Friday, August 13, 2021
Cowboys coming back Anna Pope News Editor OSU’s in-person restriction-free campus events and normal class sizes will take place for the first time since the spring semester of 2020. For over a year and a half, guidelines like social distancing were put in place for students to follow. Enforced restrictions prevented events like the university’s America’s Greatest Homecoming and certain graduations from taking place and resulted in many online courses. However, as COVID-19 cases lowered and vaccination rates went up, occasions were steadily brought back. Students are not only eager to attend game days, students are also hoping to walk at an in-person graduation. Beth Beker, a senior management science and information systems major, will graduate next spring. Beker said she is looking forward to accepting her degree in-person on stage at the end of the year. For Beker this year is not just about attending missed events due to the pandemic. “Being, like, a senior and going into like, your final year, everything just feels completely different,” Beker said. “Things that you’ve done before just feel a lot more nostalgic cause
Abby Cage
Eagerly waiting for welcome week activities, OSU students meet outside the Student Union.
now you realize it’s like, your last time getting to do them again.” Beker said she is worried about the possibility of the university going back into lockdown and having a less flexible schedule due to in-person instruction. However, she is interested to see how things work out. Over 24,000 students attend OSU and this past week the university greeted
incoming freshmen with Cowboy Welcome. The five-day event is meant to allow incoming freshmen to experience campus amenities while meeting other students. Dane Ellet is an incoming freshman and waiting in anticipation to experience OSU Homecoming’s famous celebrations. Ellet said he is looking forward to just being in col-
New Legacy First generation students Jessie Hernandez Staff Reporter With masks down, smiles can be seen illuminating the campus all around. OSU welcomed back its students this year, the campus is alive and buzzing with activities. Freshmen can be seen enjoying the events this welcome week and getting settled in. Freshman Mia Mares is excited about new experiences, making new friends, and going to football games. “Move in day was smooth,” Mares said. “ It was nice to move in early, so that way we weren’t all running into each other.” Fellow freshmen Tatum Newberry chimed in.
Abby Cage Freshmen ready for Rush week activities.
lege. Even though he is not too concerned about restrictions, he said if guidelines tighten, it will still be a good experience. Excel Maylem, an animal science graduate student, said she is ready for in-person instruction and events. Graduating this fall, Maylem, like Beker, said she is hoping to walk at graduation this semester and attend other activities.
Events to look forward to... Tuesday, Aug. 17 - Pete’s Pet Posse Yappy Hour Wednesday, Aug. 18 - Lights on Stillwater Saturday, Sept. 4 - OSU’s first football game FULL CAPACITY Friday, Oct. 8 - Tim McGraw at the McKnight Center Sunday, Oct. 24 -30 - OSU Centennial Homecoming Visit CampusLink for more!
“Some activities I’m thinking of participating in are intramural sports,” Newberry said. “I wanna try new things and I feel like that’s a great way to do so. I believe I’m also
“I’m so excited for homecoming because it’s the hundredth homecoming and this is going to be my last one, so I am really looking forward to it.” Maylem said she is unsure about how things will develop with the delta variant especially if cases get too high. news.ed@ocolly.com
WHAT’S INSIDE: Summer in Stillwater Pg. 6 Stillwater has proudly earned the title of a typical college town. Like many college towns across the country, the city’s population decreases drastically every year.
Poke-a-Poke Pg. 3 OSU’s Poke-a-thon campaign aims to get students vaccinated at the beginning of the fall semester.
Column: Hey Freshman... Pg. 5
See Legacy on pg.6A Graphic by Abby Cage
College can be a hard place if you let people walk all over you. But if you act like Shrum did this summer, it won’t happen to you at OSU.