Features

At some point during our Luther career, many of us will no doubt visit the infamous local establishment, Roscoe’s. Some people may ask why it is so successful in attracting many Luther students on the weekends compared to other bars in Decorah. The most likely reason: the DJs that work the decks every Friday and Saturday evening.

“I would definitely agree that having DJs work at the bar helps the bar get a bigger crowd,” said Saheka Smith (‘13), one of the DJs that regularly works at Roscoe’s. “We play what you guys want to hear, what you guys ask for. Without DJs, it would be nothing but old-school quarter jukebox music.”

In a few short days, Luther will bid 540 of its students goodbye. Commencement 2010 will be held 10 a.m. Sunday, May 23 in Carlson Stadium. If the weather is unfavorable, it will be held in the Regents Center. Although the final ceremony lasts around two hours, other end of the year events will be held throughout the weekend.

“It’s [Commencement] one of many ways we honor seniors and recognize the contributions they have made and wish them well,” Vice President and Dean for Student Life Ann Highum said.

Located in the Oneota River Valley, the City of Decorah offers a plethora of outdoor resources. Luther College’s student-run group Backyard Wilderness Pursuits is helping students take full advantage of their time here in Decorah’s “outdoor mecca,” according to Outdoor Magazine.

Seniors now preparing to don their cap and gown have jumped one final hurdle in order to be handed their diploma: completing a senior project.

For those outside the music community, attending singing performances at Luther may be hard to approach. But with this year’s opera, the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, the audience, regardless of musical familiarity, will be able to follow a linear story, its characters and the lyrics.

Many high school students have enough on their plates with school, activities and simply being a teenager.

Eight years ago, a Luther tradition that had grown to an infamous scale and captured the nation’s attention ended. While the term “naked soccer” still evokes stories and legends, current students at Luther were not around to experience the phenomenon firsthand. So, everyone wonders, what was all the fuss about?

Naked Soccer started small with a few senior men who played after the bars closed during senior week. While Vice President and Dean for Student Life Ann Highum thinks it might have started in 1991, other sources say it was happening as far back as the 1970s.

Hundreds lined up to get their free fish, fries, coleslaw and root beer floats last Friday as part of a new happening on campus, Free Fish Fryday. Sponsored by Residence Life and Wellness, it attracted hundreds of people to the Union to get their fill of free food.

Jake Wessels (‘11) helped with the initiative.

Be prepared. April 21 to May 8 promise candid photos and embarrassing situations. Service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega is sponsoring “Classy Candids,” a fundraiser encouraging students to capture their unsuspecting friends and classmates on film and publicly display them for $1.

Pete Russella

Q: What’s your major?
A: Psychology and French.

Q: What do you plan to do after graduation?
A: Teach English at l’Université de la Bretagne Occidentale in Brest, France.

Q: What’s your favorite Luther memory?

College is about going away and finding oneself, but some students go a lot further than others. For 130 Luther students, being away from home has an entirely different meaning.

Living thousands of miles from home, international students face more than the usual challenges of college life. Many, however, feel that Luther is a good place to be.

Norse soccer goalie Dickson Kwatampora (‘12) won the Davis Peace Project Grant, allowing him to build a market in his home country of Uganda.

The Davis Peace projects are offered every year to over 100 campuses in the United States and across the world. Each project gets a grant of $10,000 to inspire youth to promote peace.

“My project aims at economically empowering people in the IDP [Internally Displaced Person’s] camps in the Northern part of Uganda,” Kwatampora said. “I will be constructing a market where people would come on a daily basis to sell their handmade crafts and their surplus from farming.”

Returning from spring break got a little bit sweeter as students discovered the reopening of Decorah’s ice cream hot spot, The Whippy Dip. Serving a variety of hot and cold treats, The Whippy Dip is a popular, inexpensive stop for students and the Decorah community alike.

Alpha Beta Psi will host its annual Relay for Life April 9. This year, the fundraiser for the American Cancer Society will be a little different; it will be a dance.

Throughout the month of March, five key events have been scheduled to take place on Luther’s campus to correspond with National Women’s History Month.

Women’s History Month began as a weeklong recognition of women’s contributions to history when President Jimmy Carter issued a Presidential proclamation in 1980 declaring the week of March 8 as Women’s History Week.