The Woods

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

The St. Mary’s Village Church celebrated its 175th anniversary earlier this year with most of the praise for its continued success going to its parish members, who have supported it spiritually and financially since its founding.
Being the oldest Catholic Church in Vigo County, it has been a place of faith for many generations of families in the surrounding area.
“The history of the parish is very rich,” said Parish Life Coordinator Sister Joan Slobig.
Of the nearly 160 people who attend the parish regularly, about 90-100 of them are related, Slobig said.
The parish caters to the wide age range.
“We have a vibrant religious education program of about 70 children,” Slobig said.
The religious education program, which is similar to Sunday school in Protestant denominations, helps children become educated in their faith, Slobig said.
Emma Bird, a sophomore studying history and theology at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, volunteers as a catechist, teaching second and third graders in the religious education program.
“I love being with the kids and getting them excited about their faith,” Bird said in an e-mail. “It’s wonderful to answer their questions and see that light bulb turn on.”
Bird, a lifelong member of the parish, has deep family roots in the church. Her grandfather’s ancestors came to America in the 1840s and were living in the area at the same time St. Mother Theodore was alive.
The religious education program allows its participants to give back to their community. Bird has helped organize a service project to pick up trash in the nearby area.
“It’s so great to see them get excited about volunteering and social justice,” Bird said.
Another SMWC student, Jena Thralls, has a long-standing family history with the parish. Her last name is familiar to anyone who knows the history of the founding of the parish.
Father Gabriel Brute was consecrated the first Bishop of the Vincennes region in 1826 with a large portion of Illinois and Indiana to serve.
While on a horseback ride tending to his members, Bishop Brute met the Thralls family at their small pioneer station west of the Wabash River.
Believing that the area was special, he decided to recognize it, naming it Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
In no time, Bishop Brute paid Joseph and Sarah Thralls $15 for about one acre of land to build the first church in what is now St. Mary’s Village.
Jena Thralls’s family still attends St. Mary’s Village Parish since her ancestors met the bishop five generations ago.
“To be here, and know that my ancestors walked this land with St. Mother Theodore over 175 years ago is an unbelievable feeling,” said Thralls, a senior studying journalism, in an e-mail response. “My family has always held this land sacred.”
Thralls said her grandparents were very driven by faith.
“In every single room of their house they have pictures of St. Mother Theodore and Jesus Christ,” Thralls said. “They always had so much to tell me about St. Mother Theodore and how much she meant to them.”
Thralls said that her father keeps a coin with Saint Mother Theodore on it in his pocket.
“I think it’s sort of like a good luck charm.”
Thralls believes that Providence has kept her safe.
When she was a senior in high school, she and two cousins were in a wreck on St. Mary’s road while on their way into town to do mission work. Due to the icy and slick conditions, their Jeep flipped over a guardrail. No one was injured.
“While we were standing there talking to the police, I found one of those coins with St. Mother Theodore on it. I showed it to my cousins and I put it in my pocket. I’ve kept it ever since,” Thralls said.
Her family’s close connection to the area influenced Thralls’s decision to attend SMWC.
“If I had gone anywhere else, I would not be where I am today. I appreciate everything about this place,” Thralls said.
Other SMWC students attend services at the Village Parish.
“We would love to have Woods student volunteer in the Religious Education program,” Slobig said.
The parish is also interested in finding musically gifted people to be Liturgical music volunteers and to help organize a children’s choir, according to Slobig.
“We have talented children and would like their talent to be used in church,” Slobig said.
The church supports Providence Food Pantry and recently participated in Relay For Life.
“We hope to expand outreach in the community and be a presence for those looking for a place of worship,” Slobig said.

