Anchor slam participants played three on three basket ball to support service for sight. Service for sight is a charity that helps the blind and visually impaired and raises awareness in communities.

Ballin' for the Blind

The OU pool is currently closed because of renovations causing the Delta Gamma philanthropy event, anchor splash, which utilized the pool to be turned into the first ever anchor slam, which took place in the Huston Huffman instead.

Anchor slam is a three on three basketball tournament in which teams from different sororities and fraternities entered a double elimination boys or girls bracket. The winners of the girls bracket received a basketball signed by OU women’s coach, Sherri Coale and the winner of the boy’s bracket received a basketball signed by OU men’s coach, Jeff Capel. The event benefited service for sight, which is a charity that aids the blind and visually impaired by providing services and raising awareness of the cause.

“Since this is the first year of anchor slam replacing anchor splash we were really nervous about its success but the support and turnout has been great,” said Ashleigh Koerner, co director of anchor splash.

Anchor slam will continue to replace anchor splash in the future as a part of the Delta gamma’s annual philanthropic effort.

Click here to see more images from anchor slam.

Katie Chrisman, University College freshman and Lauren Auer, University College freshman work the Women's Outreach Center booth in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Chrisman and Auer are a part of the planning committee for breast cancer awareness month.

Pink Phenomenon

October is national breast cancer awareness month and there will be multiple events set up in an effort to educate students on breast cancer and to make them more aware of the disease.

The Women's Outreach Center will put on events such as t-shirt decorating, hosting cancer survivors to speak to students and setting up health huts where students can drop by to get information about breast cancer.

"I think [breast cancer awareness month] is really important in order to raise awareness in our students and to make [breast cancer] more of a dominant thought," said Elizabeth Hart, Komen graduate assistant for the Women's Outreach Center.

The 16th annual Race for the Cure, which is always regarded as the main event during the month, happens next Saturday. The Women's Outreach Center has 40 people signed up to walk with them, this is the largest amount of members in their team's history.

Click Here to see more images:

Honors College students gather for "Conversations with the Dean," which is an event where Dean Ray, of the honors college, brings in a guest speaker to address students. This event was know as "Dinner with the Dean" last year but this year's large honors freshmen class created need for more classes so there isn't enough money to provide a meal for attending students.

Bright Freshmen Class Creates Big Problems

The 2009 freshmen class is the highest ranked class at a public university in state history, because of this the honors classes are filling up faster and are exceeding the 19 person limit.
This year's freshmen class includes 196 National merit Scholars and 70 regents scholars. Over 90 percent of National Merit Scholars are admitted into the honors program.
"This creates a need for more classes. The honors organic chemistry class that is offered through the chemistry department has close to 40 students enrolled in it. Students have made it clear that they are unhappy stating that they were promised no more than 19 students per class," said Dean Ray of the Honors College.
For the spring semester, the honors college plans to add eight to ten additional classes to try to accommodate the larger number of students. They will also be looking to add more honors courses offered outside of the college for the 2010-2011 school year.

Click Here to listen to Dean Ray give more detail about the Honors College's future plans.

Jed Dembowski, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, for United Way of Norman sets up progress posters for this year's United Way campaign. The posters were designed by Dembowski to match the 2009 theme, "One Team, One Dream."

United Way Campaign Kicks Off

Students have an opportunity to reach out to the Norman community through the United Way campaign that started on Tuesday.

The United Way of Norman works with 29 other local nonprofit agencies to serve the community. This year the campaign's theme is "One Dream, One Team" and is hosted by thePrice College of Business and the Athletics Program.

"There are a lot of people that are turning to the United Way who never in their dreams thought that they would need the United Way services. So for those that can, now is the time to step up and try to help those that can't ," said Dean Ken Evans of the Price College of Business.

This year's campaign will raise money through raffles, donations and fundraisers of all sorts hosted by different OU student led groups and groups in the Norman community. The campaign ends on November 6.

Trey Mathews, criminology senior, exercises using the Huffman's newest user friendly treadmill. The Huffman is considering buying a prototype similar to it that is powered solely on the user's movement.

Green Machine may Move into Hufffman

A new treadmill prototype will be released in a few weeks that is not only environmentally friendly but also easier on the user's joints and the Huston Huffman Center is considering buying it.

The treadmill is called the EcoMill, it is powered manually by the runners movement and uses zero electricity. It is also set up with multiple impact slats instead of just a few boards like most treadmills, this creates more give making it less painful for the user. The new treadmill that the Huffman currently houses is called the Desmo, it has the less impact quality but is lacking the environmentally friendly aspect.

"The Huffman tried [the Desmo] out for a few months and people responded so well that we had to buy it," said Amy Davenport, Director of Recreational Services.

The Huffman staff is really excited at the prospect of the EcoMill and hopes to keep making similar improvements in the future.

The Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium will host the After Dark event which will take place on October 6th. After Dark is a nation wide event created by Joe White, president of Kanakuk Kamps.T

Worship Experience Planned

Students will have a chance to hear the gospel message on October 6^th when OU hosts After Dark. This event will feature speaker, Joe White, president of Kanakuk camps and a concert, starring musician John McLaughlin.

Kanakuk camps are Christian sports camps that children attend during the summer and After Dark is one event that White focuses on during the school year. It was started by White ten years ago to reach out to college age students.

Business finance sophomore and Kanakuk Kamp counselor, Kelcie McCall said, “I’m really excited about [After Dark] because I think it’s such a great organization. Joe White is a really talented speaker and it’s a great place for people to bring their friends to hear about Jesus.”

For more information on the After Dark event or on becoming a future staff member for Kanakuk Kamps you can visit www.kanakuk.com.

University College freshman, Maria Collado, pushes her bikes through the south oval. Biking is a main way of transportation to and from campus for students.

Bikers May Soon Benefit

The city of Norman is currently reviewing a proposal to add bike lanes to the city’s main roads to better ensure students safety when traveling to and from campus.

“I would love [if they put bike lanes in.] It would be so much safer for both the biker and the driver, it would encourage biking and for people to be more green,” said Joshua Huff, philosophy senior.

The Bicycle Advisory Board is a committee that looks after the needs of the bicycling community by hosting different events such as ‘ride a bike to work week’ and free bike inspections.

The committee plans to pursue an ad campaign this year to get bikers to better understand the rules of the road.