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

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RUB AND SCRUB. Room- mates Julie Moeller and Marci Gregg work together on the after dinner clean up. Along with increased freedom, stu- dents living off campus gained numerous responsibility. Photo by Mike Fernandes HI, IT'S ME. After a long day of classes, Angie Slider calls a friend from her dorm room. Students living on campus were spared the expense of phone installation and were provided with voice mail. Photo by Patrick Mahoney JUST LIKE HOME. Room- mates Leslie Leake and Jodi Peterson watch TV in their apartment. Many students en- joyed the more spacious living quarters and less restricting tules that off-campus housing offered. Photo by Jon Britton DEAL THE CARDS. Perrin Hall residents are joined by some friends in a heated game of cards. Residence halls gave students an opportunity to build strong and lasting friend- ships. Photo by Patrick Mahoney Housinc 27

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“Living off cam- pus didn’t feel like | was going back to my little cell. In a sense, it was more like home.” Students weigh pros and cons when choosing their home away from HOME To live on campus or to live off campus? That was the question many students debated over at least once during their collegiate careers. For freshmen, the answer to that ques- tion was obvious. They were required to live in the residence halls their first year, unless they were 21 years of age or older, lived with parents or peti- tioned to get off campus. But for upper- classmen, living on or off campus was entirely their decision. “I decided to live off campus be- cause I got older and tired of cam- pus life,” Mike Walker said. “I also got tired of putting up with the campus rules.” Students found that living off campus was more like living at home. “Living off campus didn’t feel like I was going back to my little cell,” Sally Sanborn said. “Ina sense it was more like home.” Scott Higgenbothem said living off campus gave him more privacy. “It felt more like home because there were other rooms I could go to besides my bedroom,” he said. “I didn’t have to share the bathroom with 50 other guys.” Most agreed the primary advantages for living off campus were to have more freedom, to have a cheaper cost of living, to eat better and to have pets. “It was a lot quieter than the dorms,” Higgenbothem said. “You didn’t have people screaming their heads off or play- ing golf and other games in the halls.” Walker admitted that living off cam- pus had its drawbacks. He said the condi- tion of many off-campus dwellings was -Sally Sanborn considered poor and dealing with land- lords was, at times, difficult. “If something in the apartment broke down, it took a while to have it fixed,” Walker said. There were other disadvantages, Higgenbothem said. “You didn’t have janitors cleaning up after you like in the residence halls,” he said. “You had to do it yourself.” Students said cooking for themselves, walking or driving to campus, doing laundry and not having access to a com- puter proved to be major disadvantages. “The biggest problem for me was hav- ing monthly bills,” Jennifer Urban said. “Having to come up with the money every month was hard .” According to Residential Life Coordi- nator Wayne Viner, students stayed on campus for reasons of accessibility to campus resources. “The majority of students chose to stay oncampus because of convenience more than anything else,” Viner said. Kevin Houlette was one of these stu- dents who felt on-campus housing was more practical. “Tt was more convenient in the halls because it was easier to get to the library and other academic buildings,” Houlette said. “You had more access to everything on campus.” Anita Fischer said the main reason she lived on campus was not having to cook. “| didn’t ever have to worry about cooking,” she said. “If 1 was hungry, I just ran over to the Union and got some- thing.” Although students chose whether to live on or off campus due to specific advantages and disadvantages, they made their final decison on where to live based on the way they wanted to live. I BY ANGELA TACKETT

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More than just grass and sidewalks, campus grounds were a backyard ESCAPE Much had changed since 1857 when Captain Thomas Gaunt estab- lished his nursery on a plot of land in rural northwest Missouri. Most of the trees and other vegetation that once characterized the land were gone, replaced by sprawling stone edifices and the network of man- made paths connecting them comprising the campus of Northwest. Even after the changes from its original state, the natural beauty of the campus grounds still whispered of the nursery that stood in its place over a cen- TS place was Colden Pond. On days when temperatures soared, many swimsuit- Another popular campus gathering clad students tanned next to the tury before. ad ; pond’s banks, and Some features of | t was J ust p erfect. as it cooled in the tne campus wes, Between classes, te towerin ine silhouettes of trees cr onl when the weather young lovers protectively in ’ walking hand in front of Roberta was nice, where else hand as the moon- Hall, were part of light glimmered Gaunt’s original was there to go but off the water. plantings, while “Tt was just per- others didn’t ap- out here. ‘ fect,” Pam Law pear until decades said. “Between later. -Pam Law classes, when the Regardless of age though, all of campus’s natural features were impor- tant in making the grounds so pleasing. Viewed with the highest regard were the areas of common ground that could be found throughout campus, nestled neatly between the many academic buildings. These regions provided pock- ets of tranquility that, on warm days, many found too enticing to resist. “{ was an outdoor person,” Jim Meek said. “I loved trees and nature and it was a lot better than being cooped up inside.” Probably the most frequented outdoor retreats were the areas surrounding the Bell of 48 and the memorial Bell Tower. “The Bell Tower was always a great place to meet people,” Aaron Swett said. “And, the Bell of ’48 provided a nice shady area to stu dy, regardless of the weather.” BY STEVE RHODES weather was nice, where else was there to go but out here.” Mendi Frasher found the area pleasing as well. “Tt was a great spot with the pond shim- mering in the sun and the trees blowing in the wind,” Frasher said. “It was an alto- gether aesthetically pleasing view.” Some discovered the wide-open areas of campus provided them with an excel- lent playing field for a variety of games. “We tried to get out and pass the foot- ball around three or four times a week,” Drew Carroll said. “If the weather was nice, we were usually out here playing.” From the beautiful and historic trees and vegetation right down to the abun- dance of friendly little squirrels, the com- mon grounds provided peace and tran- quillity among the fast-paced bustle of college life.