Editor’s Choice: September 2009

It’s been a busy day on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University! Today, we had the pleasure of welcoming two very different groups of visitors: Red Carpet Day attendees (high school sophomores, juniors and seniors) and guests for Prime Time Day.

Red Carpet Day-ers are always bursting with energy as they experience campus life and college classes for the very first time. I remember feeling the same way — though it seems like ions ago — when as a senior in high school, I snuggled up in my sleeping bag on a freshman girl’s dorm room floor. I don’t think I slept a wink that night; I was so excited about coming to ONU as a student the next year.

Today, as I greeted senior citizens for Prime Time Day, it struck me that they had the same giddiness about them. Time and again, they told me how excited they were to be visiting the ONU campus. One woman told me how much she’d loved the place since she attended in the 1950s.

How interesting it was to experience excitement at both ends of the spectrum. One group was giddy because of the possibilities. The other, because of all the memories.

It just made me all the more thankful to be somewhere in the middle — treasuring what has been and looking forward to what is to come.

Here are some of my favorite online features from the month of September:

ONU Expert: Director of Academic Support
As featured in the September edition of Alumni & Friends E-news

This interview with Dr. Sue Rattin, director of academic support, is chock-full of practical tips for parents of college students. From preparing your child for effective time management, to dealing with the emotions of an empty nest, the insight from this educator and mother of two is a must read for parents who have — or ever will have — students attending college.

Does the novel have a future in an electronic age?

Guest feature by Joseph Bentz on Tiger Bytes

Sure, I’d heard of electronic reading devices for books. However, it had never once occurred to me that novels could, or should, become truly interactive experiences. In an age bombarded by Twitter, Facebook and Ritalin, Bentz proposes intriguing implications for the evolution of the written word.

Common Green Sense
Guest feature by Craig Manes on Tiger Bytes

Ok, I admit it. I want to be “green,” but with the exception of a few canvas shopping bags in the back of my minivan, I haven’t quite gotten around to making it a priority. Maybe some of you can identify.

In this fun read, Manes shares what compelled him to start caring, and offers the rest of us manageable baby steps toward becoming environmentally friendly.

Olivet Medicine Ball Shots
As featured at Ollies Follies 2009

On an otherwise normal day last April, I saw the Olivet Pong video for the very first time. (If you haven’t seen it yet, click here .)

Produced by four fun-loving students without any video editing experience, that hilarious/impressive short film went on to become a YouTube hit, with nearly half a million views. It was also featured on sportsillustrated.com, nytimes.com, and a half-a-dozen other sites.

Any good video deserves a sequel, and this time, the A-Team rose to the occasion. Their video isn’t quite as … well… impressive. But it is funny. And it just goes to show what a cool group of administrators, faculty and staff we have calling the shots – pong, medicine ball or otherwise — at ONU.

Heather (Quimby) Day '02 is the director of marketing communications for Olivet Nazarene University and serves as the editor for The Olivetian, www.olivet.edu, Alumni & Friends E-news and Tiger Bytes.