On-campus housing is limited, which means staff members in the Department of Campus and Residence Life have had to think up creative housing solutions. One idea was to convert the Koch Fitness Center into a men’s dormitory.

Living in former fitness center

“The fitness center was going away anyway, and they were trying to figure out what to do with it,” said Assistant Director of Residence Life Bryan Helminiak. “It will house 15 first years and one student RA and will unofficially be called Brady Satellite.”

A construction crew transforms Koch Fitness Center into a men's dormitory. (Rebekah Frank/TommieMedia)

The fitness center is being partitioned into two-person dorm rooms. The space in front by the floor-to-ceiling mirrors is being walled in and turned into a lounge. The men who live in the new space will be considered residents of Brady Hall.

“We’re trying to give it an identity of its own …and we’re also working on how we will get them to feel included,” said Associate Director of Residence Life Cari Fealy. “They’ll be connected with Dowling through social events and they will do programming a lot with first floor Brady.”

The Brady Satellite housing arrangement is likely temporary but there’s no decision yet on what the space will be used for in the future, Fealy said.

She added that Murray Hall will once again house women instead of men, because the gender balance of the class of 2014 is 50-50, compared to last year’s class with its higher percentage of men.

Lounges are also being converted into expanded housing – six lounges in Brady Hall will house four men each and five lounges in Dowling Hall will house six women each. A few chaplain rooms that are now empty due to the university’s gradual shift to a peer ministry program will also house students.

But even with all the expanded housing, Residence Life is still short on space.

“Every woman who has requested housing has some sort of housing,” Helminiak said. “But we currently have 43 men on a waitlist for on-campus housing.”

There is more on-campus housing available for women than men, so even though the gender balance is equal, some men might end up commuting from home or making the tough decision to not attend St. Thomas, Helminiak said. He added that on-campus housing is not guaranteed, but there’s still time for some students to decide not to live on campus, which would open up spots for those on the waitlist.

The unprecedented size of the class of 2014 is also affecting classroom sizes, faculty-student ratios and class registration, said Director of Academic Counseling Susan Anderson, who is helping run orientation and registration sessions.

“Every student has been preregistered for one or two classes before they come to orientation,” she said. “We’re making sure the spaces available in classes are being adequately monitored…and we’re watching the student-professor ratios. More adjunct professors might be hired.”

Reasons for jump in class size

The Office of Admissions was aiming for a freshman class size of about 1,350 but got almost 200 more students than expected.

“It’s been an interesting year,” said Associate Vice President for Admissions and Financial Aid Marla Friederichs. “We use past admissions data to predict future enrollment trends, but each year the historical data has been less effective.”

Friederichs said the reason for the large class size was not because they accepted more students than in past years, but simply because more students chose to enroll than in previous years.

“The idea that we have admitted more students to get a bigger class – we haven’t done that,” she said. “The idea that we have admitted more students and they’re of a lower quality – we haven’t done that either.”

Class rank, GPA and ACT score averages for the incoming freshmen are either on par with or above previous years, Friederichs said. The class has more out-of-state students than last year’s freshman class and 11 percent are students of color compared with last year’s record 14 percent.

This year, 4,338 freshmen were accepted to St. Thomas out of a total of 5,651 applications – an acceptance rate of 77 percent. Last year, slightly fewer students were accepted (4,374) but the number of applications was higher (5,999), leading to an acceptance rate of 73 percent.

Incoming freshman Corey Glynn said at the June 16 orientation session that he was fine with the class size, but it was a big change for him.

“The freshman class will be about fifteen times larger than my senior class,” Glynn said.

Friederichs said some MIAC schools are seeing increases in class sizes while others are seeing decreases. She said the higher number of students choosing to attend St. Thomas could be due to a number of factors.

“There’s certainly a lot of excitement about the new buildings – prospective students see a vibrant campus,” she said. “There’s a lot of visibility around everything from the academic things going on such as the Young Scholars grants to the athletic program and the outcomes St. Thomas provides, the options you have when you’re done here.”

The financial aid office has continued to send out “strong, strategic financial aid offers,” but the offers are not proportionately larger after tuition increases are considered, Friederichs said.

