ACUOPTIMIST.COM | Friday, December 6, 2019 | 1
See photo of Oxford property purchased by ACU
A student publication of Abilene Christian University since 1912
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BY RILEY FISHER | CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students get relief from stress during the final week of classes by playing with puppies in Campus Court brought by SGA on Thursday morning.
ACU purchases new property in Oxford BY ALLISON HARRELL EDITOR IN CHIEF
ACU has finalized the purchase of a recently renovated Victorian house in Central North Oxford, England. The house is located at 163 Woodstock Road, and is complete with eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, two kitchens, five reception rooms, a studio, an outside deck and backyard. The building covers a 6457-square-foot area.
Stephen Shewmaker, executive director of ACU’s Center for International Education, said they have been looking for a long time for a property that would meet all their needs. “Oxford is a very tight community, for multiple reasons,” Shewmaker said. “Some of that is the 850-odd years of history of University of Oxford. The town and the settlements there go back over a thousand years. So to be
able to establish a sense of permanence in a place like that is important for us to be considered full participants in the community.” The current Oxford study abroad program began in the mid-90’s. ACU began leasing the current two houses used to house study abroad students in Oxford, located at 9 and 10 Canterbury Road, in 1999. The search for a permanent property in Oxford began in 2002. “There’s many people
who have been involved in this,” Shewmaker said. “This is a legacy project for ACU, not just in the future, but has been over the last 20 years of people who have known that this is something that we needed to do. And it’s not easy, it’s expensive. When people make statements like, ‘We’re doing work here that’s going to go far beyond us,’ I just see that in this effort more than I’ve seen in anything else during my time at ACU.”
“So to be able to establish a sense of permanence in a place like that is important for us to be considered full participants in the community.”
STEPHEN SHEWMAKER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ACU STUDY ABROAD
Shewmaker said they plan to begin the transition with the fall of 2020 group, housing study abroad students at the new property. The Oxford Study Abroad Program
will remain in the currently leased houses until the end of the summer. Chelsea Flow, senior ministry and vocations and management major from Amarillo and past Oxford study abroad student, said though living in Oxford is a once in a lifetime chance, the housing situation occasionally put a damper on things. “The new property will be a huge incentive for future study abroad stuSEE OXFORD PAGE 2
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Read about alumna Jennifer Crisp’s work with Come before Winter PAGE 5
SPORTS
PHOTO COURTESY OF ACU STUDENT PRODUCTIONS
The Sing Song 2020 hosts and hostesses.
Six named Sing Song hosts, hostesses BY DILLON DANIEL MANAGING EDITOR
Four women and two men have been named hosts and hostesses for Sing Song next spring. The hosts and hostesses are Caleb Crisp, Weston Weast, Lauren McDonald, Kasey Birchfield, Alex Marie and Tat Cordts. As the semester ends and Sing Song gets closer, the hosts and hostesses will now g o through song selection and additional vocal lessons to prepare for rehearsals. Caleb Crisp, sophomore g raphic design
major from Abilene, said not studying abroad next semester gave additional a cappella oppor tunities. “I’m not studying abroad in Germany next semester because I wanted to be a part of Hilltop,” Crisp said. “Nick then would ask me things like if I could lead Chapel one day.” He said he agreed to these requests because it would show that he was willing to take opportunities outside of Hilltop. Crisp said he did this throughout pledging, leading into the auditions for hosts and hostesses.
T he hosts and hostesses auditioned in October. The selected hosts received callbacks and were given the news that night. Crisp said that he believes this group will work better together than other groups in the past. “Honestly, I think our group is going to blend better because we have four people from a cappella groups who have good solo potential as well as the ability to listen and blend into the sound of others,” Crisp said. Like last, the host and
“Honestly, I think our group is going to blend better because we have four people from a cappella groups who have good solo potential as well as the ability to listen and blend into the sound of others.” CALEB CRISP SOPHOMORE GRAPHIC DESIGN MAJOR FROM ABILENE
hostess sets will feature bigger numbers at the beginning and end of the nights and a stronger focus on singing over routine and dance. “There is a smaller amount of songs on our part as well. We’re
bringing in more people to fill empty time slots since there are fewer class acts,” Crisp said. “All the a cappella groups will be singing so they’ll take up three time slots.” He said there are going to be nine routines in total from the hosts and hoste s s e s, i n c l u d i n g s o l o p e r f o r m a n c e s. Weast and Crisp will perform duets alongside their hostess counterparts. Sing Song 2020 will take place on Friday, Feb. 21, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Read about how Damien Daniels’ pursues leadership on the court PAGE 6
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