Ben Gottesdiener | Student Life

Freshman guard Brayden Teuscher prepares for a shot against Principia College on Nov. 26.

Student Life: What are you thinking about majoring in?

Melissa Gilkey: Something in business definitely. I’m undecided right now, but I was thinking something along the lines of finance or possibly marketing.

Brayden Teuscher: I am in the business school but am unsure what I want my major to be at this point. I am interested in the possibility of going to law school.

SL: Why did you choose to come to Washington University?

MG: Well not only is it a prestigious university, but it also has a great basketball program with awesome coaches and players. For sports and academics, it’s really the best of both worlds.

BT: I chose to come here because of the combination of great academics, awesome campus, and basketball opportunities. Out of the schools I considered, Wash. U. fit those criteria best.

SL: How did you first get into basketball?

Ben Gottesdiener | Student Life

Freshman forward Melissa Gilkey dribbles down the court in a game against DePauw University on Nov. 27.

BT: I first got into basketball because my family would watch Michael Jordan and the Bulls dynasty in the 90s. Everyone in my family were huge Bulls fans so there was a lot of excitement around basketball, and my dad would shoot in our driveway with me. I was 5 when I played on my first real team with my friends in church league.

SL: What would you say has been the most difficult adjustment to the college game?

MG: The most difficult adjustment so far is just the level of play, which is to be expected. Going from high school basketball to competitive college basketball is going to be a major adjustment for any athlete. Practices and games are very competitive, and I love it.

BT: The physicality is an adjustment. Everyone is much bigger and more physical than in high school so you have to play much stronger in order to get to your positions.

SL: What would you say is the strength of your game?

MG: It’s hard to pinpoint just one thing you’re good at. But it’s easy to say what I love to do: I love being aggressive on the offensive end, and I love rebounding.

BT: I am a good shooter, I play good on-ball defense, and I handle the ball well.

SL: What do you think you need to improve on the most?

MG: Really, I can improve in every area, which is the thing I love about this game. There’s always something I can get better at. If I had to pick one, I’d say continuing to work on my 3-point game.

BT: I need to improve my aggressiveness on rebounds and my overall physical strength.

SL: I know you haven’t been here long, but what has been your favorite part of your freshman year?

MG: My favorite part of freshman year so far is just being a part of this team. I’m so lucky to be able to walk into a gym full of such great people every day.

BT: My favorite thing about the year so far has been hanging out with my teammates, especially the Swag 7. The Swag 7 are the freshmen on the basketball team, and they are my best buds here. Also, be on the lookout for the release of our rap single, which is about to drop over winter break.

SL: Which professional player do you think has the game most similar to you?

MG: Definitely the toughest question [so far]… I don’t know if I can answer that. I mean they are so skilled so it’s really hard for any collegiate athlete, especially a freshman, to be truly comparable to a professional player. However, if I could play one-on-one against anyone it would definitely be Jerry West, Lauren Jackson or, [of course], Michael Jordan.

BT: I think my game somewhat resembles Kirk Hinrich’s because he is a good shooter and tough on-ball defender. We play the same position at the 2 but handle the ball well enough to play some point guard as well.

SL: What basketball role models do you have?

MG: My older brother Ryan [a junior at Whitman College]also plays college basketball and is definitely a huge role model for me. I love watching him play and hearing what he has to say about the game. He’s a really hard worker and is a big reason why I developed to be the player I am.

BT: My biggest basketball role model is my dad because of all of his support for me. He helps me a great deal with my shot and helps me understand what to do to improve my overall game. I owe a lot of who I am as a player and person to him. Another role model for me is Manu Ginobili because of how he competes. He has a great mindset and frustrates his opponents through his tough defense. When the game is on the line the Spurs look to him to deliver and he is a leader in that regard. He and I both come off the bench to start the game, and I try to bring the same energy to my team that he does to the Spurs when he checks in. A final role model for me is my high school coach. Coach Bautch always expected we work as hard as we could every day, not taking any plays or drills off. I respect him for his dedication in maximizing our team’s potential. The biggest thing he taught me was that you have to give every drill and play 100% effort; otherwise it’s worthless and often detrimental.

