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Roads Scholars Tour 2007: Blogs

Four participants in the 2007 Roads Scholars Tour recorded their experiences along the way. Read their blogs for insights about what the tour is like and what they learned by making the trip. Read other blogs ->

More photos of the 2007 Tour

Thursday, April 12

8:30am

After introductions and an explanation of what outreach and engagement is, we left Columbus. I still don’t know much about outreach at the University level, but the concept makes sense. Bobby Moser [Vice President, University Outreach] speaks about the Office of University Outreach and Engagement and its goals to integrate outreach into all components of the faculty expectations and experience at Ohio State. He shares a few vignettes that pique my interest, such as the reason there is a farm on Lane Avenue (more on that later) and environmental improvements that have occurred in Ohio since the Cuyahoga River lit on fire from being so polluted.

Did you know that the Cuyahoga has lit on fire? I certainly did not.

9:40am

We arrived at Third Street Family Health Services in Mansfield and were welcomed by Dr. Anna Jose, an OSU graduate from and faculty member in the College of Dentistry who has seen tremendous changes in dental education at Ohio State. Changes which I am happy to note have been mirrored in the College of Medicine.

The center is certainly a great resource in the community. It sees 120 dental patients per month and is able to offer patients procedures such as routine and emergency exams, prophylaxes, sealants, operative procedures, restorations, and routine extractions, all of which improve quality of life for people in Mansfield. It also uses expansive tools in technology to aid patient education and service offerings. For example, a dentist is able to take an x-ray of a patient’s mouth and, in six seconds, show it to the patient on an LCD screen and point out cavities or infections.

The medical sector of the center is just as laudable; it saw 2,700 patients in 2004 and anticipates more thanks to expansion. Hopefully they see more. The center has extended from 6 to 17 patient rooms, and is now struggling to recruit the physicians necessary to use these rooms and see patients. Getting patients in is not an issue; the center accepts Medicaid patients and offers sliding scale payment for patients without Medicaid, and has met its pledge to never turn patients away. It has days when it offers opportunities for open enrollment, where patients can walk in, have a patient interview taken, and schedule an appointment for treatment within the week if not that day.

The center has also concerned itself with patient education. Mansfield’s city water is not fluoridated, accounting for the high numbers of cavities within the community. People have continually voted against adding fluoride to the water, partially out of fear and partially out of protectiveness of their health and how they perceive their health. Education is important. When I was in Japan, I met people who believed that AIDS did not spread through the country because everyone smokes and the tobacco wards off HIV. Even when I volunteered in clinics in Georgia, I met people who believe that there is a treatment for AIDS but that the government is concealing it. These mentalities do not help people understand the disease and it is our responsibility as an institution to share education in a way that people can understand. It is good to see that the center provides education to the community.

10:30am

Dr. Jose, together with Dr. Canise Bean, director of the OHIO Project, presented on the impact of the clinic to the community and to dental education. The OHIO Project is the component that unites this service to the community with education; students in the college of dentistry can come to the center to learn about community and poverty healthcare. I was appalled to see that, of 75 physicians in the Mansfield area, the physicians at this center are the only ones who freely accept Medicaid patients and use a sliding scale for patient care. Of the 128,000 people living in Richland County, about 38,000 either have Medicaid or are uninsured. If it were not for this center, this means that 38,000 people would have nowhere to go for health services except the hospital emergency room. I thought my student diet packed with Ramen noodles and Easy Mac was bad; for some of these people, their diet is Pepsi and cigarettes. To come into the clinic, they see the $10 fee as $10 less of food.

There is a clear difference between having healthcare coverage and healthcare access. Even those people in the community with healthcare coverage from Medicaid only have one center for primary care and have to drive an hour to Columbus (and lose a day of working income) for specialty care. Some people with insurance are no better off; they cannot afford their deductibles, and they cannot afford to wait for an insurance company to reimburse them weeks down the road when they live paycheck to paycheck.

