May 2007

Boll Theatre commencement

Where others saw nothing but trouble in Adairia Kelly, one counselor at the Dayton Early College Academy saw a frustrated leader.
Tomorrow night in Kennedy Union, Kelly will cross the Boll Theatre stage to accept a high school diploma from DECA. In the fall, she'll begin classes at Miami University. That's her on the left in the red and white stripes and blue jeans.
Kelly, like almost all of her DECA classmates, has every reason to think she will be the first in her family to earn a college degree. Every member of her graduating class of 32 plans to attend college in the fall, all with support from scholarships. Ten will come to UD.
They are the pioneers of DECA, a public high school started four years ago by UD and the Dayton Public Schools. Identified as students likely to struggle in a traditional high school, these mostly inner-city Dayton kids -- and their parents and grandparents and guardians and whomever else in their lives cares for them -- opted for the chaos, setbacks and challenges of a new, experimental high school. With it also came the revelation of a boundless future grounded in curiosity, hard work and support that sometimes comforted, sometimes cajoled.
For these 32, it has landed them at the threshold of places like UD, Miami, Ohio and Ohio State universities, Xavier, Arizona State and other places of higher learning.
And beyond.

Last week, the Dayton Daily News chronicled some of their last high school days by video here. (Registration free but required.)

by Matthew Dewald 5-30-07

‘Where do I come from?’

The answers Kathleen Henderson knows about her family history come from the stories she heard as a little girl while her great-grandmother and great-aunts braided her hair.
Next week, she might get word that she's about to learn a whole lot more.
Henderson, UD's director of first-year student engagement, was recently notified that she is among 10 finalists out of 2,000 applicants for the PBS genealogy series African American Lives, hosted by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Working with a combination of family stories, historical research and DNA analysis, Gates has helped guests such as Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones trace their genealogical roots through American history to Africa and other regions of the world. The upheavals of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery within the United States make this information especially difficult for African Americans to trace.
"My mother's family name is Woodbridge," Henderson said. "For years we were told that 'when Poppa was freed, he left the plantation determined to leave everything of the master's behind -- including his name. As he struck out from the plantation he came across a wooden bridge and decided that Woodbridge would be his -- our -- new name.’"
If she's selected, she might learn whether this family story is really true, and a whole lot more.

by Matthew Dewald 5-24-07

His not-so-secret garden

When Father Joe Tedesco, S.M., a diabetic for more than 20 years, heard the doctor's prognosis last year, he turned his attention to a walled, shady spot outside his Alumni Hall community. "I think I'll make a beautiful space before I lose my eyesight," he said and set to work.
Tedesco, who teaches in the psychology department, transformed the off-the-beaten path location with colorful containers of begonias and pansies, birdfeeders and a birdbath. An image of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade hangs in an arbor - the campus's only outdoor shrine honoring the founder of the Society of Mary. "I was afraid at first he would act as a scarecrow," Tedesco said and laughed.
Those fears were unwarranted. The garden draws purple finches, doves, hummingbirds, squirrels, chipmunks, toddlers from the Bombeck Children's Center and campus employees seeking meditative moments away from the office.
"People tell me how much they like to come and sit," said Tedesco, a lifelong gardener and avid birder.
And this year, the doctors tell him, his eyesight is fine.

By Deborah McCarty Smith 05-22-07

Beijing-bound in 2008?

USA Track & Field announced Tuesday that UD women's cross country coach Ann Alyanak is one of five women on the Team USA marathon squad who will compete at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan, Aug. 24 to Sept. 2.
Alyanak made the cut after finishing second among U.S. women and ninth overall in the women's division at the 111th Boston Marathon April 16. Despite rain and 50 mph winds from a nor'easter, she finished with a personal best 2:38:55. She also qualified for the 2008 Olympic Trials, which will be run on the Boston Marathon route April 20, 2008.
The day after the Boston Marathon, she talked with Elite Running about her race strategy that day, balancing coaching with racing and what it's like having her husband as her coach.

by Matthew Dewald 5-17-07

My Old House: 411 Stonemill

Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, one resident. Take a look inside the AKA house.

by Johnnie C. Kling ’09 5-14-07

Garments of gratitude

It was one of those crisp spring days, with blue skies stretching forever above the mortar boards of graduates who headed into the UD Arena. UD's 157th commencement, held May 6, raised 1,548 students to the ranks of alumni. Click here to see a slide show of the highlights.

by Michelle Tedford 05-10-07

Plundering, pillaging and hornswaggling

Johnny Depp would be proud of Tim Bete, director of UD's Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop. Bete is the author of the new humor book Cap'n Billy 'the Butcher' MacDougall's Guide to Pirate Parenting: Why you should raise your kids as pirates and 101 tips on how to do it.
"Most parents have been on the wrong end of a mutiny at one time or another," Bete says. "My book teaches parents every aspect of pirate growth and development -- from baby pirate care through the teen years -- so their kids can become self-respecting swashbucklers of the high seas or suburbs."
The book, modeled on parenting advice books, answers common questions such as “At what age should a child should be able to remove a bottle cap by taking out his glass eye and using his eye socket as an opener” and “How does one remove chewing gum or a giant octopus from a child’s hair?”
The book also includes signs that your child is becoming a pirate. For example, if your son has said "I'll need another ration of grog if you expect me to eat these peas" or told his teacher his homework was "eaten by a giant barracuda when the family's ship wrecked on a coral reef near the Dry Tortugas," you're well on your way to having a pirate in the family.

by Cap'n Billy 'the Butcher' MacDougall 05-10-07

Our Aussie side

According to The Australian of March 31, the New South Wales cabinet minister for Aging and Disability Services “speaks with a strong American accent.” That could be because Kristi Kerscher Keneally is indeed a Yank. She’s also a Flyer.
Keneally, who the article says claims a “lively Brisbane barmaid” as her grandmother, is not only the first U.S.-born New South Wales cabinet minister but the first U.S.-born member of the New South Wales parliament. UDQ profiled her in 2003, when she was elected to represent the Heffron area of Sydney.
The year 1991 marked not only Keneally receiving her undergraduate degree in political science but also her meeting Australian Ben Keneally at World Youth Day. She married him two years after receiving a master’s from UD in religious studies in 1994 and moving to Australia.

by Thomas M. Columbus 5-08-07

Lost and found

"Who loses their shoe?" junior Maggie Deininger asked after seeing stuffed animals, mateless shoes and bottles littering the running trail along the Great Miami River.
Deininger took her frustrations out on the litter and organized the first Greek Life River Clean-up Friday, April 13. With 15 people from three fraternities, Deininger and her team picked up more than 30 bags of trash within two hours. "I was trying to brainstorm new ideas for getting new people down to the river," she said.
While Deininger does not belong to a Greek organization, she has been part of the River Stewards for two years. Deininger hopes to make the Greek Life River Clean-up an annual event and plans on working more with Greek Week to raise participation next year.
With the University's acquistion of the former NCR land, Deininger sees the river as a responsibility. "I want the University of Dayton to have a river clean-up and have the city recognize it," she said. "I think it is really important for us to keep track of our litter." For more information about participating next year or the River Stewards, contact Deininger.

by Johnnie C. Kling ’09 5-1-07