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Dance students team up with local elementary school

Oklahoma City University dance students in late October continued their partnership of creating Halloween costumes for elementary school students at Positive Tomorrows, the state’s only elementary school and social services agency specifically for children and families experiencing homelessness. OCU students in the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainment costume lab hold consultations with Positive Tomorrows students, then make the costumes by hand. The costumes are then worn during an annual trick-or-treat day at the Oklahoma City school. “That’s hope-building for our kids,” OCU alumna and Positive Tomorrows President Margaret Creighton said.

OCU alumna assists Marketing & Communications staff

Azuri Salgado, a 2012 graduate of Oklahoma City University and a former Clara Luper Scholar, is leading a group of high school students as they partner with OCU’s Marketing & Communications office. Salgado teaches AP Spanish at Santa Fe South High School in Oklahoma City, and this semester her students are assisting the Marketing & Communications office with translation for a Spanish-language microsite aimed at helping promote OCU to Spanish-speaking parents and grandparents in the Oklahoma City area. The partnership allows Santa Fe South students to earn volunteer service hours in exchange for their efforts.

Alumni & Admissions teams up on recruiting efforts

The Alumni office and Admissions department have partnered on a variety of events during the past two semesters, including new-student recruitment fairs, “Blue and White Welcome” meetings in Tulsa and Dallas, and “Star Talks” guest visits to campus. For “Blue and White Welcome” events, Admissions invites admitted students from a particular city or region, usually high school seniors and their families, along with approximately 10 alumni from that area. The alumni are encouraged to mingle, welcome, and actively engage with the new admits to share their positive experiences at OCU. “Star Talks” have featured alumni visits from performing arts, nursing, business, pre-law, humanities, and more.

Honors Program proves benefits of student/professor mentorship

Senior biomedical science major Elizabeth Gwartney placed first in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics division of the student poster competition at the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference in Orlando last October. Her research project was titled “Novel Antibiotics from Oklahoma Soil.” Gwartney partnered with Dr. Karen Youmans, Honors program director, in practicing and perfecting her presentation skills. “With poster presentations, people and judges come by to view your work and ask questions about your research,” Gwartney explained. “It was great to have someone like Dr. Youmans to work with, someone who can ask intelligent questions and know how the entire process works. Her support was crucial for this project.” Youmans praised Gwartney for her project, which involved hours of work over two years. “The student poster sessions are highly selective to begin with, so placing first out of a large and extremely competitive category is a truly outstanding achievement,” Youmans said.

Music you can dance to

Students from the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainment teamed up with students from the Bass School of Music to produce a show called “Fusion” this semester utilizing their respective talents. The dance students choreographed a show to accompany original music by students in Project 21, a music composition group. Dance Management senior Lizzie Anderson, the liaison for the project, said the collaboration served as a mutually beneficial experience for students in both schools. “I would describe this experience as a large group of creatives working together on a really complex puzzle,” Anderson said. “During the process, we each got to contribute our puzzle pieces, and on the official filming day for the show, we all got to see the completed puzzle together, and that was a spectacular feeling to experience.”

Partnership of Light and Sound

Lighting design students in the School of Theatre and composition students in the Bass School of Music collaborated on a multimedia outdoor concert of light and sound on the BOK Park Plaza building in downtown Oklahoma City on October 30. Click here to view video and sound of the performances of “Lights on Steel.”

 
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