THE PLACES WE GO

THE

Travel remains the lifeblood of the O'Colly experience

O'COLLEAGUE

Vol. 2016, Issue 1Spring 2016

From the director's chair • Hearst Awards roundup

The I-Team • Photo gallery

little more than a year ago, I stood

beside one of my best friends next to

a lake in Estes Park, Colorado, as hemarried a wonderful woman he met inWashington, D.C., where he has worked sincegraduating from Oklahoma State in 1997. When Jim Luetkemeyer and I were juniorsin college, our O'Colly adviser Jack Lancastertook us to the national College Media Adviser'sconference, which happened to be in D.C. thatyear. Jim, who grew up in the small westernOklahoma town of Okeene, remembers it asone of the most formative experiences of hislife. The sites and experience of that trip forgedin him a desire to seek work after graduation inour nation's capital. He is now a senior partnerat Finn Partners, a public relations firm basedin Washington, D.C.

Not too long after his wedding, I stoodalongside Jaclyn Cosgrove -- O'Colly alum,

Rosalyn Carter Fellowship recipientand Oklahoman health reporter -- as she

JUST GET ONTHE BUS, GUS.See the world. Fall in love?

The O'Colleague | Issue 1 | Vol. 2016

TheDirector'sChairBarbara Allen, '97Editor in Chief, Fall 1996

A

US$ 20 MILLIONEstimated fare for a full

commercial tri.

Interested in suborbital

space travel.

LESS THAN 1/4Spent more than

US$10,000 annually

on vacations.

married a woman she met at an O'Colly-

funded trip to the Poynter Institute. We

danced the night away in Oklahoma City,

surrounded by friends, family and more than

a few other O'Colly alums.

So is traveling with the O'Colly the key to

finding true love? Possibly. (It's also a great

way to guarantee you'll be a bridesmaid well

into your 30s). More importantly, students

find that there is a great big world of

possibilities out there, and the O'Colly helps

to show them that.

This year, I committed to as much

student travel as possible. We sent students

to cover football games all over the country.

Two up-and-coming sports stars, Dekota

Gregory and Chandler Vessels, really did go

all over the country when they drove from

Stillwater to Morgantown, West Virginia, for a

football game. It turns out the state of Illinois

won't let 20-year-olds rent hotel rooms, so

after 10+ hours of driving, the two were

forced to get back into the car and detour to

Missouri, where they finally got a few hours of

sleep before piling back into the car and

racing the Morgantown for kickoff. (We tried

to make it up to them by sending them to

the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. They seemed

to like that.)

We were on the sidelines for women's

soccer games in Norman and Kansas City.

We had students near the mats in Iowa for

wrestling. But it isn't just sports trips that

build memories and provide excellent

networking and education for our students.

Three sports media majors attended

the College Media Institute's Sports and the

Media camp in Nashville, held inside the

Tennessee Titan's stadium, where they learned

from professionals, including ESPN personalities.

A few weeks later, I took three students to

the Future of College Media Summit at

Vanderbilt University (cover), where we

represented Oklahoma State and the O'Colly,

making sure we are players in a college media

revolution.

And just before spring break, we sent the two

student members of our investigative team (see

next page) to the annual NICAR conference in

Denver.

Such trips can be game-changers. We

might move there, or meet our future spouses.

Regardless, O'Colly travel sets the stage for a

lifetime of learning, travel and fond memories

that originate in the basement of the Paul Miller

Building.

Because collegiate travel played such an

important role in my experience here, I want to

know yours! Send me a story about a trip you

took on the O'Colly's dime, or shoot me a photo

of you and your peers somewhere far from

Stillwater. I'll try to include them in the next

newsletter.

Lastly, I want to thank the many of you who

have shown your commitment to the O'Colly

with a recent donation. I cannot thank you

enough. I'd like to ask those of you who haven't

yet to consider doing so (see page 4).

You might just be funding true love.

Jaclyn Cosgrove (right) on her weddingday, with bridesmaid and O'Colly alumJenny Karn.

1997 O'Colly editor Jim Luetkemeyer withhis D.C. bride, the former Megan Skinner.

To make up for his wild ride across theGreat Plains, we sent Dekota Gregory tothe Sugar Bowl.

-- Barbara Allen,Director of Student MediaOklahoma State Universitybarbara.allen@okstate.edu

405-744-8369

s some of you might remember,

O'Colly reporter Cody Stavenhagen

placed second last year in the National

Writing Championship, presented by the

Hearst Journalism Awards Program, after

accumulating personal and university

points for Oklahoma State. Cody came in

clutch for us again, placing first in this year's

Sports Writing contest for his excellent

story about the football game that took

place hours after the Homecoming

parade crash that killed four. This marks

the first time that any O'Colly staffer has

ever won a first-place Hearst category.

