University of Oklahoma feature twirler Megan McGeary has been impressing crowds at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium at every home game this football season and will continue her twirling during the basketball seasons.
The junior multi-disciplinary studies major grew up in Altoona, Penn. in what she called a “hotbed” of twirlers.
“There are several twirling studios, it’s had a couple Miss Majorettes of America, and everyone twirls there because they dream of twirling at PSU,” McGeary said.
Because the twirler at Penn. State is allowed to twirl all four years of her college career, McGeary was unable to be the feature twirler at PSU and was set on being a feature twirler, rather than being on the majorette line.
Though she originally wanted to be at PSU, McGeary loves OU.
“If I had to do it over again and got the opportunity to twirl at PSU, I would pick OU every time, 10 times over,” McGeary said, “I was meant to be at OU.”
McGeary enjoys OU, the area, and the state so much she plans to start her career here after graduating. McGeary intends to open her own twirling studio to teach and coach young twirlers while also performing at events and games.
In the immediate future, McGeary will twirl throughout the OU basketball season and will train for the Miss Majorette of America competition in which she has finished first runner-up the past two summers.
[VIDEO: Joseph Truesdell, runs: 1:25]
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Investigative Journalism
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| Britten Follett talks to students at Gaylord. PHOTO: Matthew Shaffer |
The book “Who Killed Kelsey?” written by Britten Follett and Cherokee Ballard is an investigative report about the abuse of a two-year-old girl and neglect of those working her case.
Follett and Ballard were TV reporters at the time of Kelsey Briggs murder and were covering the case for their respective stations.
The two former reporters recently met with OU students in the Gaylord College. The talk was centered on their careers in investigative journalism and specifically the Kelsey Briggs case.
The two reporters’ incentive for writing the book and digging deeper into the case was to hold everyone involved in the case accountable, mainly judges and the Department of Human Services caseworkers.
“When you try to hold a state agency accountable you get a lot of doors slammed in your face, you get a lot of no comments and you don’t get phone calls returned” Ballard said. “It was so important, I think, to us as journalists but also to newsrooms around the state. When they would continue to get calls about dead children and DHS involvement and another case I really think that DHS perhaps one day will either be revamped or reorganized.
The two reporters do believe that something was brought to justice following all of their reporting. Ballard noted that the reporting over Kelsey’s case did hold the judge accountable and that she was to blame for him not being re-elected.
“He blames the coverage and me specifically for him losing that seat,” Ballard said.
The book and case led to the passage of “Kelsey’s Law,” which changed the way judges are held accountable in child-abuse cases and also gave the state and DHS the ability to hire more caseworkers.
“I think both of us are one hundred percent responsible for putting Raye Dawn in prison. I do not believe that the district attorney would have ever filed charges against the mom had we not been doing the stories asking why she wasn’t charged,” Follett said.
Ballard and Follett want to hold others accountable in the hopes that it will change the positions of judge and caseworker in the future.
“You’re getting the word out, you are getting the story out there to the point where perhaps it could help save another child’s life,” said Ballard
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| Cherokee Ballard answers questions from prospective journalists at Gaylord. PHOTO : Matthew Shaffer. |
Both women have moved on from the broadcast journalism field. Ballard held a job at the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office but is now the communications manager at the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company. Follett has moved on to her family’s company, Follett International, to be the marketing manager.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Sooners' Student Section Rebuilds with Team
For the past two seasons, the University of Oklahoma men’s basketball team has been below par and expectations. After the firing of head coach Jeff Capel and hiring Lon Kruger, the Sooners look to be back on track for greatness.
In 2009-2010 the Sooners went just 14-18 and didn’t make it past the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Last year the Sooners improved one game in the win column and went one game further in the Big 12 tournament but finished at 15-18 and again missed out on the NCAA tournament.
Following Naismith Award winner Blake Griffin leaving OU early to be the NBA’s number one draft pick, the Sooners have suffered and student attendance has taken a hit with each loss. The Sooners posted a 33-6 record in that 2008-2009 season but following the Elite 8 appearance in the NCAA tournament the program suffered under the direction of Capel.
The Sooners new head coach Lon Kruger has rebuilt programs in the past and since his arrival in the 2011 spring semester he has done the same. Kruger took care of recruiting in the spring and then focused on how to rebuild the fan base that had once thrived during Blake Griffin’s playing days.
