Lyon College blog gives an inside look at campus life

When it comes to life at Lyon College, the students have the inside story, and they're telling that story online.

A recently implemented blog, located at www.talklyon.com, is currently authored by two Lyon students. Katee Castleman is a pre-med sophomore majoring in biology, and Drew Dunham is a senior with a double major in biology and chemistry.

Both writers invite students, potential students and community members to write them with any questions about life at Lyon College.

In their blog entries, they talk about academics, socializing, housing, sports, recreational activities, entertainment outside the Lyon campus and anything else related to life at the College.

The blog's introduction invites any and all questions about campus life: “Here we are, with everything you ever wanted to know about college, and then some. So whatever it is you're curious about, (school-related, please), ask away. Or search for it. Because here, you'll hear it all first-hand from a group of us just living the dream. Welcome.”

Dunham said the new site gives prospective students a view into what life at Lyon College is really like.

“Where some institutions get caught up in trying to represent their school with a view through a rose-colored lens, we're trying to give an unbiased view that interested high school or transfer students can trust - one of their peers.”

He said so far topics have ranged from social life after hours to academics to dealing with the challenges faced when moving in with a person you may not have known before.
“Each of these topics can then be discussed between all Lyon students or even questions asked by prospectives by use of a comment forum,” Dunham said. “The site has been online for about two months now and we're approaching somewhere between 30 to 35 articles up right now, with many more expected to be posted once school starts back and the events and such for conversation increase greatly.”

Dunham said he hopes this new innovative approach to recruiting will be something that will be able to provide an unparalleled resource for high school seniors to make that difficult decision on where to continue their education. Opportunities for other writers to participate will soon be available as well, he said.

“We'll be looking for people to do some guest articles once school gets started,” he said. “Of course any input on what should be written about will be accepted or submitted to us to get posted. All Lyon students and prospectives are welcome to put any remarks they feel relevant to any of the articles posted by use of the comment feature.”

Class Acts

Students who’ll be attending Lyon as freshmen in the Fall listen during a Summer Orientation event held July 13. Looking on are, left to right, Gary Harris, associate professor of theatre, John Peek, vice president for Academic Services and dean of the faculty, Ken Rueter, vice president for Business and Finance, and Denny Bardos, vice president for Enrollment Services.

Lyon College Alumni Council elects new president, vice president

Lyon College’s Alumni Council, the governing board of the Association, has elected Aimee Dunnavant Martin ’01 as the new president, and Wayne Southwell ’95 as vice president. Rounding out the rest of the Council’s officers is Peggy Roettger, Lyon’s interim alumni director, who serves as the Executive Director.

Martin joined the Alumni Council in October 2003 and has served as chair of the Giving Committee and a member of the Letter Writing Committee. In 2005 she was elected to vice president.

Southwell joined the Council in July 2004 and has served as the chair of the Membership Committee and a member of the Bylaws Committee.

Martin said her new role is a wonderful opportunity to give back to an institution that has given her a strong education, a sense of self and lifelong friends.

"I’m excited about serving in my new role as President of the Alumni Council," Dunnavant Martin said. "Cricket has made enormous strides by increasing the awareness of the council not only among alumni, but within the entire college community. I plan to work with both Wayne as the incoming Vice President and Cricket as the Past President to continue to build awareness and inclusion of the alumni council." 

Outgoing Alumni Council President Sarah "Cricket" Oquist, a 1993 Lyon graduate, leaves some big shoes to fill.

Oquist joined the Alumni Council in October 2003 and served as vice president before taking over as president in 2005. Also in 2005, she became a member of Lyon’s Board of Trustees and has served on the Student Life Committee and the Institutional Advancement Committee.

After graduating from Lyon in 1993 with a degree in English, she went on to earn a law degree from Creighton University in 1999. After law school, she worked as an attorney for a national law firm in Minneapolis, before taking the position of Senior Corporate Counsel to U.S. Bancorp. In March of this year, she took a new position as Commissioner of Corporate Affairs for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Onamia, Minn., and serves as chief executive officer of a company with more than 3,000 employees.

Minnesota Lawyer, a weekly newspaper covering Minnesota’s courts and legal community, recently named Oquist as one of the state’s "Up and Coming Attorneys," an award given to attorneys with significant records of accomplishment during their first 10 years of practice.

