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Teamwork
Working together to name Missouri Western's ponds
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John Kelly
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The pond naming project at Missouri Western State College began during the spring of 2000 when John Kelley, Director of Security at the college, mentioned at a College Safety Committee meeting that the campus ponds were in need of names that could be used by security officers to communicate the location of the site in case of an accident or other incident.
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Dr. Rushin, Mary LeClere and Sydney Van Zile investigate one pond's natural habitat.
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Dr. John Rushin, Chairperson of the Biology Department and member of the College Safety Committee, volunteered to ask Missouri Western’s Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society if they would be interested in recommending pond names to the college’s Board of Regents. The choice seemed natural since the group was responsible for the naming of
"Otoe Creeek" after a local Native American tribe in 1994.
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The MWSC Student Chapter of BBB agreed to work on the naming of the nine campus ponds and decided to use Native American names as they did when naming the stream. The BBB chapter selected conservation/wildlife biology student Lisa Lehnhoff to head the project.
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Members of the pond naming team look out from the Missouri Department of Conservation building on campus.
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After checking with several local Native American tribes, Lisa received word from Sidney Van
Zile, Language Specialist for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe, that their Tribal Council members would help in the naming of MWSC ponds.
Lisa and Dr. Rushin then invited Sidney and several other Prairie Band Potawatomi
Elder Language Specialists to visit Missouri Western and examine its ponds. The visit took place in July of 2000.
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At the time of the visit, Mr. Rodney Green, Missouri Department of Conservation Regional Outreach and Education Supervisor, became involved in the project. The Missouri Department of Conservation has its Northwest Missouri Service Center on the Missouri Western State College Campus and this agency is involved in conservation/environmental education through the college and the local schools.
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Sydney Van
Zile, Potawatomie tribal member and Director of the Prairie Band Potawatomi
Language Center, records Orlando Green to assist Missouri Western students with name pronunciations.
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After visiting the campus and exploring all of the ponds, the
Elder Language Specialists offered a list of possible Potawatomi names for the ponds.
In August 2000, Lisa Lehnhoff, Rod Green and Dr. John Rushin visited the Potawatomi Reservation near Mayetta, Kan., to meet with tribal council members in their Language Learning Center to review and practice the pronunciation of the suggested names. The Tribal Council members agreed upon the final names and representatives from Missouri Western at this meeting.
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Lisa and Dr. Rushin presented a proposal for the naming of the ponds to Missouri Western’s Board of Regents in September 2000. The pond names were accepted by the Board and are listed within this website.
We are very grateful to Dr. Jim McCarthy, President of Missouri Western State College and Foundation Director during the time that the ponds were named, and the Missouri Western Beautification Committee for the financial support that enabled us to purchase the limestone blocks upon which each pond name is engraved.
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Dr. John Rushin, Department Chair of Biology at Missouri Western State
College
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This website was created by Hollie Miller and Greg Gallup of the Missouri Western’s Instructional Design
Services Dept., part of the campus’ Instructional Media Center. Content and
pictures were provided by Dr. Rushin and Lisa Lehnhoff.
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