SL: What is your goal for the 2011-2012 season?

MG: My goal for this season is to do everything I can to help this team make it to the Final Four. Our seniors have made it to a Final Four every year so far, and they deserve to do it again.

BT: I want to help the team win as much as I can. As a team, we want to improve every day to put ourselves in position to contend for a national championship at the end of the year.

Student Life: Wash. U. recently received the top ranking in the Division III Directors’ Cup. Can you explain what the significance of this ranking is?

John Schael: I think it shows a commitment to a broad-based intercollegiate athletics program where the success happens on both sides of the coin—for women as well as men. I think many times, as well, prospective students look at those types of things to see how an institution is doing if they’re seriously considering a [place like] Washington University. They want to be tied to a program that does it right and a program that has the potential for success. Our record within the Directors’ Cup has been very solid from one year to the next, so I’m very happy with that. But, I can say this: The most important thing for our program, for our student athletes, is the quality of the experience they receive. If they have a quality experience and they enjoy what it is that they’re doing, and they can balance both the academics and the athletics, you’re going to have a successful program because we have successful leaders in our coaches.

SL: Wash. U. has 98 students on the University Athletic Association All-Academic team. How does the Athletic program help players achieve a balance between “student” and “athlete”?

JS: First of all, the student athletes that come in are admitted on the same basis as all students at Washington University—so, from the get-go, it solves a lot of problems. They come here as high achievers, ones who are experienced in terms of balancing their academic and athletic endeavors, and they pay attention to both. Their focus, certainly, is on the academics, but athletics are a very important component of their particular student life. All teams practice six days a week—if student athletes come and talk to their coach because the have a big chemistry or biology test coming up, they are understanding of that need. They make the adjustments and certainly allow that kid to prepare…an important thing is that coaches understand the rigors of the academics associated with the intercollegiate athlete, and they take that into consideration when they plan their practices. Many times [teams] practice at 9 o’clock at night; some teams will start at six in the morning—it’s a time when there are no conflicts with classes….Coaches are well aware what the priority is; they make the adjustments, and the students respond positively.

SL: This year, four teams from the UAA competed in the national championship for men’s soccer, and three teams from the UAA were in the volleyball final eight. How does the University factor in its success in the UAA as part of the overall success in the program?

JS: I think your conference is key. The [UAA], for competitive reasons, is very important. We do not take it lightly; the competition is stiff. You’re competing against like institutions; your goal is to be the conference champion and/or individual champion. It’s very important to our coaches, student athletes and certainly our fans because you can measure your success throughout the season—if [a team finishes] third or fourth in [its] conference, [it has] a focus for the following year to make an improvement on that. The UAA is really very special, and it has been one of the flashpoints in the development of Washington University’s intercollegiate athletics programs. It gives us consistency in terms of scheduling, opportunity to compete for a conference championship, for student athletes to receive individual recognition and to perhaps receive an automatic qualifier to the NCAA postseason championship….It’s very, very competitive, and if we’re able to compete within the UAA, we’ll be able to compete at the national level.

SL: At a school that has won such a significant number of national championships, does it become hard to avoid making a national title the standard for individual programs, or does Wash. U. try independently to consider each team’s potential?

JS: It’s sort of interesting that you ask that question because a lot of people, or a lot of other Division III institutions, think that we place a great deal of emphasis on winning a national championship. But I can assure you, as an athletic director, in meeting with our coaches that we don’t talk about winning national championships; we don’t talk about winning the [UAA] championships. That’s a conversation that takes place between the coach or coaches and the student athletes that are members of that particular team. They know what their potential is, they know what the expectation is, and the coach knows that he can set a realistic height of the bar for the student athletes to strive for. I think [that] winning national championships is important, and it’s a goal that all of our coaches have, and when we look at the banners in the Field House, it’s pretty motivating. It serves as a catalyst because other programs want to achieve that height…but our coaches and student athletes are realistic, and they continue to drive to be the best they can be once they get on the competitive playing field….Another nice thing is that if athletes see a [national championship] banner, they internalize that and think, “Hey, why not us?”

SL: This past season we saw a great improvement in the football team’s record, UAA championships for cross country, NCAA tournament play by both soccer teams and a Final Four for women’s volleyball. Could you talk about the success of the fall season in particular?