Dr. Jose’s energy and concern for the people of Mansfield and for educating students who come to the clinic are truly commendable. She won me over with her descriptions of real people in Mansfield with real problems that we could help. I think it is important that Ohio State continue to meet this need and continue to train students to understand the needs of people in Ohio.

11:30am

We arrived at Ohio State’s regional campus in Mansfield. Today, I learned that I attend “the Columbus campus” and not “the Main campus,” and that Mansfield is not a “satellite” campus or a “branch” campus, but a “regional” campus. People are very proud to be part of The Ohio State University and to attend the Mansfield campus. Dean Evelyn Freeman is, perhaps, one of the most spirited people I have ever met. She spoke with a remarkable pride about her campus, about students and faculty here, and about the growth seen at the Mansfield campus. It is easy to see that Mansfield’s ship is being guided by a vivacious and insightful captain. A panel of leaders at the school, including the chief of student life and faculty members, spoke affectionately about their programs and the students at the institution. They beamed in talking about the great and exciting things that students do, from one student who completed her honors work at Mansfield to other students who worked in the community at various work-study sites to others who host fun events such as Halloween parties, regional campus sports events, and speed dating. I still don’t know what speed dating is, but it sounds intense. We’ll see what Wikipedia says when I get home.

12:30pm

Walking around the campus, it feels like some of the small, private liberal arts colleges that I looked at way back when. The campus is a community and students, both traditional and nontraditional, were walking around chatting or studying in different spaces. Some live at the residence halls less than a mile from campus (I wish MY room looked like that!), others commuted. Our student tour guide spoke affectionately of her favorite professors and her program and her plan to continue her education at the Columbus campus to finish her degree.

I really appreciate the regional campuses and their contribution to Ohio even more. We see the dichotomy of a university trying to accommodate the needs of broad groups of people. The Columbus campus has selective admission, whereas Mansfield has open admission and students can move to Columbus if they perform well. The Columbus campus is a large campus with hordes of resources, whereas Mansfield is a small campus that can provide an intimate environment for faculty and student and opportunities that the Columbus campus cannot. If students please, they can even complete their degrees at Mansfield.

1:00pm

It says something when the Mayor of Mansfield AND the Chair of the Chamber of Commerce both take time out of their schedules to meet with us and to praise Ohio State for its contributions to Mansfield, both through a regional campus and through the clinic. We had another panel, this time of community members in Mansfield, to talk about the relationship of the city and the institution. Dr. Freeman and the community members were all on first name relations. Everyone told us about the contributions that this campus has made to the community. I also learned a little bit about the history of Mansfield and the goals of the community over the next several years. It was revitalizing to see the tight-knit community. It was also interesting to hear the endeavors that the Mansfield campus has made in making education available to everyone, including business seminars and programs and joint articulations to grant BSNs to students receiving a liberal arts education with Ohio State and vocational education with MedCentral at Mansfield Hospital. Dr. Freeman wished us well as we left for Wooster.

2:30pm

We arrived at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster. While our visits in Mansfield spoke to my medical experiences, our visits in Wooster spoke to my business interests. Dr. Steven Slack, Director, escorted us around campus and then for a driving tour of the Secrest Arboretum and ATI campus. Again, he welcomed us along with Representative Jim Carmichael and State Senator Ron Amstutz.

On the way, we learned about OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. I don’t know about you, but I was entirely confused the first time I drove on Lane Avenue and saw the farm in the center of Columbus. Apparently, that farm exists as a resource for agricultural research. They want to design methods to preserve nutrient leaching after rains.

