPHER

KATHLEEN HARNER Missourian Reporter | @TheMissourian

City approves new marijuana codes

SIDNEY LOWRY Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry

Council members approved the change of municipal codes to be in regulation with Amendment 3 and recreational marijuana guidelines at the Feb. 13 meeting. Despite the changes throughout Missouri municipalities, law enforcement is still working out how codes will be interpreted.

City Manager Greg McDanel said that over the last few months, the city has been working on the codes to comply with the new state statutes set.

“... The city’s ability to regulate outside of Amendment 3 is very, very limited,” he said. “And so a lot of this is directly from Amendment 3 and has to be applied to municipalities throughout the state.”

Councilman John McBride asked how law enforcement is supposed to differentiate between possession of legal and illegal marijuana. McDanel said police throughout the state are going to have to work through that in the next couple of months.

Police Chief Ron Christian said this is brand new territory for law enforcement.

“It is going to be a lot of trial and error for a period of time until we get, kind of, comfortable,” Christian said. “We share the same concerns, but at the end of the day, the reality is that marijuana has been lowered in its importance as far as law enforcement action. What y’all voted on is they really just don’t want this to be an issue anymore. So that’s going to change

CRIME LOG

for the week of Feb. 16

Northwest Missouri State University Police Department

Feb. 11

There is a closed investigation for a fre alarm in Millikan Hall. There is a closed investigation for a fre in the Administration Building.

Feb. 9 Sasank Sriniva Nadendlla 23, was in an accident on University Drive.

There is an open investigation for harassment in the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. There is a closed investigation for an alcohol violation in Franken Hall.

Maryville Department of Public Safety

Feb. 9

A summons was issued to Skylar A. Rufenacht, 37, for driving while suspended, failure to register a motor vehicle and failure to maintain fnancial responsibility on the 100 block of South Main Street.

Feb. 8

There was an accident between Jessica D. McCreary, 21, and Linda D. McClurg, 63, on North Main Street and East 16th Street.

the way we do things, and we’re still trying to fgure those out.”

Section One of the ordinance deletes three codes encompassing possession and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia and replaces it with more information on definitions, identification, possession and consumption on certain properties.

These changes reduce civil penalties for possession and use as well as growing marijuana. There is a civil penalty of $50 for possessing and growing without a permit. People are not able to walk down the streets smoking marijuana, and smoking and consumption is prohibited in certain areas like schools and daycares.

Restaurants who choose to serve food containing marijuana must register with the city in advance and provide public notices on front doors and menus.

Section Two of the ordinances directly address driving offenses. Driving while under the influence of marijuana is prohibited. McDanel said that consumption is also prohibited for passengers in these vehicles.

Section Three is a section for regulation of businesses and manufacturers. These codes are similar to what is found currently. These codes took out language for medical marijuana and replaced it with adult-use and recreational language. McDanel said the big change from the previous codes is that a dispensary is not permitted within 1,000 legally-walkable feet of a daycare, school or a church.

He said that in this code, mari-

VOLUNTEER CONTINUED FROM A1

Linda Mattson, executive director of the North Star Advocacy Center, said there is a wide variety of things volunteers can do within the center to help it run efciently.

“Over the course of a year, we get around 100 volunteers,” Mattson said. “Volunteering is huge, we couldn’t do all the things we do for clients without them.”

The demographics released by AmeriCorps show that in a formal volunteering organization, women volunteer, with a rate of 25.3% while men volunteer with a rate of 21%. Generation Z has a rate of 20.3%, millennials with 22.1%, Generation X with 27.2%, baby boomers with 23.7%, and silent generation or older with 18%.

“If anyone were ever interested in volunteering we urge you to come out and visit,” Alvarez said.

“It’s a rewarding experience.”

DINING CONTINUED FROM A1

Changes to the Bearcat Commons are also coming. The Mongolian Grill will become a UCook Kitchen. This change will allow students to prepare their own meals and attend cooking classes. Simple Servings will be in the dining hall regarding food aller-

juana odors are considered a nuisance, so facilities can’t generate a smell past the property lines. McDanel said that for multi-family buildings, like apartments, odor detected inside of another unit is a violation of the code. The city is required to give a written warning to the ofender frst before a penalty is given.