Popularity: 13% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

Jill Nichols, executive vice president for Vera Bradley, spoke Wednesday, March 21 in Cecilian Auditorium as part of the Four Star Series, sharing the story of the founding of the Vera Bradley Co.
Nichols shared that the company was co-founded by Patricia Miller and Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, who were friends and neighbors in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Nichols said that Pat and Barb noticed that women in airports were dressed up, but were carrying just any old bag. They made it their mission to design more fashion driven luggage.
Both women contributed $500 each and had a few bags designed, took them to a party, and sold them all. That was the beginning.
“The mission of Vera Bradley today is simple, to be a girl’s best friend,” Nichols said.
Nichols studied business administration and accounting at Indiana University and has worked for the Vera Bradley Co. for 23 years.
“Sometimes I need to pinch myself because I am living the American dream,” Nichols said when discussing her job.
Nichols encouraged college students to experiment something different; take an art class. She also said to enjoy these years, because you have the rest of your life to work.
“If you have an idea, go with it,” Nichols encouraged. “You need to love it [your career].”
Nichols shared that Pat and Barb didn’t expect their company to get this big. They just wanted enough money to have a cleaning lady.
Men do work at the company, but 83% are female, which Nichols said the company is proud of.
“I found it inspirational when she talked about loving your job and to not be in it just for the money. That is something I’ve learned being at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods,” senior Jessica Zogbi said.
One of the goals of The Four Star series at SMWC is to enhance and enrich the college’s curriculum.
“We try to do four different types of events a year,” Dean of students Jeff Malloy said.
Nichols also participates in a variety of volunteering opportunities. She currently serves as a director and the treasurer of the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer.
“Donations to the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer were accepted in lieu of speaking tonight,” Malloy said.

Popularity: 22% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff writer

In celebrating its 175th year, the St. Mary’s Village Parish commemorates not a single building or pastor, but the group of people who have kept Vigo County’s first Catholic church alive for nearly two centuries.
Jeannette Wrin, a member of the parish and office manager of Woods Online at the college, said the nearly 100 families who comprise the church congregation commit not only their attendance, but also their financial support to the parish.

Photo provided by Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Village Parish

“Parishioners take it upon themselves for repairs and they participate in ownership in taking care of the parish,” said Wrin, who graduated from the parish school in 1966.
The church formed in 1837, after heavy migration of Roman Catholics into the Illinois-Indiana area. The first diocese in the region was formed in 1826 under Father Gabriel Brute, the first Bishop of the Vincennes region.
This new diocese, consisting of three priests, served all of Indiana and one-third of Illinois, including Bishop Brute, Father Simon P. Lalumiere, and Stanislaus Buteux.
Wanting to meet the members of his vast diocese, Bishop Brute took a horseback trip through the region, meeting the Thralls family at their small pioneer station west of the Wabash River, later called Thralls Station.
While there, Bishop Brute honored the village and named it Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, signified from then on as a place of faith. Bishop Brute paid Joseph and Sarah Thralls $15 for about one acre of land to build the very first church in what is now St. Mary-of-the-Woods village.
Bishop Brute assigned Father Buteux as the first resident pastor of the parish at the village parish. The quaint log cabin served as his home and house of prayer.
“[W]e hope that from such humble beginnings we may in time expect a great blessing,” Brute wrote to Father Buteux in 1837.
The original building lasted only three years before it burned down in February1840. The fire could not have come at a worse time, since Mother Theodore and her companions were expected to arrive from France later that autumn.
The church that greeted Mother Theodore was a simple temporary cabin – the best that could be build amid an economic depression.
“The church! … No tabernacle, no alter, for can the name of alter be given to three planks forming a table forty inches long, supported by two stakes driven into the ground?,” Mother Theodore lamented in her writings.
Although the log cabin church was not what Mother Theodore expected, it was the church where she attended her first Mass in America.
Many changes occurred after Mother Theodore and her companions’ arrival.
Bishop Celestine de la Hallandiere allocated the design of a new church building, which was completed in 1842 under the supervision of Father John Corbe, who now had responsibilities as pastor of the parish.  This new building, considered an architectural “wonder” for its time, was constructed where the Conservatory of Music is located on the college’s campus today, according to the church’s records.
Father Meinrad McCarthy, a Benedict who replaced Father Corbe, was appointed the fourth resident pastor. McCarthy purchased property from Francis Thralls and the present church was built in 1867.
Over the years, the church has struggled to keep the parish financially stable. Father Eugene McBarron succeeded Father McCarthy in1871 and was met with $1,008 of debt and pressure to increase enrollment at the church school, which for unknown reasons did not operate in 1869-1870. By 1872, enrollment increased to 40 students.
McBarron even sold his own horse to raise the necessary funds to keep the school operating. When he left in 1879, the school remained open and the debt had decreased to $248.

