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

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i k 1 1 I I Copy I ditors ' indy SedlerandBobPowri take a break during the McCra k.n Hall Christmas Party LEFT. Checking ovei the Homecoming copy are Ken Wilkie, Laura Widmer, editor, and u ih Power Wilkie and Power were two of the four copy writers during second semesta BOTTOM LEFT: After attending the national collegiate journalism ention in Houston, Tex., Laura Widmer and Sports Editor Dave Cieseke play frisboe at the beach in Galveston, Tex Fiv • suit! members attended the convention and enjoyed a Sunday picnic by the surf TOWER 23

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Deadline fever Deadlines were not a fact of life for the 1979 TOWER staff-they were a way of life. From the end of October to the end of February, the four deadlines hit hard and fast. Things looked grim at times for the small and largely inexperienced staff, but the count- less work weekends and all-nighters paid off. The book was finally completed. It seemed that I was spending every minute working at McCracken Hall, said Dave Cieseke, sports editor, but after each deadline, I was ready to go to work on the next one. The yearbook deadline schedule was different from the weekly newspaper deadlines, and for new staff members with newspaper backgrounds, a transition had to be made. I had more time to develop ideas for yearbook copy than for newspa- per articles, said Ken Wilkie. Writing for the yearbook was more like a magazine than a newspaper, and that all goes back to taking your copy and putting it in creative language. Deadlines were different for the 1979 TOWER staff than in other years, because the yearbook was pasted up by the staff rather than by the plant. This involved typesetting all copy and headlines, adhering them to layout mats, adding lines and graphics and masking out the area for each photo. Because of our low budget we had to go to the econo-plan, said Laura Widmer, editor. I was really afraid to go to an all-school paste-up, because we ' d never done it before. It was so newspaper-oriented, and at that time we had no people who had a newspaper background, so I recruited Carole Patterson who worked with me as co-editor of the Missourian. Layout and design were what she ' d been doing, so I knew she was the person to be production manager. When Widmer began selecting people for editorial positions, only two staff members were returning from the 1978 staff. When all the recruiting was done, I knew I had a bunch of hard workers on my hands. They learned what needed to be done, and they were versatile. Widmer believed that although the staff was small, quality rather than quantity produced the book. According to Renee Tackett, adviser, along with quality, dedica- tion was an important charac- teristic of the 1979 TOWER staff. I occasionally caught some flak from the staff about being picky, said Tackett, however, in the long run it was probably for the best. We were striving for a publication that we could be proud of-no matter how difficult that was to remember at four or five in the morning. The nucleus of the staff was hardcore TOWER; they went to the extent of risking grades or even their own health for this book. V 22 TOWER

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Family planning Battling the baby boom 24 FAMILY PLANNING Many students took advantage of family planning and birth control facilities available on campus. Couples who sought counsel for both premarital decision making and postmarital concerns, such as communication, a need for privacy and children, received help from Dave Sundberg and Rick Long, guidance counselors. Most married couples who wanted counseling came in the summer, according to Sundberg. Most of them tried to finish undergraduate studies and work as well, said Sundberg. Classes often took away from the time the couple spent together. This caused tension, because they needed their nights out and time together. According to Sundberg, children created more responsibility and, therefore, more tension. Think about how difficult it must be to be going to classes and working, and at the same time caring for children, he said. For this reason, many couples wished to delay starting a family and considered birth control measures. Students who wanted contracep- tives went through the special gynecology clinic. According to Dr. Desmion Dizney, physician at the University Health Center, several changes were made. First, the clinic was expanded to three days a week rather than one. We no longer needed to wait for a social worker to come in, said Dizney. Our staff handled the counseling. Another major change was the handling of each patient indivi- dually from start to finish. This took a lot of time, said Dizney, but I thought it was important. Each girl received as much or as little counseling as she needed. Most of the clinic procedures were handled by the nurses. According to Dizney, the lengthy procedure began with an extensive interview between an R.N. and each individual patient. Questions asked concerned back- ground, family, medical history and any previous gynecological prob- lems. The R.N. explained various birth control methods and discussed a possible choice with the patient. She also explained pelvic examina- tion procedure if the patient had never had one before. When I first came in, I didn ' t know much about birth control. I found out that a lot of the things that I believed were wrong, said one student. The nurse administered blood and urine tests and checked weight and blood pressure. Dizney then studied the charts and did the examination. Only then was the decision made about whether the type of birth control method chosen by the patient was a suitable one for her, said Dizney. Costs for the contraceptives and the pap smear were kept within accessability of the students, ac- cording to Dizney. t