Section Four outlines zoning ordinances which will go through the Planning and Zoning Commission March 8 and will be presented at the March 13 City Council meeting.

Downtown Facade Grants.

Just a day short of when the Council approved the frst round of funds, there is only $24,000 remaining in that budget. McDanel sparked a discussion about whether the Council would want to allocate more funds to the program as there are three more applicants totaling $70,000.

“There is $267,000 unallocated in the ARPA program, so this is a discussion for Council to determine if you see ft putting any additional funds toward that program,” McDanel said.

McDanel said the Council could choose during the discussion to appropriate more money to the program or table it until talking about the Fiscal Year 2024 budget in the fall. Councilmen Benjamin Lipiec and McBride had difering views on allocating more money to the grant program.

“I think on any college campus but certainly here at Northwest, where it is a little bit more of a rural area, … making sure that that sense of belonging is there for all of our students, and making sure that there’s an opportunity for individuals to see people who maybe look like them, see people who have similar backgrounds to them, working at the institution, as well is a way to diversify that aspect of the institution,” Godard said.

Godard said when looking at enrollment, he looks at retention rates in different groups of students. In that, historically underrepresented groups see a lower retention rate. In order to bridge that gap, he thinks having a community representative of all groups of students is key.

“There’s a gap there in terms of the number of students who retain who maybe don’t come from a historically underrepresented group and those that do,” he said. “And what we’ve been able to do as a result is close those gaps where there are not any anymore, and a lot of that is really being thoughtful about that sense of belonging, not only on the college campus but also throughout the community as well.”

Being in the provost position, Godard looks over the administrative side for departments and faculty, but focuses on quality connections between faculty, staff and students. He said the key to drawing more people to Northwest and having more support for the University comes from those bonds they build while on campus.

“It’s really building relationships with people in an authentic way and having that level of trust, so that we can be transparent with each other, to be able to have that innovative change in the effectiveness that we all want in terms of students to be able to certainly be successful, getting a degree from Northwest but most importantly, be successful in life and work once they leave here,” he said. “And again, that deals with the opportunities that are provided here, and how you create that culture, that atmosphere of belonging, that sense of community.”

Downtown Facade Improvement Grants

Maryville City Council approved the allocation of $46,000 to Downtown Facade Improvement Grants as the original funds start to dwindle.

Maryville received just over $2.3 million in ARPA funds and appropriated $1.7 million to different projects in 2021. $300,000 was given to fund

McBride said he wanted to keep the unallocated ARPA funds and reevaluate during budget meetings in case the funds are needed for something else like the South Main Corridor Improvement Project. Lipiec said since it is only February and nearly all of the money has been awarded, the Council should give funds to the program to cover the remaining applicants.

After discussion, the Council unanimously approved the allocation of $46,000 from the unallocated ARPA funds to go toward more Downtown Facade Improvement Grants.

Being an avid supporter of having a sense of community at a university, Godard was asked in the general session Feb. 9 about what he would do if the community and the University were to be divided on a decision and how he would move past that. “I would focus on the future and focus on building relationships with people, people here on campus, people in the community,” he said. “Make sure that the individuals are heard, but also thinking about solutions and strategies on how we move forward as an institution and as a community for the betterment of our students and the health and the viability of the entire region as well.”

Despite working at multiple universities in Missouri and throughout the midwest, Godard said he learned more about Northwest than he thought he could during his visit.

“What I’ve really learned is the passion that’s here,” he said. “The true ethic of care that’s here that you have for the students, that you have for the community, that you certainly have for the University as a whole. … You should be proud of that. And that’s something that if I were fortunate to be the next president here, that I would continue to build upon. Make sure that we have those trusting relationships. Make sure that I’m transparent with you, and make sure that we look for solutions together to reach the outcomes that are necessary for Northwest to be successful.”

transition their work to Sodexo.

gies and safety with it.

