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

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Orientation program helps new students take their first step in the right DIRECTION Freshman orientation at most universities consists of a one-day visit to the campus during the summer. However, since 1986, Northwest had been utilizing a new week-long orientation program that gave freshmen more advantages as they started college. Many freshmen found the program an asset to their transition into college life. “Tt was helpful to be able to familiarize myself with the campus without the immediate demand of classes,” freshman Andrea Riggs said. “Having that time gave me achance to meeta lot of people and to have fun.” According to Admissions Director Michael Walsh, the Admissions Office hoped to “It was helpful to be able to familiarize myself with the Cutting Playfair came mostly from evaluations. “That event was not well attended and not well evaluated by last year’s freshmen,” Walsh said. “In fact, it turned out to be one of the lowest-ranked activities in the evaluation.” Many students who at- tended Playfair in the past agreed with last year’s fresh- man class. “Playfair was built up to be something really fun, but it make new students com- campus without the was kind of awkward,” senior pletely comfortable in their ; Laurie Waldbillig said. “You new environment. immediate demand of were forced to mingle. A lot “Getting started on the right of people decided to skip it.” foot was very important,” classes. o Walsh said the planning Walsh said. “The initial staff was aware some activi- couple of days can set the tone P -Andrea Riggs ties would be a hit one year for their college careers.” After settling, the new arrivals were ready to participate in ‘‘one of the most painless” registra- tions around, according to Walsh. Each student was assigned an adviser and then registered for classes according to their summer placement scores. The summer placement tests were a part of many changes made in the orientation package. “Nothing was sacred when planning for Orienta- tion,” Walsh said. “Everything was up for discus- sion. We made some changes this year, and we’ll make more next year.” Walsh said the popularity of an activity was based on written evaluations. These evaluations were taken into account when considering whether the activity was retained. Walsh said this process had led to the elimination of the keynote speaker and Playfair. “The keynote speaker was well received,” Walsh said. “However, many parents were concerned that it gave them a late start home. We took that into consideration and after some discussion it was de- cided to cut it from the schedule.” and a miss the next. “What students enjoy doesn’t change overnight, but it does change over the course of a few years,” he said. “We were trying to keep current with what the new students related to.” The primary goal of the University during Orien- tation was to establish the students on campus and to ready them for the year ahead. “We wanted the parents to leave with a trust in the University,” Walsh said. “In addition, we wanted the freshmen to have a lifeline of support. If this happened, then a freshman had a better chance of becoming a sophomore here.” Walsh said the program provided a head start. “Our freshmen were more informed,” he added. “They had the undivided attention of faculty and staff for a couple of days.” Walsh said the work put into Orientation was the key to keeping new students at Northwest. “A good Orientation helped bridge the student's transition into college,” he said. “With it, the fresh- man developed a positive attitude toward the college and their reason for being here.” BY JAMI JOHNSON Orerentation 11

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Four students bring good times and good business to a bar called The UTBACK The atmosphere of the bar had changed from the night before when hundreds of customers had filled it. The beat of the music had grown silent and the dancing had ceased. In fact, the establishment was deserted except for four young men who were seated at the bar. One might guess these men were in for an early celebratory drink or were just regular afternoon barflies. But, in reality, the bar was closed and there were no customers at all. The four men were Northwest students and owners of The Outback, a Maryville nightclub. Over a year had passed since Jason Brown, Chad Jochims, John Wanninger and Scott Sadaro had purchased the defunct Power Station and revitalized it, fulfilling the lifelong dream of each of them to run their own business. Sadaro said the idea for the bar came one day when he and Wanninger were discussing the bar scene in Maryville. He said their discussion centered on the fact the town had a lot of taverns, but really did not have a good “college” bar. “A lot of students here would leave on the weekends,” Sadaro said. “They would go to places like Columbia, Lawerence or Iowa City and come back and talk about how a wesome the bars were there.” Jochims said there was skepticism at first. “The University and people in town didn’t think we could do it because we were in college and ina fraternity,” he said. “You didn’t have to be 40 to own a business—you just had to take a risk.” Pursuing business careers, they agreed owning the bar was a learning experience. “The classroom couldn’t teach you 10 percent of what you needed to know,” Sadaro said. “I had learned more in six months of owning this bar than I had learned in classes.” Sadaro said the mistake people made was calling The Outback a Delta Chi bar. “Delta Chi had nothing to do with this bar whatsoever,” he said. “That was the biggest misconception. They thought the fraternity was in on it. Delta Chi did not finance the bar; they did not have any say in what went on here.” One of the main areas they wanted to expand on was bringing in live entertainment. To accommodate this, they renovated the inside of the building. “Any other bar in town could only pull in a few hundred,” Jochims said. “Here, we had as many as 1,400 come through for one band on one night.” Sadaro said bands were drawn to The Outback due to its audience capacity. “The Outback became the only stopover for any kind of entertainment between Omaha and Kansas City,” Sadaro said. “We booked some big bands in the area. It got to the point where bands were calling us to play in our bar.” Sadaro said he wanted customers at The Outback to remember college. “Twenty years down the line when they were sitting around with all their college friends, we wanted them to say, ‘Yeah, remember the time we went to The Outback and saw that band?’” he said. “College was where their outlooks on life were formed, so in a sense we wanted to have a positive influence on them.” BY SCOTT ALBRIGHT HEY, BARTENDER. John Wanninger, Scott Sadaro, Jason Brown and Chad Jochims hang out in the breezeway of The Outback. Photo by Scott Jenson ATTHEOUTBACK. A student prepares for a night at a new Maryville nightclub. The Outback be- came a popular hot spot, especially on Over Under nights. Photo by Mike Fernandes