The Secrest Arboretum in Wooster is gorgeous. I only wish that I could have been there in summer to see the fully bloomed rose bushes and meander through the walking paths lacing deeper into the arboretum. Every tree had a purpose. Trees planted here are used to identify their ability to grow in Ohio’s environment. The space is open to the community for pleasure walks, for birdwatching, and even for weddings. Furthermore, people browse through trees and use this information for landscaping, commodity production, or anything else that the entrepreneurial spirit entertains. Interesting story: Taxol (paclitaxel), an effective tool for patients with coronary stents following interventional procedures and for patients with lung and breast cancer, is synthesized from Taxus, which has been grown and harvested at the arboretum.

The arboretum has interested people in the community to contribute to this valuable resource for learning. Companies and people have engaged in partnerships with the arboretum; some have sponsored theme gardens, others have attended to services such paved walking routes so that people using wheelchairs can take advantage of these paths. The important idea is that people want to be involved. People approach the arboretum to see what they can do.

3:00pm

We continued onward for a driving tour of the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI), a learning center focused on learning by experience. Here, students get to work in laboratories, greenhouses, farmland, and barns as they learn about the environment and agricultural applications and as they conduct research, all while being personally mentored by an extraordinary faculty. Some students were completing degrees at ATI, others were students from other campuses conducting a brief stay of work. Truly a remarkable depth of resources for these students to gain hands-on learning.

3:30

After returning to OARDC from our driving tour, we visited the Molecular and Cellular Imaging Center, directed by Dr. Tea Meulia, involved in genetic engineering of soybean strains best for Ohio based on properties such as disease resistance, optimal growth, and proper oil and nutrient content. She led us through her laboratory, showing us some of the imaging techniques she uses to determine cause of death for strains of soybeans throughout the state. Using this information as well as methods of DNA sequencing and analysis, her group is able to breed for strains of soybeans that are resistant to some of the viruses that have affected soybeans and reduced production. Her group is also able to educate the public on how genetic modification works.

4:00pm

We made our way to a greenhouse. In Ohio, the soybean is a major driver of commercial agriculture and its production and manufacturing provides a lot of income and jobs to Ohioans. Two members of OARDC shared their research with dandelions. Yes dandelions, those things that will not stop growing in my backyard. The entrepreneurial spirit in Wooster is certainly alive. Apparently, they work with a species from Uzbekistan from which rubber can be produced that is comparable in quality to rubber produced from rubber trees in Southeast Asia. They hope to domesticate the species for growth in Ohio, optimize its breeds to increase production of rubber, and develop techniques for harvesting and extraction. I still see dandelions, but no longer as the enemy. No, these dandelions could be my car tires someday because this group sees an industry of the future.

5:00pm

We packed up operations and made our way to Canton. Driving through downtown Canton was an experience. Like many Midwestern cities, the downtown sector shuts down after five. As Canton experiences changes in the industries that run the city, many people and business have relocated to suburbs. Others have left Canton entirely. Canton, like many Midwestern cities, is regrouping and identifying its upcoming industries so that, eventually, they can be revitalized. There is optimism, as most Midwestern cities are experiencing slight increases after a history of decreases in population. As for other cities, Cleveland has prospered from the advances in healthcare seen at the Cleveland Clinic, and Cincinnati will have an IKEA built by 2008 (back in my day, a city was measured by the number of Starbucks within; nowadays, it seems that IKEA is the symbol of progress). And who knows; perhaps within 10 years, Ohio will see the construction of The Ohio Hub, a train system to unite Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland with each other, the Chicago hub, and the Keystone and Empire Corridors into Philadelphia and New York City.

6:30pm

Another official, House Representative William Healy of District 52, took time out of his schedule to welcome us to Canton, a symbol of how important Ohio State is to this community. We met with several local students over dinner, some of whom are involved with the youth leadership program 4-H and others who were involved with Young Scholars. One student at my table has traveled to Japan on an exchange program and looks forward to doing it again. Another student is aspiring to be a corporate lawyer and, thanks to the Young Scholars program and her excellent performance in school, can look forward to a full scholarship at Ohio State for four years. The leadership programs engage these students in active learning and leadership and prepare them well for their career endeavors.