“I know we’re going to have a rotating restaurant so I think that will be cool to kind of bring new things,” McCoy said. Not only will Sodexo provide changes in the dining hall, but it will be providing catering and vending services as well as the concessions at sporting events

The Starbucks located in the B.D. Owens Library and the Chick-

Fil-A on campus will remain open and will consider adding more menu items. The Chick-Fil-A will also now be serving breakfast. Northwest’s contract with Aramark will be ending May 15. Those with meal plans will have to use all of the meal swipes and dining dollars before this date, otherwise they will just lose that money. Current Aramark employees have the opportunity to

“I think we need a change,” McCoy said. “I’m not too worried about it.”

Residential Life’s goal of lowering the cost of meal plans will be met. It is not known currently how much the price is going to be lowered. Board costs are estimated to go down by 17.2% based on the new dining contract.

During the City Council meeting Feb. 13, City Manager Greg McDanel spoke on the ordinance amending the municipal code of Maryville in regards to marijuana. During this meeting, council members approved the changes to be in regulation with Amendment 3.

KAYLA ALLISON MISSOURIAN PHOTOGRAPHER

The Ministry Center looks for donations and volunteers to help provide food and clothing to those in need. On average, over 1.4 million Missouri residents contributed an average of $3.1 billion in economic value through volunteering.

LAKEN MONTGOMERY NEWS REPORTER

“ It is going to be a lot of trial and error for a period of time until we get, kind of, comfortable,”

-RON CHRISTIAN POLICE CHIEF

THANK YOU MICKEY

As students walked into the J.W. Jones Student Union, they were greeted by an employee who took the time to learn their name and ask how their day was. This beloved faculty member has recently left.

Mickey Ashley, known as Mrs. Mickey, was a staple of Northwest. Most of the Northwest residents know and love her. She was one of the frst people to interact regularly with incoming students.

Having a faculty member that treats you like a person with feelings makes the transition easier. Mickey is the most prominent example of this, but all over campus there are faculty and staf members making a positive impact on the students.

The frst year of college is a weird experience. Having people to rely on and be there for you in the transition makes it feel a bit more normal. The Editorial Board wants to recognize the faculty and staf members that have impacted the students.

It is important to students that there is somebody that makes them feel welcome and like they have a safe space.

No one really talks about the impact faculty members have on people’s lives. Most assume that the faculty members that make an impact are all professors. People don’t think about the janitor that started a simple conversation or the cook that complimented an outft. They are just as important.

While we are adults attending college, it is still nice to have an older adult fgure in your life as you are trying to fgure out how to be independent. We want the faculty and staf to be recognized for making Northwest home for students.

Who is a Northwest professor or staff member that has impacted you?

SHELBY GODDING Junior Computer Science

“I think Dr. Mallett because he comes and talks to all the sororities, and he says really good stuf about diversity and DEI, and I think he is really making an impact on campus.”

NOAH JAGGARS Freshman Music Education

“I would say a Northwest staf that’s afected me would be Dr. Strickland because she’s an amazing teacher, and she’s just very inspirational.”

LEAH TRUMBLE Junior Parks and Recreation

“One teacher that has afected me would be Dr. Sue. She always comes to class happy, and you can tell she very directly cares about her students and their success. She made me want to show up to class everyday.”

DEVYN PHILLIPS Senior Psychology

“Professor Dimmitt, I had her for a class, intro to counseling. She was just really involved in our success and making sure we were doing well mentally and stuf and ready for class and everything like that.”

JESSICA DAVIDSON Senior History

“I would probably say Dr. Naramore has really helped me break down my research process for a lot of my historical research papers, which can kind of get a little overwhelming at times.”

BLAKE RIZNER Junior Broadcast Production

“I would say, defnitely Will Murphy. He’s the reason I came here, and he just seems to know everything. Anytime I come to him with a question, he can either help me fgure it out or he knows the answer to it.”

KAYLA SHELTON TORRES Junior Elementary Education

“It would actually be my advisor Dr. Brenda Rourke. She helped me out with my org. Last semester, we were dealing with some fnancial issues and some stuf happened with our bank account. She was my main support through it all, for being president, I had to handle the situation, I had to get the police involved. She was just there backing me up and making sure that I knew my worth and when I needed to take time for myself. I really appreciated knowing that I had her support through it all.”

“I have Dr. Ford this semester for class, but I want to do conservation of documents and artifacts, and so she was the one that was like, ‘Yeah even with the chemistry major you can do this.’ So it was fun because I was able to combine both my interests of history and chemistry and then she’s been really fun having in class this semester.”