Predicting how many students will be in a class is a calculated risk, and online applications and online college searches have made it even harder for colleges to predict how many students will apply and eventually enroll, she said. But she said they will continue to improve how they estimate enrollment rates to ensure classes stay at manageable sizes.

“It’s a big class but we’re excited about it,” she said. “The people working with them in orientation keep saying they’re the best class they’ve ever had, so that’s fun to hear.”

Katie Broadwell can be reached at klbroadwell@stthomas.edu.

Rebekah Frank contributed to this story.

Many international students live at St. Thomas during the summer, including Linda Nininahazwe, a senior from the Republic of Burundi. She has stayed on campus the past two summers: This year she is taking classes and last summer she had a research grant. Nininahazwe said it’s hard to stay at school that long, and it was especially difficult her first summer.

International students have the opportunity to carry their countries' flags at commencement. (Michael Ewen/Tommiemedia.com)

“But I have been so lucky to go home every 18 months,” she said.

Office assists in summer planning

Most international students staying in the U.S. work or take classes, said Deborah Knaust, office of international student services director. Her office helps international students with their summer plans.

The specific situation depends on the student, she said. Families are sometimes involved with the decision to stay for the summer or there could be financial incentives to stay.

Graduate student Ahmad Alkhathami from Saudi Arabia is spending his summer volunteering for two organizations and enjoying a break from classes. The office for international students helped him with his plans.

“I went to them and asked about the rules and laws for doing an internship and volunteer for the international students,” Alkhathami said. “They gave me answers to all my questions.”

Sophomore Trang Anh Do chose to stay on campus and take summer courses to earn credits to graduate early. She will also travel to Vietnam to visit friends and family.

“[The office of international student services] helped me finish the paperwork for my trip back home and also gave me directions on how to renew my visa,” she said.

Visas prevent frequent traveling

At least 50 percent of international students decide not to travel because of visa issues, Knaust said.

“It is hard to get the visa appointment, so it is hard to get visas renewed,” Knaust said. “There is sort of a fear of being delayed.”

Shalaw Mohammed, a junior from Iraq, is one student who limits his travels because of his visa.

“It takes quite a while to renew a visa for me, so I limit my travels to reduce the risk of not getting the visa or being delayed from school.”

Staying for the summer does take its toll, even though Mohammed is used to being away from his family and friends.

“It’s quite hard, especially during the summer knowing everyone is home and enjoying a nice summer. There are days that I really wish I was home,” he said.

Support keeps international students positive

Immigration status and visa questions are “another burden for international students” that most people don’t realize, Knaust said.

“Status is a stressor they have to live with [that] other students don’t have to worry about,” she said. She added that counselors in her office help students “find alternatives and explain the rules so they can have a great experience.”

Many people have made her feel welcome at St. Thomas, Do said.

“Without the help and encouragements from my friends, my professors and the staff here, it would have been much harder for me to overcome my homesickness,” she said. “People are so nice and helpful to me, and I’m extremely grateful for that.”

Theresa Malloy can be reached at mall5754@stthomas.edu.

Everything but Justin Tucker's garage and back entryway was flattened by the tornado. (Photo courtesy: Yalonda Nelson/Wadena, Minn.)

Tucker was staying at his St. Paul house when the storm hit his hometown, but was preparing to head home for the weekend.

“I had my car packed up,” Tucker said. “I was suppose to go up and spend the weekend with them and decided at the last minute not to.”

But even though Tucker was lucky enough to avoid the storm, his family members were stuck in their house in Wadena, directly in the path of the storm.

His family went to the basement when they heard the sirens. The upstairs window shattered and the family dog ran upstairs. Tucker’s dad, Rod Tucker, chased after the dog and as soon as he got to the living room, the house collapsed.

“He was in a spot where some of the ceilings were kind of beamed up a little bit so he wasn’t necessarily squished,” Tucker said.

His dad saw a small opening and crawled out the 16-by-16 inch hole. He escaped the house and storm chasers driving by took care of him. He suffered bumps, scrapes and a minor back injury.

Although 20 people were treated at the hospital, only one person needed to stay overnight.

“With the amount of damage that Wadena sustained I can’t believe that nobody was injured, so we were all really lucky for that,” Tucker said.

