Annie Hertzler Studies in Chile

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Mi Vida Chilena

Annie Hertzler

            While descending the Andes Mountains in a 15 passenger van, the popular song, Call Me Maybe came on the radio.  After watching the music video that the Princeton baseball team posted on YouTube, I couldn’t resist doing the arm motions that went along with the song.  I consequently received many judgmental stares from the 13 Chileans that were in the van with me (the other American was just confused because she hadn’t seen the video).  This is just one of the many awkward experiences that occurred during my month spent in the Southern Hemisphere.

            To complete the requirements for a major in Spanish, I studied abroad this summer in Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, Chile.  It was an experience that I would repeat in a heartbeat.  I took two classes, Chilean Culture and Conversation and the Sociopolitical History of Latin America, at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso.  In these classes, I learned about the history of Chile and how that history had an impact on the Chilean culture today.   During the classes, we would have lectures, watch music videos, take tours of the important parts of the city, and have conversations about the differences between the Chilean and American cultures.  These classes were a really crucial and fun part of my experience. 

            While in Chile, my roommate, Elise, and I lived with a host family.  My parents were an older couple, Ali and Jorge, and their daughter, Daniella, lived with in the house as well.  This was another really important part of my experience.  Mi mama chilena was the cutest little woman.  Elise and I would ask her about vocabulary words during once (the light Chilean dinner) and she would ask us what the words meant in English.  She always said that speaking English was like having a hot potato in her mouth.  Elise and I had a different experience than the rest of the members of the group because we were with a quiet family that was not as inclusive as the other families.  Even though we did not have the experience that many of the other students did, we still learned a lot about the Chilean culture from our parents.  For example, we found out that during the dictatorial reign of Pinochet, Ali and Jorge moved their family to France because they knew people in Chile who were being persecuted and put to death for their opinions.  The culture was not the only thing we learned from our families.  Ali and Jorge had been married for 50 to 60 years and they were still very much in love with each other.  Elise and I learned a lot about the different stages of life from living with our adorable parents. 

            Our group went on a few excursions to different beaches and shops and it was always a good time adventuring and immersing ourselves in a different culture.  I traveled with another ONU student and we visited Easter Island (La Isla de Pascua) before our study abroad started.  It was a unique place and not what I was expecting at all.  There were stray dogs and wild horses all over the island.  We found out the hard way that there is only one paved road on the island. We also ventured to the tops of the Andes Mountains one day to go skiing, but ended up going zip-lining instead. 

            My trip to Chile was quite the adventure, but I learned things there that I will definitely never forget.  I would recommend studying abroad to anyone who is interested and wants to learn about a new and different culture. 

ONU Students Receive More Media Attention

In addition to the television interviews, our students have also been mentioned in a Lima News article about international attention to the election.  The NHK crew also continued to follow our students when some attended a recent Paul Ryan rally in Lima.  Some were in the crowd and one was outside protesting, according to the article that can be found here http://www.limaohio.com/news/local_news/article_63c97a5a-0768-11e2-83b6-0019bb30f31a.html

Professor Alexander Elected to Pi Sigma Alpha Board

From the ONU Northern Express:

Robert Alexander, professor of political science, has been elected to the executive council of Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society. He recently completed a two-year appointment to the council to fill an unexpired term.

The executive council consists of the organization’s current officers, president, president-elect, executive director, and newsletter editor, plus the three most recent past presidents and 12 members elected by the membership. The council meets annually at the American Political Science Association Convention to take actions to guide the affairs of the society. Members are selected from among over 750 chapters across the globe. 

Well done Dr. Alexander!

HPJ Students Attend the Democratic National Convention

Three HPJ students, Adam Downing, Daniella Chambers and James Lee were able to attend the Democratic National Convention through the Washington Center.  Downing was interviewed for WEWS-CLE, the ABC outlet in Cleveland about his scramble to get tickets for President Obama's acceptance speech.  Ultimately, due to the DNC changing the venue from Bank of America Stadium to the Convention Hall, Downing was not able to see the even.  Lee however was able to see the event live, and Chambers initially went to the convention as a delegate.  She is now working as an intern for Obama For America.

