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New Students Take ‘The Walk,’ Join OBU Family

August 21, 2019

New students took “The Walk” Tuesday night, Aug. 20, on the OBU campus in Shawnee. The Walk is a cherished annual tradition that takes place each August during Welcome Week, and it mirrors the walk that will be taken four years later on graduation day. This year, OBU welcomed 521 new students, including 451 first-time freshmen and 70 transfers.

New students line up on the Oval for “The Walk.” As students approach the front of Raley Chapel and near the end of “The Walk,” Welcome Week Workers, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, family and community members wait in reverent silence. New students then mass on the south steps of Raley Chapel. After a silent beginning, the crowd erupts into cheers for the new Bison and ultimately joins them in the school chant “Ka-Rip” and singing the “Hymn to the Alma Mater.”