Oquist said she’s well acquainted with both new officers and their unique abilities. She said Martin’s characteristic energy and dedication will make her a vital asset to the Council.

"Aimee has a lot of enthusiasm, commitment and talent," she said. "The Council will benefit from her passion for Lyon College and its alumni."

As for Southwell, Oquist said he has a deep well of leadership experience from which to draw.

"Wayne’s leadership ability was obvious even back in college," she said. "His experience, dedication and ability to identify a number of ways to resolve challenges combined with Aimee’s enthusiasm will form a powerful team."

Oquist said her time as president was more than a job for her. It was a chance to give something back to the College that means so much to her.

"It was a privilege to serve the past two years, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity," she said. As past president, she remains an officer for the council.

The work of 10 journalists with ties to Lyon College won a series of awards and honors at this year’s Arkansas Press Association Awards.

Jon Trobaugh, Nick Nesler and Ross Jones of the Batesville Daily Guard earned honors for their work.

Trobaugh took a first place for General Columns and a second place for Investigative Reporting.

Nesler won a first place for Picture Page/Photo Essay, and he and Jones teamed up for a third place for a Features Page.

Phillip Seaton of the Conway Log Cabin Democrat took a third place award for Features Page.

Kenneth Heard of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette won an honorable mention award for Feature Story.

Kelly Williams Barnett of the Springdale Morning News took home a first place win for Features Page, sharing the award with Josh Ray.

The Jonesboro Sun’s Rick Fahr won an honorable mention award for Editorial, and another for General Column.

Also at the Jonesboro Sun, Roy Ockert Jr., a former journalism faculty member at Lyon, won an honorable mention for Editorial.

Lorie Thompson of the Heber Springs Sun-Times won an honorable mention for Humorous Column.

And lastly, former Lyon staffer Erma Harris won an honorable mention in Headline Writing for the Cherokee Village Villager Journal.

For the past 40 years, Lyon’s College’s APPLE Project has had "appeal" for area high school students interested in going to college.

And on Saturday, Feb. 24, organizers will host an event celebrating those 40 years of academic success with an alumni reunion from 1 – 3 p.m. in Edwards Dining Hall.

The APPLE Project – Accelerated Program of Personalized Learning and Enrichment – works with eligible high school students who have the academic potential and desire to succeed in postsecondary education.

The Project is a TRIO program. Sponsored by the Council for Opportunity in Education, TRIO programs are committed to "providing educational opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, ethnic background or economic circumstance."

For more info on TRIO programs, go to: www.trioprograms.org.

Since 1967, Lyon College has offered an Upward Bound program serving high school students in North Central Arkansas.

The goal of this program, which is funded through the U.S. Department of Education, has been to increase the number of high school graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds who enter college and persist to become college graduates.

APPLE Project students make a long-term commitment from their 9th-grade summer through their summer of graduation from high school to weekly school-year attendance for tutoring, counseling, and enrichment and to the six-week summer program of college-preparatory and college-credit classes.

Lyon President Dr. Walter Roettger said many wonderful success stories attest to the program’s benefits.

"This College considers the Upward Bound Project a worthwhile and needed program in this area," he said. "Moreover, we have very skilled leadership that assures its vitality."

Dr. Bruce Johnston, vice president for Student Life and Dean of Students, agreed.

"The program is valued on this campus and Lyon College is proud to serve as the host for this valuable service to the young people of the area in and around Batesville," he said.

Through a 24-week Academic Session, a six-week Residential Summer Session, as well as a Bridge Component for its most recent high school graduates, the APPLE Project offers college-credit and college-preparatory courses.

The program also offers academic tutoring; learning skills development such as computer, study, and library skills; career counseling; academic advisement; personal counseling; cultural, social, and recreational enrichment; and an academic climate strengthening the students’ sense of well-being and security within a postsecondary environment.

Kim Boehm serves as the APPLE Project director.

She graduated from Harding University in  2002 with a master's degree in Education (M.Ed.). She graduated from Lyon College in 1992 with a B.A. in English. Before coming to work with the APPLE Project she taught English, Spanish, and speech at a local high school.

For more information on the project, contact her at: kboehm@lyon.edu, or at (870) 698-4263.

Lyon College’s Writer-in-Residence is giving this year’s in-coming freshman class a few hickeys to consider.