The student's experience at the convention, wherever they watched the speech, was a valuable one and the sort of thing we love to see our students doing.  Another eight students attended the Republican National Convention, and both groups spent a preparatory week attending presentations from political professionals.

We have had several students this semester who have been interviewed by the local, national, and international press on their experiences at the conventions or on the election and they have all done a bang-up job!  Well done all!

HPJ Students in the International Media

 Interest in our presidential election is high around the world and this interest brought a Japanese film crew and reporters from nippon hoso kyiokai (NHK or Japan Broadcasting System) to campus this week.  They came to Hill Building to interview Dr. Alexander and several of our HPJ students.  The Japanese reporters interviewdd Dr. Alexander along with students Lisa Bradley, Franklin Howard, John Willamowski, and John Curiel, who had previously attended the Republican National Convention.  Dr. Alexander told WLIO, who was here interviewing the interviewers and students that our students reflect the views of young people around the nation and represnt the youth vote that will be important in Ohio.  Bradley and Howard also were interviewed by WLIO telling the reporter that since our election has global implications, the attention is appropriate.  The reporters said that interest about our election is high in Japan since the U.S. and Japan are strong allies and trading partners.  When their video is online, we will try to link to that as well.

As always, our students acquited themselves very well and these are the sorts of experiences that we aim our studetns toward.

Well done all!

Department Holds Freshman Picnic

Dr. Alexander, the new Chair of HPJ, continued the tradition begun under former Chair Dr. Ellen Wilson and invited our Freshmen students to his house for a cookout.  Although students and faculty huddled in groups at the beginning, the ice soon broke and everyone started getting to know one another.

This annual picnic is a good way for students and faculty to learn each other's names and get to know the people that will be working together for the next four years.  Also, the food was, of course, excellent, including the smores!

Social Studies Students Gather at Professor Crawford's House for Pizza

The bi-annual Social Studies Pizza Extravaganza took place last week on Dr. Crawford's deck.  Social Studies majors gathered to have food and fun, plus they had the chance to listen to Joe Fisher, who is currently student teaching at Hardin Northern High School.  The gatherings are held each semester to give new and old students a chance to get to know each other, and to share survival tips on making it through the requirements of the major.  Tips range from how to do well on the Praxis I and II, how to succeed in various courses, and hear "what NOT to do as a teacher" from Dr. Crawford - things that can get you fired.  Last summer, the Social Studies majors traveled the world, with three students studying abroad.  Trey Jones taught English to South Korean students and also took classes at Dankook University in Seoul, South Korea.  Sadie Wiley travelled to England to study museums, and also took the chance to travel to Paris and Rome.  Annie Hertzler studied Spanish in Chile.  Trey will also be doing his student teaching next spring in Valencia, Spain.  We are very proud of the good work that these students did that will help them build a resume that will help them get jobs, and make them better teachers.

Well done all and we will have another extravaganza in the spring!

Professor Nsia-Pepra in the local media

It has been a busy week for Dr. Nsia-Pepra, with violence breaking out across the Middle East, local media outlets have been asking him to share his expertise.  In an interview with the Lima News, Nsia-Pepra told the paper that the controversial film might have precipitated the attacks but that anti-American attitudes abound there.  Despite those attitudes, he maintains that many Libyans are grateful to the United States for their help in removing Moammar Ghadafi as their dictator.  He argued that the Libyans would not likely sacrifice this relationship.

Nsia-Pepra was also interviewed by the local television news outlet, WLIO Lima.  In his interview, Nsia-Pepra repeated his contention that extremists used the video to inflame passions there and that the solution would be to hunt down the culprits and hold them accountable for their actions.

