by Amanda Hake Freelance Writer

Food and fun with a Louisiana flare is what Missouri Western’s Alumni experienced at this year’s 2nd Annual Griffs on the
Bayou event. 

The event was held at Boudreaux’s Louisiana Seafood & Steaks last Tuesday, Feb. 19. Over 130 alumni made reservations
to attend, making it a bigger success than last year, which only had about 100 alumni in attendance.

The event was originally to take place on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 5, but due to inclement weather the event was rescheduled.

“We really wanted to keep with tradition and have it on Fat Tuesday, because it was a Mardi Gras themed event, but the
weather so poor. They had cancelled classes that day on campus, so we thought it was best to err on the side of caution,”
Jason Horn, Alumni Association President said. (Full story)

Finding who you are through acting like someone else sounds strange, and well it is. Think about what your senior year of high school was like. If you can, think about what graduating college is going to be like. Where do you see yourself at thirty?
Vanities, an Alpha Psi Omega production, is about all these things. The story of three uber-popular cheerleaders and what their lives have to offer for each of them.

Vanities is being shown Thursday, Feb.  28, through Sunday, March 2, in the Black Box Theater in Potter room 106. Tickets are general admission, costing $4.00. (Full story)

Blue Oyster Culture Club resurrects hair metal, pop

Mullets have nearly disappeared from Joetown. Acid-wash jeans have been relegated to the darkest parts of an aging heavy metal drummer’s closet. The 80s are finally dead, long live the 80s.

But if you closed your eyes as you walked into the Rendezvous Saturday night, you would have believed that you were transported to the time when MTV played music videos. Blue Oyster Culture Club is more than happy to facilitate that feeling. (Full story)

At the age of 21, fresh out of school, Leahy applied for and obtained the position that he has maintained to the age of 57.

Now, after 35 years of nights and weekends at Western, Leahy has decided to retire which becomes official on Feb. 29.

In November of 1972  Coordinator of Technical Operations and Public Services, Rick Leahy, was first interviewed by Western.

Leahy is a native of New Jersey and attended Oklahoma City University from 1969 to 1973.

The technical director at OCU had a son-in-law who was chairman of the Western communications department where they were creating a new position of coor­dinator.

Leahy has chaired the campus campaign for United Way and has been involved with community arts programs, but his greatest achievements have been two presidential citation awards from Western. He has also received awards from student organizations for his outstanding service. (Full story)

Coffee is a college student mainstay and with the conveniently located Java City coffee house in Warren E. Hearns Center library building, student’s daily fix can be easily obtained.

Missouri Western’s campus dining services company, Aramark, opened the stand three years ago in response to student input and in conjunction with the library’s long range planning.

According to Julia Schneider, library director, the Java City coffee house has been a welcome addition to the library. In the three years since opening and the addition of the improved student seating area, the library has seen an increase in the door count of the library. (Full story)

Working out for money sounds pretty nice. Well, when you get 400 screaming kids into a college gym to jump rope and raise money, it sounds like a great thing.

On Valentines Day, kids from thirteen area elementary schools came together to participate in Jump Rope For Heart, a fundraiser to help donate money to the American Heart Association. Students from Missouri Western, along with parents and staff met in the Looney Complex last Thursday to help with jumping rope, organizing entertainment, as well as distributing contest prizes and drawings.

The kids get together and gather donations to help raise money for the American Heart Association. In doing so, on the day of the event they all come together with area school students to spend time jumping rope for the money they raised.

(Full story)

The year was 1970 when Richard Nixon was president and the Vietnam War was still being fought.

It was also the year Richard Boutwell, associate professor of biology, became a member of the Western faculty.
He remembers a Western that was recently constructed when he first walked up the sidewalk to Agenstein Hall.
“There was no grass, only four buildings and no dorms,” Boutwell said.

Western had just moved from downtown St. Joseph to its current location when he first started teaching here.
At the end of this semester Western will bid farewell to Boutwell.

Last summer he made the decision to retire after 38 years of teaching here at Western. “Out of all the other members of the faculty who came to Western in 1970 I’m the last to go,” Boutwell said. (Full story)