The College has selected Andrea Hollander Budy’s poem, "The Hickeys on Sally Palermo’s Neck: Some Thoughts on Beauty and the Creative Life," to be used as common reading material for the new class of freshmen.

Dr. R. David Pace, assistant professor of chemistry, said the freshmen are required to read the selection over the summer and compose a 500-word essay that answers one of four questions:

• According to the essay, what is the purpose of art? How can this purpose help us distinguish between good and bad art?

• What might Ms. Budy say about the old clichés "beauty is only skin deep" and "beauty is as beauty does?"

• How do you think Ms. Budy’s experiences with various family members have helped to shape her understanding of art and her role as an artist?

• According to the essay, art—including literature—is a powerful medium. How is the power of art like the power of love, both in its origins and in its effects?

The author of three full-length collections of poetry, as well as three award-winning chapbooks, Budy’s awards and honors include the D. H. Lawrence Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize for prose memoir, the Runes Poetry Award and two fellowships from the Arkansas Arts Council.

She’s published more than 200 individual poems and essays in anthologies, textbooks and literary journals, and has given more than 100 readings, lectures and workshops to audiences of all ages all over the U.S. and abroad.

In 1998, she won Lyon College’s Lamar Williamson Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

Most recently, Budy won a prestigious Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, marking the second time she’s received the award. She also won it in 1991. The NEA awards only two fellowships to an individual, so Budy joins an elite group of two-time winners.

Budy is the only 2007 award recipient from Arkansas and one of only 50 in the nation. Winners are chosen in a competition based solely on a 10-page manuscript of poems submitted by each applicant. The panel of judges, made up of distinguished contemporary writers, reads the manuscripts without knowing the identities of the authors.

Later in the Fall 2007 semester, Budy will be lecturing and meeting with students to answer questions and obtain feedback regarding her work. The freshmen will write a final paper dealing with the topic: "How meeting Ms. Budy and discussing her work has affected me."

Other faculty members will also be incorporating her work into their freshman classes.

T Tauri Film Festival screenings, awards ceremony set

The 2007 T Tauri Film Festival public screenings will take place Friday, July 27, and Saturday, July 28, in Independence Hall on the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville (UACCB). The third annual festival, which gets its name from the astronomer’s term for a new star, focuses on showcasing work by filmmakers age 18 and under.

The national competition includes seven categories: Drama, Comedy, Documentary, Animation, Public Service Announcement, Music Video, and Experimental. Films were submitted by students from across the country, including Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, New York, Virginia, Minnesota, Missouri, and Utah. Entries are judged by students in the Understanding Film course at UACCB and in the Lyon College APPLE Upward Bound program. Winners in each category receive the T Tauri trophy, designed and created by David and Becki Dahlstedt of Mountain View Pottery. In addition to the seven competition categories, two special awards are presented: the Arkan-Star Award, given to the best Arkansas film, and the Kid with a Camera Award, given to a filmmaker working independently of any school or youth media program.

Screenings of Official Entries, selected from the competition, will take place Friday evening at 7 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 2:30. Each Competition Showcase includes 15 short films representing the seven competition categories. Official selections from Arkansas filmmakers include "How to Survive Fifth Grade," by Liam Wilson of Little Rock, "Shadow of the Night" by Michael Sutterfield of Bryant and "Perseverance" by students from Batesville High School. (The photo at right is from "Shadow of the Night.")

On Saturday afternoon at 4, films from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s My Community project will be screened. The line-up includes films from students in Paragould, Springdale, Hot Springs, and the Buffalo River area.

The weekend culminates with the Young Filmmakers Competition Award Winners screening and awards ceremony on Saturday, July 28, at 7:00 p.m. The nine T Tauri award winners will be screened, along with the short films created in the T Tauri Movie Camp Digital Video Basics and Community Documentary Filmmaking Workshops. The awards ceremony is hosted by students from the T Tauri Movie Camp Acting on camera workshop.

The weekend also includes the second annual Educators and Parents Symposium, a forum for tackling some of the pressing issues in the world of youth media. This year’s symposium focuses on New Platforms for Youth Media. T Tauri faculty member Will O’Loughlen, programmer for the new Platform International Animation Festival, a project of the Cartoon Network, brings his extensive recent experience to the four-person panel. The symposium takes place Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Admission to the symposium and the My Community program is free. Admission to the Competition Showcases is $4 for adults and $3 for youth 18 and under, students of all ages, and adults 55 and over. Admission to the Winners’ Screening and Awards ceremony is $7 for adults and $5 for youth 18 and under, students of all ages, and adults 55 and over.