Photo provided by Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Village Parish

McBarron’s successor, the long-serving Father Augustine Riehle, was again plagued by the financial struggle to provide a new roof and to maintain the church building, among other expenses.
Under Father Riehle’s leadership, boys and girls at the parish school were being taught in the same building, but separated by a wall with the teacher’s desk positioned where she could monitor both sides.
Around the turn of the century, Riehle brought in an organ to teach the children hymns, cork linoleum floors in the aisles and carpet in the sanctuary to “have something nice for our Lord’s sanctuary.” Riehle also organized group activities for his parishioners such as the Altar Society, the Young Ladies Sodality, the Guardian Angels Sodality, and the Holy Name Society.
Succeeding Father Riehle was Father Clement Thienes, who organized a new parish in southwest Terre Haute called St. Margaret Mary’s. The Village Parish survived on the donations of its members, even throughout the Great Depression.
Father Fintan Walker was pastor during the parish’s centennial in 1937, when the building was re-roofed, re-painted, and redecorated. During the centennial festivities, it was noted that the church had celebrated 1,632 baptisms and 327 marriages.
By 1957, Father Francis Reeves was pastor of a parish without debt. Reeves saw the completion of many parish building improvements, but also the closing of the Village School in 1969.

Popularity: 20% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

The St. Mary’s Village Church celebrated its 175th anniversary on January 8th, making it the oldest Catholic Church in Vigo County.
The St. Mary’s Village Church is historically significant to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and the surrounding community. Its rich history helped lay a firm foundation of Catholicism in Vigo County and surrounding areas which is still prevalent 175 years later.
The history of Catholicity in Vigo County and the Village Church can be traced back to 1837. The combination of people of faith and a pastor to minister them built the first Catholic faith community on the western side of the Wabash River.
A Joseph Thralls and his family, who practiced Catholicism, acquired a significant piece of land in 1835 west of the Wabash River.
Records show a purchase of land transferring from Joseph and Sarah Thralls to Bishop Simon Brute of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vincennes for a sum of fifteen dollars.
It was there that Bishop Brute built a small frame church in what is now the Village, the first in Vigo County, to establish the site for a permanent place of faith.
In 1840, Saint Mother Theodore Guerin arrived in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods with several companions.
The Thralls family provided housing for Mother Theodore and the sisters.
The Village Church was also where Mother Theodore first had mass after her arrival.
Keeping its values alive are today’s members of the parish, who are planning different activates to celebrate its 175th anniversary.
Read the next issue of The Woods for more about the Church’s historical significance over the past 175 years and coverage of the festivities that will be taking place to celebrate the presence of the St. Mary’s Village Church.