JS: [Those are] amazing achievements by the student athletes and coaches, and it comes from talented students that are playing the games or running the races, and certainly knowledgeable coaches who motivate, encourage and inspire. It was a remarkable fall, and as an athletic director, you say “enjoy success in moderation,” because winning involves more than just talent; sometimes you have to have some luck…when I sit down and think about what our students achieve, I am totally amazed, because it’s not just one year or one season, it seems to be sustained success from one year to the next. I think that says a lot about Washington University…that attracts the type of student that we need in our intercollegiate program. You could just take a look at some individual performances from the fall, and it seems that coaches really know how to develop their team, first for the UAA conference championships, then the next step which would be NCAA regionals or a shot at the NCAA national championship. That takes a lot of effort, and I think it takes a lot of leadership in order to have everybody working together for a common goal, and again, it’s to be the best you can be.

SL: What are Wash. U. athletics looking forward to?

JS: There’s been some talk about the development of new athletic and recreational facilities, and we would hope those discussions would continue. We’ve basically outgrown the Athletic Complex as it is right now, and it needs some updating and new components tied into it….Moving forward, there is a need for new and renovated athletic and recreational facilities to accommodate the needs of the Washington University community. Our aim is high and comprehensive in nature…to include sports medicine, an indoor tennis and track pavilion, fitness center with health and wellness component, weight room, auxiliary gyms, activity and multi-purpose rooms, classrooms and meeting rooms, 50-meter pool, locker rooms and other needs as well.

James Harrang | Student Life

Delise Le Pool has been the receptionist at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions since 1998 and won the Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award in 2002.

Student Life: How did you start working here back in 1997?

Delise LePool: I wanted to work for Washington University really, really bad…I finally found [a position] that was for a telephone operator…it was at the time they were building Goldfarb [Hall], and I was one of those people that didn’t pay attention to the construction signs, so I climbed over some construction that I shouldn’t have, and I tore a ligament in my foot. So I was on crutches, but they called me in anyway to come interview. And I did…and they hired me. And then this job became open…and then I changed my mind because I got intimidated with everything that goes on out here, I didn’t think I could do it. And they gave it to me anyway, and I’ve been here ever since.

SL: What’s a day in your life like in the admissions office?

DL: It is full of activity. You’re dealing with current and prospective students. Especially when the school year begins, a lot of my freshmen have no idea where anything is, and they remember this office as the place that they came to when they visited campus, so of course it would be the stopping point for a lot of questions…Never a boring moment…but it’s always fun. I work with a great family here. I don’t think that I would be in the position that I’m in without my staff and friends. They make it so easy, so I’m very lucky.

SL: What’s one of the most important aspects of your job?

DL: You want to do the best you can to make everybody as comfortable as they can be because they say first impressions are everything.

SL: Rumor has it that you won the Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award in 2002. What was that like?

DL: I was shocked. When they finally told me that I won the Gloria White Award, I thought it was a joke…and finally, one of my bosses said, “I don’t think she gets it,” and it was like, “you’re kidding me,” and I cried. I was an emotional wreck. Because that was really exciting. That’s an honor.

SL: What’s your favorite part of your job?

DL: [without hesitation] Students. Students. And students. It’s just students. You all are so full of energy! I think that’s what keeps me young; I hang around you all. I’m not ever leaving.

SL: What kinds of changes have you seen at Wash. U. since you started working here?

DL: It keeps getting better because I’m noticing that with the years, my students are challenging themselves a little bit more. You all want to do everything now. You want to major in psychology and do something in business and then dabble in art. You want to join eight groups at one time. It’s like you can’t fill your schedule up enough.

SL: What was a transformative moment in your life?

DL: When I was hired by Washington University. It made a big change. It opened up a lot of dreams. That was the most important because I wanted it, and I didn’t think I would get it, and I got it. And I thought, “well, kiss my grits.” I love it.

SL: What is one of your interests outside of the office?

DL: I love to read Archie comic books…since I was 12 years old. And it shows—I have over 500. Love Archie comic books!

SL: What do you do on the weekends?