Additionally, reporter Kaelynn

Knoernschild netted a ninth-place win in

the Enterprise category for her story

questioning the OSU Police Department's

habit of redacting certain records.

The two wins mean Oklahoma State

has accumulated enough points to rank

third in the nation in writing. Cody will

again compete in San Francisco. If any

other Oklahoma State students place in

top spots, they could join him. There are

several awards left this year yet to enter.

The Hearst Awards are often

considered the Pulitzer Prizes of the

college media world.

You can read both of their stories ("And

then there was a football game," "Experts

say OSU could be violating the Open

Records Act") by going ocolly.com and

searching their name and part of the

headline.

The O'Colleague | Issue 1 | Vol. 2016

THE O'COLLEAGUE

or the first time ever, the O'Colly conceived and executed

an Oklahoma State University homecoming yearbook. We

considered ceasing publication after the parade crash, but went

ahead with our plans, donating all the proceeds to the Stillwater

Strong fund. The full-color book is almost 200 pages of photos.

Order your copy at loyalandtrue.org for just $19.99.

F

HOMECOMING BOOKNOW AVAILABLE

PUBLISHING >

A

A TALE OF TWOFIRSTS IN THEHEARSTS

AWARDS >

he popularity of the Oscar-winning film

"Spotlight" has been giving journalists the

warm-fuzzies all over the nation. It's fulfilling to see

the world respond so positively to the impact

journalism can have on a community and powerful

institutions.

We all know the very hard work that goes into

serious investigations. They can be the lifeblood of

any newspaper. The O'Colly has a long and storied

history of investigative journalism. In the days of

Buzzfeed and clickbait, we thought it was important

to double down on our historical commitment to

T FOCUSING ON INVESTIGATIONSI-TEAM >

A NEWS L E T T ER FOR F R I ENDS OF THE O 'CO L L Y

watchdogging the university.

Fall 2015 Editor in Chief Kassie McClung of

Broken Arrow and Fall 2015 Managing Editor

Kaelynn Knoernschild of Edmond are the first

members of the O'Colly's investigative team, or I-

Team. Their goal is to produce at least six stories

each this semester, a goal that will earn them class

credit. They've so far exposed a department head

accused of censoring a professor, examined

university health code violations, and highlighted

OSU's habit of overselling OSU's pricey, saturated

parking. We expect more great stories soon!

Homecoming editor RyanParker shows his excitement atthe yearbooks being delivered.

Kaelynn Knoernschild and Kassie McClung make up the new O'Colly investigative team.

HOW TO HELP.NOW IS THE TIME.

Name: _______________________________________

Phone: _______________________________________

Email: _______________________________________

Address: _____________________________________

City/ State/ZIP _________________________________

Donor name /in honor of: ________________________

I pledge a total of: $ ________________

✓My donation is enclosed (Make checks payable to

OSU Foundation. Write "O'Colly" in the memo line.)

✓ Charge it: oVisa oMastercard oDiscover oAmEx

Card No. : ______________________________________

Exp. Date: ____________ 3-digit security code: _______

Signature: ______________________________________

Questions? Don't hesitate to reach out to us!

barbara.allen@okstate.edu; 405-385-1345

If you'd rather make a series of monthlycontributions, simply go to

https://secure.osugiving.com/givetoOSUSMSC.

Select "Daily O'Collegian Excellence Fund"

and enter any amount to get started.

Donations are earmarked for thefollowing initiatives. Please indicate where, ifany place, you wish your funds to be targeted.

Donations are stewarded carefully. Generalfunds go toward the biggest current needsbeing faced by the students. ✓ Student travel (conferences, workshops,sports coverage)

✓Equipment (cameras, computers,software and accessories) ✓Outreach (alumni relations, fundraisers,continuing education)

✓ General needs (Varies)

Passing throughMemphis, Luke Spencer,Emily Farris andSavannah Evanoff checkout Sun Studio.

2015-16 O'COLLY TRAVEL PICS

Photo editor Kurt Steisschecks out the competitionduring a conference in Austinthis fall.

Print and fill out this pledge card, or go tohttps://secure.osugiving.com/givetoOSUSMSC.

Select "Daily O'Collegian Excellence Fund" andenter any amount to get started.

Send your completed pledge card to:Barbara Allen

The O'Colly106 Paul Miller

Stillwater, OK 74078

From left,ChandlerVessels,DekotaGregoryandJordanBishoptour theHouse ofCash inNashville.Oh, andThe Man inBlack's theone in themiddle.