Popularity: 24% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

The life of a Woodsie comes with many traditions; one is the long- standing and very popular Big Sis/Lil Sis week.
The Junior Class organizes Big Sis/Lil Sis week in which upper-classmen students adopt a first year student during the first semester, help them adjust to college and act as a mentor.
However, emails have been sent out with high importance notifying upperclassmen that several lil’s still need to be taken, even saying that there will be no Big Sis/Lil Sis week if not all lil’s are taken.
“Big Sis/Lil Sis week will go on,” Vice President for Student Life Vicki Kosowsky said.
Within three days after the email was sent, many lil’s were taken, but there are still several left.
Anyone who is considered a little sis does not need to worry if she was not chosen right away.
The main reason for the delay of lil’s being adopted is due to the amount of big’s compared to lil’s.
The freshman class is larger because it consists of all incoming students. International and transfer students also qualify as lil’s.
“It is an issue of numbers,” Kosowsky said.
Sophomores and seniors can also adopt lil’s, but juniors get the first pick.
Sophomore Shelby Richardson, decided to be active in Big Sis/Lil Sis week this year as a big sis.
“I liked the fact that someone picked me,” Richardson said. “It made me feel wanted and I want to make someone feel that way.”
Lil’s have a week of fun to look forward to.
“Big’s decorate the lil’s door, pass notes under their doors, and leave them gifts,” junior class Vice President, Jennie Faker said.
Some lil’s dress up in wacky costumes and perform skits at lunch in O’Shaughnessey, all under their big’s command.  Big’s know who their lil is, but lil’s are in the dark of who their mystery big sis is.
“It is daily communication with someone you don’t know,” Director of Conferences and Non-Credit Programs, Julia White said.
Although big’s can give gifts, Big Sis/Lil Sis week is not a competition of who can give the most elaborate or expensive gift.
“It is not about the money,” Kosowsky said.  “But, it has morphed into presents.”
Big Sis/Lil Sis week is an experience that will always be remembered by those who participate in it.
Alumna Rachel Romas, who received her Bachelor’s in 2008, and her Masters in 2010 from SMWC, remembers Big Sis/Lil Sis week as if it were yesterday.
She adopted two lil’s when she was a junior at The Woods.
“It was so much fun watching them try to figure out who I was,” Romas said.
Both lil’s sadly transferred but she still talks to one of them as often as she can.
“Facebook has allowed me to keep up with them even after their time at the Woods, which has been helpful,” Romas said.
Romas did adopt a third little sis who she says is one of her best friends from The Woods. They stay in contact on a regular basis.
“Whenever we all get back together for gatherings, it is like we’ve never left the Woods,” Romas said.
Big Sis/Lil Sis week allows for a bonding experience between upperclassmen and freshman and is a week dedicated to mentoring new students, being silly and making lasting relationships.
“You basically get a free friend,” Faker said.
Friendships and mentoring are the results of Big Sis/Lil Sis week.
“It has been commercialized with gifts,” Faker said.  “We need to fall back into the traditions of Big Sis/Lil Sis week.”
This rich tradition helps Woodsies bond on a different level; as sisters.
“Students need to be reminded of Big Sis/Lil Sis week because it is the heart of being a Woodsie,” White said.
Big Sis/Lil Sis week begins November 13th and runs through the 17th.

Popularity: 18% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

From a very early age, Dottie King knew she wanted to be a teacher.
When she was in third grade, she knew she would be a third grade teacher.  When she was in eighth grade, she wanted to be an eighth grade teacher.
“Whatever grade I was in at the time was the grade I wanted to teach,” King said.
She never would have dreamed that she would one day teach math.
“It was my least favorite subject in elementary school,” King said.
But as she got older, she grew to love math.
King wore many hats in her high school. When she wasn’t practicing her math skills, she was a cheerleader and member of the marching band. But she always made time for her math competitions, which were held at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
“The girls would compete at Saint Mary’s while the boys would compete at Rose-Hulman,” King said.
Her love of math and teaching were instrumental to bringing King to The Woods.
Unknowingly, she was connected to the college long before her presidency.

The Demands of Life
King’s life is a juggling act of motherhood responsibilities and presidential duties.
On a typical day she wakes up and takes on the duties of motherhood first. She has six children – two daughters and four sons – who range in age from 16 to 30. The fun and chaotic life of a big family requires a sense of balance and excellent time management skills.
King’s role as a mother has led her to volunteer with Clay County schools’ Parent Teacher Organizations and Band Boosters. She was even president of the football parents’ group.
“I am not a first-time president,” King laughed.
But being made president of the football parents cannot compare with the honor of a day of Inauguration ceremonies in front of hundreds of people on the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College campus.
The celebration began Friday morning at The Church of the Immaculate Conception, where a Mass was performed to mark King’s installation as president of the college.

Photo by Colleen Daum/ The Woods

That afternoon, King spoke at Cecilian Auditorium to the campus community – faculty, administrators, students, alumnae and others with ties to SMWC.
King has worked diligently to reach the top position, while being light hearted and always keeping a smile on her face.
“Dottie is very grounded and down to earth,” Vice President for Student Life Vicki Kosowsky said.  “She does not see herself on a higher level than anyone else.”
King is the biggest Colt’s fanatic in her household.
All of the TV’s have to be turned on to the game when the Colts are playing and she gets very into the game, sometimes yelling at the TV.
Unfortunately, King has been struggling through this NFL season due to the loss of Colt’s quarterback Peyton Manning.
“I have been saying a lot of prayers for Peyton,” she said.