DL: Mostly I get movies and to-go food. I’m a homebody. I don’t go out a lot; I’m at home a lot. When my son comes to visit, we do little things around the city.

SL: What are your favorite kinds of movies?

DL: I love old movies, 1930s, 1940s. If it’s the 1930s, 1940s anything, I am all over it…I love me some Cary Grant. And Bette Davis.

SL: What’s one thing the Wash. U. community should know about you?

DL: I love the Washington University community more than I can say. I love the trees. I love the grass. I love the students. I love the ambience. I love the buildings. I love my job. I love Washington University.

Saad Adnan Khan | Student Life

Tina Butler, the lead cashier at the Washington University Campus Bookstore, sits on a bench outside of Mallinckrodt. Butler has worked at the bookstore for 31 years.

Tina Butler: I just enjoy being here. There is always something great to look forward to. I love the Arch, the Loop and Galleria. The people here are very friendly.

SL: How long have you worked here and what have you enjoyed most about it?

TB: I have worked here for 31 years. Most of all I’ve enjoyed the students. I’ve enjoyed being with them, working with them, helping them, and I love it when it’s time for them to come back to school in August. I love January rush but of course January is not as much fun as August because in August students come in as freshmen and I enjoy that. I love giving them help, giving them support, giving them a hug, giving them a pat on the back. You know, I feel like a mom here (laughs).

SL: Why were you interested in a career at Wash. U.?

TB: I have never gone to college so I wanted to be around this type of atmosphere. If I had the chance I would want to go myself but right now I’m too old for it (laughs). My kids were in the 1st or 2nd grade when I started my work here and I wanted them to be able get to university. Of course Wash. U. did pay for my two kids to go to college and that was a great deal. I just thank God for that.

SL: What changes have you witnessed at Wash. U. in the school/faculty/student body through out the years you’ve been here?

TB: I have seen many changes in the bookstore and also in the university campus. Lots of remodeling has taken place, but other than that it still has remained the same. It’s still nice.

SL: When you were a child, what was your dream job?

TB: Funniest thing, I always wanted to be a gym teacher. I loved playing volleyball, softball and basketball. I didn’t love watching them but I loved playing them. It didn’t work out since my family came along and all my time was dedicated to my kids.

SL: What is your favorite book and why?

TB: I like Toni Morrison. She’s very good. For some of her books you have to really put your cap on and ask yourself, “OK, can I follow her?” Since sometimes I can’t, you know. So I go back and read the book for the second time before I really see where she’s coming from. But I like her books. I also read Ken Follett. There is a guy who works here looks exactly like him!

SL: What was it like to see your son and daughter attend Wash. U.?

TB: Actually my son and daughter didn’t graduate from Wash. U.; they did a couple of classes here. They graduated from Webster University. They tried to get out of school faster. It was so overwhelming. I was very excited, and this is what makes me feel so warm and loving to the other kids. It makes me feel like a parent toward other kids too. If I see somebody else’s child graduate, I totally relate to their parents. I love to see young people move along.

SL: What in life makes you the angriest? What makes you the happiest?

TB: I think people should be more sincere. When somebody is taking my money she/he is very happy, but when it comes to giving me my money back, it puts a frown on the person’s face. I feel like they should be the same way regardless of whether they are taking or returning money. And it makes me very happy when I see people being treated equally.

SL: If you had to choose a song that describes your life, which song would it be?

TB: “Through the Storm” by Shirley Brown. I had some ups and downs last year, but I got through it and now here I am.

SL: What do you like most about Wash. U. and what do you like the least?

TB: I hate it when they cut the trees down […] I hate to see trees go down. And even the dorms—I hate to see a lot of renovation sometimes. I wish we could maintain buildings by reconstructing them in some way instead of tearing them down and losing all that money. What I like most about Wash. U. is that this place makes me feel younger. I feel young when I interact with the young energetic students. I enjoy coming to work every day and helping whoever steps in the bookstore.

SL: What would you like to do to make the world a better place?

TB: I’ll ask people to have a bit more love for everyone else. I’ll ask them to be more kind and know how to treat one another with respect and equality. It doesn’t cost you anything to be nice to people. Age doesn’t matter, color doesn’t matter—we are all human beings. I’ll treat a person in a way that I want to be treated.

