• Story by Nancy Moen
• Photos by Shane Epping
• May 12, 2012

May 2012 Mizzou graduate Keith Widaman is a Marine Corps veteran whose path to Columbia took detours around the world. The outgoing president of the Mizzou Student Veterans Association, Widaman has worked to garner support for veterans on campus.

Keith Widaman was 25 when he enrolled full time at Mizzou after eight years of military service and four deployments to trouble spots around the world.

The bachelor’s degree he receives this spring came with a resilience few students develop.

Widaman’s unusual route to higher education began when he dropped out of high school at age 16 with a 10th grade education and no family help. Living on his own, he supported himself with a night-shift job at a factory in Montgomery City, Mo., until a company layoff forced him to take construction jobs. 

Widaman enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on a waiver in 2001. He was just 17, and a savvy staff sergeant dropped him off at a community college to work toward a GED.

The young Marine earned his GED in 2002 and began some college courses, fitting them in during lunch hour while working 10 hours a day on active duty.  

Semper Fi  

It’s fair to say that Widaman grew up in the military.

After discovering his aptitude for learning languages, the Marine Corps sent him to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., to study modern standard Arabic and Middle Eastern culture, which he would soon put to use.

Widaman continued classes there and at the community college between his international deployments: to Kuwait for build-up operations preceding the invasion of Iraq; to Haiti on a peace-keeping mission during that country’s coup d'état; to a ship off the coast of Somalia to contain piracy; to Bangladesh for disaster relief; and to Iraq to train police. 

“I learned a lot about Mideast culture. Over the last 10 years, there’s been a lot of need for more understanding. That cultural gap needs to be bridged. As a Marine who’s traveled that part of the world, I can give back. That’s my goal,” he says.

Widaman has been accepted to graduate school in advanced study of Arabic and Middle Eastern culture at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. 

Solid to the core

The decision to attend Mizzou was major for Widaman, who was used to the community college at Camp Lejeune, N.C. “It’s a satellite campus on base, nothing like a complicated university, and large institutions can be confusing,” he says.

After transferring to Mizzou on the GI Bill in summer 2009, Widaman was a 25-year-old sophomore learning to navigate the university with help from fellow veterans. He found an advocate in Carol Fleisher, now director of the MU Veterans Center, which serves 450 veterans and 150 dependents of active duty and disabled veterans.

Getting a “solid C” in his first class — American government — was a rude awakening.

“I realized this was not community college, and I had to step my game up,” he says.

Widaman’s perseverance brought him the success he had found in the military. He changed his major from psychology to international studies as part of his plan to continue studying Arabic. He studied abroad in Jordan on a Gilman Scholarship through the Council for International Educational Exchange. He served as a volunteer legislative intern in the Missouri House of Representatives. And he was inducted into the SALUTE National Honor Society for veterans.

The few and the proud  

As outgoing president of the Mizzou Student Veterans Association, Widaman has raised awareness of veterans on campus.

Widaman knew he was high functioning when he came to MU as a Marine staff sergeant, yet he found it hard to maintain his grades. He figured other veterans were having similar trouble.

So Widaman started an initiative that he hopes will gain momentum. He formed a 501 C3 for the development of a veterans house, similar to Greek residences, where former military members could live together and help each other transition into student and civilian life. A board has been appointed and is working on bylaws.

“This house would give Mizzou a leg up in bringing in veterans on the GI Bill. It’s already a veteran-friendly campus here,” Widaman says.

The Missouri Department of Higher Education reports a significant increase in the number of military veterans enrolling in colleges and universities. Fleisher expects the number of veterans attending Mizzou to rise quickly with the diminishing U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

She’s appreciative of the work Widaman started: “Keith is a complex man who has accomplished much. He has been a real asset to MU. Although I am happy that he is graduating, he will be sorely missed for his leadership.”

Incoming president of the association is Trista Corbin, an Army veteran who served as a medic in Iraq. She’s the first female president of the group, and Widaman says she’s up to the task.

