opinions

Challenging perceptions, looking within to find courage as students on Ouachita’s campus

BY ASHA SAMSON

2021 Integrity Project 1st Place Winner

This essay was submitted as part of the 2021 Integrity Project. The theme dealt with defining what courage looks like for students at Ouachita.

Courage is a loaded notion that is commonly attributed to superheroes or pedestrians that pull people out of burning cars. It often describes people who push the boundaries of what we would consider safe and comfortable behavior. However, in this essay, I am insisting that it doesn’t always involve grandiose gestures, but we actually can display courage through small acts around our own campus.

In the current climate, it does feel hard to speak our opinions and fight for truth and justice without the fear of judgment or cancellation. This prompt asked us to respond to how we can combat this through courage but to really address that we must first discuss how this climate is created.

As we walk around our beautiful Christian campus, we are often plagued with the idea that we must display perfection. Because we try so very hard to disguise our shortcomings or ignorance, we are not able to grow and seek help. The first step of courage that is essential on this campus is to shed as much of this idea as we can.

As students, we must have the courage to own our imperfections and struggles because they make up who we are. By doing this, we have the great potential of helping others with similar situations and creating a closeness that was never there before.

Frequently, hostility comes from either misunderstanding, mistreatment or a refusal to listen. I do not think that intentional mistreatment or refusal to listen is the issue at Ouachita because most students strive to love and honor the Lord.

However, I do dare say there is a bubble formed here sometimes when many people are not exposed to cultures or information that are outside of their own. To this I say, as students, we must have the courage to ask questions.

This is so simply put, but it is one of the hardest ones for me. I honestly do not know when or why asking questions became something that was feared and avoided. Just mustering the courage to ask and admit you don’t know everything can clear up issues and unnecessary confusion.

Adding just another layer to this, as students, we must have the courage to challenge our own preconceived notions and biases to have more compassion and understanding for others. It is scary to examine ourselves, but it is impossible to love one another if we hold on to our own ignorance.

Once we strive to be the best version of ourselves, as students, we must have the courage to fully trust that God has a plan for us and just do our very best to get there. This courage may be hard to display but its power stems from loved ones, friends and your own integrity not to accept anything less than your best efforts.

OPINIONS

WWW.OBUSIGNAL.COM | PAGE 7 Senior reflection: perseverance characterizes Ouachitonians

BY MADELINE MARTIN

Staff Writer

I never imagined that I would face a pandemic and a blizzard during my senior year at Ouachita. It has been a unique school year, to say the least. Join me in reminiscing on this school year and all of its highs and lows.

When we returned to campus in August, students were excited. I was one of those students, eager to get out of quarantine and back on campus with my friends. Little did we know that the pandemic would change campus life as we knew it.

This year lacked in on-campus events. Most notably, Tiger Tunes was canceled. Instead, the Ouachita Student Foundation found a way to still raise money for student scholarships by hosting Tunes Rewind. The event proved successful and showed that there are still ways to bring people together during a pandemic.

Masks and social distancing created obstacles, too. I’m sure every student forgot to bring a mask to class at least once (I know I’m guilty), and not being able to sit near friends in class felt foreign. As a theatre student, I often found these hurdles difficult to overcome while performing. However, we adapted and made the guidelines work so that we could stay.

Then, we experienced the great Arkadelphia blizzard of 2021, when we got over ten inches of snow in one week. In the past, snow days meant cancelled classes, but instead professors transitioned to virtual learning for the week. Despite still having to attend class, students got to have fun in the snow and escape from the craziness of pandemic life.

Almost a year after getting sent home due to COVID-19, students became eligible to receive the vaccine. Ouachita hosted a clinic for students to get fully vaccinated. For me, this created a sense of relief. It felt like the beginning of the end for the pandemic.

One of the hardest things that students had to go through, in my opinion, was the cancellation of spring break. Burnout is real, and Ouachita students experienced the exhaustion that comes with pushing through classes without a long break. Sure, we got Catch-Up Days each month, but not having a spring break added a lot of stress to the student body. Mental fatigue set in and made it difficult to find motivation to keep up with course work.

I think that the overarching theme of this school year is perseverance. Despite the fact that we had to sacrifice many events and campus activities that we were accustomed to, students and faculty came together to make the best of a difficult situation. We persevered and adjusted according to HMAT guidelines. We made things work so that we could be one of the few universities in the nation that held on-campus learning this academic year. It took detailed planning and the cooperation of students and faculty, but we did it.

I think we are lucky that we got to spend the academic year oncampus while so many colleges continued with remote learning. Despite the hardships we faced and sacrifices we made, I am glad that I got to spend my last year at Ouachita on campus.