1. The End of an Era
By: Zachary Daum
This year,Blackburn College will be losing three of its longest serving professors to retirement. Dr. Greg
Meyer, Dr. Victor (Jake) Miller and Professor Roy Graham are very well known at Blackburn and in turn
they know Blackburn well.
Roy Graham, has worked at Blackburn College for over 50 years. He's seen changes throughout the years
but the biggest change was in the 70's when Blackburn extended its population cap beyond 400 students.
"The changes in the population changed the school. You don't have people coming with the same desires
as in the past. We've been struggling more since the population change. Some students don't want to work
in the work program now. Why would they come here when that is what we offer?" He remembers when
the cafeteria was open all day to students and that activities were constantly being run by students for
students "seven days a week."He feels that the philosophy of the school has mostly stayed true but
remembers when commuters weren't allowed into the work program. It thrilled him to finally see
commuters allowed to work. Most of all, Roy Graham feels that to be successful, a student has to believe
that being at Blackburn means something and that they can be successfulif they take full advantage of
everything offered.
Dr. Greg Meyer started working at Blackburn in 1981 as the first full time Chaplin which spun off into
teaching religion classes. Eventually he became a full time teacher. When he first started out at Blackburn
he lived in Jewell Hall with his wife and two sons. "My boys were 5 and 3 when we first moved here. We
lived in the infirmary in Jewell Hall. My sons had a blast living on campus. Three wheeling up and down
the hill. Sometimes they would use the cafeteria trays to sled down the hill in front of the library when it
snowed." His happiest time at Blackburn though has been as a teacher. He felt honored to be the first
Chaplin, but teaching has been the most enjoyable and worthwhile experience to him. A winner of the
outstanding teacher award twice,he is proud of his time at Blackburn and happy that he could spend his
time teaching so many hard working students for so many years.
Dr. Victor Miller, or Dr. Jake as he is better known as, will have been at Blackburn for 25 years after his
retirement in the spring. He is mostly known as Dr. Jake for a very interesting reason. When he first
started at Blackburn he just wanted to be called "Jake" because he hadn't yet received his PhD. After he
received his PhD he wanted to stick with Jake, but a student from Africa was uncomfortable being that
informal because of his cultural background. They eventually settled on Dr. Jake and that is how it has
been ever since. One of his happiest memories at Blackburn was about 20 years ago when a student from
St. Louis came to him for help. "He was a football player and was struggling academically. I called
him to my office for a chat and, as a result, he decided that he would finish out the football
season but he said he wasn't going to go out for football anymore so he could concentrate on his
studies. After that, he would come and talk to me whenever he was struggling or had a problem.
When he graduated he came up to me with the widest smile I have ever seen on a human face,
and with tears streaming down, he grabbed me in a bear hug and nearly broke my ribs." He is
still friends with the student to this day.
With so many long term teachers leaving, one has to wonder what Blackburn will be like when
they are gone. Next year new people will be coming in to take their place. This has the potential
to bring in a lot of intelligent new teachers that will put a different spin on Blackburn College as
a whole.