Recovery is “slow process”

Tucker said the town looked like something out of the movie “Twister”.

“Nothing looked the same. All of the trees, they were literally blown over. There was debris everywhere,” Tucker said. “Most of the houses had extensive damages; if not, they were completely destroyed.”

Winds reaching 170 mph swept the roof off the local high school, severely damaged the community center and destroyed more than 200 homes.

“My sister ended up getting interviewed in front of our house and that’s when it really hit me that our house was really destroyed,” Tucker said. “Our house is all to the ground.”

Very few items in his house were salvageable and his family is now clearing everything out.

“Everyone is helping everyone,” he said. “People were always nice to each other like you would expect in a small town, but through this, it’s just amazing.”

Sophomore Katie Anderson was in her house in Wadena when the tornado struck. Her house wasn’t heavily damaged, so she spent the days after the storm helping close friends repair their homes and cleaning up debris in the town.

“Seeing my lifelong town of 4,300 people severely damaged was shocking and overwhelming,” Anderson said. “You never expect it to happen to your town, and when it does, it puts you into shock.”

Because there was no electricity and no one could watch news broadcasts, nobody in Wadena really grasped how extensive the damage was at first, Anderson said. She said the town still doesn’t feel “normal,” and although a town curfew has been lifted and cleanup efforts are winding down, there’s still lots to be done.

“I have been helping good family friend[s] clean up their house,” she said. “We cleaned out their house the first weekend and then worked on clearing out the debris from their yard. Their house is now unlivable and being bulldozed this week….The rest of the summer will be spent recovering from the tornado.”

Tucker will live in St. Paul all summer, and his family is renting a house until they can find a permanent one. His dad is deciding whether to rebuild on the property, have a custom home brought in or purchase a new house.

“I just want people to know that my family is all doing good and it’s going to be a slow process to try to fully recover from,” Tucker said.

Michael Ewen can be reached at mtewen@stthomas.edu.

Theresa Malloy contributed to this story.

“This invitation is the highest honor a choir in the United States can receive,” Director of Choral Activities Angela Broeker said.

Photo submitted by Angela Broeker, director of Choral Activities.

The ACDA directors choose only five or six college or university choirs out of all the applicants nationwide, Broeker said.

“On the one hand, the invitation was a complete surprise to me, because I’ve been attending these conventions for 26 years and I’ve seen the caliber of the college choirs invited to come. But on the other hand I wasn’t surprised, because [the Chamber Singers] work so hard and are talented singers who are completely dedicated to this ensemble, so they deserve to be representatives of St. Thomas.”

Choir members are proud

Junior Emily Temple, a soprano, said she was “ecstatic” when she heard the news.

“I’m looking forward to putting our name on the map and having our choir finally get recognition,” Temple said. “St. Thomas choirs haven’t gotten enough credit.”

The strong sense of community within the Chamber Singers helps the choir succeed, she said.

“We couldn’t make the music we make if we weren’t bonded,” Temple said.

Sophomore Tommy Glass, a Chamber Singers bass, agreed.

“One of our strengths is that we even get together outside of choir and we all get along really well,” Glass said.

Two things that make the Chamber Singers better than other choirs across the nation, Glass said.

“One thing that sets us apart is having Dr. Broeker,” he said. “The other is that we all really get into it. We don’t simply sing the songs. We do more than that.”

Senior Zach Wilson, a tenor, agreed that the choir’s success could be attributed to Broeker.

“We have the best director in the state of Minnesota, if not the country,” Wilson said.

He said it was “absolutely fantastic” that the Chamber Singers were chosen for the ACDA national conference.

“I was really excited about how we’d been performing this last year, and to be accepted to this conference is a testament to how good our choir is,” Wilson said.

Performing at a national level

Even though no St. Thomas choir has been invited to the national conference before, past choirs have come close. In 2008, the Chamber Singers were invited to the regional choir conference for the North Central division, that includes Minnesota.

The choir also has performed in state and local concerts. But on March 10, 2011, the Chamber Singers will travel to Chicago to perform in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall in front of its largest audience yet.