From Humble Beginnings
Born and raised in Terre Haute, King became very close to her mother and sister when her father passed away when she was very young.
King attended elementary and junior high school in Vigo County. Her family then moved to Clay County, where she attended and graduated from Van Buren High School.
School was also where King met her husband.
“We began liking each other when I was 13 and he was 14,” she said.
They developed a strong friendship while still maintaining their school activities. Their friendship continued to evolve and they soon married after high school. She was 19.
Her marriage and growing family did not stop her from furthering her education.
She attended Indiana State University and received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in mathematics. King also holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction/educational leadership, also from ISU.
King did earn her dream job. From 1985-2002, she served as an instructor of mathematics at Indiana State University.
A co-worker at Indiana State suggested that King apply for a position at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods as assistant professor of mathematics.
Through a series of promotions, King held several positions at The Woods, including associate professor of mathematics, chair of the Sciences and Mathematics Department, assistant dean for undergraduate and international programs, interim vice president for academic affairs, vice president for academic affairs and interim president.

Photo by Nancy Hernandez/ The Woods

“She did not go seeking the role of president,” Kosowsky said.  “But being the face of the college comes naturally for her.”
King credits either providence or a series of coincidences as to why she was led to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
Her former positions have helped her develop friendships with co-workers, which she says allows for equal connection and communication from the different offices of the college.
“She is an incredibly good listener and wants to be collaborative; she creates an environment where people feel free to express opinions, even if they are not the same as hers,” Kosowsky said.
As inauguration approached, King experienced mixed, but excited feelings.
She was very busy with not only inauguration but Board of Trustee meetings as well.
Her overall goal is to make the students more marketable when they graduate by enhancing the curriculum of each course.
Promoting and encouraging women to persist the study of mathematics, science and technology is also a passion and something that King will continue doing as president.
“Dottie is able to listen and articulate,” Kosowsky said.

‘Advancing Our Legacy’
King said she is excited to move forward with the college as its new president. She wants to enhance the enrollment rate and promote SMWC by making use of what the students tell her.
“She wants to make the college better known, give it a brand and get its name out there,” Kosowsky said.
If King could put her duties as president on hold for a day, she would be back in the classroom, teaching and promoting mathematics.
“Her presidency is forthcoming,” Kosowsky said.  “She is the right person at the right time.”

Popularity: 34% [?]

By Anna Spydell &
Lacey Henson
Staff Writers

Freshman Alexis Dawson received a spooky welcome shortly after moving in to her room, number 247 in Le Fer Hall.
“I was on Skype and a picture that was on the wall went flying across the room,” Dawson recalled. “And one day I was in the shower and I heard people in my room moving things around. When I got out, I couldn’t find my laptop or tennis shoes.”
Suspecting that a friend had dropped by her room while she was in the shower, Dawson went to the door to ask if anyone had seen her things.
“I realized that my door had been locked the entire time and there had been no way to get into my room,” Dawson said.
As fall approaches, colors of orange, crimson and yellow paint the leaves of the trees surrounding the beautiful campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
But with stories about the faceless nun, a bloodstained room, footsteps throughout Le Fer, mysterious piano playing in the Conservatory and underground tunnels, it seems that the SMWC campus has a dark, underlying history.
With all of the startling stories, myths, and folklores that trace back to the SMWC campus, why travel to a haunted house this year to get your spook on?
The SMWC campus has plenty of its own spooks to offer that might make your blood run cold.
Take, for example, the legend of the Faceless Nun.
Possibly the most famous of the Woods ghosts, her notoriety has landed SMWC in ghost hunting books, such as Haunted Halls: Ghostlore of American College Campuses by Elizabeth Tucker, published by University Press of Mississippi in 2007.
While stories concerning her identity conflict with each other, they do seem to agree on the long gone Foley Hall as the site of her haunting.
Foley Hall was razed in 1989, leaving no physical place to visit to investigate the ghost.
“A fire burned it out on the inside, and after that it was just torn down,” said SMWC security guard, Albert Heramb.
Formerly located between the Conservatory and O’Shaughnessy, Foley Hall housed art classrooms on its upper levels.
It is to those classrooms that the Faceless Nun is most popularly attached.
Her tales vary; she is alternately described as a terrifying faceless entity who would wail along Foley’s halls and as a realistic looking-figure who would always appear between the viewer and the light, the glare obscuring her face.

