July 2003 Edition

Hi, my name is Donnie Rodgers and I’m a soon to be junior architecture major here at Drury. I’m originally from Cape Girardeau, Missouri and my initial concern was moving four hours away from the area I had lived in all my life, but now after being here for two years, it’s hard to believe I ever second guessed my decision to come to Drury. I had looked at Drury during my sophomore year of high school, but dropped it from my list of choices because of my concerns on cost of tuition. Then during Christmas break my senior year, a friend convinced me to look at Drury a second time. I started taking a deeper look at Drury than I had in the past and also started looking more into what types of financial aid I qualified for. Well a few weeks into the spring semester, my parents and I drove out to Springfield to see the campus for the first time and from that day my decision had been made.

I feel that I really hit it lucky coming to Drury. Drury is everything I wanted in a college, even in ways I didn’t know at the time. I didn’t expect the type of community feel that I get here at Drury. Student and faculty interactions are amazing. I’ve yet to have a professor who didn’t seem to really take a deep interest in their students, both academically and on a more personal level. All professors here at Drury keep office hours, where students can come and talk to them about any of their concerns. I’ve also had professors come down in the late hours of the night before a project was due to offer advice and encouragement. Also with the small class sizes, they are able to interact more with the students than they would if the classes were larger.

Life here at Drury is more than academics too. There are a lot of different organizations on campus whether they are social, academic, community service, Greek or so on, they add a great deal to the community feel of campus. In the fall, it will be my second time helping out with freshman orientation. This is probably one of my favorite times of year because it marks a great change. Freshmen get their first true taste of what it means to be a Drury student. A staff of around 80 orientation leaders, made up of current sophomores, juniors, and seniors are here to welcome the freshmen and help get them ready for college. It is four great days of bonding and fun with activities from inflatable obstacle courses, community service, sand volleyball, fireworks and so much more. Some of my closest friends here at Drury I met in those very first days.

This year, I also became a part of Student Union Board (SUB). SUB is responsible for a majority of the activities offered on campus, from Homecoming week to free movie night at the Palace. There are usually around five to six SUB events a month. One of the reasons I applied to be on SUB is because I enjoy what they do for the campus and how much they add to the community feeling of campus. Another organization I became involved in is Student Government Association (SGA). One of SGA’s main jobs is to allocate student funds to different organizations on campus such as SUB and the Mirror, our weekly free newspaper, but SGA is also there to serve as the voice of the students to the administration.

There is so much more to tell than I have space for!!! Feel free to email me at drodgers@drury.edu, anytime, with any questions you might have about Drury, academically and socially, Springfield or just college life in general. I look forward to answering any questions you might have.

Courtesy of the Drury Office of Sports Information

The Drury University Lady Panther basketball team was ranked ninth in average attendance for this past 2002-03 basketball season according to figures released by the NCAA. The Lady Panthers, who finished the season by advancing to the NCAA-II “Sweet 16” and compiling a 27-5 overall record, had an average home attendance of 1,796. The Lady Panthers played 14 home games with a total attendance of 25,139. In total attendance the Lady Panthers were eighth in the NCAA-II. Visit the NCAA web page for a complete look at NCAA attendance figures.

For more information contact Dan Cashel (417) 873-7222 or Eric Pannell (417) 873-7374 in the Drury Office of Sports Information or visit the Athletic web page.

Believe it or not - summer is the perfect time to start searching for scholarships! It’s never too early to start looking for scholarship opportunities – a quick search online could give you serious results! When using the net to search for scholarships, just be sure to check the source. (Any site that asks for money or “guarantees” scholarship funds is most likely a SCAM!) Also, don’t forget to check with your high school guidance office to see if there are local or community scholarships you can apply for. Some local businesses will even sponsor students – a simple phone call might pay for your books! Each year thousands of scholarships go unclaimed because NO ONE APPLIED!!! - The money for you to go to college is out there, but you have to search for it. For a free list of reliable scholarship websites, contact your admission counselor today!

Summer is the perfect time to start searching for college scholarships! If you will be a senior next year, jump online and try several different search engines searching for scholarships. Also, check with your high school guidance office to see if there are local or community scholarships you can apply for. There is a lot of money out there but you have to look for it.

Dr. Elizabeth Paddock
Professor of Political Science
Ph.D., University of Kansas

Dr. Paddock teaches courses on North American and Western European politics, with an emphasis on political culture, political behavior, and culture in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Paddock has published and presented her research in journals and professional associations in the Southwest and West. Dr. Paddock also coordinates the postgraduate scholarship program for Drury University.

For more information on the History & Political Science department contact Dr. Paddock at (417) 873-7308.

Leonard C. Pronko '47

Leonard C. Pronko is Professor of Theatre at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Pronko earned a bachelor of arts in French and Spanish from Drury in 1947, and continued his education receiving Masters of Arts from Washington University, and Ph.D. from Tulane University.

Since 1965 he has directed some twenty Kabuki productions in English at Pomona College and elsewhere. Kabuki is a traditional form of Japanese theatre, which when translated literally means song, dance, and technique. In 1970 he was the first non-Japanese to study at the Kabuki Training Program at the National theatre of Japan.

Pronko has received many awards for his extensive work in bringing Kabuki productions to the West. In 1972 he received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his productions, and in 1973 took his actors to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington as part of the American College Theatre Festival. The government of Japan presented Pronko with the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Degree, in 1986. In 1997 he received the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Award for Outstanding Teacher of Theatre in Higher Education.

Pronko has written a number of books on western and eastern theatre, including The World of Jean Anouilh, Avant-garde, and Theatre East and West. For twenty-seven years Pronko was Professor of Romance Languages Pomona College. He continues to direct plays, including many western classics from Marlowe and Racine to Ibsen and Pirandello.