7:30pm

Ohio State students came forward and offered their perspectives on campus. I had the opportunity to sit on this panel as well as to listen to other students, four undergraduates from the Columbus campus in different specialties. As a professional student, I often feel distanced from other students; the College of Medicine provides services in-house comparable to services offered to the university at large, except targeted toward medical students.

It was interesting to hear the perspectives of current undergraduates and compare their educational experiences to my undergraduate experience. For example, one student, when asked what he would change about the university, mentioned his experiences with the general educational classes. I, too, had to take general educational requirements at Emory and, while I was not fond of them at the time, I now appreciate the importance of the liberal arts education and feel just as confident in an art museum or a board room as I do in a clinic.

I think it was refreshing to see how the faculty wanted to know about student life and wanted to connect to students. I feel the same way; I enjoy my personal and professional relationships with my professors.

8:30pm

I think we were all exhausted from the day. After all, we had been on the road for 13 hours. The experience was enlightening, but definitely exhausting. I resolved to finish some reading for class and go to bed.

10:00pm

After watching Let’s Make a Deal, I resolved again to do some reading. After I check my e-mail, of course.

11:00pm

After checking my e-mail, looking over my stock portfolio, browsing a few blogs, and completing an online crossword (Reading? What reading?), I thought I would take a little trip down to the hotel bar to see who was around. I figured someone from the trip had to be down there. Seeing no one I recognized, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to meet new people. I sat down next to a young lady who, after the conventional introductions, proceeded to tell me her life story. She is on rehab for drug use and, while she had not touched the stuff for a month, was drowning her sorrows (I scolded her). She has two children, three years old and four months old, and was trying to get out of what she considered an abusive relationship. She was petrified of the thought of going out on her own. Except for one brother, her family abused drugs as well. Her rehabilitation officer was strict but helpful. I talked to her and used some of the lessons I learned so far in medical school. I recommended she reconnect with her brother and accept his invitation to go to church, in hopes that she could find a community to talk to. I advised her to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE) to put together a plan to escape the relationship and gave her their number, emphasizing that she need to protect herself and her children. I emphasized that she needs pillars of support like her brother and her rehab officer and a community such as a church or daycare group. But most important, I listened to her. Just talking to her and listening to her, she seemed energized and strengthened. In that short interaction, I felt like I genuinely helped someone, the reason (albeit sappy) I was drawn to medicine in the first place. I hope that she is getting the help she needs. Having done my good deed for the day, I finally went to bed, feeling justified in not having finished my reading.

Friday, April 13

6:00am

Somehow, I managed to wake up. [NB: 6AM is not my conventional hour of rising.] Had a cup of tea and a great conversation with some of my fellow Roads Scholars. Two of the scholars talked about the military involvement of their family members and the mementos in their families from those experiences. With others, we talked about what we did and did not know about the Amish community in anticipation of our stop there later. We were on the road by 7:30.

7:45am

We passed the Football Hall of Fame, a place of nostalgia for me. The last time I was here was last year, when my high school, St. Xavier, played Massillon High School’s football team for the state championship. It was a frigid winter evening, much like one experienced on the top tiers of Ohio Stadium. For background, my high school is like the Boston Red Sox; we make it to the state championship game very frequently, but have never won until last year. I suppose it was about time.

8:00am

We arrived at Jackson High School in Massillon, just a short skip from downtown Canton. There, we met with administrators and students to learn about their goals and current experiences and to tour their facility. Secondary education has made many advances, which are evident at this school. Physical and public health are integrated into the educational experience. More and more students are opting to enroll in two or four year colleges. Students receive increasingly international experiences as they have initiated language courses in Mandarin Chinese and hosted lectures and community service projects on civil war developments and crises in Uganda.