Photo by Jade Scott/ The Woods

These tales, many of which are recounted on the Sisters of Providence’s website, describe her as so realistic that people would believe her to be one of the flesh and blood Sisters.  They would speak to her, never suspecting her ghostly nature until she would simply vanish.
Immediately next door to the former site of Foley Hall stands the Conservatory.
Housing both the Theater department and the Music department, the Conservatory has both the auditorium and the practice rooms.
Some of those rooms are equipped with pianos for the music students to work in.
“Back when I first started at this job, I was patrolling the Conservatory and getting ready to lock up,” Heramb said. “All of a sudden, I heard piano music.”
Thinking perhaps a music student was having a late night practice session, Heramb made his way upstairs to inform the student that he was about to lock up for the night.
“But when I reached the second floor, the music stopped,” he said.  “I looked around, and no one was there.”
Not knowing what to make of it, Heramb returned to the ground floor.
“As soon as I left the second floor, the music began again,” he said.
Heramb then radioed for another security guard to meet him at the Conservatory and, together, they combed the Conservatory for any trace of their piano-playing quarry.
“We never found anyone,” said Heramb.
The intrigue doesn’t stop at the above-ground area of the Conservatory. Beneath lies a large basement, filled with furniture, props, and one of the several entryways to SMWC’s network of underground tunnels.
The underground tunnels are no myth. There are tunnels that run under the ground that connect all of the buildings on the campus side as well as the sisters’ side. Most campuses have underground tunnels and even many buildings in Terre Haute.
“They are used for maintenance purposes,” Utilities Manager for the Sisters of Providence, Bob Flesher, said.

Photo by Jade Scott/ The Woods

The tunnels run steam to Le Fer for hot water and to also heat other buildings. Electrical lines and cables are also run in some tunnels to the library for IT usage.
“They keep lines accessible and allow for easy repair,” Flesher said.
Standing six by four feet, most are walkable. However, some are so small that a person would have to crawl through. Some have been closed off and are not in use.
The tunnels are lighted but still have an eerie feel.
“Some of the guys have seen shadows while in the tunnels,” Flesher said. “You can tell that they are a little spooked, even though they don’t like to admit it.”
Students have reported experiencing unexplainable activity in the Le Fer Hall dormitories.
Freshman Jessica Rodriguez has seen some pretty strange things since moving in to the second floor of the south wing of Le Fer.
Rodriguez said, “Every night, between twelve and four, if you’re really quiet, you will see a shadow moving from end to end of the hallway.”
From mysterious piano music in the Conservatory, to strange noises in Le Fer, students and staff alike have reported strange incidents across the campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
While there remains no evidence beyond personal accounts to confirm any unknown presences on campus, it is likely that ghost stories concerning SMWC will continue to be handed down from Woodsie to Woodsie.

