University in the Hills

The Appalachian Mountains started forming nearly 480 million years ago.  This means they are OLLLLDDDDD!!! During the history of people settling near this mountain range a very specific and dynamic culture of people started to form and develop called Appalachia.  Along with this developing culture the first university in Ohio, OHIO university, put its roots right in the heart of the Appalachian culture.  Many people have a broad range of views on the culture from good to extremely bad stereotypes.   I wanted to figure out what students at Ohio University feel about this culture, our school being in the middle of it, how it affects our lives and many more.

The first person I interviewed was my best friend at school here.  He is a 19 year old male from Cleveland Ohio.  I asked him, "How does Appalachian culture affect your life here at OU?"  He replied in kind of a giggle at first and he said he really doesn't know.  He isn't someone who really pays attention to how the culture affects him.  But then I asked, "What about the small town feel and closeness of Athens?" Then he started to realize what Appalachian culture was really about and said, "Okay now that is what makes this place special to me, I come from a big town where I probably don't know half the people that live there but here, here its different."  I started to realize for myself that this is special, not everyone who goes to college gets to feel apart of a community.  Imagine trying to find a sense of community at Ohio State it would be impossible, now a big reason this is possible at Ohio University is the Appalachian culture.  This culture is based on the fact of family, community, and helping an neighbor.

The next person I interview was Kyle Dean. Kyle is a local who was raised right here in Athens and plays on the baseball team here at OU.  The first question is asked Kyle was, "Kyle do you consider yourself Appalachian?"  He thought long and hard about it and then finally said, "Yes."  He went on to explain that he defines Applachian as someone who has grown up in a small rural town near the Appalachia Mountains who has their culture.  I immediately followed this answer with, "What are their cultures?"  He said, "Someone who is always looking to help another person in need, a person who loves where they grew up, and appreciate the small town morals their town has."  The more I was thinking about it the more I thought cities like Pittsburgh, or Cincinnati cannot really be Appalachian because it's hard to find people who live in the city that have this type of culture.  This lead me to ask, "Is Ohio University Appalachian?" He exclaimed, "Absolutely!"  He kept on explaining that OU defenitely has the Appalachian culture coming out of it.  People seem to really care about others here from the students, facaulty, and even the residents of Athens he grew up with.

The last person I interviewed was my sister.  My sister graduated Ohio University in 2007 with a degree in Marketing and Finance.  Jamie absolutely loved her experience at this university and since I've gone her she has came and visited me three times.  She was someone who was very involved in Ohio University and has had way more experience with the school than I have.  So I asked her, "Has OU changed since you have gone here?" She replied, "No, not really. I mean some of the stores have changed on Court Street and some of the policies have changed but other than that OU is still the same.  It is still the place that I love and the reason I keep coming back to visit is because of that.  OU is a special place that incorporates the total college feel because of how amazing the city of Athens is."  I started to think about Athens and she is right, Athens is the place that makes OU great and that is mainly because of the Appalachian culture Athens incorporates with the university.  Since Jamie has more experience at this place than I do I ask, "How do we as students become more involved with Athens and it's culture?"  She lit up before she answered and explained that as students we need to respect Athens and the residents.  We are guests in their town and culture and we need to embrace that.  She suggested we go out and talk to the people who work at these small town businesses and even go work for them to see what they are about.  She also said, "You are going to get the most out of your college experience if you understand the culture and go out and experience it and not ignore it." I don't think truer words could be spoken, it's OUR college experience and I want to talk about Athens and OU the way my sister talks about it so I think we should all go out and find out more about the Appalachian culture at Ohio University.