Kamara White, Staff Writer
Sponsored by the O’Grady Library
Students in Professor Zemel’s spring semester COM300 class recently collaborated with the O’Grady Library team on a special project that will be uploaded to the StoryCorps cloud and processed into the SMU archives.
StoryCorps is an online archiving platform, open to the public, where information from all kinds of people is uploaded to make it accessible for learning purposes.
As stated on the Story Corps website: “StoryCorps is committed to the idea that everyone has an important story to tell and that everyone’s story matters. Our mission: to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all — one story at a time. Since our founding […] we’ve helped nearly 700,000 people across the country have meaningful conversations about their lives. These recordings are collected […] and in our online archive which is now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.”
SMU students Elizabeth Sees, Tanner Deck, and Theresa Nyantakanya met and interviewed over twelve alumni of Saint Martin’s University, some of whom attended when it was still an all-men’s institution and saw the Marcus Pavilion being built in real-time. This student-led project aimed to capture the alumni’s transitions coming to the University as first years and leaving the SMU as graduates, starting their careers. The goal of this project was to capture priceless SMU oral history and uncover information about SMU that many have come to cherish in their lifetimes.
The student teams’ roles in the process of bringing the alumni onto campus grounds and recording the actual interviews were split amongst the student volunteers. Roles were assigned based on each participant’s strengths. “I did the organizational part of it. I made […] the scheduling, layout, the template for scheduling, along with […] a spreadsheet with all the contact information on it […] mostly important digital things,” Sees said.
Tanner Deck did most of the communication to help build off of Elizabeth’s organizational preparation. “I reached out to almost everyone on that alumni list, scheduled them, and prepared them for what we’re going to be focusing on, and making sure to answer any questions they had,” Deck said.
Theresa was assigned the role of interviewer given her natural ability to come up with quality questions on the spot along with the aid of Professor Zemel helping with the recording setup and overseeing audio quality.
Professor Zemel, Elizabeth, Tanner, and Theresa did a test run interview with the Assistant Director of Transfer Admissions, Caitlin Gordon, to sift out all obstacles with the technical side of the process. “We couldn’t get the logic audio program that we were using […] to work right. It wasn’t doing soundwaves [like we wanted], but we did figure it out. I think it was just a user error,” Sees said.
Because of the many positive outcomes of a project like this, the student team felt it was a worthwhile experience to take a chance on. “You expose yourself to meeting different people and experience teamwork in a real work environment, along with having a good project to add to a resume or portfolio,” Nyantakanya said. “This is a great networking opportunity and you get to hear alumni stories you may have never heard about the school otherwise,” Decker added.
One of the alumni, class of 2011, Michael Grosso shared insightful experiences of his time at SMU. “When I came here, my thought of the campus initially was this seems really small. And so I initially realized I could have an impact on a place like St. Martin’s. But what really sold me […] was during the overnight visit because the concentration was on getting to know the students on going to a basketball game and really immersing yourself in the culture here,” Grosso said.
Grosso went on to mention how he was a part of the Sigma Mu Kappa fraternity at the time.
“ I was a part of Sigma Mu Kappa, which is a fraternity that’s no longer recognized at the institution and I was the president of that in my last year. We did lots of volunteering, lots of work with campus ministry, which was a ton of fun,” Grosso said.
The O’Grady Library archivist, Ryan Peterman, has also played a pivotal role in the success of this project, by processing all the audio files and archiving them for preservation. The invaluable history mentioned in the interviews will stay in the SMU archives for a long while once the process is done.
The SMU Story Corps page is not complete yet, but all are encouraged to visit the Story Corps page here: https://storycorps.org/
SAAC Committee’s Saints Cup Competition – Kamara White
Saint Martin’s athletics is a major component of SMU’s culture. The Student Association Athletics Committee (SAAC) is a crucial group of student-athlete representatives who aim to make athletics at SMU a continuous supportive environment for athletes to bond and feel heard during their time on campus as a Saint.
Senior women’s volleyball player, Kayla May, has been a part of SAAC for the past two years and emphasizes SAAC’s role in bridging the communication gap between athletes and academics. “We serve as the voice for student-athletes […] acting as a liaison between student-athletes and administration and the athletic department,” May said. “If there are issues that need addressing or changes they would like to see, like promoting games and team accomplishments or highlighting student-athletes accomplishments in athletics or academics.”
SAAC is in charge of putting on events for student-athletes such as back-to-school BBQs, cup pong tournaments, the annual Marty’s sports banquet, and a new addition this year, the Saints Cup. “We wanted to promote more competition amongst teams […] and also provided an incentive for more involvement in SAAC meetings and other on-campus events,” May said.
This is the first of many annual Saints Cup competitions and the ongoing ‘Saints Cup’ consists of a combination of games and school events that athletes need to attend to gain points for their team. The five events are Dodgeball, Campus Beautification, Family Feud, Kickball, and Mental Health Study Night. Each team is allocated points based on attendance and rankings based on participation during these five functions.
Abbey Halstead, a junior volleyball captain, says the Saints Cup is simply a way for SMU athletes to come together as a group rather than as separate teams. “The main idea of Saints Cup was to bring all the teams together and help create an environment where all the teams can mingle and support each other,” Halstead said. “By creating these games, I can involve everybody and give a point system with rewards {which} allows all of us to […] create that environment where everybody […] wants to come together […] and get to know each other better.”
The winning team with the most points will be announced at the Marty’s, the annual end-of-the-year sports banquet. The winning team is audited for a custom team banner and more. “The prize for the winning team of the Saints Cup […] will not be revealed until the Marty’s to keep teams invested in competing,” Halstead said. “SAAC also organizes and puts on the Marty’s with funding help from ASSMU.”
The first three events (Dodgeball, Campus Beautification, and Family Feud) have taken place already with women’s volleyball in first place on the leaderboard with 425 points. Following Softball in second place with 400 points is Men’s Soccer in third place with 375 points.
Kickball is the next Saints Cup game, which will be held at the SMU softball field on April 8th, time TBD. Please visit the SAAC Instagram page or keep an eye out for the weekly campus life emails for updates about the Saints Cup criteria.
Good luck to all of our wonderful student-athletes as the Saints Cup continues!
The Belltower 