John Walker: A Man of Writing and Sports

BY: Connor Galvin

A career choice can be difficult, however when you know your self as John Walker does, life can be made that much easier.

John Walker was born in Oklahoma City in 1994 and had lived there for 12 years prior to moving to Midwest City. Here he would go on to graduate form Midwest City High School and develop his desire for what he loves, Sports.

John currently attends the University of Oklahoma and is majoring in Journalism with a focus in print, specifically sports.

“Well I always like sports, and I enjoyed writing so I thought, why not do both?” said Walker.

Alongside sports, he has always had a desire to travel around the United States. Having yet to leave the States, he has had the opportunity to travel all around country, however he has yet to have the opportunity to visit the northeast in the New England area.

In his free time he writes for the Oklahoma Daily, the University’s student run publication.

For John, a dream career in the future for him would be to be able to become a nationally known athletic writer. He is currently putting in the hours into a data entry position to be able to accept any chances of writing in his near future.

This 20 year old has been able to take hold of many opportunities that have been pushed his way and looks forward to where the opportunities that approach him, will take him in his future.

Music as an escape

Her fingers lightly strum across the vinyl strings as all worries sit quietly in the back of her head.

Jen Phillips, a senior broadcasting journalism major, came to OU as a vocal performance major, but decided to make a change in direction. Music continues to be an important part of her life and she seeks it as an escape.

After a semester of being a vocal performance major, Phillips realized that there were many things that she enjoyed, but also many things that she felt she shouldn’t be pursuing. With that in mind, she made the switch to political science, and was on the pre-law track for four semesters.

“I was pretty far down that road until I started realizing that I was passionate about the things I was learning about, but I didn’t want it to end there,” Phillips said. “So, I used my love of political science and my previous knowledge of performing and thought about what I liked to do.”

Phillips decided that she would make another change in direction, one that would include all of her interests.

“I love writing so I thought broadcast journalism would be perfect because I get to write about things that are really incredible and meaningful but I still get to take the creative side with me,” Phillips said.

Although she isn’t a vocal performance major anymore, music is still an important part of her life. Music serves as a stress reliever, and releases the pressure from everyday life, Phillips said.

“Music is definitely my Zen. I could go on a run or I could sit on my bed and play guitar for 15 minutes and it brings me down,” Phillips said. “It’s definitely my happy place.”

Music is a big part of her life, so she was sad to see the opportunity of studying music to go away, Phillips said.

“I feel like I’m better from being apart of the music program here for a semester, but I think I’m enjoying it a lot more after I switched my major,” Phillips said.

Her musical journey has served an importance in her life, and she’s learned from the experience. Ultimately, music has given her a creative license, according to Phillips.

“I really grew when I let down the wall of someone telling me how to do things,” Phillips said. “And when I got to be in charge of myself creatively, it enhanced my process.”

University IT Department Maintains Network Infrastructure

BY: CONNOR GALVIN

The University of Oklahoma’s IT Department maintains the university Internet access and utility access to the Internet, however they do much more behind the scenes than people think.

Once a month the IT department schedules maintenance for the network on the third Sunday of every month. This scheduled operation occurs from 6 a.m. until 12 p.m. however, many people don’t know what all they do on a daily basis to maintain day-to-day operations.

During these scheduled outages during the semester, the department works to make upgrades and do routine maintenance to the network to maintain that it is able to be active 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“This maintenance is necessary to keep all campus systems running smoothly and Sunday mornings were picked due to the low user volume we typically see at this time,” said Becky Weintz, the communications Manager for the IT Department.

In the case of unexpected outages, the department utilizes specific monitoring systems that are able to automatically alert individual personnel to be able to preform maintenance in the event that something fails.

When unexpected outages occur, several staff members from across the organization work together to resolve the issues as quickly as they possibly can.

“We work collaboratively with the teams and departments that may be affected by these outages to ensure consistent operations” said Weintz.

Differing from other departments, when the campus is closed in the case of a snow day, operations are not affected. IT technicians are able to remotely monitor the systems in place and make sure to maintain staff on call in case of an outage or a major issue arises.

For the IT Department, when the campus closes, so does any immediate low level support such as the number to dial, 325-HELP, or their email address needhelp@ou.edu.

The IT Department also uses the university website, alerts.ou.edu, and their twitter account, @ouitsolutions, to alert students and faculty to any issues that or unexpected outages that can occur.

The IT Department works to maintain that all the other departments within the University are able to work seamlessly without interruption to internal network or external Internet access.

