Ouachita Stories

It probably was strange for Marissa Pilcher to sit down at the table as the one answering questions and telling her story. Usually she is the one asking questions and telling someone’s story.

Meet the Ouachita student who runs the Humans of OBU account on Instagram.Marissa Pilcher could be described as kind with a bubbly spirit. She is a senior mass communications and Spanish double major at Ouachita. She is interested in music and animals and never imagined handling a popular Instagram account for her university.

Marissa took over the little-used account, inspired by the popular Humans of New York series, in spring 2016. She sees it as a platform for students to connect and to
tell the stories of the Ouachita campus community.

The account is a branch of Ouachita’s student newspaper, The Signal, and has gained a following of more than 1,100 while featuring more than 80 stories. A variety of people have been featured including students, professors, staff and faculty kids. The account also has featured twins, best friends and campus couples.

“Even though Ouachita is really small, I think Humans is a really cool way for people to connect. Maybe they won’t be friends, but from the stories people share, others can connect with them,” Marissa said. “It’s just a cool way to build relationships. They are getting to know more people on campus without the pressure of ‘you have to be friends now.’ People get to see a glimpse of others’ lives.”

There is an obvious impact across the campus because of the Instagram account. What was already a small university community has now become even more tight-knit and personal. The way the stories are told shows a part of each person’s personality. The account doesn’t just showcase the students who are involved in every activity on campus, but also highlights those who aren’t.

“It sounds really cliché but everyone has a story and wants to be heard,” Marissa shared. “Even if it's a funny, goofy, awkward story, how many times do they get to share that with a lot of people? They normally just share them with their friends. It’s a cool outlet for people to share their stories.”

Here are a few of our favorite @HumansOfOBU posts. Be sure to follow @HumansOfOBU and @Ouachita on Instagram!

 

"Being in Tiger Tunes in CM prom was by far one of my favorite memories from freshman year. Dr. Kluck took pictures of Carli, Aaden and I during our solo section. We sang the Les Miserable song about being alone and the pictures are hilarious because they look sad but still normal? I look sad and utterly horrifying. I think I got a triple chin going for sure. I guess go big or go home, right?" Emily Weeden, Senior. Rogers, AR

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Aug 23, 2016 at 3:09pm PDT

"One time there was this girl that I was interested in and there was a big group of us sitting at the lunch table. It's a big lunch table, lots of people laughing and giggling. I was complaining about the fact I'd never gone on a date before and everyone around was saying how sad it was. I said, 'I don't understand why not because I think I'm a pretty good guy.' So I singled the girl out and was like, 'Don't you think so?' And she said, 'Yeah, for sure!' I said, 'Yeah, because you would go on a date with me, right?' She said, 'Oh yeah!' I said, 'Wait, so you're saying yes?' And the table got really silent and I said, 'Yeah, you wanna go on a date with me, this is kind of me asking you out.' It just got really awkward and quiet for a little bit. Luckily, everybody that was there thought it would be a good idea to start some normal conversation. In the end she actually went on the date with me but for those few moments it was so awkward." Kenderick Scorza. Senior. North Little Rock, AR

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on May 12, 2016 at 8:11pm PDT

"What do you call a cow that eats up all your grass?" "A lawn moo-er." Ben Taylor, 6 years old. Jack Taylor, 4 years old. Henry Harrell, 7 years old. Peter Harrell, 5 years old. Charlie Harrell, 3 years old

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Apr 23, 2016 at 2:04pm PDT

"My freshman year I was playing on the scout team, so basically we were just running the plays that the other team was gonna run that week. I was playing receiver and there was this guy that was playing linebacker for the defense that was one of the biggest human beings I’ve ever seen in my entire life. He was huge. So I thought that once he sees that it’s a pass he’ll just kind of drop back and my life will be spared, basically. I was running across the middle, looking back at the quarter back and all of a sudden I realized I was in mid-air. He put me five yards behind the line of scrimmage. It was embarrassing to watch. It wasn’t so much that my body was injured but my pride was pretty damaged after that." Ryan Perkins. Senior. Little Rock, AR

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on May 7, 2016 at 2:22pm PDT

"Our mom bought us these tight knit PJs, almost like long johns. One night, we were probably in elementary school, we ended up getting ahold of some safety scissors. We woke up and took off these PJs and we cut them up and then hid them from our mom because we absolutely hated them." Christian and McCall Lockard. Freshman. Conway, AR

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Apr 15, 2016 at 12:47pm PDT

René: "It's been kind of neat to work together creatively and professionally, being able to bounce ideas off of each other. Having a read on each other is good sometimes because you can say things and know the person and how they'll react. At the same time we know each others strengths and how to push each other." Brooke: "Where one person is not as strong, the other person can help pick it up and fill in those gaps." René Zimny. Assistant Director for Graphic Services/Lecturer in Graphic Arts Brooke Zimny. Director of Communications

