Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
The theme “OC is Home” recently made the national student collegiate body consider what home means for them.
A couple of weeks ago, thebestcolleges.org ranked the top “15 University Hashtags All Over Twitter” based on the collegiate communities and the popularity of topics like sports, scandals and other news items from the respective alma maters.
Among the rankings are some of the best-known schools of the nation, such as the University of Michigan, Stanford University, Syracuse University and Baylor University, just to name a few. Making the number 10 spot on the list is the University of Texas. Right below the hashtag #UT is one hashtag the students here on campus have heard all year.
The use of #OCisHome on Twitter ranked No. 11. The website admired the hashtag based on the sense of community held at Oklahoma Christian.
“While less popular (2 tweets in 24 hours, 5,592 followers and impressions) than most of the other hastags listed here, the official Twitter gathering place for Oklahoma Christian University still deserves mention,” the website said. “For one thing, it provides a comparatively more intimate and supportive discussion experience than the more bloated counterparts. So while it may not be ‘all over’ in the same sense as larger schools, the tag deserves special attention for being pretty much exactly what a college — or university — affiliated chat should look like.”
It seems as though President John deSteiguer has hit the nail on the head with the creation of what some would call the new slogan of our campus.
“I think this is really cool,” deSteiguer said. “The other 14 universities are big-time majors. All of them are well-recognized, household names many times our size — both in number of students and amount of financial resources. I have thought for a long time that the OC experience — the academics in and out of the classroom, the spiritual and service-oriented atmosphere, the opportunities for lifelong relationships, the commitments our faculty and staff have toward our students is unmatched. It is really great to see us measure up so well in the social media field as well.”
When deSteiguer was thinking of a theme that would fit the school well, he wanted something that would capture the Oklahoma Christian experience in a short phrase.
“I was thinking about what OC meant to me and what it meant to others,” deSteiguer said. “‘OC is Home’ hit me as a phrase that captured what I hoped and prayed was our University’s ethos.”
With this vision put into place, “OC is Home” was born and has taken the social media world, as well as campus life, by storm.
Oklahoma Christian has become a home for many students, friends have evolved into family and a community has formed that many students should be proud of.
Katie Pfeil, a junior organizational communications major, is a long way from home, but feels like Oklahoma Christian has become a second home to her.
“Wisconsin is technically my home,” Pfeil said. “But Oklahoma Christian is more like my home away from home.”
Much like Pfeil, Jade Hayes, a sophomore marketing major, feels like Oklahoma Christian has become a comfortable second home for her as well.
“OC has become my home away from home,” Hayes said. “I have made friends that seem more like family and that have really helped get me through the tough times.”
With the success of this year’s theme, one may wonder if the new president has any ideas or brainstorming for any more phrases that could serve not only as a summary of the Oklahoma Christian experience, but also as a good marketing tool for the university.
“I am certainly not the expert in branding and theme creation, and I don’t know what the future holds in these areas,” deSteiguer said. “However, because ‘OC is Home’ is more than just a slogan or motto, it really describes our University and us. I wouldn’t be surprised if it sticks for a long time. I really don’t think that most of us fully understand how very special Oklahoma Christian is. There is no place just like this anywhere else in the world.”
While students will eventually graduate and move on to the workforce and start families, there will be only one definitive commonality for everyone who attended Oklahoma Christian: it will always be a home.
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