Dad's Day lives on

Students and their families gather for a weekend spent celebrating the legacy of dads for a university event in early November.

Dad’s Day, a University of Oklahoma weekend event held by Campus Activities Council, continued its tradition on Nov. 7-9 by making the weekend unique from previous events.

“Dad’s Day began at OU in the fall of 1928 in response to students’ desire for a way to spend time with their family while at school,” said Drew Cochran, Dad’s Day Chair for 2014.

Many years later, in 1971, CAC took over the responsibility of planning and programming for the event after the organization’s formation on campus.

Each year the event is different because of CAC’s yearly selection of committees. The events that are programmed are always changing based on the visions of each new executive and how well they execute that vision, Cochran said. 

This event practices tradition and the legacy it leaves behind, but changes are enforced throughout the years, such as the change with the Dad’s Day Watch Party at the Meacham Auditorium.

“One of my visions from the start of this year was to have the watch party in a more dad-friendly environment and one that is not hidden within one of the largest and most complex building on campus,” Cochran said.

The event has gained popularity over time. The football game that is the center of the whole weekend and the bigger and better ranked opponents tend to draw in a larger crowd, Cochran said.

Dad’s Day is meant to celebrate family, but documenting those memories was important for students and their families, according to Cochran.

“Students and their parents wanted a way to commemorate this fun weekend, so the Dad’s Day executive committee found a solution for this in the form of a cool T-shirt,” Cochran said.

This year was the second year that Dad’s Day has offered a university-wide T-shirt to the students and their parents, according to Cochran.

The most significant event for students and their fathers, according to Cochran, is the Father of the Year Brunch. The brunch awards one of the many fathers that have been elected by students with short answer-style essays to questions based on a rubric by a selection committee.

“Winning this award is a great honor for a father and there really is a special bond that a lot of students feel with their fathers at this event,” Cochran said.

Events like Dad’s Day are a great opportunity for both OU and CAC because it allows families to witness the students’ environment, said Quy Nguyen, CAC Advisor in Student Life. The event specifically caters to fathers and families and welcomes them in an OU tradition.

“It is a great way to honor the people in our lives that make going to OU possible,” Quy Nguyen said.

Rainbow of minorities

BY HONEY CARANZO

Students from the University of Oklahoma gathered to learn about minorities in the LGBTQ community on October 23.

The Colors of the Rainbow event was held in Wagner Hall room 280 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The event was led by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Friends club. Students played a game that required them to find the right name that matched the definition of uncommon sexual identifications. Kimberly Lawson and Alex Ruggiers, president and vice president of GLBTF, would determine if the students found the correct match and offered a deeper interpretation of the definition. 

Attendees sat next to the person that matched their definition and waited for the final verdict. Students learned about the wide rainbow of sexualities. 

“I like to expand my knowledge, so something like this was a great opportunity,” Andrew Yoon said. 

The event provided students who are striving to learn more about their sexual orientation with the ability to not only identify with others that are also uncertain but also learn about the spectrum of sexualities. 

“I feel like the leadership this year is very good about being accepting and inclusive which is demonstrated by all the terms we went over tonight,” Danielle McDaniel said.

The event encouraged students to understand and be aware of the minorities in the community. 

“We try to do different events that include different minorities like this one which was a really great success,” Ruggiers said. “A lot of people didn't have this understanding of each other they did by the end of the night.”

The GLBTF meets every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. 

Student Media Award for OU

By Connor Galvin and Samantha Bechtold

University students attended a conference and two award shows on behalf of student media with attendants from around the country.

Several University of Oklahoma students from OU Student Media, and their advisor, attended the conference in Philadelphia from Oct. 30 through Nov. 2.

Their advisor, Judy Gibbs Robinson, hosted several different sessions at the conference. Blayklee Hirschler, the editor for the OU Daily, the University’s newspaper, also spoke at the conference.

Sooner Yearbook, OU’s yearbook, was up for the “Yearbook of the Year,” and placed third amongst other colleges. It was also nominated for a Pacemaker award for “Yearbook of the Year,” and was titled a finalist. Sooner Yearbook was the only university publication to be nominated for both award ceremonies.

The conference awarded the Pinnacle awards, which were only recently founded, and Pacemaker awards which are known as the “Pulitzer prize for college media.”

Hirschler was awarded the “Design of the Year” for the OU Daily. The Pacemaker award was for “The Weed Issue” of the publication.