The choir members will begin learning their repertoire in September, Broeker said, and intensive rehearsals will begin in February. The national conference will be a way for the Chamber Singers to show thousands of choir directors the quality of St. Thomas’ choir program, she said.

“Catholic colleges aren’t often represented at this convention, so we’re excited to bring our choir and represent our faith tradition,” Broeker said.

She said the judges picked the St. Thomas Chamber Singers based on the quality of their sound on the CD she sent in, but she said the singers have additional talents that don’t come across in a demo CD.

“Our singers bring to the artistic experience an absolute connection with one another and a connection to their audience,” Broeker said. “All the members love to share their music and that’s evident during performances.”

Katie Broadwell can be reached at klbroadwell@stthomas.edu.

The survey, aimed at gauging current St. Thomas student’s satisfaction with on-campus food options, received a total of 469 responses from April 23 to May 14.

In a TommieMedia survey, 230 students picked the Minneapolis campus cafeteria "Food for Thought" as their favorite choice for on-campus food. (Brent Fischer/TommieMedia)

Out of 469 responses, 306 students picked the north campus cafeteria as their least favorite choice for on-campus food in a TommieMedia survey. (Brent Fischer/TommieMedia)

Food for Thought was the overwhelming choice for students’ favorite on-campus food establishment, receiving 49 percent of the vote. The Binz Refectory finished a distant second with 15 percent of the vote.

Senior Adam Dressel said he eats at Food for Thought about twice a week and it’s his favorite place to eat on campus.

“In my opinion, the best food is probably in Minneapolis because it’s actually prepared right in front of you,” Dressel said. “I know the Caf is working to change that for next year. Their food has gotten better but it still really doesn’t compare to the Minneapolis campus.”

The north campus cafeteria, affectionately referred to as “the Caf” by many students, received the most votes (65 percent) for the least favorite on-campus food option. In that category, Food for Thought didn’t receive a single vote.

Director of Dining Services Todd Empanger said he isn’t surprised at the results, and added that the north campus cafeteria’s low popularity is likely due to its high volume cooking and an aging facility that doesn’t allow for action station cooking.

“When I look at the dining rooms and favorite places, the Binz and Food For Thought are always the hottest here. The perception of having it cooked in front of you makes a huge difference,” Empanger said. “We know [the cafeteria] is old, built in ‘62. We do what we can … By the time next year comes around, you’ll see some change … We’ll see some differences over time as Ken [Grogg] starts doing his thing.”

With the arrival of new Executive Chef Kenn Grogg at the beginning of spring semester, students may have wondered if he would achieve his goal of making St. Thomas “the hidden gem among university dining services.”

The survey asked students whether they’ve noticed a difference in food quality at the north campus cafeteria in the past few months, to which 55 percent answered, “No difference.” But the next most popular response was “slightly better” with 20 percent of the vote, a sign that Grogg may be turning things around.

Empanger said it’s still early and he expects students to see a change before long.

“He’s only been here three months. He’s never been in a college atmosphere before, more hotels and business operations, so he’s seeing what is all involved,” Empanger said. “To turn it around in within that time, it usually takes about a year, and we know that. So we’re not putting too much pressure on him yet.”

Come January 2012, Grogg and the north campus cafeteria will be relocated to the $66 million Anderson Student Center, a venue Empanger says will be fully equipped for the action station cooking that makes Food for Thought so popular.

“We will have the equipment to make it work. That’s the key, because right now we don’t have the equipment to make it happen,” Empanger said. “There’s no limit to what you can do … Now, you make a whole bunch of it up, it sits there, and nobody eats it, then you throw it away. We’re going to try and reduce some of that.”

TommieMedia’s on-campus food survey results (PDF)

Brent Fischer can be reached at bafischer@stthomas.edu.

Graduates received their diplomas in an unusual location Saturday. Commencement ceremonies were held at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, due to the construction of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. The undergraduate ceremony started at 2 p.m. and featured the Rev. Marvin O’Connell, University of Notre Dame emeritus faculty, and Tommie Award recipient Steven Broszko.

Michael Ewen can be reached at mtewen@stthomas.edu.

Construction crews move dirt at the future location of the Anderson Student Center. (Michael Ewen/TommieMedia)

Construction started Tuesday on the new Anderson Student Center. The City of St. Paul granted the highly anticipated permits Monday, allowing OPUS to break ground on the 20-month project.

