University of Alaska Fairbanks - Denali Yearbook (Fairbanks, AK)

Page 11 text:

STEP INTO THE UNKNOWN ' 9 Margaret Walsh, better known as Maggie, arrived at the University not knowing quite what to expect. Of course all Freshman everywhere face that prob- By SANDY MOOR lem when they go to school, and Maggie had been to Fairbanks before quite often. But she had never received any official word of acceptance. Fairbanks had just suffered its worst flood in history, and at last word refugees were still in campus buildings. Her Aunt, Ann Walsh, who teaches in the University Home Ec. Dept. had to confirm her acceptance by telephone. The writ- ten acceptance must have washed down the Chena. Maggie had been accepted at Seattle Pacific University, but is Alaska born (Nome) and bred. Her grandfather was on the Board of Regents for the U of A, and Walsh Hall is named after him. She decided to stick to home. I don ' t like Seattle, the big crowds scared me off.

Page 13 text:

FRESHMAN... Though she has lived in Seattle as well as other poi nts South includ- ing Wake Island, she prefers the small town. Kotzebue is her home town. She went to boarding school in Copper Valley her last three years of high school, so leaving home and dorm life are nothing new to her. Nevertheless she felt completely lost on her first night here. None of my old friends were around and I hadn ' t met anybody. Just Maggie alone in a little room in a big dorm. ' People are friendly and helpful on campus, Maggie says so it didn ' t take long to get acquainted. Maggie enjoys campus life and the new and different people she can associate with here. Its re- markable, there are girls from the villages as well as from California in the dorms. I think talking with these different people broadens your horizons, but I ' m still not used to the hippies. We just don ' t have, anything like them in Kotzebue. Registration was confusing, but she got through it without too much trouble, considering I didn ' t know the profs or the buildings. Her classes don ' t start until 10:00 or noon, depending on the day. Says Maggie they should be earlier in the morning though, so .1 can get something done in the after- noons, I ' ll know better the next time. As yet she is having no trouble with any of her courses--15 credits worth. She has no complaints about her professors and has talked with most of them out of class. The 10:30 nights are fine with me, be- cause if I ' m in the dorm I ' ll study. Maggie was a little disappointed in Frosh initiation. I thought there would be a little more partici- pation from upper classmen. She lives in Moore Hall and the few Freshman girls living there were kind of forgotten and passed over. Preparing for the bonfire was fun, making the dummy and keeping it from the Sophomore girls, but nothing happened at the bonfire. I expected singing or yelling or something, but everybody just looked at it. Maggie admits she still doesn ' t understand ASUA, or who or what Senators are for. Nor does she know what organizations exist on campus or their purposes. Physical therapy is Maggie ' s major, so she must transfer to Seattle Pacific University to finish her last two years of school. When she was in grade school, a close friend was accidently shot. As a result he was paralyzed from the waist down and went outside for therapy treatments. Maggie then thought about physical therapy as a vocation. But as time went by she sort of forgot about it, and considered other occupations in- cluding teaching. Just recently, however, she read ...MERRY-GO- ROUND an article on the number of men injured in Viet -Nam who must undergo physical therapy. Now that she has decided on physical therapy, she doubts she will change her mind. I have a lot of patience with child- ren and would like work with them. Maggie, who enjoys working with her hands, would also like to take a few home ec courses if she can find the time. Four years ago she started to make jewelry from Alaskan jade, ivory and gold. Some of the gold she uses she panned herself in Nome. She has several pieces of jewelry she made herself. She also sews animal skins in her spare time. She learned at high school by helping make a girl ' s muskrat parka, and has made muk- luks, sealskin purses and baby booties of calfskin. Maggie says she loves Alaska and will probably settle down here after she has finished school.