Ouachita hosts expanded BlogAbout in honor of Founders Day Sept. 6
September 01, 2011 - Brooke ZimnyOuachita Baptist University will host its second annual BlogAbout Sept. 6 in honor
of the university’s 125th anniversary Founders Day. Members of the Ouachita community both on campus and around
the world are encouraged to participate by sharing their Ouachita stories on their
blogs and through other forms of social media.
“I am really excited about this year’s BlogAbout,” said Lori Motl, OBU’s director
of admissions counseling and 1993 OBU graduate. Motl and several other staff members
served as organizers of the event. “I am hoping it will be a real celebration of our
125 years of serving students. Blogs and social media have become such important communications
vehicles in our lives and I love the idea of sharing OBU through those media.”
The BlogAbout began last year as a way to encourage alumni and current students to
share about Ouachita in the social media vehicles they are already using. Dozens of
Ouachitonians participated, and many of their stories are shared at www.obu.edu/blogabout.
“I love that the BlogAbout gives us a chance to connect with alumni and for them to
connect with each other right where they are,” said Keisha Pittman, an OBU development
officer and 2003 OBU graduate. Pittman also served as an event organizer.
“I know when I start talking about Ouachita, I start remembering the best days of
my life,” added Pittman, “and when I engage in conversations with people who went
to Ouachita, we are instant kindred spirits no matter what years we attended.”
As part of Ouachita’s yearlong celebration of its 125th anniversary, the BlogAbout has expanded to include Twitter and Facebook. Ouachita’s
social media pages, http://twitter.com/ouachita and www.facebook.com/ouachita, will present new topics for discussion each day of Founders Week, Sept. 5-9.
Motl said that the Twitter and Facebook element “opens the conversation up to an entire
new audience. It takes the message from a narrative blog to a 140-character thought,
so we are covering both spectrums. It’s an exciting twist!”
In addition to asking participants to share about their favorite Ouachita memory specifically
on Founders Day, bloggers are invited to share about other Ouachita topics each Tuesday
in September. Other BlogAbout topics include favorite faculty or staff members, favorite
student life experiences such as experiences with clubs or organizations and what
Ouachita means personally or how it has helped individuals get where they are today.
“I love seeing stories about people’s first encounters with Ouachita, developing relationships
with peers in their dorm room who later stood by them through stages of their life,”
said Pittman. “It’s about discussing the professors who mentored us and taught us
in the hallways between the classrooms, about remembering TWIRP, intramurals, standing
in the end zone cheering on the Tigers, studying late into the evening in the student
center and bonding during late night Tunes practices. When I read others’ stories,
it makes me think of my memories and takes me back to the place that I love – Ouachita.”
Participants are invited to post the BlogAbout badge on their blogs as well as on
their Facebook and Twitter pages. It is available at www.obu.edu/blogabout. The site will also list links to participating blogs; those interested in being
listed should email Lori Motl, OBU’s director of admissions counseling, at [email protected].
By Brooke Zimny
You Also Might Like
Recent