The Woods

By Shauna Lampley
Staff Writer

When you hear about a bunch of college students going on a Spring Break trip to New Orleans, you might be thinking relaxing on Bourbon Street or partying Mardi Gras style.  But, that’s not why 12 young women from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College went on this venture to Louisiana.
Every year, SMWC offers an alternative spring break trip.  This year, the trip took a different outlook on ways of servicing the community.  The group was split up into different schools helping with early childhood education.
Malia Hoffman, campus minister, chaperoned the group of women along with Krista Steinmetz and Amanda Springstead.
“I chose this trip to give students a different experience from the ‘normal’ alternative break of building houses or doing physical work, and it appealed to a lot of education majors,” said Hoffman.
The group departed from the college at 6:30 a.m. and arrived late that evening.  The next day, the group had the opportunity to explore the French Quarter and other various hot spots downtown New Orleans.
The next few days were working days.  The students worked Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  The group was split up into four smaller groups.  Each group was placed at a school working with early childhood education.
Volunteers contributed to early childhood education through Katrina’s Kids, an initiative operated by an international service program called Community Collaborations International.
The four schools were Total Community Action Head Start, Louise Head Start School, Leslie Head Start, and El Yo Yo Bilingual Head Start School.
The children at the Louise Head Start School were fed breakfast, lunch, and snack as a part of their plan. The children were dropped off at various times throughout the morning, depending when the parents had to go to work and then the children were picked up between the times of 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The facility had many paid and unpaid volunteers that came in throughout the week.
“I loved interacting with the children and teachers at the bilingual Head Start where I volunteered!” said Junior Cathleen Flynn. “Although the children weren’t born when Katrina happened, their families and communities have suffered greatly. It was so enriching getting the opportunity to offer a sliver of happiness or a learning moment to them.”
Head Start has income requirements and the families participating usually live below the poverty line or are of low-income.  Head Start also does a house visit with the family before the child can be accepted into the school.
Stephanie Runyon, junior, worked with children between the ages of 8 months to 2 years old.
“I absolutely loved interacting with the group of youngsters at the Head Start,” said Runyon. “Although I spent the bulk of the time interacting with the students rather than talking with the teachers, I know that I probably made the biggest impact to the teachers by being an extra set of eyes in the classroom. Children especially that young get into everything and they need constant guidance.”
SMWC’s volunteers spent six days in total in New Orleans.
“When our van pulled up to pick our group up from the Head Start on the final day, one of the little girls who got rather attached to me cried when I handed her to one of the teachers,” said Runyon.
“That was the saddest moment of the trip for me, saying goodbye.”

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Photo by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

Photo by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

Photo by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

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Photo by Colleen Daum/ The Woods

Photo by Colleen Daum/ The Woods

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By Shauna Lampley
Staff Writer

In 1950, Pat Gualdoni McNeill sent a postcard from France to her Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College French instructor with no intentions of ever seeing it again. But 60 years later, the postcard found McNeill again.
The 1952 graduate of SMWC sent the postcard to Sister Georgiana Terstegge, SP, who taught French at the Woods.
McNeill was on a trip sponsored by the National Federation of Catholic College Students for the celebration of the Holy Year in 1950.
Her trip included 600 students from around the country, all on one boat.  They departed from Hoboken, N.J., on a ship that had once been a yacht belonging to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.

Photo by: Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

“It was definitely third-class all the way, but when you’re 20 years old, everything is an adventure,” McNeill said.
Since the ship hadn’t been built to transport large groups, the 600 students all slept on bunk beds set up in the hold of the ship.
“The crew was Italian and spoke very little English and we ate a lot of spaghetti…also played a lot of bridge to pass the time on the six day trip and drank a lot of wine,” said McNeill.
While on this adventure of a lifetime, McNeill took the time out to send a postcard to her favorite teacher back at SMWC.

Photo by: Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

This postcard traveled from Paris all the way to Terstegge back in Indiana. The image on the card would have been special to Terstegge.
“Sister Georgiana earned a B.A. in French from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, an M.A. in French from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a Ph.D. in French from Catholic University, Washington, D.C.  She taught at SMWC for 44 years,” said Sister Marie Esther, who works in the Sisters of Providence archives.
When she passed away in 1997, her belongings – including the postcard – were all donated.
The postcard found its way to a small antique shop in Shelbyville, Ill. In 2010, a woman by the name of Wilma Yates found the postcard in the antique shop and purchased it.
“I don’t collect too much, but when I am out with my friends they want to shop at antique stores.  I just like to collect postcards with cathedrals or places that have been torn down,” said Yates.
She went through them while they were shopping and came to a special card and pulled it out. It was in perfect condition.
After reading the note on the postcard, she noticed the name of her friend, Pat Gualdoni, and remembered that when they were young she went off to France on a trip. She knew McNeill was Catholic, so she decided to buy it and see if it really was her card that she sent to Terstegge back in 1950.
“I told her it was her Christmas present that year.  We have still been friends all those years,” said Yates.
It’s unclear how the card made its way to that antique shop in Shelbyville. But somehow it did, making its way back into the hands of the writer, McNeill, 60 years later.

