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Honoring the Past, Playing for the Future: MVNU Gears Up for Homecoming Game
By Naomi Kinne, Staff Writer
As homecoming weekend approaches, excitement grows across the campus of MVNU. Current students are anticipating the special homecoming chapel, while alumni are looking forward to returning to campus to reconnect with old friends during class reunions. For the Cougar men’s basketball team and Head Coach Jared Ronai, homecoming weekend means another thing: game time!
To Coach Ronai, however, homecoming is about more than a basketball game. It is an opportunity to connect with alumni and hear their MVNU stories. “Alumni from multiple generations will be back on campus, and it is awesome to see how much this great university has meant to so many throughout the years,” Ronai said. As part of his decade-long legacy, he has poured into MVNU by building the foundation of the program on Christ.
As the season continues, Ronai is excited to see his players step into leadership roles while keeping their focus on faith. One of those leaders is a fifth-year senior, Trent Koning, who has been a steady influence in the program.
For Koning’s final season as a Cougar, he is honored to continue the tradition of playing in the homecoming game. “Being able to give it my best effort on the court to honor the alumni is something I take a lot of pride in, and I am super grateful to do,” he said. Koning is determined to finish his final season strong while leading the team into the future.
While Koning’s basketball career is nearing its end, Bede Lori still has two more seasons ahead of him as a Cougar. Lori, who began playing basketball at just three years old, said that competing at the college level in front of a homecoming crowd means a lot to him.
One of Lori’s favorite aspects of the homecoming game is connecting with graduates from the game. “I love seeing the former players that I have played with or have heard Coach talk about. It’s cool to be able to meet them and hear about their experience at MVNU,” Lori said. Because he was drawn to MVNU and the team’s strong culture, he sees homecoming as an opportunity to meet the faces who built that culture.
To join in on the homecoming festivities head to Ariel Arena on Friday, Nov. 14 as the Cougars tip off at 7:30 p.m. Cheer on Coach Ronai and his team as they continue their season and celebrate another chapter in MVNU’s basketball tradition.
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When Yellow Pages Were White
By Zoey Hover, Assistant Editor and Abby Almodovar, Editor
The Lakeholm Viewer starts conversations— as the university’s student news source, it informs and shares the student voice. According to former MVNU archivist Walter Baughman, it has been doing so since the school’s founding in 1968.
If you take a trip to the upper level of Founders Hall, to the communication students’ domain, you will find the opposite wall of the Mac lab decked with Viewer history. Years of previous editions are pinned up, starting with some of those classic flippable newspapers— Yellowing, stocked with multiple pages of student stories, they hang as precedents to the more familiar versions further down the wall.
Those who follow the Viewer on Instagram or who are used to finding it scattered around campus in its one-page form may struggle to imagine a different time. Faculty adviser Alan Reed, holding the position for his eighth year, recalled, “When I first started, we were just doing a print version. We did not have videos. We did not have social media.”
Before the Viewer moved across digital platforms, the staff experience looked a little different than today's weekly meetings where the team now plans frequent social media content alongside stories.
Drew Chaltry, graduate of 2015, said that the paper only printed twice a semester then, but the time spent writing and editing were a particularly collaborative effort. "We were huddled together for three to four nights working on it," Chaltry described.
One of his favorite stories produced from these nights was a “pro bike-theft” satirical editorial that another student wrote in collaboration with an alum. The piece enforced a comical, tongue-in-cheek policy that if a student leaves his or her bike unlocked, it becomes free game.
From humorous to hard-hitting, the voice of the Viewer is most heavily shaped year after year by the student editor and staff.
A more recent graduate, Mackenzie Holder, worked as both the editor and social media coordinator. She thanks Reed and department head Joe Rinehart for pushing her to develop leadership and journalism skills that persisted after graduation. “It gave me the stepping stones to go on to grad school and end up working for the Cincinnati Bengals currently,” she reflected.
The legacy of a student newspaper is knowing that it will continue to change after the years spent being part of it. But learning how to tell stories, how to listen and reflect the voice of the student body, is one of the most rewarding responsibilities to take on at MVNU.
Full Circle: Alum Returns to Lead Intercultural Life
By Brookabella, Staff Writer
New school years are bound to bring about change. Change of season, trends and even campus life itself— this year, MVNU welcomes a familiar face back to campus as the Assistant Director for Intercultural Life who brings a whole different set of ideas to intercultural events.
MVNU alumnus Joseph Joe is the new head of Intercultural Life on campus, and he brings an interesting perspective to the position from his time as a student in 2016—“I've been through almost all the possible scenarios you can show through, so the way I'm approaching [this position] with Mount Vernon is: What could have been different? What could have been better? How can most of the international students be heard?”
Joe continued and shed some light on the misunderstandings that have happened before about intercultural events, “…students just assume it's only for international students of color, so I'm trying to break that stigma. I’m trying to create a bridge between international, AIM, missionary students and students of color, so the Aim students are learning from the local students, and the local students can learn from the Aim students and so forth.”
While Joe brings fresh perspective to his position, something else that he’s bringing is an annual trip off campus, and this year, to Cleveland to watch the Cavs play basketball and tour the city. This event was the first of its kind for MVNU with about 50 intercultural students all coming together to leave campus and learn more about Ohio’s history. Students who embarked on this trip got to go onto the basketball court at the Rocket Arena after the game and shoot basketballs with their friends. Students left with some free Cavs merch and a memorable bonding experience from being a part of intercultural life at MVNU.
As students look forward to breaks and holiday fun with friends, MVNU also welcomes a season full of new events and activities for everyone, many hosted by international clubs. Joe urges students to enjoy these events with their friends, and break the stigmas around intercultural life. “Students can come to the Dwelling and utilize that spot. They can share cultural food at our Chinese New Year celebration, and they could’ve learned how to salsa dance at Festival Latino,” he shared. “Everyone is welcome, and there’s something for everyone.”
