Club Archives - Reynolds College Blog

Paws to the Polls wraps up successful 2024

February 25, 2025 by Lynn M. Lansdown

Members of Missouri State University’s Paws to the Polls (PTTP) organization spent the Fall 2024 semester in a whirlwind of activity, concluding with the 2024 presidential election.

The group oversaw a variety of outreach events dedicated to providing voting information and encouraging registration. They kept pace throughout the fall semester, attending conferences and fairs, giving talks and distributing information.

Civic engagement creates learning opportunities

In August, PTTP worked with the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and the local chapter of the League of Women Voters to present at the city’s Youth Civic Leadership Institute.

At the event, PTTP president Grace Wasson and vice president Amanda Gott ran a panel discussion and oversaw a voter simulation activity for high school students.

During September, PTTP continued its high school student voter information activities, collaborating again with the League of Women Voters. They held a voter registration information event for area high schools and registered 22 voters.

Also that month, the group coordinated a voter registration drive with the Springfield NAACP and the League of Women Voters at Springfield’s historic Washington Avenue Church.

For Gott and Wasson, working with the local community proved to be an invaluable learning experience.

“I found out very quickly that we not only register voters, but we [also] provide people with information on the voting process, upcoming elections, non-partisan resources for staying informed and much more,” Gott said. “I saw it as an opportunity to learn about voting and Missouri legislation, as well as an opportunity for engaging with my peers, my campus and my community.”

Gott, a sophomore double majoring in anthropology and modern language, joined PTTP in fall 2023.

Wasson had a similar reaction when first encountering PTTP. She joined the organization in fall 2022.

“I care deeply about local issues and civic engagement,” said Wasson, a sophomore political science major. “Paws felt like the perfect way to get involved and meet incredible, passionate people.”

Anthropology Club visits historic Danforth Cemetery

January 10, 2025 by Lynn M. Lansdown

Members of Missouri State University’s Anthropology Club visited the historic Danforth Cemetery in Strafford, Missouri, during the Fall 2024 semester as part of a field trip learning experience.

Nine members, along with club officers Erin Ashford and Cora Darmody, accompanied Dr. Elizabeth Sobel and Dr. Scott Worman from the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology on the trip.

Danforth Cemetery history

According to Sobel, the Danforth cemetery was established in the nineteenth century for the burial of White and Black pioneers. The oldest surviving grave markers date to 1860, but the cemetery may have been established before then.

“Black pioneers were enslaved, brought to southwest Missouri by force, rather than by choice,” Sobel said. “Like many other historic cemeteries, the Danforth Cemetery was historically racially segregated, with the south end serving as a burial ground for Black individuals.”

Sobel added that the cemetery remains active, used by descendants of both the White and Black founding families as well as other community members.

Historic ties to MSU

According to Sobel, one goal of the field trip was for students to understand the historical relationship between Danforth Cemetery and MSU.

The Black section of the Danforth Cemetery is but one example of the history of racial segregation in Missouri, she explained. It illustrates for students how their experience at MSU is connected to that history.

Danforth Cemetery is the resting place of Mary Jean Price Walls, the first Black person to apply to (then) Southwest Missouri State University.

Price Walls applied to MSU in 1950, prior to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling. She was denied admission to the university despite being an academically strong student, Sobel said.

In 2010, MSU granted Price Walls an honorary undergraduate degree in recognition of her significance as the university’s first Black applicant. MSU then named its Multicultural Resource Center after Price Walls in 2016. More recently, in August 2024 the Springfield-Greene County African American Heritage Trail placed a historical marker on the MSU campus to honor Price Walls.

Price Walls died in 2020.

Students sitting in cemetery — Anthropology Club students document head stones in the historic Black section of Danforth cemetery.

Model UN launches competitive season at ACMUN/OKMUN conference

November 20, 2024 by Lynn M. Lansdown

Members of Missouri State University’s Model United Nations (Model UN) attended the 2024 joint Arkansas Collegiate Model United Nations (ACMUN) / Oklahoma Model United Nations (OKMUN) Conference Nov. 2.

Over 20 MSU students served as Model UN delegates in the following councils: United Nations General Assembly First Committee (GA1), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and Council of the Arab League (AL).

The conference, hosted by Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, promotes collaborative learning and research in pursuit of solving prominent international issues such as cybersecurity and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, said Dr. Ashley Leinweber.

Leinweber is the Model UN faculty advisor and is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Philosophy at Missouri State.

In addition to serving as faculty advisor since 2013, Leinweber helped form MSU’s current Model UN chapter. A previous organization, the World Affairs Council (WAC), was disbanded around 2010, Leinweber said.

First competition of the season a big success

This was the first Model UN competition for the MSU team this academic year, Leinweber said. It was also the first time MSU had attended the ACMUN/OKMUN conference.

“We were unsure what to expect,” Leinweber added. “The fact that two of our students won awards was very impressive.” Typically, the teams participates in 1-3 competitions a year.

“We always attend the four-day Midwest Model United Nations conference in St. Louis in February,” Leinweber said. “We are hoping to raise enough funds one day to attend other conferences, especially the National Model United Nations held at the UN Headquarters in New York.”

Meanwhile, for the past two years MSU has hosted the Great Plains Model Arab League conference and will host it again in April 2025.

Anthropology Club kicks off academic year with increased membership numbers

October 4, 2024 by Lynn M. Lansdown

Missouri State University’s Anthropology Club held its first interactive meeting for the 2024-25 academic year Sept. 9 in Strong 405.

The topic? Flintknapping, a term used by anthropologists to describe different methods to make stone tools.

On hand to demonstrate the ancient technique were Professor Elizabeth Sobel and Associate Professor Scott Worman from the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology (SAG). Both professors regularly participate in archaeology-related sessions with the club.

Things looked a little different this time, though.

Club officers Kyra Uphoff, president, and Erin Ashford, secretary, watched as students kept filing into the small lab room. Ashford started looking for more chairs.

By the time the meeting started, attendees were spilling out into the hallway.

Ashford later said that roughly 30 people attended the meeting, breaking previous attendance numbers. Typical attendance is 15-20, according to Uphoff.

Man kneeling on floor in front of students demonstrating rock tools. — Dr. Scott Worman demonstrates flintknapping techniques.

What is flintknapping?

“‘Flintknapping’ refers to making flaked stone tools, essentially making tools by breaking small pieces of rock – flakes – off of a larger piece – a core,” Worman said. “It is the process used to make things like spear points, arrowheads, knives, scrapers and similar tools.”

Woman working with stone tools — Dr. Elizabeth Sobel demonstrates flintknapping techniques.

Worman and Sobel demonstrated three general flintknapping techniques to the group: bipolar, percussion flaking and pressure flaking.

“We like to incorporate all three flintknapping techniques into our hands-on experience so that the students understand all three approaches,” Sobel said. “Some students discover that they enjoy or have a knack for one technique more than the others.”

According to Worman, using the bipolar method requires placing a small core on a large stone, called an anvil, and striking it with another large stone, called a hammerstone.

“It is relatively easy and was often used when the rocks used to produce tools were too small to hold easily,” Worman explained.

Percussion flaking requires holding the core in one hand and striking it with an implement held in the other hand, Worman said. Pressure flaking is similar, but instead requires the individual, called a “knapper” to hold the core while applying steady force to the edge with a rod-shaped object, usually made of antler. Pressure flaking is often used to put “finishing touches” on tools made by percussion flaking, he added.

After finishing the demonstration, Worman, Sobel and club officers handed out rocks, protective gloves, lap cloths and goggles so attendees could practice.