University of Arizona - Desert Yearbook (Tucson, AZ)

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Bobbie Mero 28 ARTICLE BY: CARLA CARTER PHO TOS B Y: JA Y DUNN and DANNY PEPPER Barbara Mero, known as Bobbie, is one of seven women in the Univer- sity ' s Air Force ROTC program. She settled in Tempe and attended schools there until she married and divorced. Although Bobbie went to Arizona State University for a year and a half, during which time she changed her major five times, a desire for a new start after her divorce brought her to Tucson. Tucson offers the advantages of a large city with the atmosphere of a small town, Bobbie says, adding, I feel at home here. She considers the Air Force a good opportunity for women, since they are accorded both equality and consideration as well as good pay. In the Air Force, behavior is legislated to our benefit, she con- cludes. Bobbie first took a semester of ROTC to see what it ' s like and on coming to Tucson enrolled in the University ' s two-year program. She attended camp last Summer a mandatory activity for upper level ROTC students and in August signed a contract formally committing her to the Air Force after graduation. As Cadet Second Lieutenant Mero, Bobbie edits the detachment ' s monthly newsletter, Mach 73, which profiles people and lists coming events in the corps, and works on the Information Staff, dispensing facts about the Air Force to high school students and other interested parties. After class, Bobbie exchanges her Air Force blues for a perky straw hat and bow tied shirt to become a piz- za pusher at the Straw Hat Pizza Palace. A secondary education major, she spends two hours a week helping junior high school students with problems in reading and math. People here at the U are more free, friendly and relaxed than at ASU, and she notes that there is less pressure. Bobbie ' s future is fairly settled. First, I want to get my commission, she says firmly. She is engaged to an Air Force captain and plans to stay in the Air Force at least ten or twelve years more if we have a family.

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Mark Goss ARTICLE BY: JAN IS BALMER PHOTOS BY: DANNY PEPPER Go as many places and meet as many people as you can, says freshman Mark Goss. And he has done his fill of travelling in his lifetime. In 1971 Mark went to Guayape, Honduras with Amigos de las Americas as a paramedical aid giv- ing vaccinations to a community of 1000 people while living in an old, abandoned mud hut and eating beans, rice and potatoes. Mark ' s travels have included lear- ning the cultures of the people as well. While living in Quebec in 1973, Mark did everything from breaking rocks with sledge hammers to com- mercial painting touch-ups. There he learned the lifestyle of the French people. As a romance languages major with a minor in anthropology, Mark is hoping to be accepted into law school with international law as his final goal. Mark plans to finish his education in Guadalajara, Mexico. Mark ' s interest in anthropology started when he found his first arrowheads in Tastiota, Mexico. Since then Mark has gathered quite a collection. Mark ' s social life also is his educa- tion. In his spare time he travels to Mexico to practice his Spanish with the older Mexicans. Mark joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity as a townsmember and lives in an apartment with two of his friends because he enjoys his privacy. Camping and hunting are two of Mark ' s hobbies but he has stopped the hunting as an act of animal preservation. However he feels that camping teaches a person to live without the comforts of home. In closing, Mark says he likes the West because it is not as over- crowded as the East. Unfortunately, he sees the population shifting Westward and says, The more peo- ple I see coming out West, the more I hate to see more people.

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Charles Neil Gibbs, a liberal arts junior from Boston, came to the University of Arizona on a scholarship from the Department of Rehabilitation of Massachusetts. A blood clot on the brain, which occurred one day after birth, resulted in Cerebral Palsey, leaving Neil partially spastic for life. However, his perseverance and positive attitude toward continual growth has, in the words of a friend, made him one helluva strong in- dividual and a happy, beautiful per- son. Neil believes in having a sense of direction and he finds that direction through religion, love and awareness of self and others. He has many I friends and is always interested in finding more. My ' No. 1 ' hobby is people, he says, getting to know and unders- tand them as best I can. This is reflected in Neil ' s major of psychology and a split minor of sociology and math. Although he is limited to taking six to nine units per semester, Neil has achieved junior status in three years and remains very active on and off campus. He is a member of the Association for the Independence of the Disabl- ed (AID), an organization whose pur- pose is to promote understanding between the handicapped and non- handicapped on campus. Neil worked during the Summer of 1973 as a psychological counselor at the Baptist Student Center in ex- change for his room and board. He attends meetings and oc- casionally travels as a member of both the Baptist Center and the Vineyard, a Tucson coffee house and Christian meeting place. Neil ' s religious convictions are a central aspect of his character because he doesn ' t embrace the doctrines of any one particular religion. I think denominations are like clubs. He is a devout Christian and is seldom without Bible in hand. In the future, Neil ' s plans include theological seminary study. He aspires to eventually become a Christian psychology counselor. ARTICLE BY: PEPPER PROVENZANO PHOTOS BY: DANNY PEPPER Neil Gibbs 29