MU Counseling Center trains faculty and staff to address mental health issues

• Story, photos and video by Ryan Gavin
• April 24, 2012

World-renowned choral director Peter Phillips spent a week in residence at the University of Missouri. He worked with several ensembles and classes, and he conducted much of the University Singers spring concert. Take an inside look at Phillips’ residency.

View slide show.

• Story and photos by Josh Murray
• April 23, 2012

Mizzou students Tracy Qin (left), Luke Besser and Colin Livasy founded the University of Missouri Investment Group, a student organization in which members practice trading on the stock market. 

During Summer Welcome Luke Besser received some advice that helped shape his first year at Mizzou.

Jim Spain, MU’s vice provost for undergraduate studies, urged Besser and fellow incoming new students to take full advantage of their time at Mizzou by getting involved in activities outside the classroom.

“He said that what you make of your experiences is up to you,” Besser explains. “He encouraged everyone to create their own experiences while in college.”

Besser has spent his first eight months at MU doing just that.

Getting organized

Having dabbled in the stock market while in high school, Besser went in search of an investing group when he arrived at Mizzou. He didn't find one. So, taking Spain’s advice, he created one.

Besser visited the Student Involvement Office, where he learned that Colin Livasy, a junior from Kansas City, and Tracy Qin, a sophomore from Wildwood, Mo., also had expressed interest in an investing group.

Together the three formed the University of Missouri Investment Group (UMIG).

“We wanted to allow students all over campus, regardless of previous education or major, to learn how to invest and trade for the future,” Livasy says.

UMIG created an opportunity for students at all levels of stock-market savviness to learn and share ideas with peers also interested in investing.

“Being financially literate and knowing financial markets is crucial to everyone's financial stability, not solely business majors,” Qin says.

Jumping in

While many of the club’s members have their own actual investment portfolios, UMIG has a “paper-trading” portfolio that allows investors to practice trading without using real money.

The group started trading in November, and its portfolio had grown by 55 percent by the end of December. It was up 75 percent by the middle of January and 106 percent by the end of March. 

“We jumped right in,” Besser says. “We had some loses along the way, as always, but we tried to get out as fast as we could and reposition ourselves to get stocks that have the most growth.”

Though the stock market was unstable when the students first entered, the group saw a hefty return in its investments.

“We would wait for a day when the stocks were down and then we would start buying,” Besser says. “Because the market was so unstable, we had a lot of opportunities to get in at a low price.”

Since the start of 2012, the stock market has seen a steady rise, and some smart decisions by the UMIG have enabled the club to take advantage the change.

“The success of the portfolio is one of our main goals,” Livasy says. “We use that to show that we have effective portfolio management skills and good feedback for additions from group members.”

Making a pitch

At their weekly meetings, members make stock pitches about new companies and have an open discussion about the group’s portfolio. The involvement of all of the group’s members has become a key part of its success.

“I’m excited to see our members beginning to pitch stocks,” Qin says. “Since we encourage students of all educational backgrounds to join, we are able to develop a portfolio that is very diversified, which I believe is part of the reason we have seen such exponential growth over this past semester.”

The group continues to grow, and participation among the members has increased.

“People have gone from just sitting and listening when the club started to being very involved,” Besser says. “More students are making pitches each week, and their proposals are being added to our portfolio.”

Stocks are added only after being evaluated by the group and voted on by the members. The diversity of the group has been beneficial in many ways. For example, one member, a biochemistry major, shared his knowledge of biotech stocks.

“If we didn't have an open membership policy,” Qin says, “we would not know all of the specializations of many of these biotech companies.”

From Mizzou to Wall Street

In addition to operating a group portfolio, the UMIG serves as a learning opportunity and gives students a forum to discuss investments.

“We believe we give a comprehensive and broad education about how to invest effectively,” Livasy says. “Generally, when someone comes to one meeting they stay active with the group if they are genuinely interested in investments."

Creating an experience is what the UMIG is about. The club hopes to serve as a networking tool for its members and has reached out to major financial firms to share ideas. The group has also been in contact with the Chicago Board of Trade, which hires several college interns each summer.

“By sending our portfolio to these financial companies, we are able to show that we have real ideas,” Besser says.

