Kelli Liverpool
Business buff with international focus a driving force in campus activities

Kelli Liverpool is a very driven and determined young woman. She will graduate Cum Laude from Southern Oregon University with a bachelor of science in businesses administration with a concentration in management and a certificate in international business, a program she herself helped Professor Donna Lane create.

Originally from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Liverpool began her college career at Kent State University, but decided to remain at SOU after spending a term in Ashland via the National Student Exchange, which is essentially a domestic version of the study abroad program.

Liverpool is part of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, which was established in 1989 to increase the number of students from underrepresented segments of society in doctoral programs, and thus increase representation of these groups in higher education. She plans on finishing grad school, working in a human resources department for a multi-national corporation for two years, and then returning to school to earn her doctorate in organizational behavior.

As a human resources manager Liverpool’s goal is to work with employees ensuring their interactions with their company are as positive as possible.

“I believe employees are the foundation of an organization, so I just want to do my best to make their lives better,” she said
Liverpool was recently accepted to the Moore School of Business in Chicago Master of Business Administration graduate program, but will be studying at Dankook University in South Korea for the summer. She is excited to study abroad and wants to learn as much Korean as possible during her time outside the country.

“I really love to travel, so this is going to be a great experience,” she said.

Other options for grad school in the fall include Loyola College in Maryland and The University of South Carolina, which is her first choice.

Liverpool, who speaks Spanish, and will be adding Korean to her repertoire said she would love to be able to find a position which allows her to travel and utilize her knowledge of foreign language.
She is currently employed as an area assistant at SOU, where she supervises resident assistants and oversees student life affairs.

Extremely active on campus, Liverpool is involved in the United Nations Club, serves as the treasurer for the Black Student Union and is an integral member of Residential Life on campus.

In her free time she enjoys show tunes and musical theater, swimming, white water rafting, reading all kinds of books, including the “Harry Potter” series and the “Star Wars” trilogy, and frequenting Starbucks.

Chelsey Muri
Standout women’s basketball player has also excelled
in the classroom

Southern Oregon University senior Chelsey Muri, originally from Monroe, Wash., has been busy since following her basketball mentor, coach Lynn Kennedy, to Ashland from Las Vegas, N.M., in 2005.

In her first year at SOU, before becoming a starter, she led her team in steals and assists, and has continued to rack up impressive athletic and academic achievements every year since.

Muri is graduating with a bachelor of science in health and physical education with a minor in Spanish. Although she doesn’t quite speak fluently yet, she says she’d enjoy the opportunity to travel to Spain or Latin America to get some real world practical application.
“I really love Spanish. I’ve taken a lot of classes, but I still struggle with speaking it. I’ve never been able to study abroad because of sports, and I really believe that’s the key,” Muri said.

After graduation, Muri and her husband, Jon, plan to move to Great Falls, Wyo., where she will work toward her masters of arts in secondary teaching at The University of Great Falls in hopes of becoming a high school health and physical education teacher and coach.

Muri weighed other career options, including health and fitness as a personal trainer, and nursing and the medical field before finally settling on her path.

“I’d like to work with younger kids. My mom was an elementary school teacher, and I’d like to do that, but coaching at the high school level is what I really want to do right now.”

After graduating and pursuing her career, Muri would like to return to school at some point to earn a degree in elementary education.
Determined and hard-working, Muri admits that none of her accomplishments have come easily.

“I’ve always worked really, really hard,” she said. “I definitely don’t have the frame of mind that I can just do whatever and have a good time, and not even study and still succeed.”

And succeed she has. Muri has maintained a 3.9 GPA throughout her college career in addition to her notable athletic achievements. “Actually it’s a 3.87,” she said. “But I guess you could round it up if you wanted to.”

She concludes her basketball career at SOU with all-time rankings of seventh in scoring, third in free throws made and fifth in assists.
In the 2007-08 season, she was awarded the Cascade Conference Player of the Year award, was named Third-Team NAIA All-American, as well as Academic All-American. She also led her team in scoring and free throw percentage.

In the 2006-07 season Muri made All Cascade Conference and led her team in 3-point percentage; additionally she has led her team in steals and assists every year she has played at SOU.

In her free time Muri enjoys spending her time reading, “mainly nonfiction, biographies and things like that because I really love learning,” watching and participating in sports, and crocheting. “My nickname on the basket ball team was Grandma,” Muri said.

“Because I was one of the oldest players on the team, I’m married, and I love to crochet.”

Teddy Walston
Life’s challenges have motivated N.Y. transplant to reach out to others

The first thing many people may notice about Southern Oregon University senior and human services major Teddy Walston is his physical handicap. He was born with cerebral palsy and has been in a wheelchair his whole life, but life often works in mysterious ways.
Had Walston not been wheelchair-bound he would have never met his wife, Martina, or come to Southern Oregon, where he has touched many lives in a positive way.

Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., Walston moved to New Jersey with his mother after high school.

“The condo we were staying in didn’t have a ramp installed yet, so I spent a lot of time inside on the computer. One day I got to chatting with this girl. We talked online for about two years and things started getting serious.”

“I asked if she would fly out to see me, since it’s hard for me to travel because of my physical condition,” he said.

She agreed and Walston wrote to her father asking for his blessing.
“She was 19 at the time, but I still thought it would be the respectful thing to do since his daughter was going to be flying across the country to see some dude she met online,” Walston said.

She continued to fly back and forth over the next two years and eventually Walston decided to make the move to Medford with his future wife. He enrolled in Rogue Community College in 2004 and quickly distinguished himself from his peers. He was elected student body president after only six months, and was named RCC Riverside’s Top Student, winning the OCCA Outstanding Student Scholar Award. He also volunteers his time tutoring other students and giving motivational speeches.

Walston says he probably would have just remained a regular student had it not been for a pivotal experience he had at a Medford barbershop.

“We were leaving, and a woman who I could tell had some mental issues yelled out at my buddy and me, ‘Go back to Africa you Kunta Kinte.’”

Most people would have been offended or gotten angry, but in that moment Walston saw somebody who needed help.

“Sometimes life smacks you in the face and tells you what you need to do,” Walston said. “After that day I started reading up on the area, and found that a lot of support services for the disabled and mentally challenged had been cut. I thought, ‘Man, I’d like to do something to help.’”

Walston then organized a fundraiser for La Clinica with the support of the RCC student body, and has been actively engaging the community and working to help and inspire those with physical or mental disabilities ever since.

After graduation, Walston hopes to find a job that will allow him to promote higher education, especially among those with disabilities.

“If SOU finds it in their heart to give me a job I would love to come back because it’s a great school and I know I could help a lot of people,” he said. “I feel that for disabled people college is your best option because you really can’t work flipping burgers or pumping gas.”

Outside of class Walston enjoys watching basketball and football, playing poker (but don’t tell his wife), and a good crème stout. “I’m pretty chill,” he said. “I just love hanging out.”