2008 Woodie Awards
Reading "The Hawk"
Dan James
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News
Tucked away in a room on the mezzanine level of the Greenlease Library, Rockhurst senior Andy Halaz carefully pages through copies of The Hawk as he goes about his work. A name once possessed by the student newspaper here on the Rock, today The Hawk is more commonly known as The Rockhurst Sentinel.
Halaz's job requires him to read issues of The Hawk from the 1950s. He then summarizes the articles for potential use in a commemorative book being compiled by Dr. Wilburn Stancil for the 100th anniversary of Rockhurst approaching in 2010.
"The book spans the entire history of Rockhurst, from its founding by Fr. Michael Dowling in 1910 to the present," explained Stancil. "This will be the first comprehensive history of Rockhurst."
Halaz came across this unique position when Dr. Stancil found himself in need of assistance with the book. He offered the students the opportunity in his 'God of Faith' course - which included Halaz - who among them would be interested in assisting him. As the typical "poor college student," Halaz became intrigued by the idea of making some easy money by simply reading a newspaper.
"I'm well familiar with his work ethic. He's conscientious and thorough, qualities needed to spend hours pouring over old newspapers," stated Stancil.
Halaz spends anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week summarizing.
A typical workday involves reading one article at a time, then typing the title of the article and a several sentence summary.
While the whole process may seem monotonous, often it can be quite the opposite. Halaz has found all sorts of interesting tidbits about Rockhurst's past, and some of the old articles can be extremely humorous, regardless of whether or not they were intended to be funny at the time of the writing.
For example, Halaz says he found an editorial from a young Rockhurst student complaining about the rigors of gym class (the dreaded mile run and the hulking wrestlers who preyed upon him), and an article describing freshman orientation of yore, which was more of a light hazing compared to the present format.
Other historic accounts include Harry Houdini's performance at Rockhurst.
You can read all about Halaz's interesting finds on his blog on The Rockhurst Sentinel website. Also, old editions of The Sentinel, The Hawk and The Rockhurst Sentinel can be found in the Greenlease Library.
Halaz's job requires him to read issues of The Hawk from the 1950s. He then summarizes the articles for potential use in a commemorative book being compiled by Dr. Wilburn Stancil for the 100th anniversary of Rockhurst approaching in 2010.
"The book spans the entire history of Rockhurst, from its founding by Fr. Michael Dowling in 1910 to the present," explained Stancil. "This will be the first comprehensive history of Rockhurst."
Halaz came across this unique position when Dr. Stancil found himself in need of assistance with the book. He offered the students the opportunity in his 'God of Faith' course - which included Halaz - who among them would be interested in assisting him. As the typical "poor college student," Halaz became intrigued by the idea of making some easy money by simply reading a newspaper.
"I'm well familiar with his work ethic. He's conscientious and thorough, qualities needed to spend hours pouring over old newspapers," stated Stancil.
Halaz spends anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week summarizing.
A typical workday involves reading one article at a time, then typing the title of the article and a several sentence summary.
While the whole process may seem monotonous, often it can be quite the opposite. Halaz has found all sorts of interesting tidbits about Rockhurst's past, and some of the old articles can be extremely humorous, regardless of whether or not they were intended to be funny at the time of the writing.
For example, Halaz says he found an editorial from a young Rockhurst student complaining about the rigors of gym class (the dreaded mile run and the hulking wrestlers who preyed upon him), and an article describing freshman orientation of yore, which was more of a light hazing compared to the present format.
Other historic accounts include Harry Houdini's performance at Rockhurst.
You can read all about Halaz's interesting finds on his blog on The Rockhurst Sentinel website. Also, old editions of The Sentinel, The Hawk and The Rockhurst Sentinel can be found in the Greenlease Library.
Be the first to comment on this story