Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

Page 26 text:

SUMMER SCHOOL ■; ST: ' : rZTP ' XIBF W School ' s out for the summer, or is it? At the end of each NWMSU academic year, students pack their belongings and head home. However, for some students, summer does not mean the usual job doing odds and ends at one ' s father ' s business, hauling grain, or yelling at bratty kids down at the community swimming pool. Instead, these students spend their summer at NWMSU. If asked why one would want to spend the summer attending classes and studying, typical answers might be: Because I want to finish college a year earlier, or I ' d like to get this pesky course out of the way. Are these the real reasons? Maryville during the summer has an image unseen by those students here only during the regular sessions. Gone are the hotrod racers and flocks of students uptown on Thursday nights. Instead, Maryville becomes what it really is; a small, peaceful Midwestern town. However, Maryville is not without some form of enter- taining atmosphere. Numerous festivals, such as the Graham Picker ' s and Fiddler ' s festival, Barnard ' s and Hopkins ' carnivals, and the Skidmore Pumpkin show, provided summer students with various activities to attend. Two plays, A Salute to Sir Noel Coward and The Fan- tasticks, were performed by the Speech and Theatre department over the summer. Union Board sponsored trips to see a Royals ' game and a Starlight theater production. Also, the usual movies were available to provide entertain- ment. Boredom? Yes, probably several summer school students more than once were faced with this problem. But boredom finds its way at one time or another into almost everyone ' s summer. As a substitute to summer boredom, students found in summer school an opportunity to ac- complish a very real and down-to-earth type of study and research. The quietness of the campus, smaller classes, and lack of the type of friends who always manage to keep one from studying, contributed to a dignified and studious at- mosphere. A new program consisting of two five-week sessions was initiated during the summer of 1973. Certain classes were offered in five weeks while others were spread over the full ten weeks. The new five-week program allowed students a freer rein in planning their summer activities. Another facet of the summer ' s atmosphere was the presence of several hundred Missouri and Iowa high school students who were engaged in various camps occurring throughout the session. In addition, many of the NWMSU summer students were involved in graduate study or were teachers returning to further their education. Summer school? The concept is not as absurd as it may seem. Many students enjoyed the quiet atmosphere, small classes, and generally relaxed mood. Summer school does not have to be just a continued version of the regular scholastic year. It can be a completely unique experience in which real study is there for the taking. D JH 22

Page 28 text:

GEOLOGY FIELD TRIP nine days road OUT M est by Alan McNarie On May 17, 1973, 49 students and teachers departed from NWMSU on a nine-day bus voyage to points west. The tour, sponsored by the geology department, included stops at the Garden of the Gods, Mesa Verde, the Four Corners, Meteor Crater, the Sunset Volcanic Crater, and the Petrified Forest; and a 17-mile hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The following is condensed from the journal of one of these explorers. 17 May ■ Limon, Colo. We ' re spending the night at a commercial campground. The robbers are charging us a buck a head. Limon is still out on the plains, and the campground is a treeless rectangle surrounded by a cowpasture, with a laundromat and tourist trap in the center. We had originally planned to be at Rama Reservoir tonight, but the van took a wrong turn and we ended up waiting for it at a gas station for two hours. 18 May ■ Alas, another dream has died. The Rocky Moun- tains are not all majestic, snow-capped peaks. Oh, there are a few which fit that description, brooding like big white ghosts on the misty horizon. They remain as untouchable as a picture postcard. The mountains that we got to crawl around on generally looked like overgrown Ozarks. The high point of the trip today was Wolf Creek Pass (10,800 ft.). The bus stopped at the top, which was high enough to have some snow on it. We all got out, heard the required lecture on the San Juan Mountains, then threw snowballs at Dr. Mallory. 19 May ■ Most of the territory we crossed today was Navajo land. Once we stopped at a genuine Indian trading post. It looked like a grocery store, minus the liquor section. At Four Corners, everyone got a cheap thrill by standing in four states at once. There were two little Navajo Girls there who posed for pic- tures with the tourists, while their mother sold beads. Our first view of the Grand Canyon came about sunset. We all agreed that Evel Knieval must be an idiot to consider jumping that thing.