I found some other aspects of education interesting. At this school, 97% of students entering as freshmen continued onward to graduate. Compare this to Mansfield High School where, according to Mayor Reid, only 60-75% of students entering as freshman graduate from high school. What makes these two communities different? How can we take the successes seen at Jackson and apply them to schools such as Mansfield? I also found it interesting that, of the eight students to whom we spoke, seven wanted to enter science fields. The math and science programs are well developed, but I did not see similar development of humanities or social studies offerings, and it is our responsibility to offer our students a comprehensive and multifaceted education. Of course, I changed my major five or six times as an undergraduate (thank you, liberal arts education), so maybe there is still hope for a future lawyer or museum curator within the group.

Most enlightening to me was when students mentioned that they were not trained in and did not know good study skills and one student turned a question around to ask the professors on this trip if they remember what the transition to college is like. And the professors responded. They responded with real life stories of their struggles with the same dilemma and how they combated it. They emphasized that, not only as teachers but as parents and as mentors, they WANT to see students succeed and are ready and available to help them through the process of learning how to study. It was refreshing to hear this openness vocalized. I know that I struggled with the same transition from learning mechanisms in high school to learning mechanisms in college and that I appreciated the mentoring that I received from advanced students and from professors.

The facility itself was gorgeous. It still had memories of my days in high school (there are still lockers, the hallways are flooded between classes, and students still wear letter jackets). The lobby mirrored the atrium of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Even the carpeting was designed to improve air quality by trapping in air particles.

9:50am

On our way to Holmes County (more on that below), we discussed the Sugar Creek Watershed. Sugar Creek is a tributary of the Tuscarawas River and, as I learned, a watershed is the region of land with water draining into a river or its tributaries. Unfortunately, the Sugar Creek Watershed contains excessive nitrogen and phosphorous loadings. Some of the pollutants came from the Alpine Cheese Company, a boon to local dairy farmers, making cleanup a complex issue; it would not be feasible to simply institute a horde of regulations on these groups because then the viability of their business would be destroyed. That would mean loss of an industry important to people surrounding Winesburg, Ohio.

Dr. Richard Moore talked about his interactions with both leadership at Alpine Cheese and the local farmers. Together, they were able to successfully institute a nutrient trading system between the two parties. Dr. Moore was able to present a plan detailing the theoretical basis for the trading system and the economic impact on the community. Farmers have adopted conservation practices to reduce phosphorous runoff from their farms. The Alpine Cheese reimburses farmers for their efforts in reducing phosphorous runoff and receives phosphorous credits to use to reduce its phosphorous contributions to standards set by the EPA. The income allows Alpine Cheese to continue expanding and to be a greater purchaser for milk from local dairy farmers.

The project was a success because each of the groups involved was willing to think outside of the box and to cooperate with one another. Primitive plans would call for extensive individual efforts, which would be expensive and could shut down the local cheesemaking industry, necessary to the community’s vitality. Dr. Moore notes that, without the joint effort facilitated by Ohio State, three times more phosphorus is being reduced than if Alpine Cheese were to meet EPA standards by itself without farmer cooperation.

11:00am

We picked up Sharon Strouse, director of OSU Extension in Holmes County, who directed us through the Amish countryside and to our next destination. She spoke of her relationship with the Amish community, which comprises 40% of Holmes County’s population. Her relationship is a true exercise in techniques of networking. She notes, for example, that she tries to relate to the Amish people as much as is reasonable so that they will work with her. For example, she wears wrinkle-free fabrics in muted colors with little ornamentation not only so that her appearance is not distancing but because the fabric is something that Amish people are interested in.

She also expounds on the extensive entrepreneurship of the Amish people. For example, she talks about their work with horses and with the horse industry, as well as their work producing and selling goats milk for cheese production.

11:30am

We arrive at the farmhouse of Andy and Maudie Raber. Mrs. Raber opens her farmhouse to reservations for homestyle Amish cooking. And there is no doubt that she can cook! From the homemade bread to the mashed potatoes and chicken to the pie, everything came fast and heavy. The mint tea was a new experience for me, as was the peanut butter sweetened with corn syrup and marshmallow creme.