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Feb 29, 2016 at 3:49pm PST

"Chapel. We never built the wireless network in JPAC to carry the traffic generated in chapel. We were asked to set up wireless access points in JPAC for certain specific people, like Joey Licklider at the time, Stephen Vaughn now or sometimes smaller venues. So we only have a few access points. Access points only carry 30-40 people and that's all we have over there and that's all we built it for. So you have 1100 or 1200 students all sitting in there trying to send tweets and Facebook and whatever they're trying to do. It was never built to carry that kind of traffic." Bill Phelps. Director of IT Services. North Little Rock, AR

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Apr 4, 2016 at 3:24pm PDT

Ryan: "One time the fire alarm went off at like three in the morning on a Sunday night. It was raining. I actually didn't hear it while I was asleep so my mom had to come get me." Reyna: "I was still in bed and I was like, 'Should I get up?' I like my sleep." Ryan Rogers, 9 years old, 3rd grade. Reyna Rogers, 11 years old, 7th grade. Rickey Rogers, 13 years old, 8th grade

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Apr 21, 2016 at 3:03pm PDT

Scott: "I had it all planned out. I was gonna take Judy to a bluff area to a rock overlooking this really beautiful place and on the way there we had to walk through some brush and she got really afraid there was gonna be snakes. So we never made it. Then we went back to her house and on the back stairs I proposed to her." Judy: "Halfway through the proposal, I said, 'Oh my gosh, let's go back to the bluff.' And he said, 'No this will be fine.'" Scott: "A blown proposal." Dr. Scott Duvall, Professor of New Testament Judy Duvall, Elrod Center Assistant Director

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Mar 8, 2016 at 3:00pm PST

"The weirdest good thing is people are very nice. People back home are not very hugging, but people like hug here so it makes me feel close." Zhenxiu Lu. Sophomore. Zhenjiang Shaoxing, China

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Feb 11, 2016 at 3:03pm PST

"I think I tell all of 'em they're my favorite. So I can't divulge which one is actually my favorite." Charolette Allison. Executive Secretary to the President. Arkadelphia, AR

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Apr 2, 2016 at 4:44pm PDT

Rachel: "So we had been matched 'potluck.' We had talked a few times on Facebook, but she was in Colorado and I didn't care enough. So we met on move in day. I got there really early." Treslyn: "And I got there really late." Rachel: "I had already set up all my things and I was sitting on my bed and my family was still there because they wanted to meet her. She comes in and comes over and gives me a hug, but I'm sitting on the bed and she's standing so it was a really awkward hug and maybe the last time we've ever hugged." Treslyn: "I think we've hugged twice since. We both realized that were both not huggers, but it's okay." Rachel: "And then from that moment on we did everything together. Then three day's later (from meeting) we were walking and talking about how we first met. I think I said something about how I was so nervous that I didn't know if we were gonna be friends. Then I said, 'It's good because now were like best friends.' And it was three days in. I was freaking out, thinking, 'Man that was way too soon.'" Treslyn: "I don't think I thought anything of it. Then later on we talked about that conversation and how Rachel freaked out about it being too soon." Treslyn Shipley, Senior. Arlington, TX Rachel Wicker, Senior. Benton, AR

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Mar 23, 2016 at 2:58pm PDT

"I remember one time when I asked a question and went around the room and asked students to respond. There was a girl and a guy who both gave the same answer. The girl gave her answer first and then came around to the guy and he gave the same answer. I just made some comment that they agreed on the question, which was a unique answer. The guy said, 'Yeah and we're going on a date tonight.' And she just turned so red and all but crawled under the table because the class just busted out. I don't think it was something she wanted to be shared." Dr. Chris Brune. Assistant Professor of Finance. Hickingbotham School of Business

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Feb 25, 2016 at 3:00pm PST

"The year of the great rainstorm was the worst day of my career here. I bought this brand new beautiful Ouachita white tent- it had the logo on it. I came at 6:00 a.m. to set it up. I was watching the weather but I wasn't sure if it would be bad. A horrible storm broke out at 6:30 and was pouring down rain. It crushed the tent in tiny little pieces and little sticks everywhere. I was soaking wet. It was the craziest day and I just cried buckets of tears, probably more than the rain that fell. My perfect tent had crashed to the ground." Jon Merryman. Director of Ouachita Alumni. Mount Vernon, MO

A photo posted by Humans Of Ouachita (@humansofobu) on Apr 1, 2016 at 4:16pm PDT

By Sarah Davis, a junior mass communications and Christian studies/Christian ministry double major from Beebe, Ark.

 

 

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