Many of the UMIG members have aspirations of someday working on Wall Street, while others just enjoy the chance to try out the stock market while pursuing degrees and careers in other fields.

For now UMIG is creating opportunities for new experiences beyond campus. The group is in the midst of a fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $10,000 that would fund trips to the New York Stock Exchange or the Chicago Board of Trade.

Nuclear researchers attempt to locate new source of renewable energy

• Story and photos by Josh Murray
• April 17, 2012

Mizzou seniors Hannah Baxter (left) and Amanda Newman were chosen to participate in the annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. Newman is a finalist for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play, and Baxter is taking part in the National Critics Institute.

Since opening in 1971, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., has hosted some of the best-known artists in theater. This week two seniors from Mizzou join their ranks.

Amanda Newman and Hannah Baxter convene at the nation’s capital for the annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), a national theater program involving more than 18,000 students. The festival has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater.

MU has been active member of KCACTF since its inception. Mizzou theater-production, acting, playwriting and design students have been invited as national finalists to present their work at the Kennedy Center. Last year MU graduate student Matt Fotis won the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting, KCACTF's award honoring the best student-written, full-length comic script in the nation.

This year, Newman’s one-act play, The Lost Slipper, is a finalist for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play, and Baxter has been invited to participate in the National Critics Institute. 

“The KCACTF experience can be life-changing,” says David Crespy, a professor in MU’s Department of Theatre. “It really encouraged both students and faculty to reach for innovation in their work.”

Finding a voice

Newman and Baxter have followed similar paths to the Kennedy Center. Both came to Mizzou as journalism majors but found creative writing associated with theater more to their liking.

“I always wanted to write plays,” Newman says. “Journalism involves writing, but it’s just not the same. I like the creative opportunities that come with playwriting.”

Newman switched her major to English during her freshman year and has since added communication science and disorders as a second major. Baxter took a playwriting class as a freshman, fell in love with it and, like Newman, changed her major to English.

Both students got involved programs such as MU’s New Play Series, which led them to the KCACTF competition.

For three years, Newman submitted plays for the KCACTF regional festival, but each time her plays were passed over. That changed this year; two of her plays were chosen for the regional competition.

“It’s funny that I applied for so many years and didn’t hear anything.” Newman says. “Then this year I had two plays selected, and I am going to Washington, D.C.”

Newman’s one-act play, The Lost Slipper, and her 10-minute play, Please Wear Red, were selected as regional finalists, with the former earning her a trip to Washington, D. C., as a national finalist.

“It’s a tribute to her patience and professionalism that she finally won,” Crespy says.

International inspiration

The Lost Slipper is a story of an American couple adopting a baby from China. It is actually two stories in one: the story of the American couple’s journey to China and dealings with the adoption process and the story of the Chinese mother giving up her child.

Newman got the idea after seeing a documentary on the One Child Policy in China, which is the overarching theme of the play.

“I feel like a lot of my plays come from a journalistic pursuit,” Newman says. “I guess there is still some part of me that thinks like a journalism major.”

The Lost Slipper has been selected to for full production at MU next year.

For Baxter, the road to where she is today includes a journey through Greece. Last summer, she joined a group for a study abroad trip that was part of the Summer Seminars in Greece created by Scott Cairns in the English department, and Crespy was invited to teach playwriting with the program.

“The best decision I’ve ever made was to go on that trip,” Baxter says. “It was an amazing experience.”

With lessons in modern Greek in the morning, writing workshops in the afternoon and speakers on Greek music, history, politics and culture in the evening, there was little down time. However, the group did find time to hike to the Acropolis and visit the Theatre of Dionysus while in Athens before spending three weeks on the island of Serifos, writing and working on plays that explored Greek drama.

After that trip, Baxter’s affection for theater grew, and she wanted to explore as many facets of it as possible. She learned about theater criticism from Crespy and decided to give it a shot, not knowing that it could produce a trip to the Kennedy Center.

“I didn’t really have any experience with theater criticism,” says Baxter, who read reviews in the New York Times, as well as local publications, to prepare for the regional festival. “I was going up against a lot of journalism majors and people who had taken theater criticism classes.”