Popularity: 36% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

The literary arts magazine, Aurora, is an annual compilation of art by people connected with the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods community.
The magazine will host its Harvest Lights Literary Reading on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Hulman Hall Conference Center.
Aurora also hosts literary events throughout the year on campus. Like Harvest Lights, the literary readings take place in the Hulman Hall Conference Center, located on the second floor. The readings are a gathering of people from the community who their work.
There is a 10-minute limit for a presentation. Even if you do not wish to read your work, or perhaps you don’t have any written work, you can attend and simply listen. A reception is held after the reading event.
President and editor of Aurora Cecilia Pryor encouraged students to get involved with Harvest Lights and Aurora.
“It is very welcoming, not like speech class,” Sutton said of the public readings.
Pryor agreed, “It is a non-threatening environment.”
Any medium of art, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, photography, paintings, plays, and sculptures are what fill the pages of the student-published magazine. The magazine is a “coffee table book,” described Aurora advisor and speech professor Janice Dukes.
Submissions have come from students, professors, distance students, and even some graduates.
All submissions to Aurora are considered, but a cover sheet is required. The cover sheet and more information about submitting work can be found at http://www.smwc.edu/resources/college-relations/publications/aurora/
Feb. 1 is the deadline for submission.
Pryor and the Aurora staff look over the submitted work and decide what will be published in the magazine. The decisions are made during the winter semester. Because Aurora is a club, it accepts new members to contribute to the proofing process.
“The magazine is a great experience for first time students to get their work out there and be published,” said Vice President of Aurora Lauren Sutton.
Students should not be embarrassed to submit their work because the review process is anonymous.
“It is a creative outpouring,” said staff member Jill Coffin. “It is also great for art majors to have a hard copy and prove that their work has been published for portfolios.”
Even if your work is not published, the staff said it is politely rejected. Pryor said Aurora is a good organization from which to receive a rejection letter because the letter is offers constructive, not harsh, criticism.
“Submit your work, even if you think it’s not good enough,” Pryor said.
Copies of Aurora can be picked up in almost any building on campus. If you have any questions or would like to be a part of the Aurora publication, contact President Cecilia Pryor.
The magazine will host a spring reading, but that date has yet to be determined.

Popularity: 15% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

A change was made in the student handbook regarding the reporting of harassment claims is significant, but students should not be alarmed.
“The college was required by the Department of Education to name a Title XI coordinator and promote that the chosen representative is the person who reports claims dealing with harassment,” Vice President for Student Life Vicki Kosowsky said.
The law of Title XI Code Section 20 states that, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded in the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…”
The implementing of a Title XI coordinator is due to rising numbers of harassment instances not being handled appropriately among other colleges. Student to student harassment is being emphasized.
The aim of the harassment policy and implementing a Title XI coordinator is simply to provide protection.
Library director, Judy Tribble, has been appointed the Title XI coordinator for Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
If a student makes a harassment complaint, Tribble follows the procedure online to report the claim properly.
The reports go to the Federal Government and all are confidential.
Tribble will be going through training for her new role.
“I am happy to serve in this capacity and hope that we [the college] can ensure proper procedures are in place to address any harassment complaints,” Tribble said.
Tribbe does not expect to be too busy in the role but it is always best to be prepared.
She hopes to coordinate training for students about understanding their rights under Title XI and grievance procedures and encourage that students be proactive.
She also hopes to train all employees concerning the Title XI policy.
“The policy is not dramatically different,” Kosowsky added, “the intent of the policy is the same.”

Popularity: 12% [?]

By Lacey Henson
Staff Writer

Photo provided by Annie Jones

Learning about evolution and the creation of the universe in a lecture in a biology class is normal anywhere else.
But only at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College can students receive the same lesson by walking a nature trail.
The Cosmic Walk nature trail was inaugurated in late August and is the newest nature trail.
The Cosmic Walk is “a walking meditation,” White Violet Center Associate Director, Robyn Morton, says. “Its purpose is to allow a new way of reflecting the origins, creation, and evolution of the universe.”
The trail is viewed as a unique teaching tool.
It is lined with facts, illustrations, and stories about evolution and creation.
The photos on the illustrations that line the trail were taken by Sr. Corlita Bonnarens, RSM of St. Louis. The illustrations act as a new way to tell the story of evolution.
The purpose is to be an eye opener to the evolution and creation of the world and to teach people that the world began many years before human existence
“The Cosmic Walk is a get away place of quiet reflection, a different way of praying,” said White Violet Center Director, Sr. Maureen Freeman. “It reminds us of our place in the universe.”
The trail and its message symbolize the philosophy of the White Violet Center.
It is intended as a humbling experience.
Students should get out of Le Fer during free time and check out not only the Cosmic Walk but other nature trails.
All are open to the public as well.
The Cosmic Walk trail veers off to the left at the entrance of the nature trails. Trails are located on the far North end of campus, past the horse barn and pastures.

Popularity: 28% [?]