Originally published in The News-Star newspaper, April 23, 2006

As Ouachita Parish Junior College opened, it was surrounded by an amazing juxtaposition of positive and negative, of excitement and peril. On the one hand, Ouachita Parish had fulfilled the dream of T.O. Brown and had built a college; excellent teachers had been hired; the college building was unrivaled in quality. And instead of 50 students expected, more than 400 showed up for classes. On the other hand, that fall saw temperatures above 100 degrees; as January arrived, so did the Flood of 1932, with the daily threat of high water and broken levees; it was the Depression, with all of its societal disruptions, challenges and tears.

It would be easy to think that the student body would have taken a long while to get "used" to the idea of "college," and that they would have been distracted by heat and flood and Depression. Everywhere, however, among students, faculty and President C.C. Colvert, there was nothing but the pure excitement of a community of learners working together.

One thing that both fueled and assured this excitement was constant communication in the form of the college assembly each Monday. One can only imagine what it would have been like to attend one of them - sitting in the auditorium ... hearing encouragement from President Colvert, hearing speakers from the local community and conducting business almost like a town meeting.

If we could travel back in time and watch things happening in that first semester from September to January, we could see the college colors (blue and white) and name of the football team (Indians) being chosen; the first football game (against Louisiana College) played on Oct. 10, 1931 at Forsythe Park; all kinds of clubs forming and President Colvert urging students to join at least two. By the way, these first clubs (more would follow over the years, of course) included the Young Men's Christian Association, Girl's Athletic Association, Booster Club, Spanish Club, Mathematics Club, French Club, Science Club, Dramatic Club and Young Women's Christian Association.

We could see Cupid arrive on campus with the first OPJC marriage as Lillian Herron Mitchell, also a librarian at the Monroe Public Library, married Fred Williamson, managing editor of the News-Star World. We could see President Colvert with hair! We could read a column in the first PowWow on Dec. 15, 1931 called Campus Gossip and note it had 31 items ... and 11 of them were about faculty members. Also in this first issue we could read a poem by English teacher Bess Mary Crider describing not only the present at OPJC but also her hope for the future:

Fair thy walls, new and unsullied

By the hand of time;

Clean and white thy record gleaming

Can be marred or made sublime.

May we now, true sons and daughters,

Pledge our loyalty,

Fair as now thy gleaming walls are

Shall they name forever be.

And just think, as we read this poem, only 70 days had passed since that opening day.

Have a great day at ULM!

Dr. John Knesel, ULM Professor