BRIANA CHAPMAN Freshman Chemistry

HAILEY JOHNSON-NESSER CARTOONIST

Softball to play six games in three days

Northwest softball is looking ahead to the 5-State Classic Feb. 18-20 in Topeka and Emporia, Kansas, after some time off from doubleheaders Feb. 3-4.

The Bearcats will play an unfamiliar foe as well as some familiar faces in the 5-State Classic, with three being the same opponents from the Minnesota State University Invitational Feb. 3-4. The ’Cats will play six games in a span of three days.

Coach Naomi Tellez said the team is ready to be outside for the first time this year, as the ’Cats played the duration of the MSU Invitational in a dome setting.

“We get to be outside for the first time, so that’s awesome,” Tellez said. “We’re just looking to continue our trends from day two up in Mankato, and we just want to keep moving with that, but everything is a little bit different when you’re outside.”

Northwest (1-3) will start the classic o ff with a doubleheader against Minnesota StateMankato (3-1) for the third time of the season at 12:15 p.m. and against Concordia-St. Paul (1-3) for the second meeting of the season at 2:30 p.m. on the first day Feb. 18.

Freshman outfielder Omara Love said she is ready to get on base early and often during its third matchup against the Mavericks.

“My advice is to really get on base,” Love said. “I have a lot of speed, and I can slap, bunt and hit. I know who is up after me, and I know they can hit me in, so my basic point is to just get on first or to get on second, and I know they can move me around in the end.”

With three out of the six matchups in the classic being against the only teams Northwest has played so far this season — Mankato, MinnesotaDuluth (6-0) and ConcordiaSt. Paul (1-3) — Tellez said she is ready to do things differently

this time around.

“From a pitching perspective, we have to hit our spots a little bit better than we did,” Tellez said. “I don’t think we were completely hitting our spots, so just being able to locate on the corners a lot better than we did. From a hitting perspective, just keep swinging it.”

Northwest will have another doubleheader the following day against Winona State

HOME CONTINUED FROM A8

“Drew has been working so hard on getting better on defense, and it showed and that translated over to offense,” Matt Stoecklein said. “He was taking great shots, and they were falling for him on Senior Night.”

The Spoofhounds will close out the regular season back against Savannah (2-17) Feb. 17 and Chillicothe (11-10) Feb. 23 before heading into the Class 4 District 16, starting Feb. 27.

Maryville played both teams in the 2022-2023 season. The Spoofhounds have four straight wins against the Savages, dating back to Feb. 19. 2021. Earlier this season, they escaped with a 55-53 win Jan. 20 over the Savages. Four days later, the Spoofhounds got a 54-46 victory over the Hornets Jan. 24 in the Cameron Tournament.

The Savages have yet to win a game in 2023, and their last win was against Bishop LeBlond Dec. 29. Chillicothe is 1-4 since the game against Maryville. The last time the Hornets defeated the Spoofhounds was in the Cameron Invitational, where the Hornets stung Maryville with a 60-52 win Feb. 1, 2020.

“The team can’t wait to finish the regular season at home,” Matt Stoeklein said. “Hopefully we have some big crowds so we can let our fans see how hard these kids have been working.”

(0-0) at 12:15 p.m. and Sioux Falls (0-0) at 4:45 p.m. Feb. 19. The ’Cats will then look to play against Duluth at 10 a.m. and Quincy (0-0) at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 20 in its last doubleheader of the weekend.

Love said the team has been working on situational hitting this week in practice, as the team looks to polish up in situations with runners in scoring position.

“We’ve done a lot of specifics

with runners on certain bases and being able to hit in runners depending on where people are at,” Love said.

With the Bearcats’ first home game not being until March 24, Tellez said it can take a toll on herself and the team, but she said everyone tries to not think about the negatives of the road trips.

“It’s kind of brutal, but I mean we get games, that’s the flip side of it,” Tellez said. “Ob-

UP NEXT

5-State Classic

Feb. 18-20

Topeka, Kansas

viously the snow doesn’t help us out much, but I mean it is what it is. Being in this part of the country and playing a spring sport, we knew kind of what we were getting into.”