The T Tauri Film Festival is a division of Ozark Foothills FilmFest, Inc., a non-profit educational corporation founded in 2001.  The 2006 T Tauri Film Festival is sponsored by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, First Community Bank, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville, the Arkansas Arts Council, the Independence County Quorum Court Recreation Fund, the Morris Foundation, Liberty Bank, First Southern Bank, FNBC, the Field Shop, the Canon Corporation, Lyon College, the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch, Mountain View Pottery, Morningside Coffeehouse, and Daylight Donuts.

Screenwriting competition launched

Ozark Foothills FilmFest is launching an annual screenwriting competition. The competition is limited to writers who have not yet had a work produced, optioned, or distributed by non-independent means. The competition is the first of its kind in Arkansas. Complete Entry Guidelines are available at www.ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org. The entry deadline is December 1, 2007; entry fee is $20.

Cash prizes will be awarded for first ($500), second ($300), and third ($200) place. Winners will be announced at a special event during the 2008 Ozark Foothills FilmFest, March 28-30 in Batesville and April 4-6 in Little Rock. FilmFest president and co-founder Bob Pest calls the organization’s newest initiative "a response to numerous requests we have received to support and showcase the work of emerging screenwriters in the state and the region. It’s another effort on our part to be responsive to the needs and interests of our growing film community."

Judges for the competition include Academy Award winners Ray McKinnon and Lisa Blount. Lisa is a native Arkansan well known for her work as an actress in films like September 30, 1955, An Officer and a Gentleman, and more recently Chrystal and Randy and the Mob. She also served as producer for the Academy Award winning short narrative, The Accountant. Lisa was honored for her work at the 2003 Ozark Foothills FilmFest. Her husband, Ray McKinnon, is well known for his amazing portrayal of the Reverend H. W. Smith on the acclaimed HBO series, Deadwood. McKinnon also directed and played the title role in The Accountant. His work as a film actor includes O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Chrystal, Come Early Morning, and Randy and the Mob. The multi-talented McKinnon also wrote, produced, and directed Chrystal and wrote and directed Randy and the Mob.

Other judges include producer-director Tim Jackson (Where’s My Close-up, Mr. Thornton) author and radio producer Paula Morell, screenwriter Frank Thurmond, Arkansas Democrat Gazette Movie Style editor and writer Karen Martin, and Arkansas Democrat Gazette film critic Philip Martin. Sponsors include Market Street Cinema and Category One Entertainment. For more information contact Bob Pest at 870-251-1189 or filmfest@hughes.net.

Sports

Lyon College Softball

Phenix Butler, a 5-9 junior infielder from Wiener, Ark., has transferred to Lyon College to play fast-pitch softball in 2008.

Butler, formerly of Crowley’s Ridge College and North Arkansas Community College, was an all-state performer at Weiner High School and is the Arkansas state record holder for stolen bases in a season (27) and in a game (7).

Lyon College announces the hiring of Pat Malone to take over the helm of its men’s and women’s tennis program.

Malone, a Batesville native and Lyon College alum, takes the head-coaching baton from John Bennett, who previously served as Lyon’s tennis coach and retired at the end of last season.

Malone has been a coach at the junior and adult tennis levels for 20 years and spent time as a volunteer assistant with the University of Arkansas tennis program. He is a certified United States Professional Tennis Association Pro and has also served with the USPTA as a coach and administrator.

"I’m extremely excited about the challenge of making Lyon College a competitive member of the TranSouth Athletic Conference," said Malone. "It’s a dream come true to work in my hometown of Batesville and for the Lyon College."

The Batesville native considers community support vital to the success of the program.

"It’s very important to get a grass-roots movement going and to get people out to see Lyon College tennis," said Malone. "When I was a volunteer assistant at Arkansas that’s one of the first things we set in motion. It’s a good way of helping to grow the game and the program."

Malone hits the ground running this summer with a pair of Lyon College tennis camps aimed at elementary and junior and senior high tennis players. His first camp, for junior and senior high students, runs from July 24-27, and his second camp on July 31-Aug. 3 caters to elementary school students. For more information on these camps please contact Lyon College at 793-1764 or visit www.lyon.edu/sports on the web.