NEWS

PAGE 4 | WWW.OBUSIGNAL.COM Battle of the Ravine week exudes Tiger pride

BY EMILEE WEBB

Staff Writer

Battle of the Ravine (BOTR) week is an annual tradition that encourages students to show their Tiger pride through a variety of activities leading up to the highly anticipated football game against the Henderson Reddies.

Capturing Ouachita’s rivalry with Henderson State University (HSU), BOTR is known as the shortest road-trip in the NCAA, as players and fans only have to travel across the street even if their team is playing “away.”

This year’s game will take place on Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. at Cliff Harris Stadium. Although the main event is not until Saturday, BOTR festivities have already begun.

One important BOTR event, the flag football championship game, took place last week.

The men’s and women’s intramural flag football champions for Ouachita faced the intramural champions at Henderson. Both Ouachita teams came out with a victory. These wins certainly boosted students’ morale for the week ahead.

This week will be filled with events for current students of all classifications and even future Tigers. One of Ouachita’s most memorable traditions, Guard the Tiger, will be held Monday through Thursday with an exciting campus-wide event on Thursday night.

Throughout the week, Student Senate will host the annual Guard the Tiger event, which is the central spirit tradition of the week. The students’ main goal is to protect the tiger, the statue in the middle of campus, from HSU students.

Seniors began on Monday night, followed by juniors on Tuesday night and sophomores on Wednesday night. The freshmen class will finish up on Thursday night with a campus-wide event. Each night, Student Senate members will be taking down the names of every participant from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., and every student that successfully protects Ouachita’s beloved tiger for the entire five hours will receive a free T-shirt.

Kathryn Totty, junior class senator and co-chair for the special events committee on Student Senate, had a special role in planning the festivities. She invites all students to not only to participate with their class, but to attend the event on Thursday night as well.

“Thursday is the big campus-wide event, but it is also the freshmen’s night to guard the tiger. All students can come on Thursday night. We have many big events planned including an axe throwing trailer, a food truck that is free to students, and booths and tents for each of the organizations,” Totty said. “We are excited for this event to give students an exciting atmosphere to prepare for Battle of the Ravine.”

There will also be a special BOTR visit day for prospective students on Saturday, Nov. 13th.

During the visit day, prospective students will get the chance to meet with their academic dean, participate in a campus tour and experience Ouachita’s most exciting game of the season. There will be many future tigers and alumni on campus, so prospective students will experience the spirit of Ouachita in full.

Both freshmen and sophomores have not experienced the thrill and commotion of BOTR week yet. Even for the upperclassmen, one year without Battle of the Ravine was enough to make them miss the tradition. The entire student body is elated to welcome this tradition back to campus, and to welcome alumni and prospective students to experience it alongside them.

Left: The men’s and women’s intramural flag football teams both won against Henderson in their “Battle of the Ravine” championship games on Nov. 4. These victories elicited excitement that continues to build as the football game approaches (photo by Coleman Callan) Right: The Tiger football team prepares to play against Henderson in the last Battle of the Ravine game in 2019. Students look forward to filling the stands to cheer on the Tigers this year. (photo by Hannah Smith)

NEWS

WWW.OBUSIGNAL.COM | PAGE 5

Students participate in worship during a Refuge service. James Renshaw and Jacob Cates serve as Refuge speakers, while Katelin Cotton and Wade Wilson serve as Refuge music leaders. (photo by William Read)

Refuge creates space for learning and worship

BY JULIA SHANDS

Staff Writer

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a “refuge” is a place that provides shelter or protection, and for many Ouachita students, that is exactly what Refuge provides. Although Refuge allows students to take a break from the noise of pressing deadlines and exams, Refuge wouldn’t happen without the hard work and passion of four students: Jacob Cates, James Renshaw, Katelin Cotton and Wade Wilson.

Cates is one of the two Refuge speakers that delivers the message every other Thursday night. Every week, he coordinates with his co-leader, Renshaw, to prepare the sermon, select passages and determine prayer focuses.

“This semester I have been so humbled by the hard work and intentionality of everyone on the Refuge team, including the band and tech team,” Cates said. “So many people are needed to make Refuge happen, and everyone that has helped plan each week has been going above and beyond and demonstrated a Christ-like humility in serving.”

“I feel like the Refuge team’s main goal for the semester, and for Refuge in general, has been to provide a space for students to meet with God and for the Spirit to move,” Cates said. “It’s been so meaningful to me because, while we seek to do everything with excellence, there has been a spirit of humility that we are all just students, coming together to worship God and hear from His word.”

Leading Refuge has been full of meaning for Renshaw, but it has also been full of challenges.

“From knowing many Refuge speakers from the past, I would say any of us would be lying if we didn’t admit at least being sad one night to see friends not there,” Renshaw said. “To put tons of work into a message, and then realize that so many people that you care about didn’t come to hear it does get discouraging at times.”

Renshaw has been able to turn disappointment into growth.

“However, that ties into another aspect of leadership that you learn and that is humility,” Renshaw said. “We don’t do Refuge to please ourselves in any way. We do it to serve, grow and help the students around us. It’s the little things like a text in the middle of the night saying how God impacted them at Refuge that’s so cool.”

Cotton is a Refuge music leader. She is responsible for helping plan the music and service with Wilson and the speakers.

“Wade and I prayerfully plan out each service in a way that would create a service that would ultimately bring the Lord the most glory,” Cotton said. “We try to plan with wisdom and discernment.”

The saying, “God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called” rings true for Cotton as she has gone throughout the semester.

“I often feel nervous about being under-equipped for both Refuge and my calling to worship ministry full-time,” Cotton said. “Although, the Lord has been so faithful to remind me that He really does equip the called and not call the equipped. I am constantly reminded of His goodness and power.”

Many students arrive at Refuge and sing the worship songs without much thought of the reason behind what they’re singing, but a lot of work goes into preparing the music for the service. “We plan the songs off of what the sermon will be over,” Cotton said. “We go through the passage that will be taught and allow the Holy Spirit to bring to mind songs that would fit well with the passage. With every song that is brought up, we go through each lyric to make sure that its theology is sound. That it is not just a song about being a Christian, but a song that lifts praises to the Lord directly. We would never want to choose a song that focuses on ourselves or one that teaches wrongly about God’s character or His Word.”

While Wilson hopes that students grow in their faith by coming to Refuge, he believes that Refuge has grown him in many ways too.

“Working with the team has taught me how to work with others more effectively,” Wilson said. “I have also learned about the importance of prayer. It is easy to go through the motions of planning the service week to week and to forget that Refuge will not be a fruitful time if God is not involved in the planning process and the service itself. Praying for Refuge means having discipline to not get stuck in the flow of life and to depend on God.”

While the team does work hard, Refuge is more than just well-prepared speakers and talented musicians.

“We hope that, in the same way, everyone comes to Refuge having surrendered their hearts to whatever God wants for them,” Wilson said. “We are not the best musicians, and we are not the best speakers. We should not come to Refuge merely to hear good music and good speaking, but we should come prepared to worship God, learn from His Word and enjoy fellowship with other believers.”