TRIP CONTINUED FROM A8

“It doesn’t really affect me much, but I know, sometimes, it’s hard to get a rhythm,” Dreamer said. “We just go there and shoot in the morning, and that’s about the only time we get in the gym before coming to the game. So, it’s really just sticking to what we do best, and that’s focusing more on our defensive end, and it’ll be good to be back home after Saturday, too.”

GRIFFONS CONTINUED FROM A8

Western is two spots behind Northwest defensively at No. 7, giving up an average of 62.8 points. Offensively, the Griffons are eight spots above the Bearcats at No. 3, averaging 74.6 points per contest.

“We really need to focus on getting stops on defense, especially when our offense isn’t nec-

essarily going the way we want,” Fields said.

Including the latest installment of the Highway 71 rivalry between the Bearcats and the Griffons, Northwest has two games left this season. With it being near the end of the season, every game matters for seeding and helping build momentum toward the MIAA Tournament March 1-5.

Meyer said it’s important for a team to play its best to-

With only three games left in the regular season, Northwest will return to Bearcat Arena for two games to finish it off before shifting focus to the MIAA Tournament March 1-5 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The first of the two home games Feb. 23 will be against the last team to defeat Northwest this season and the No. 2 team in the conference standings — No. 10 Central Oklahoma.

ward the end of the season, regardless of sport.

“Hopefully, we keep moving forward and keep improving,” Meyer said. “Obviously, still four regular season games left with a lot to determine as far as MIAA Tournament seedings and things like that. We want to just keep getting better each day and hopefully, we’re playing our best these last few weeks of the season into the end of the tournament.”

Northwest softball junior centerfielder Lauren Gray goes through batting practice Feb. 14 before the team heads to Topeka, Kansas, for the 5-State Classic. Gray’s batting average is .333 with two assists and eight putouts from the oufield after the Minnesota State Invitational Feb. 3-4.

MALLORY SCHEELK MISSOURIAN PHOTOGRAPHER

During Courtwarming for Maryville boys basketball, senior guard Caden Stoecklein attempts to lay the ball into the basket. Stoecklein put up 17 points in the Spoofhounds’ 73-57 win over St. Pius X Feb. 3.

WESLEY MILLER SPORTS EDITOR

“It’s 0-0 every single game, and that’s how we approach every single one.”

-BEN MCCOLLUM NORTHWEST MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH

Bearcat baseball searches for second win

The brooms were brought out Feb. 9-12 as Northwestern Oklahoma State swept Northwest baseball in a four-game series. Those losses brought the Bearcats’ losing streak to five.

The ’Cats will hit the road Feb. 17-19, as they look to snap the five-game losing streak in three games in Joplin, Missouri.

These games will be the first the Bearcats will play in Missouri this season. Junior utility player Noah Bodenhausen said it will feel more like home.

“It’s nice,” Bodenhausen said. “I’m finally gonna be able to have some family come watch since it’s not so far. I’m sure we’ll have more people there to support us.”

Northwest (1-7) will play Illinois-Springfield (1-3) Feb. 17 to kick off the three-game series. The Prairie Stars have only played one series against No. 16 Lenoir-Rhyne University, and the ’Stars lost the series 1-3.

The Bearcats have played Illinois-Springfield one time before in a 9-7 loss in 11 innings for Northwest last season Feb. 20, 2022. Coach Darin Loe said the Bearcats are motivated to go play

hard and work hard to win games.

“We’re just motivated to continue playing and continue getting better,” Loe said. “That’s the goal for this weekend — get better and start doing the things we need to do to be successful in our last non-conference games.”

After the contest against the Prairie Stars, Northwest will clash with Minnesota

State-Mankato (0-0) Feb. 18, a team the Bearcats have never played before.

The Mavericks have yet to play a game this season and will open up Feb.17 against Missouri Western. Last season, Mankato went 39-9 and won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title.

Bodenhausen said the Bearcats need to play their type of baseball to win this weekend.

“The biggest key is playing our own game, not letting the other team dictate what we do and just do what we do best,” Bodenhausen said.