Popularity: 22% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Staff Writer

On Oct. 11, the junior class of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College received some bad news.
The new prices for Woods rings were out and they were much higher than most students had anticipated. Due to the rise of the price of gold worldwide, students planning on buying Woods rings this year will be paying significantly more than students who have done so in years past.
“I was shocked over how much the price of the rings has gone up.” said Alyssa Flynn, junior. “I know two years ago the most expensive gold ring was a little under $1,000 and now the least expensive gold ring is that price.”
The most expensive Woods Ring for sale this year is the 18-karat gold, going for $1,939.91; this same ring was sold for $971.56 in 2010 and 2011.
The 14-karat gold ring has gone up almost 70 percent, with a current price of $1,385.65, and the 10-karat gold ring now costs $952.30.
The price of the sterling silver ring has also gone up more than a hundred dollars, now costing $449.40.
“The new prices reflect what the gold prices are at this moment in time per ounce,” said Vicki Kosowsky, vice president for student life. The prices of the rings are determined by the manufacturer and the rings themselves are distributed by the bookstore. “The college does not make any money off of the rings at all.”
In the past, SMWC has signed a contract resetting the prices of the rings with the company responsible for manufacturing them every two years.
“This year, they came to us and said ‘We cannot lock in a price for you,’” said Kosowsky.  “The price of gold has been so volatile over the last eight months that it was changing daily by hundreds of dollars….they did not know from one day to the next, much less a week in advance or a month in advance, what they were going to have to pay for gold.”

Graphic by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

In an effort to provide what Kosowsky describes as “a more affordable but still quality ring,” two new ring options have been introduced this year.
The White Aztec is an alloy containing no gold, while the Gold Aztec ring contains a small amount of gold.
Ashtynn Masterson, who was glad that the college is planning on offering more reasonably priced options, still plans on purchasing a gold ring.
“To me, getting a ring is such a big honor that it’s something that I’m willing to spend that type of money on,” said Masterson.  “It’s something I will wear for the rest of my life. If you spend $900 now, but you wear it every day for the rest of your life, it kind of evens out.”
While some students may go for the less expensive options, others plan to apply for legacy rings, which are Woods rings donated by alumnae or their families.
“I’ve always thought it would be really neat to get a ring that has been passed down through history,” said Lauren Sutton, who has planned to apply for one since before the change in pricing.  “I liked the idea of being able to donate that same ring back to school to continue the tradition.”
Sutton suspects that more people may apply for the legacy ring this year for the simple reason that they are free.
But besides the fact that the number of donated rings available is always limited, another issue with legacy rings is the sizing.
“Many of the older alums that have given back rings to the institution are giving back incredibly small rings. Really small,” added Kosowsky.
She stated that some rings may be too small for any students to wear.
For students such as Emilie Blythe, a senior who decided her budget would not allow her to buy a Woods Ring last year, the ring is an important symbol, but not a vital one.
“There are more important things than silver and gold and onyx,” said Blythe.  “Like the people I’ve met and will treasure in my heart forever.”

Graphic by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

Andrea Thompson, who plans on applying for a legacy ring, says the rings are currently priced outside of her budget. However, if she is not chosen for a legacy ring, she will save up her money so she can purchase a Woods Ring of her own next year.
“It’s such a big part of Woodsie tradition,” said Thompson.  “There’s no way that I’m going to graduate without one.”
Although Kosowsky does not expect that the ring prices will change again this year, she describes the current price list as a “somewhat floating scale” and cannot guarantee that the prices will not change again next year, either for better or for worse.
It all depends on the state of the market.
“We’ve never been confronted with this dramatic of a change,” said Kosowsky. “There’s always been some ups and downs over the years, but never anything as dramatic as this.”

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By Shauna Lampley
Staff Writer

Wizard tournaments, wand making, and movie watching was the scene on Nov. 17 in Sullivan Parlor at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.  The fourth floor RA’s hosted a Harry Potter Party in the excited arrival of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
For those who are not familiar with the Harry Potter series, the Deathly Hallows is the final book of the Harry Potter series.  David Yates, the director of the seventh film, decided to split the movie into two parts.  The first installment came out on Nov. 19 and the second is to come out in 2011.  Seeing as the books are so lengthy Yates split up this film to put all the important scenes in the movies and to give those scenes the attention that they deserve.
The opening night was crazy for all the Potter fans lining up outside the doors of the theaters everywhere.  All were anticipating the final chapter of what had become a long series of movies for the past 9 years.
The Sorcerer’s Stone was the first installment of the Harry Potter series, which came out to theaters in 2001.  The actors that play Harry (Danielle Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) have all grown with their characters from where they started when they were eleven to the young adults they are now.  None of them had much film experience prior to the movies and all showed a love for the characters they portrayed in the films.
The plot in the books begins in the very first book and from there on JK Rowling (author) takes you on a whirlwind of adventure, mystery, and secrecy.
The movies portray the books well in some aspects but it bothers fans of the books when details are changed or pieces are missing.  One thing that has to be understood when making a multi-million dollar film is that no matter how much you want to put in the film it’s just not possible to get every detail into a two and half hour film.
The fans were overall very pleased with the approach Yates took to the making of this film.
“Harry Potter 7 is definitely the darkest film/book of the epic series filled with loss, trials of courage, and the true meaning of friendship,” said Harry Potter fan Leah Miller, Junior.
Generally, the overall comparisons of the films with the directors have all been favored in the direction of Yates approach to the books.  He uses as much information from the books in the movies and adds a sense of darkness to the films.  He has directed the Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince, and now the Deathly Hallows.
When comparing the movies you notice a change of approach to the films.  This is because the films had a total of four different directors for this series of movies.
“Since they changed directors from the last movie I feel like the setting is much better, more detailed, and darker.  Harry Potter isn’t meant to be childlike, it has a sinister plot,” said junior Camielle Larrick.  “I am all too excited to see parts 1 and 2 of book 7 because they should all be more detailed and similar to the book than ever before.”
It isn’t uncommon for directors to change in such a long series of books that are being made into films.  These movies take so long to make that eventually directors have other projects they would like to carry out and pass on the task to another director.

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