No business like show business

For Baxter, the national festival is more than just a competition. There are opportunities to see other nominees in action as well as to attend shows around Washington, D.C., outside of the festival.

“I’m not so concerned about winning,” Baxter says. “This is a career path that has opened up for me. I want to explore it and get some last-minute instruction before graduation.”

While Washington, D.C., is in Baxter’s near future, her long-term sights are set on New York City, where she has attended many Broadway plays with her family.

“It’s the theater hub,” she says. “If you want to do theater, that’s where you want to be.”

That may be the case, but for this month, the Kennedy Center will be the hub for college theater students, and Mizzou will be well represented.

Deaton hosts follow-up to food forum at Mizzou

• Story by Nancy Moen
• Photos courtesy of Mizzou Alternative Spring Break
• April 9, 2012

View slide show.

While many of their peers lounged in beach chairs and traveled to leisure destinations, 300 MU students embarked on altruistic adventures through Mizzou Alternative Spring Break. Participants offered volunteer service for people, animals and communities in need. 

Mizzou ASB formally started in 1991 with three work sites. This year, 45 vans and two cars transported students to fun and formative commitments that spanned the U.S.

Work sites ranged from Eagle Butte, S.D., to New Orleans, La., from Denver, Colo., to Jonesville, Va., and from Milnesands, N.M. to Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Senior Cole Donelson of Wildwood, Mo., president of Mizzou ASB, has participated in the program annually since his freshman year. 

“Spring break is just as much fun when you’re helping somebody. You go to a different part of the country, learn new things, work with awesome people and do meaningful work,” he says.

Students select the sites based on their service interests. Donelson, a major in journalism/strategic communication and business, and 12 other MU students traveled to a “storybook” nonprofit resort in Kissimmee, Fla., to give children with life-threatening illnesses a weeklong vacation of their lives.

Ice cream for breakfast

The Kissimmee crew served meals, bussed tables and assisted diners in the Gingerbread House cafeteria of the 70-acre village supported by Give Kids the World Foundation. If a kid wanted something, the students made it happen, including ice cream for breakfast.

They pushed wheelchairs, helped with crafts, worked in the magic castle, performed as costumed characters in theme parades, socialized with the families and gave out hugs and high fives.

“We got attached to these kids and were trying to make their lives as happy as possible,” Donelson says.

The students went where they were needed and, while working, saw firsthand how children — even those sick from chemotherapy — find joy in the smallest things. It was a rollercoaster of emotions for the MU team.  

“Thinking how you made the trip such a special time for the kids brings a whole new level of satisfaction. We enjoyed being able to bring happiness to the children and give them this phenomenal experience. But in the back of your mind you know how sick they are,” Donelson says.

Worthwhile opportunities

Mizzou ASB groups, usually with 10 students and two student leaders, traveled to 25 sites in 2012. Among the seemingly endless service opportunities, the most-requested projects centered on children, at 26 percent; health issues, 15 percent; and Habitat for Humanity, 13 percent.

Donelson has sampled the variety.

As a freshman he was a site leader on a trip to a small Minnesota town, where the students performed maintenance duties at One Heartland, a camp for children with HIV and AIDS.

Sophomore year he worked with diverse groups that serve the poor in Atlanta, Ga., — soup kitchen, food bank, children’s shelter and after-school care center. Last year, in Murphy, N.C., he assisted with stream-quality management by fortifying banks, removing invasive plants and planting trees.

Life lesson learned 

At a site in Jonesville, Va., Jane Lindley, a senior in international studies, witnessed the depth of poverty while helping to repair a family’s run-down home situated in the middle of nowhere. 

In a blog about the group’s Appalachia project, Lindley told of the bonding that happened as MU students fixed a kitchen and were “overjoyed to see how our hands transformed” the space.

She wrote of how much the students gained and how bittersweet it was to leave people and an area they otherwise might never have known: “How do you say goodbye to a family you have quickly grown so close to? … If we didn’t have classes, jobs or family back in Missouri, I am sure that our group would have wanted to stay for another month to finish the rest of the house.”

