Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s freshman education seminar class took a field trip to Little Rock, Ark., Nov. 20 to visit the Capitol, the Clinton Library and Central High School.

“The trip is to help education candidates recognize the importance and involvement of government in education,” explained Dr. Merribeth Bruning.

Bruning, dean of Ouachita’s Huckabee School of Education, and 17 students made the trip. They met Dr. Terri Hardy, director of Ouachita’s center for education and public policy, at the capitol where she had arranged for a guided tour of the building and a meeting with Sen. Jimmy Jeffress.

“He talked with us about the importance of education, his career in education and a little about how the legislature works,” Bruning said. Jeffress, the new chairman of the education committee in the Arkansas legislature, fielded students’ questions about education and government.

At the Clinton Library the group was met by Dr. Paul Root and his wife, Mary. Root taught President Bill Clinton’s 10th grade world history class and has been described by Clinton as his favorite teacher. Both Root and his wife are retired OBU faculty members from the education department, and they now work as volunteers at the Clinton Library. They provided an introduction to the library for the students and then invited them to tour the exhibits and ask questions.

The trip is taken every semester by the freshman education seminar class. The class is for students who are considering a major in early childhood, middle school or high school education.

by Rebecca Rambin