Mrs. Raber’s house is decorated with collector cups and plates from various travels. She and her husband have visited 46 of the contiguous 48 states, with the exception of Washington and Oregon. She said that sometimes she and her husband will take a local bus that makes seasonal trips, whereas other times several families will come together and use a van to make long distance trips. Their farmhouse catering operation shuts down in January through March, providing them the opportunity to do this travel.

I think this is an appropriate time to mention the opportunity for meeting people that this trip has been. I did not know much about other members of Ohio State before this trip but, thanks to it, I have been able to meet faculty from all over the University. The trip has been a fantastic experience in networking and collaboration. I have had the fortune to learn a lot about my own institution by traveling in this caravan, and the fellowship we had over the gargantuan meal at Mrs. Raber’s house continued to emphasize the opportunity for further socializing.

Somehow, we managed to get back onto the bus. I am not sure how, considering all of the food.

1:00pm

I’m not going to lie, I fell into a food coma on the bus.

1:45pm

We arrived at a conference center hotel in Coshocton, the county seat of Coshocton, Ohio. Coshocton County is a primarily rural county and the town of Coshocton has experienced setbacks similar to many towns through the Midwest, finding itself conflicted with decreased economic production from farming and having to redefine its industrial profile. Coshocton’s 35,000 county and 12,000 city residents are primarily working and middle-class citizens who depend on industries within the county.

Locals in Coshocton identified that, together, the city had to identify a plan for facilitating this transition, reversing the economic decline, and promoting the growth and progress of the town and the county. Together, leaders in the county compiled a strategic plan, and the OSU Extension office served as a consultant for the city. This meant that Ohio State’s research and input were invested in the plan but, at the same time, the plan was truly written by the people of the city. Ohio State also has served to help the townspeople implement their plan; successes have already been seen and continue to develop.

This relationship between Ohio State and Coshocton did not happen overnight. Instead, the leadership noted that the relationship takes time and trust, both of which happen slowly in rural areas. Coshocton residents had to believe that Ohio State was there to help and not to dominate or aggressively profit at the expense of the county. This was the Roads Scholars Tour’s third visit to the town; consistency was the key in developing the relationship, evident by the large number of leaders from the county who were present, including the mayor, members of the Chamber of Commerce, state representatives, and members of the media.

This learning experience would have been an excellent stop on its own, but we also had the distinct pleasure of seeing another relationship develop between OSU and Coshocton. Tally Hart, senior advisor for the Office of Economic Access, announced an incredible opportunity for Coshocton students. Joe Engle, once a Coshocton native who went to Ohio State as an undergraduate, remembered the hard times he grew up in. His family was unable to fund a college education, and he worked odd jobs throughout college to pay his way through Ohio State. Understanding the importance of education, he wanted to give back to the community and elected to do so in establishment of a $10M endowment. Coshocton County high school graduates have the opportunity to apply for this scholarship and, provided they can maintain the grade requirement, will be able to enjoy free tuition, room, and board while at Ohio State. The endowment is expected to support up to 12 students per year, perhaps more dependent on other grants available to offer money for these students.

This is truly a great opportunity for the community. My perspective has been on access to healthcare for the poor, but there are so many other opportunities for which economic barriers can restrict people, including education. This is a way to lift a barrier and empower a student to pursue education. There are so many success stories of people who were originally unable to afford education but still persevered to seize it, including at least 450 faculty members at Ohio State and even our chair of the Board of Trustees and CTO of Procter and Gamble, Gil Cloyd. It will be exciting to see more stories produced thanks to endowments like this. It was hard to leave Coshocton behind as we ventured forth to our next stop.