Next on the docket for the Bearcats will be McKendree (0-3). This game will be the battle of the Bearcats, as both universities use the Bearcats as their mascots. The game will also wrap up the threegame series in Joplin and non-

conference play for Northwest. McKendree lost to Oklahoma Baptist, Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State. During those three games, McKendree allowed 27 runs and scored just seven runs. Northwest allowed 38 runs in its last series and scored just 16 runs.

Loe said the ’Cats have to focus on what they can control and not worry about their record.

“We can’t look at the scoreboard, the win-loss column, the standings, whatever you want to say,” Loe said. “We just have to focus on the process and what makes us successful. If we look at wins and losses, records or scores or things like that, it’ll eat us up. We need to do the job that we need to do when we take the field.”

Spoofhounds to take on Savages on road trip

Maryville girls basketball is nearing the end of its regular season with only two more games left until the Class 4 District 16 Tournament starting Feb. 28.

Maryville is looking to improve in the last two games of the season against two Midland Empire Conference opponents — Savannah and Chillicothe — as it shapes up the district bracket.

Coach Kelly Obley said practice is going to play a huge role these next couple of weeks as the Spoofhounds prepare to head into districts.

“This is the most exciting time of the year, and this is what we have been preparing for all season long,” Obley said. “The girls have had great practices where the energy has been good, and they have been very competitive with each other. Now they just get to go out and continue to do that in front of some fans.”

The Spoofhounds will play the Savages 7 p.m. Feb. 16 in Savannah, Missouri, and the Hornets 5 p.m. Feb. 23 inside Maryville High School. The ’Hounds have been able to get the win in both matchups this season against Savannah by an

average of 18 points per game.

Obley said the players must continue to get better every single day in order to stay in the win column this time around against the Savages.

“We know that Savannah is a really well-coached team, and they have good players,” Obley said. “Everytime we play them, it is going to be a more difficult game than the one before, and, in this next game, offensively just moving the ball more and finding those shots that we need.”

Sophomore guard Jalea Price has played a significant role in Maryville’s success this season.

Price has been averaging 10.4 points per game in the last eight matchups, going 30-for-56 from the field (53.6%) in that span.

Price said the team is looking to hold itself accountable during the next matchup at Savannah.

“We are looking just to keep our composure, work the ball around really well and hold each other accountable, and I think if we do those things, we should do good,” Price said.

The ’Hounds have been able to hold the Savages to an average of 26 points in the teams’ two matchups, and they caused 13 turnovers and 20 deflections in

their last bout. Maryville didn’t allow a single 3-pointer in its last outing against Savannah, and the Spoofhounds kept the Savages to a meager 21.1% from the field.

Price said she’s been waiting for this time of year.

“I am excited for districts,” Price said. “I’m excited to see how far we can go, and I think we can do pretty good if we all work well together.”

TREY HOUCHIN Missourian Reporter| @NWMSports

Northwest baseball sophomore infielder Cole Slibowski fields the ball in deep second base and throws it down to first base during batting practice Feb. 7.

DAKOTA WEAVER PHOTO EDITOR

Maryville prepares for home game with Savannah

Maryville boys basketball has three wins against Benton Feb. 10, Mid-Buchanan Feb. 11 and Creston (Iowa) Feb. 14 in the rearview and are on a sevengame win streak heading into the final two games of the season.

In the game against the Cardinals in St. Joseph, the Spoofhounds pulled out a 59-38 win.

Senior guard Caden Stoecklein finished the game with 19 points, and junior guard Derek Quinlin finished the night with 16. Stoecklein said that the emotions the team has been through has helped it have a successful season.

“Just the family we built among each other, this is the closest team I have played on,” Stoecklein said. “We truly love each other on and off the court, and our emotions come out in games, but, other than that, we are going to be the first one there for each other.”

The momentum carried into the next game against Mid-Buchanan (13-13), where the Spoofhounds (20-4) pulled out a 54-44 win. Sophomore guard Peyton McCollum, Stoecklein and senior forward Keaton Stone finished with double-digit points.

The Spoofhounds came back home Feb. 14 to start the final stretch of home games with a non-district match against Creston (Iowa) on Senior Night.

Senior guard Drew Burns had a game-high 21 points, and McCollum had 19 points to lift the Spoofhounds to a 74-52 win and stay in first place in the Midland Empire Conference. Coach Matt Stoecklein said Burns is slowly becoming the complete package on the court.