And it wasn’t just the family and restored kitchen that touched the lives of these Mizzou students. They grew attached as well to the local people who spoke to them like old friends and accepted the students without question.

“I was reminded that it is important for me to become involved in my community, no matter how large the city I live in is,” Lindley wrote.

Aiding animals in need

Mercedes Printz, a freshman in secondary mathematics education and international studies, spent her 2012 ASB at Animal Rescue New Orleans, a no-kill agency helping pets displaced by Hurricane Katrina. 

“My schedule during the semester is really busy, and I don't have time to do a lot of volunteering. I figured spring break would be a great chance to fix that,” Printz says.

She took dogs for walks, bathed them, cleaned their living spaces, and in a heartwarming end-of-week adventure, packed up the animals for a successful adoption day at an area PetCo.

Typically ASB participants enjoy one free day to act like tourists. Printz used the time away from her canine charges to visit the New Orleans zoo, explore a historic cemetery and wander around the French Quarter.

New Orleans has been an ASB site for several years, as have Dallas, Atlanta and the unincorporated town of Slick Rock, Colo. – where volunteers help remove invasive plants. Student interest in the service is what determines the destinations. See the variety of sites at asb.missouri.edu.

Affordable travel

Part of the attraction of a service trip is its affordability. Participants pay about $200 or less – half the standard cost of their trip – and do fundraising to cover the remainder. 

This year’s group raised $80,000, mostly through small donations from participants' friends, family and area businesses. Any unused funds are donated to the nonprofit organizations the volunteers serve. 

“For a trip of 12 people, expenses are low,” says ASB adviser Bryan Goers. Housing is provided by church groups, through facilities at the site or even supplied by alumni hosts. Last year in Dallas, the parent of one ASB participant hosted another group of Mizzou students.

Usually the sites pay for food, and the Mizzou Student Experience Fund – donated by alumni, parents and friends – helps cover free-day expenses and meals on the road. Students choose how they spend their day off, most often exploring the town.   

Beyond spring break

Students may apply for ASB spots in September. Site leaders form teams based on the applicants’ descriptions of why they want a specific project.

Because of the increasing demand for service experiences, Mizzou ASB is adding weekend trips close to home, and in January 2012 the program offered its first winter-break trip, an international site in the Dominican Republic. 

Donelson and 11 other MU volunteers – all experienced site leaders – traveled to Jaibon, D.R., where some helped set up a medical clinic at an orphanage, while others taught Spanish literacy and English in the local schools.

Putting their Spanish to use, Donelson and senior Luke Moore, also a journalism major, assisted the clinic’s volunteer doctors by translating for patients, who came from the orphanage and community.

“They had five doctors and only three translators, so they needed us. It meant everything when we could communicate the patients’ problems to the doctors,” Donelson says.

The international adventure was a hit and will continue to grow, Goers says. As with the spring trips, fundraising helped cover half the $1,000 cost.  

To learn more about ASB adventures, read student accounts of the trips at muasb.blogspot.com.

“There are some powerful things written on the blog. You get choked up reading about the experiences,” Goers says.

Alternative Spring Break by the numbers

• 300 Mizzou volunteers
• 25 service sites
• 45 vans, 2 cars for transport
• 15,000 volunteer hours
• 24,000 miles traveled
• $80,000 raised to cover expenses

Anthropologist emeritus still digging up history

• Story by Nancy Moen
• Photos by Shane Epping
• March 26, 2012

Ashton Botts may never have a dull moment. While earning a master's degree in journalism and a law degree, the MU student performs in community musical theater productions, takes part in multiple student organizations, holds a part-time job and trains for a marathon.

How does a student combine study for a law degree with a journalism master’s degree and have a life? Ashton Botts has it figured out. The dual-degree student still finds time to sing roles in musical theater.

All the study, all the work, even the theater fun is preparation for her future. Botts thrives on packed schedules and says the only stage fright she experiences are sweaty palms and racing heartbeat in law class when a professor calls on her.

A mezzo soprano who enjoys “belting” songs onstage, Botts begins rehearsals in May for her role as Gemini in MU’s Summer Repertory Theatre production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. April 26-28 she has the female lead in the Independent Actors Theatre production of Talley’s Folly, a two-person romantic comedy playing at SilverBox Photography Studio.