Take a Tour of ONU

Dr. Jimmy Wilson's GIS classes have been working to add 3D to the ONU campus on Google Earth.  Their work can be viewed on a new Google Earth Demo API that can be found here.

Click here and then copy and paste 40º 45'51.39" N, 83º 49'23.59"W into the box for entering a location to go there.  Hit the gas to take a drive around campus and enjoy our students' hard work!

Professor Alexander and HPJ Students at Republican National Convention

Dr. Alexander led a delegation of eight ONU students, primarily Political Science majors, to take part in the Republican National Convention in Tampa.  

The students: Shelby Core, a sophomore political science major of Wapakoneta, Anna Hoard, a sophomore political science major of Kalamazoo, Mich., and John Williamowski Jr. a freshman political science major of Lima, Alex Stefan, a junior political science major from Northwood; Joseph Railey Jr. a sophomore history major from Yorktown, Ind.; Katie Deeter, a sophomore political science major from Troy, Ohio; Robert Roll, a senior finance major from Gahanna, Ohio,  and Thomas Smolarz, a sophomore political science major from Colon, Mich. Arrived a week early to take part in classes on the political process and listen to guest speakers in the program offered by the Washington Center.

During the week of the actual convention, they worked as interns for various organizations including CNN, the Ohio Republican Party, and Bloomberg News, among others.  They reported various once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as watching speakers such as Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, meeting delegates at the airport, and learning what goes into putting on such an event.  This is politics in the real world as opposed to the classroom. 

Among comments reported in the press were:

Shelby Core “I heard about it as a freshman and thought it sounded like a cool experience. I was a senator at Girls State and it sounded like a learning experience like that,” Core said. “Getting involved in politics, this will be good to start off small and work your way up. As a young person, I can watch these delegates and see what my future might hold.”

John Willamoski: "I mean we've seen it on tv a lot of times.  That's something I've wanted to go to since I was little.  So, it will be really interesting, and a lot of fun,"

ONU alumnus Michael Smith is president of the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. The program “teaches students about the process, but not from the sidelines,” he said.

Dr. Alexander "They're (the students) going to rub elbows with some of the most powerful people in the world.  That alone makes the world a smaller place for them and makes it much more attainable and gives them some inspiration to say this is something I can do myself,"

Another group is taking part in the Democratic National this week and we can’t wait to hear about their experiences!

This type of programming is part of HPJ’s effort to get our students out into the real world to put the knowledge they gain in the classroom to work!

Professor Jimmy Wilson on Television

Dr. Wilson was recently interviewed by WLIO television in Lima about the role Geographic Information Systems (GIS)can play in predicting the path of hurricanes.  Wilson told the interviewer that GIS began as a tool for meteorologists, although the news report incorrectly gave crime mapping as the origins, and has replaced hand drawn maps as the tool of choice for tracking storms.  The report prominently mentioned that ONU students were receiving real-life experience in using GIS tools to track recent hurricanes such as Isaac.

In addition to storm tracking, GIS is a useful, if not crucial, tool in a wide variety of disciplines including criminal justice, marketing, law, engineering and a wide variety of others.  Both Dr. Wilson and Dr. Smith offer these courses each semester.

To see Wilson's interview, click here, and the blurb that accompanied the video read as follows:  ADA, OHIO -

Students at Ohio Northern University got a real-life example of how to track storms thanks to Hurricane Isaac. Students use the same geographicalinformation systems (GIS) that meteorologists use to track the storm's path.

The GIS courses at ONU provide students with basic and advanced skill sets in geographical data analysis. Traditionally, GIS was strictly used in criminal analysis and mapping social trends, but recently, GIS has made leaps and bounds in meteorology.

The years of using hand-drawn maps to predict the course of storms has been replaced by geographical information systems. Thanks to technology, storms can be tracked more accurately and precautions can be made.

For an example of GIS in the works, visit the National Hurricane Center online as they track Tropical Storm Leslie and Hurricane Kirk.