SL: What three things about your personality describe you best?

TB: I like to smile, I like to interact with students, faculty and staff, and I enjoy coming to work every day.

SL: What would you like to be remembered for? How would you most like to influence others?

TB: I would like to influence others by helping them understand that it’s important to treat people with respect and be nice to everyone—students, faculty and staff. A student could be having a hard time, and so I turn that thing around and think, “Hey, did my child ever go through that?” That is how we can understand each other better. I would like to treat the boy standing next to me like my son, even if he’s not.

SL: What is one thing that you would never change about yourself?

TB: I love to run my mouth. I love to talk to people I don’t even know. They’d probably get tired of me and might lose it saying, “Oh there she goes again!” Well, I’m sorry, but that’s my nature. I love people and I enjoy talking and communicating with them. I learn from and about other people by talking to them.

SL: Any words of wisdom for the new members of Wash. U.?

TB: As I said, I have really enjoyed seeing them becoming a part of Wash. U. I have enjoyed being a support for them in the bookstore and letting them know that I am here for them. I know I can’t be supportive to everybody, but if they come by and I have the chance, I will give it a try. The freshmen are very nice. They need a support while they’re away from their parents. Even when they come and do trips to look at the colleges, they all look so timid. I feel like calling out to them and giving them a big hug because they are like my babies. I feel like we are friends—if they don’t have anybody else, I’m their friend.

Student Life: You were seeded at 50.62 behind Terrell Shannon at 50.28 heading into the 400-meter dash. What were you thinking in the run up to the event?

Chris Malaya: I’d actually put a lot of pressure on myself for that race because I’m in uncharted territory: I’ve never run this fast before. I was actually really excited to see that there was someone seeded ahead of me. It means that if he is that fast, it means you can follow him through. Seeding is important in the way that you can go in and say that this is the person I need to watch.

SL: What’s your strategy for your races?

CM: You generally divide the race into phases. Come out of the blocks hard, coast through the turns, and accelerate down the stretch. Make sure not to get packed. It depends on the track. Run hard through the straights and glide through the turns.

SL: You run both the 400-meter dash and the 4×400. Which do you prefer?

CM: Personally I like the 4 by 4 the most. It’s my favorite event because you do have a team involved. When you have a good team, everyone’s focused, everyone’s working hard. What would normally be a liability of saying, ‘These people are all depending on me,’ makes you 10 times stronger because everyone says, ‘We’re there for each other, and we’re running hard.’

SL: How did you wind up competing in track?

CM:I had been told I should run in high school, and I never did because I played soccer and track was punishment for soccer. My sophomore year I was going out for the soccer team and I was playing a pickup game on Mudd Field, stuck my foot in a divot, and tore my ankle in half. I tried playing over the summer but I couldn’t run on it. I needed to be playing a varsity sport. I tried out for track right after Christmas last year.

SL: What’s an interesting fact about you?

CM: I’m from rural Texas. I live on a ranch outside of Austin, and most people don’t really find me sort of country that way. It’s not a working ranch that we breed horses or cattle. We have six quarter horses that we used for team roping back when my parents were younger. Sort of a sport ranch.

SL: What advice do you have for underclassmen?

CM: Undergrad sort of in the general scheme of things doesn’t really mean too much. Grad school’s increasingly important and everything. Generally I just say, have a good time. The biggest thing I would say, as cheesy as it sounds, is sort of find yourself. Find out what you like and really explore. Make the most of having such a diversified education.

The track and field team competes at the Rose-Hulman Engineer Indoor Invitational at Terre Haute, Ind., on Jan. 30.

Student Life: How did “When The Emperor Was Divine” take shape? What inspired you to write this novel?
Julie Otsuka: The barebones outline of what happened in the book was almost exactly what happened to my family in the internment camps, but the personalities of the characters are totally invented. I started the book when I was at my second year in the MFA program at Columbia in creative writing. When I wrote the first chapter of “When the Emperor Was Divine,” it was the first piece of serious fiction I had ever written. I’ve been sitting on this stuff for a long time, but I think it was all deeply buried in my unconscious. I feel like the book kind of crept up on me unexpectedly.

SL: Have any other colleges used your book for a program similar to the Freshman Reading Program?
JO: Quite a few. For whatever reason, it’s a really busy fall.

Julie Otsuka, author of "When the Emperor Was Divine," spoke Tuesday as part of the Assembly Series program.

SL: Why do you think colleges responded to your book this way?
JO: I actually finished writing it in June 2001, so I didn’t know it would reverberate the way it has post-9/11. All the racial profiling that’s going on and how Arabs and Muslims are being targeted and singled out for investigation and interrogation can be related to the Japanese internment. So I think that might have something to do with it. Also, not a lot of fiction has been written about this, and I think that now we’re ready to hear this story.

SL: What do you think about the current treatment of Arabs and Muslims?
JO: It’s worrisome. My grandfather was arrested by the FBI on December 8, 1941—the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was classified as being a dangerous enemy alien, which I think is pretty similar to being called an enemy combatant today. You can just be arrested and have no legal rights at all. You have no trial by jury, and you could be detained indefinitely. I think that 9/11 brought up a lot of memories for older Japanese people who were interned in the camps, because there are so many parallels.

SL: Have you received any response from the Japanese-American community about “When the Emperor Was Divine”?
JO: Yes, and that’s what’s been so great! I went to Seattle because they chose the book for Seattle Reads, and there’s a large Japanese population there. It was so great to meet these older folks who had been in the camps. I remember I was giving a talk at a branch library in Seattle, and the moderator asked if there were any people there that had been in the camps. The first two rows of these old Japanese folks all stood up, and the rest of the audience began to applaud. It was terrifically humbling to meet the people that had gone through this experience.

SL: If nothing else, what is the one thing that you want your reader to get out of the book?
JO: Just to live with these characters, soak it in and be there with them. I want them to feel what the characters feel. I didn’t write this book with an angry screed, and I didn’t want it to be a moralizing book. I just wanted it to be a book about people and what they had gone through. I hope it’s an experience that the reader can enter.
SL: Changing gears a bit, how was college for you?
JO: It was great! I loved it. I went to Yale, and I had never been to the East Coast before. It felt like a very cultured world. I was an art major, and I was so happy. It is so cliché, but they are great years. Just take advantage of them. They are great times. It was often overwhelming with the pressure, but when I think back, I loved it. It took me a while to adjust, but you just have to stick it out.

SL: You wanted to be a painter, and I understand that you had some emotional difficulties during your transition to becoming a writer. How did you recover from that?
JO: I actually started reading. I always felt very free and unselfconscious when I was painting at Yale, but all of a sudden at graduate school, there were so many critics. I couldn’t perform under pressure. I dropped out and started word processing at night, but I was in despair. I felt like I had failed at the one thing I wanted to do. I started going to my neighborhood café and reading during the day. There’s something so great—especially when you’re feeling depressed—about reading, because you can get lost in somebody else’s story and forget about yourself for a little bit. I became interested in the world of the story. I was older, and my approach to my work was very different; I had already failed once, and I felt like I had nothing to lose with writing.

SL: What advice would you give to college students struggling with the struggle to find themselves and to meet others’ expectations?
JO: You’re not necessarily going to get it right the first time, and I think college is a time to explore and be brave. Don’t be afraid to fail. There’s nothing wrong with it. I know in this environment—just because of the pressure to do well—it’s hard, but it’s also a good time to learn and expand. I think finding the thing that you love to do is really important too. Find what your passion is, because if you’re going to do something in life, it might as well be something you like doing.

SL: Are you working on anything new right now?
JO: I’m finishing up my second novel right now.

SL: Anything you can tell us about it?
JO: Many Japanese women came to this country as picture or mail-order brides between 1908 and 1921. It was a very hard life, but they stayed and started families. I am writing about a group of women that came over as picture brides. In my research, I came across so many stories, and I wanted to weave them all in, so the entire book is in the “we” voice. There is no main character.

SL: What are your final pieces of advice to the average college student?
JO: Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Be kind. Talk to your neighbors and take the time to find out who they are. And read! You learn so much from reading. And have a good time!