The $66 million, 225,000-square-foot student center will feature four bowling lanes, a giant dance floor and an 1,800-square-foot atrium.

“In higher education they call student centers the living room of the campus, and that’s truly what we’re trying to create here,” said Mary Ann Ryan, executive director of Campus and Residence Life.

The facility will have many dining options including a new home for Scooters and the Grill, and a coffee and smoothie bar.

Many students are excited for the new student dining center, which will overlook the quad on one side and the football field on the other.

“You can pick and choose what you want,” sophomore Megan Masshardt said. “So there is a wider variety of selection on campus, so you aren’t stuck with a set menu everyday.”

Ryan said the dining center, located on the second floor, will be bigger and have more equipment, including a giant pizza oven.

“They are going to love that the food is made right in front of them, so the food is going to be so fresh and look so good,” Ryan said.

The new building will also have a leadership room, a 9,600 square-foot multipurpose room and Asmat art gallery.

Ryan said she wants the building to reflect the St. Thomas community.

“We’re hoping to get some student art as well as some university art, and I think that will make it feel a lot like St. Thomas and our culture,” Ryan said. “I want students to think that they own it and it’s representative of their St. Thomas experience.”

Ryan said the student center is expected to open Spring 2012.

Michael Ewen can be reached at mtewen@stthomas.edu.

The Mathematics Resource Center reached its 10,000th visitor of the semester last Monday.

Director of the center Brenda Tiefenbruck said that in two years, the number of students signing in to use the MaRC services has doubled.

Just like the Tommies welcomed 17 runners across home plate Saturday afternoon, the Tommies scored 19 against Augsburg Sunday. (Brian Woitte/TommieMedia)

Hot hitting continued into Sunday afternoon for the St. Thomas baseball team as the Tommies defeated Augsburg 19-9 and won the MIAC championship.

With the win, the Tommies get the automatic bid to defend its title in the NCAA Division III playoffs, which start Wednesday.

This is the eighth time in the last 11 seasons the Tommies have won the MIAC title. This is the first season the Tommies had to win four elimination games to win the championship.

Led by junior Brady Field who reached base all six times he came to the plate, the Tommies collected 20 hits. Roy Larson also pitched in with a two-run homer.

“Any time you can get on base is good,” Field said. “It gives us a real chance to score runs and build a lead.”

The game went back and forth early with the Auggies getting the early 2-0 lead, but then the Tommies took the lead the very next inning 4-2, with some help from the Auggies’ two errors. The Tommies eventually took the lead for good with Larson’s homer making the score 7-5.

“I knew we had been able to score some runs,” Larson said. “We just wanted to keep the peddle to the metal.”

“Our hitting was a lot better, we got a lot of energy from our bench,” he said. “It’s contagious. When one guy gets a hit, the next guy gets one and that mounts up.”

Field talked about the team going into the Division III playoffs.

“We’re feeling great,” Field said. “We won three tough games in a row. The team really got into it and the bats came to life.”

The Tommies will learn its seed in the national playoffs Monday morning.

Brian Woitte can be reached at bmwoitte@stthomas.edu

The Tommies successfully defended its national championship Saturday by defeating Utah Valley University 12-9.

“Unbelievable. It hasn’t really sank in yet,” junior Joe McCullagh said.

“There isn’t any other feeling like it,” senior Dayne Smith said.

Junior Cooper Maxon, senior Jason King and sophomore Tony Sadder each had a pair of goals to lead the St. Thomas offense.

“When I started, a [champion]ship wasn’t even in the cards,” Smith said. “And now we’re perfect.”

The Tommies jumped ahead 5-3 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. St. Thomas scored the fewest amount of goals and gave up the most it had all tournament, but experience paid off in the second half as the Tommies gave up just three goals to preserve the lead and take the championship.

“It wasn’t the prettiest game,” McCullagh said. “We owe our last game to our defense.”

Junior Joey Costello spoke of the team’s desire to build a dynasty, and Saturday’s win gave Tommie lacrosse back-to-back national championships.

Jordan Osterman can be reached at jrosterman@stthomas.edu