In keeping with my “going on a journey” theme, I would like to take a moment to prequel my previous Apple Highland Village post. The pictured building is Oklahoma Baptist University’s Raley Chapel. This beautiful Chapel with its Greek staircase, Corinthian Order style columns, and Gothic influenced Spire (which has also become part of the university’s logo) is the centerpiece of the OBU campus. The single spire atop the bell tower, pointing toward the Creator – along with the large, community-centered nave, and stained glass window – all serve to physically and metaphorically represents the heart and mission of the University and all that it does as an institution. In August of 2009, I was able to stand on those steps and experience that feeling first hand after The Walk.

The Walk is an OBU tradition and also marked another beginning for me. It began my journey as a college student. Starting at one end of campus, and ending on the steps of Raley Chapel, The Walk is done in complete silence both before Freshman year begins and at the commencement of Graduation. It’s done in silence for a few reasons, but that silence is promptly broken when a designated person yells, “Hey Bison, go with Ka-Rip!” (another, louder tradition). This building represents a wide variety of good and bad experiences, friendships gained and lost, and the attainment of something that I wasn’t sure I could do before; which was to simply get into college. While my journey as a student didn’t end at Oklahoma Baptist University, I am very thankful for the times I had there.

Jonathan Ruiz