Women’s basketball heads to St. Joseph

Northwest women’s basketball has been on a hot streak, winning three of its last four games against Washburn Feb. 4, Rogers State Feb. 9 and Northeastern State Feb. 10. The Bearcats will attempt to ride the momentum into their battle with Highway 71 rival Missouri Western Feb. 18 in St. Joseph.

The first game between the Bearcats and Griffons ended with a 55-37 loss for Northwest Jan. 7 in Bearcat Arena. This time, the ’Cats will be the visiting team and will have the task of defeating the Griffons at home — only one team has accomplished that feat this year.

Coach Austin Meyer said the Missouri Western Fieldhouse will be a difficult environment to play in.

“That’s one of the toughest

places to play in the league,” Meyer said. “I don’t even know if they’ve lost at home this year or not. Obviously, they’re one of the top teams in the league, and they play really good at home so it’s gonna be a big challenge for sure.”

have defeated the Bearcats in the squads’ last two matchups.

Sophomore forward Kelsey Fields said the chance to build the team’s win streak while snapping their rival’s own gives the Bearcats a bit of a chip on their shoulders.

“It’s a rivalry match and going into their place, just making sure we’re going in ready to play and win the game,” Fields said.

Western is 22-5 and 16-3 in the MIAA, while the ’Cats are 1312 overall and 8-11 in the MIAA this season. As far as the conference standings go, Northwest is No. 8 while Western is No. 2. The Griffons are on a fourgame win streak of their own and

Ben McCollum has coached against Missouri Western in 31 games during his time with Northwest men’s basketball. Since he took over the program before the 2009-10 season, he’s lost to the Griffons a mere three times.

Ahead of McCollum’s next matchup with Western Feb. 18, the Bearcats have defeated the Griffons 22 consecutive times since Jan. 12, 2013, including an 87-64 win Jan. 7. McCollum said Northwest’s consistency against Western is simply because of the good run the Bearcats have been on in recent years.

“It’s 0-0 every single game, and that’s how we approach every single one,” McCollum said. “In order to have any kind of success, you have to stay ‘process focused’ every single day.”

The No. 3 Bearcats (24-2, 17-2 MIAA) won’t only travel to St. Joseph for a chance at con-

Northwest is ranked fifth defensively in the MIAA, as the Bearcats allow an average of 60 points per contest. Offensively, the ’Cats are ranked No. 11, scoring an average of 61.4 points per game.

tinuing their streak against the Griffons (11-13, 7-11 MIAA), but they’ll also look to continue their MIAA-best 10-game win streak.

The showdown between the in-state rivals will also feature one of the best defenses in Division II against one of the worst offenses in the MIAA. Northwest is No. 1 in the nation, allowing a mere 55.9 points per game. Junior forward Wes Dreamer said the key defensively has been there all along for Northwest.

“We finally figured out what we are together as a team and how we’re going to manage to get stops,” Dreamer said. “We are finally giving effort on the defensive end, is what it comes down to.”

In contrast, Western is last out of 14 teams in the conference in scoring offense, averaging just 65.8 points per contest.

Northwest’s roughly 40mile trip is also the squad’s final away game of the regular season. It finishes a four-game

stint on the road. The Bearcats have won the last road game of the regular season five consecutive times, with the last loss coming in 88-71 fashion against Missouri Southern Feb. 18, 2017 — the team’s only loss of the 2016-17 season.

“It’s gonna be a dogfight there,” Dreamer said. “They tend to bring the fans when we play, and it’s always a really hard place to be.”

Dreamer averaged 17.3 points during the three road games against Rogers State Feb. 9, Northeastern State Feb. 11 and Washburn Feb. 14. He said experience definitely helps get through the long periods away from home.

Northwest women’s basketball sophomore guard Molly Hartnett fends off Washburn junior guard Aubree Dewey during the two teams’ first meeting of the season Feb. 4. Hartnett put up a game-high 24 points in the 76-75 overtime win.

SIDNEY LOWRY MANAGING EDITOR

Northwest men’s basketball senior guard Diego Bernard shoots a jumper over Emporia State junior guard Alijah Comithier Feb. 2 in Bearcat Arena.

MAKAYLA POLAK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF