Soaring ahead with Earn Your Wings 2025

As the 2025 spring semester wraps up, preparation for the 2025 fall semester Earn Your Wings is in full swing. Earn Your Wings directors Zoe Burmaster, Logan Hammersmith, and Delaney Ward have been hard at work to make the incoming freshmen’s first week on campus a memorable experience.

Burmaster has been a part of the Earn Your Wings staff in previous years and loved it. She said she wanted to be a director because she hopes to help the incoming freshman find their place and be comfortable on campus.

“I have been on staff before, first as a Hub Parent, then as an Assistant Director last year. My experience was wonderful,” Burmaster said. “I got to do my best to help the freshman feel comfortable and love Oklahoma Christian University just as much as I do.”

Hammersmith has held the same positions within the Earn Your Wings staff the past two years, and he decided to explore a new position by applying to be a director.

“I really had a lot of fun during Earn Your Wings my freshman year. I was a Hub Parent my sophomore year, and I was an Assistant Director my junior year. I really loved this, so I applied to be a director and see what happens,” Hammersmith said.

Ward’s previous experiences with Earn Your Wings encouraged her to also become a director.

“Some of my best memories at Oklahoma Christian have been during Earn Your Wings week,” Ward said. “In a lot of ways, Oklahoma Christian has changed my life, and Earn Your Wings is an opportunity to begin that change in others’ lives. Directing gives me the opportunity to give back to a community I strongly believe in, to work alongside incredible leaders, and to work hard to give incoming students the best experience possible.”

The Earn Your Wings theme for the fall is “Home for the Holidays.”

“We chose this theme because Oklahoma Christian is home,” Ward said. “The holidays are so fun and bring up so many good memories and traditions. We hope this theme will create unique memories and allow us to celebrate all the good times to be had during Earn Your Wings.”

Earn Your Wings has been a special and celebrated tradition for Oklahoma Christian for many years, and the Earn Your Wings team is excited for the incoming freshmen to have a positive introduction to Oklahoma Christian through their first college experiences with Earn Your Wings.

“I love watching the OC community come together to welcome the incoming students. It is so fun to watch so many upperclassmen shine and serve the incoming students with their unique gifts and talents,” Ward said.

During Earn Your Wings week, the Earn Your Wings team will be there for the incoming freshmen to answer their questions, lead them in interactive games and activities, and support them.

“Incoming freshmen can look forward to a fun week with a variety of different things. This is a time to meet other freshmen, upperclassmen, faculty, and staff. There are different activities that reach everyone, so if you are competitive, musical, or anything in between, there is an event specifically planned with you in mind,” Burmaster said.

“We have a pretty sweet schedule,” Hammersmith said. “We have a lot of really fun events planned. School is going to start half way through the week, so it won’t be a crazy packed week. It’ll be a lot of fun events for a couple of days and then school and then more chill events at night. There will be lots of opportunities to socialize and meet new people. They just have to show up and have fun.”

Hammersmith said that his number one piece of advice for incoming freshmen is to go all in.

“Try everything,” Hammersmith said. “College is four years of your life to get to try new things and see what you like and what you don’t. Meet people, and don’t be afraid to say hi to people and do things that you’re uncomfortable with because you never know what you’ll learn or who you’ll end up meeting.”

Earn Your Wings will officially begin Aug. 17 and last until Aug. 20.