The Sooners’ new head coach has met with multiple groups of people about how to get the students and community more involved with the games. Kruger met with over 20 fraternity and sorority presidents about how to get more students to attend games. The coach has made the everyday practices open to the public. Coach Kruger made an announcement just weeks before the season that student season tickets would be discounted by 70 percent, making the tickets only $40 for 16 home games.
The OU student section has undergone a renovation of its own. The name for the past five years has been Capel’s Crew, which obviously doesn’t work now that Capel is gone. The group gathered together and decided to rename the group Top Daugs in memory of OU’s mascot from the 1980’s to 2004.
President of the Top Daugs, Matt Wormus, was a freshman in the 2009-2010 season when the Sooners began their downfall.
“College basketball is one of the few sports where the casual fan can make a difference in the outcome and I wanted to be a part of that here at OU,” Wormus said.
Though Wormus started his OU cheering career while the Sooners were under Capel’s direction, he has noted that he doesn’t mind the change to Kruger.
“Kruger is just a much more open man to the public,” Wormus said, “With Capel it felt like it was dealing with the man behind the curtain, but with Kruger you get exactly what his personality is made of.”
Kruger has been open to the fans about getting them to practices and to the games, but has asked for help from the Top Daugs as well.
“Coach Kruger comes and talks to us before the start of every game,” said secretary of the Top Daugs Jared Schmidt, “Normally talks about the excitement of the game, asks if we are ready to cheer loud and we will discuss ways to get more students into the student section.
The fans that have been to practices or the first two exhibition games realize that the OU program is on the rise, but there are many who don’t.
“Kruger brings a much faster defensive style of play which will be much more popular with the fans. Just have to get the fans to realize that this will not be like the last two years of basketball here are OU,” Wormus said.
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| Top Daugs secretary Jared Schmidt (Right helmet) cheers on the Sooners in their second exhibition game of the 2011-2012 season. PHOTO: Joseph Truesdell |
Following Naismith Award winner Blake Griffin leaving OU early to be the NBA’s number one draft pick, the Sooners have suffered and student attendance has taken a hit with each loss. The Sooners posted a 33-6 record in that 2008-2009 season but following the Elite 8 appearance in the NCAA tournament the program suffered under the direction of Capel.
The Sooners new head coach Lon Kruger has rebuilt programs in the past and since his arrival in the 2011 spring semester he has done the same. Kruger took care of recruiting in the spring and then focused on how to rebuild the fan base that had once thrived during Blake Griffin’s playing days.
The Sooners’ new head coach has met with multiple groups of people about how to get the students and community more involved with the games. Kruger met with over 20 fraternity and sorority presidents about how to get more students to attend games. The coach has made the everyday practices open to the public. Coach Kruger made an announcement just weeks before the season that student season tickets would be discounted by 70 percent, making the tickets only $40 for 16 home games.
The OU student section has undergone a renovation of its own. The name for the past five years has been Capel’s Crew, which obviously doesn’t work now that Capel is gone. The group gathered together and decided to rename the group Top Daugs in memory of OU’s mascot from the 1980’s to 2004.
President of the Top Daugs, Matt Wormus, was a freshman in the 2009-2010 season when the Sooners began their downfall.
“College basketball is one of the few sports where the casual fan can make a difference in the outcome and I wanted to be a part of that here at OU,” Wormus said.
Though Wormus started his OU cheering career while the Sooners were under Capel’s direction, he has noted that he doesn’t mind the change to Kruger.
“Kruger is just a much more open man to the public,” Wormus said, “With Capel it felt like it was dealing with the man behind the curtain, but with Kruger you get exactly what his personality is made of.”
Kruger has been open to the fans about getting them to practices and to the games, but has asked for help from the Top Daugs as well.
“Coach Kruger comes and talks to us before the start of every game,” said secretary of the Top Daugs Jared Schmidt, “Normally talks about the excitement of the game, asks if we are ready to cheer loud and we will discuss ways to get more students into the student section.
The fans that have been to practices or the first two exhibition games realize that the OU program is on the rise, but there are many who don’t.
“Kruger brings a much faster defensive style of play which will be much more popular with the fans. Just have to get the fans to realize that this will not be like the last two years of basketball here are OU,” Wormus said.
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