The Scroll

As the men's basketball team prepares to play Friday evening in the NCAA Division III Final Four, Doug Hennes pays tribute to coach Steve Fritz in The Scroll, thanking his colleague and friend for everything he has done for the St. Thomas basketball team over the last 44 years.

Lisa Weier says she has been "blown away" by all of the talent around her at St. Thomas, whether it be her fellow singers in the Liturgical Choir, professors in the classroom or Frisbee players on the quad. She writes about her experiences and salutes singer Luke Spehar today in The Scroll.

As she looked around OEC auditorium the other evening during the lecture by Gail Collins, author of When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, Susan Alexander nodded in appreciation for the changes wrought by the "older women" in the audience. As for the "younger women," Alexander writes today in The Scroll, they "have changes of their own to make."

Dave Nimmer walked away from Saturday's St. Thomas Day celebration smiling in gratitude for the way the five award winners so beautifully define joy, passion, trust, challenge and faith. He explains how today in The Scroll.

Carol Bruess and Kevin Sauter know why colleague Tom Connery was selected by faculty as Professor of the Year. It’s because he is St. Thomas. They elaborate today in The Scroll.

Sunday's tension-filled MIAC playoff championship win over Gustavus was sweet for the St. Thomas men's basketball team, which moves on to the NCAA Division III tournament. Doug Hennes reflects in The Scroll today on another banner season for the Tommies and wonders about the real meaning of the "good times never seemed so good" reference in "Sweet Caroline," which is played at halftime.

Lisa Weier was sitting around watching a movie with a bunch of friends during her "snow day" on Monday when they learned that somebody's car had been snowed in big time. With only their hands – and no shovels – at the ready, they went out to rescue the car, and in the process she discovered a lot of heroes. She writes about them today in The Scroll.

Cecilia Petschel thought she was above today's "instant gratification" syndrome, so she was ambivalent about the latest twist on that theme: You can get your Girl Scout cookies right away, instead of ordering and waiting. But then her dishwasher broke, the repair man couldn't come right away and she got a little edgy. In hindsight, she writes today in The Scroll, the Girl Scouts may be on to something after all, and having those cookies in hand makes it easier to cope with this nasty winter!

Dave Nimmer is a proud Packer fan, and for reasons other than the team's Super Bowl win. He admires the community's ownership of the Packers and how that enabled the team to renovate Lambeau Field a decade ago, and he hopes the Vikings can figure out a way to build a new stadium. But please, he writes today in The Scroll, spare him the threats of moving.

Dr. John Tauer, who teaches psychology and coaches men's basketball, loves to work with student-athletes who live out the St. Thomas motto, "Challenge yourself, change our world." This year, he has seen that attitude reveal itself over and over in the eight seniors who play for the men's and women's teams. He writes in The Scroll today about how beautifully they reflect the Division III experience and the balance between academics and athletics.

Carol Bruess has five tips to help you develop happier and healthier interactions with the people around you, and that means all of you – regardless of "whether you love or loathe Valentine’s Day," she writes today in The Scroll. And the tips can last far beyond what she calls today’s "love holiday."

There are a few people who thought Susan Alexander was a little crazy to head to Antarctica for a January Term break. But as it turns out, the weather there was considerably milder than what we have experienced this winter, and she got to check out the chinstrap penguin population, too. She writes about her trip today in The Scroll.

Sarah Gallenberg finds inspiration hard to find, especially in the dead of winter. Then she sees the good work done by programs such as Tutor-Mentor and Literacy Connections that her spirits are buoyed and her faith renewed. She writes about her experiences today in The Scroll.

Freshman Lisa Weier thought she knew cold weather and how to adjust, having arrived here from Nebraska. But Minnesotans have a different attitude about the cold, she writes today in The Scroll, having trailed "scantily clad" guys around campus and watching people eating ice cream in a blizzard.

The spring semester started this week and life on campus is back to normal. Students hurry across the Quad with cell phones tucked to their ears. The days get longer. The Grill gets busier. And the basketball Tommies again sit atop the MIAC men’s standings, ranked No. 8 in the nation in Division III.

Bob "The Bear" Schrank and Dave Nimmer were buddies for 45 years, and they celebrated one memory-filled Christmas Eve with Visitation sisters in north Minneapolis. Nimmer recalls what happened that evening in The Scroll.

As he sat in a prayer service Saturday night for Michael Larson, Father Dennis Dease felt thankful for the impact that the young man, who died in a house fire earlier that day, had on so many lives. The president of St. Thomas explains why today in The Scroll.

Carol Bruess loves the creativity of St. Thomas students this time of year, and their latest effort at building a snowman (snowwoman?) has brought some cheer and laughter to her neighborhood east of campus. Check out the creature and its lifestyle amenities today in The Scroll.

After Saturday's football playoff loss to Bethel, Glenn Caruso was candid with his Tommies: "I told the team this hurts, it should hurt and it will hurt for awhile," he said. Darned right it hurts, reflects one fan today in The Scroll. He tries to explain why.

You remember the words to that song, don't you? Carol Bruess sure does. She seems to hear them every day, and she concludes today in The Scroll that our campus has the same "zippity" and a large dose of "doo dah" this week, thanks to a "post-Thanksgiving, pre-finals, beginning-of-Advent buzz."

Brady Narloch enjoys helping out in a seventh-grade classroom this semester because it forces him to play the role of a teacher, not just a college student, yet at the same time he has fun trying to think like a kid. He writes about the experience today in The Scroll.

Dave Nimmer always likes Thanksgiving, but even more so this year, and he tells you why today in The Scroll. Dave has that glass-half-full smile because of everything he sees around campus these days: good jobs, good teaching, a new athletic and recreation complex and an undefeated football team making everyone proud at Homecoming. And it helps, he adds, to be able to buy a great cup of coffee right here in our library. Happy Thanksgiving!

Miles Trump doesn't blame Minnesota sports fans for getting a little down on their teams. A lot of what he sees out there isn't pretty ... except, that is, at St. Thomas! The sports editor of TommieMedia.com finds success everywhere he turns on campus these days – and a lot of fans are caught up in the excitement. Check out what Miles has to say today in The Scroll, and take note: He expects to see you at a Tommie game soon, starting with Saturday's NCAA football playoff opener in O'Shaughnessy Stadium.

Sarah Gallenberg celebrated what her family calls "Airplane Day" earlier this month, and it gave her a chance to reflect anew on her life as a South Korean adoptee who grew up in the United States. Sarah writes about her experiences – and how "the unknown aspects of who I am show up in the mirror every morning" – in The Scroll.

Susan Alexander loves a good fight, especially when our guy is right. The fight hasn't been in the boxing ring (yet … ), but the verbal sparring between engineering professor John Abraham and climate skeptics such as Christopher Monckton has been fun to watch and ­ in her case ­ even be a minor participant. Susan brings us up to date today in The Scroll.