The artistic performances are decompression for her: “You’ll go crazy if you just study and do nothing else.”

Botts selected Mizzou for her professional preparation because the dual degree will give her an edge in her career — legal analysis for a news network. Already she has a part-time clerkship with the firm of Brown, Willbrand, Simon, Powell and Lewis PC.

No procrastination

Botts ended a three-week run in February as lead character Percy Talbott in Columbia Entertainment Company’s The Spitfire Grill. In 2011, she sang supporting roles in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and in Dracula, the Musical, also for CEC.

Energy comes from doing what she enjoys, Botts says. Sure, law school is a lot of hard work. Students typically devote 40 to 60 hours a week to classes and study, reading volumes of material and working on comprehension for the one end-of-year exam, which is their only grade.

Adding a master’s degree in journalism doesn't only mean more study; it extends the three-year law course to four years. And because Botts selected broadcast journalism, she’ll take reporting assignments for MU’s radio station, KBIA; its NBC television affiliate, KOMU; or the political-reporting beat in Jefferson City.

“I’ve always been interested in law and thought journalism would make me more marketable. I only applied here. I wanted this program. I’ll have knowledge very few people in the country have,” she says.

Entertaining schedule

With a multitude of degree programs, hundreds of student-activity opportunities and countless options for weaving varied interests into a graduate education, Mizzou is a natural fit for the multifacedted Botts.

Botts knows what’s expected for law school and how to be efficient. “It’s a lot of reading about things I’m interested in,” she says.

But even with the academic demands, Botts’ days don’t seem normal when she’s not in rehearsal for a musical. In her other spare time, she performs with comocabaret, a troop of 14 singers who present vignette performances monthly at The Berlin Theatre in the Café Berlin.

When she’s on track, a normal day begins at 5:30 a.m. with a run at the Mizzou Student Recreation Center (she’s training to run a half-marathon) before class, study sessions and rehearsals. She totes food for three meals in an oversize backpack that holds a collection of books and legal pads.

On some days, she works as a School of Law Ambassador, meeting with prospective students to tell them about her experience. “I think I’m getting a stellar education. It’s good that they know what they’re in for,” she says.

The school selects well-rounded students to help with student recruitment. The ambassadors lead group and one-on-one tours, work on telethons, answer questions, serve on panels and run mock trials for students as young as elementary school.

Botts assists as well with the law school’s Historical and Theatrical Trial Society, which annually hosts an unscripted trial based on a historical or fictional event. This spring the group will put Bonnie Elizabeth Parker of Bonnie and Clyde on trial the first week in April.

“It’s a mix of theater and mock trial that incorporates judges and attorneys from the community,” says Botts, whose responsibility is costuming.

In other law-school activities, Botts is a member of Christian Legal Society, a national organization that meets weekly with guest speakers, and she was assistant director for client counseling of the school’s Board of Advocates, which sponsors speech competitions and mock trials for law students.

Growing up busy

As a kid, Botts sang at church in her hometown, Mt. Vernon, Mo. She took singing and piano lessons for six months because “my mother made me,” and that’s about it for music training, except for a brief exposure to band.

High school was where she learned to run from activity to activity — show choir, dance team and a bunch of organizations — and to develop leadership skills, which earned her a spot as a delegate to Girls State and then Girls Nation. She followed that by serving as a Girls State counselor for four years.

During her undergraduate years at William Jewell College, she studied abroad at Oxford University. So it seems Botts is a lot like the character she played in Spelling Bee, schoolgirl Marcy Park, who wants to experience everything.

For that role, Botts had to learn the song “I Speak Six Languages,” twirl a baton, juggle and do an unusual set of cartwheels.

It’s hard to imagine Botts ever as a slacker, so the question had to be raised. Has she ever slacked off?

Botts: “Well…  Absolutely…  I was supposed to…  I shouldn’t tell you this… There are times when… I’m going to incriminate myself…”

The words were hard to get out, but she finally did admit to not reading yesterday’s law assignments. Oh, and, she speaks only one language.