Getting to know our new RD

Steve Conn — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:39:06 +0000

Sometimes Saga food can be pretty different (anyone try the sautéed apples this week?), but there is at least one dish that even
Saga has not yet offered: burgoo. The favorite dish of Kentuckian Clark Kendall, the new RD of Thomas Hall, is best described as a “potpourri of what people bring.” “Come first frost” (in February), Clark hopes to make this
multi-purpose stew used to both clean out the pantry and to unite communities.

Clark did his undergraduate work at Asbury University, (a small Christian college in Kentucky), where he was an RA and
studied to be a history teacher. After a few years in the classroom Clark decided he wanted to return to higher education
and went back to school to get his M.A. in higher Ed. His wife Annette, also a teacher, is excited to be a part of his ministry here at LeTourneau and is enjoying the unique experience of being the only woman living in Thomas hall.

Thomas RD Clark Kendall and his wife Anette Kendall

Before he came to work at Letourneau, Clark heard amazing things about floor unity and was pleasantly surprised when he noticed that unification did not mean the floors isolated themselves. Saying that he is “glad the pride doesn’t turn into a sense of superiority,” he definitely showed excitement at the opportunity to invest in students’ lives with his new
position.

It also seems as though the Resident Director of Thomas Hall enjoys some awesome perks. Not only does he appreciate T1’s
liveliness, 41’s tradition and sense of identity, and T3’s open attitude, Clark says that he has been able to try some amazing cooking in the hall kitchen. Moreover, “there’s no shortage of ideas [in Thomas Hall],” allowing the new RD
to learn a little bit about a lot of things. Not to mention, Thomas Hall now has comfy, brand new couches making the lobby, in Clark’s opinion, “the best lobby on campus.”

Aside from being the new RD of Thomas Hall, Clark is also the Intramural Coordinator. Involved in intramurals himself, Clark values the way that the playing field parallels life: “You’ll have failures and successes.” Furthermore, Clark loves the way that working with Student Affairs allows him to be involved in students’ lives and the unique bonds his job creates.

Sports are definitely close to Clark’s heart, along with the God-given desire to work as an RD that grew from his positive experience as an RA in college. Grateful that “God considered him worthy to serve here,”,Clark treasures this experience
as a “grand opportunity.”

Clark loves that the school already possesses high expectations and encourages true sportsmanship, but he is also ready
to make a few changes for the better. After reorganizing the data system, which is no small feat, he has made the score-keeping system much more efficient as well as accessible to students. Utilizing a new website, www.imleagues.com,
has made LeTourneau’s Intramurals a little bit more streamlined. Besides the fact that the results from the games are posted instantaneously, the site encourages more student involvement since players can have their own pages with
pictures and students may pick a most valuable player for each game. Thanks to the student coordinators’ hard work and Clark’s ideas, the new changes have
gone smoothly.

L.E.G.S. expands into A.R.M.S.

Steve Conn — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:10:06 +0000

The members of the LeTourneau LEGS team are excited to announce that their hard work and forward thinking have paid off yet again with a new breakthrough technology that will revolutionize the western world. On Thursday LeTourneau began beta testing the new LEGS invention, the Automated Robo Mini-Samurai. The Automated Robo Mini Samurai (ARMS for short) is a two foot tall rendering of the ancient Chinese warrior and is a fully functional fighting machine capable of neutralizing would-be attackers and/or charging rhinos.
When asked how he came up with the idea, the director of the new ARMS department simply said “I’ve been watching a lot of old action movies lately and I thought, ’you know, the samurai NEVER lose…we should leverage that.’” The arms team spent 3 weeks in extensive research that included cartoons, comic books, and video games. Lawrence Stevens, a senior involved in the project had this to say “I didn’t really know a lot about Samurai, and I was surprised to find out that Tom Cruise was apparently the last one. I haven’t really done a lot of reading about it for this project but I think I learned a lot. They all have sharp swords and cool helmets and they can kill like 1,000 people in a battle.”

These miniature robotic versions have all of the martial talents of the original, but unlike real Samurai they do not need to be paid, and they are able to fit in very small spaces. They are battery operated and can connect to the apple app store. “I really like playing Angry Birds with the Samurai” says one security officer.

The ARMS are now being used by the campus police to ensure “uber security” at all times. One representative from the police force told us that it would take two 30 GB models to protect all of campus, or potentially one 60 GB model if we opted for the upgraded software package.

ARMS come in 6 colors and will be available to the public in the fall of 2012.

Happy April Fools Day from your YellowJacket staff!

The YellowJacket » Steve Conn

Getting to know our new RD

L.E.G.S. expands into A.R.M.S.