3:30pm

Karen Bruns told us to keep an eye out for something on our left-hand side. I was still in a half-daze from the food coma and was not sure where we were, let alone what I should be looking for. The first thing that came to mind was the huge Jesus statue in front of the Solid Rock Church on I-75 south of Dayton. Thanks to the daze, it took me a few seconds to recognize that we were probably nowhere near I-75.

Then it appeared. A giant basket. A replica of a Longaberger basket. Apparently, the Longaberger headquarters. Dave Longaberger had plans for a campus of basket-shaped buildings. Dave Longaberger was a true contributor to the community. It was his idea to sell the popular baskets at Roscoe Village, a 19th-century replica tourist community in Coshocton that has contributed to the industry transition there. Mr. Longaberger has also donated millions of dollars to the community in and around Dresden, Ohio and funded restoration projects of many historic buildings there. So sad that renal cancer took him prematurely from this world.

It reminded me of one of my personal heroes, former CEO of the Coca-Cola Company Robert Goizueta. Goizueta was another man with an indomitable spirit who enjoyed giving back to the community. Seeing his name at Emory everywhere I went was especially moving. He passed away in October 1997 from lung cancer, but he left a similar legacy of philanthropy. These men show us how important it is to remember and give back to our communities.

3:45pm

After picking up Dick Shiels, a history professor at the Newark campus and director of the Earthworks project, we continued onwards to the Earthworks, a prehistoric Indian mound site in Newark. The mounds consist of a circle connected to an octagon, another circle, and a square distributed through Newark, each around 1,000 feet in diameter. I am awestruck that I did not realize this vast treasure was so close to my home. In fact, it is shocking to see how little people know about a site that should be as famous as Stonehenge or the Hanging Gardens and is one of the few resources worldwide to tell us anything about prehistoric human culture. The site does not even have an entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica. However, Ohio State has been instrumental in educating the public on the importance of this site to our understanding of prehistoria. Hopefully these things will change as the Ohio Historical Society nominates the Earthworks as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and people begin to recognize it as one of the Great Wonders of the ancient world.

Dr. Shiels spoke about three supernatural properties of this site. For one, the mounds display remarkable engineering skills. The circles are perfect, such that better circles could not be constructed through modern engineering, and display interesting mathematical properties. The circle attached to the octagon is 1,054 ft. in diameter, and the distance between the center of each circle is six times that. The area of the isolated circle is equal to the area of the square. In addition, the arrangement of the Octagon Earthworks is associated with the lunar cycle. If one stands on a component of the attached circle that is distinctly elevated, the moon rises along the symmetric axis of the complex every 18.6 years. Finally, evidence of an ancient road point to a location in Chillicothe, where a similar circle is located. Dr. Shiels speculates that the site was dedicated to some sort of ritual application. Interestingly, the comparative properties of this site and of Stonehenge in England have prompted a student exchange program between the Newark campus and a school near Stonehenge.

Dr. Shiels would like to investigate further to learn more about the mound, perhaps through an archaeological dig, but his efforts have been impeded the fact that the property is leased to a country club that maintains a golf course at the site. The lease grants the club ownership until 2078. It is imperative that this site be released to the public for the boon it will be to education and tourism and attention to Ohio, and professors at Ohio State like Dr. Shiels have been proactive in showing this site to the public and increasing public awareness of its importance. With a new understanding of the site, we leave our final location for Columbus.

6:05pm

And we return to Columbus. It is hard to believe that, in less than 36 hours, we visited seven sites throughout Northeastern Ohio at which Ohio State is offering community services that people need. We weren’t tourists. Tourists come to observe while remaining distant. We jump in and learned stories. We learned stories about problems that the communities have been having, and Ohio State’s responses in forming solutions with the communities. It is remarkable to think that it would have been simple to add 10 or 20 more stops in Northeastern Ohio of more success stories.

I am left thinking about what I can do to make a story. The remarkable attribute of all of the stories we saw over the course of the trip was that they were produced by Ohio State faculty and community members being proactive and making initiatives. I think I have a few ideas.