High school students from near and far traveled to Oswego on Saturday, October 28th, to visit SUNY Oswego’s Open House. The open house was hosted by the office of admissions.

The Open House gave students and families an opportunity to talk with faculty and explore the campus buildings including academic buildings, residence halls, and dining halls. Just over a hundred tables were set up in the Marano Campus Center. Students and parents had the chance to talk to representatives from financial aid, career services, athletics, international education, and experience-based education.

“The people are very friendly and i felt very welcomed here. the campus is very modern and beautiful so it was easy to find my way around,” High School Senior Allison Smith said.

To schedule a visit register at www.oswego.edu/visit or for more information about when future open houses will be visit oswego.edu/events.

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From the Polka to the party the first ever Oswego Oktoberfest brought Deutschland to downtown Oswego.

“This is the first time running the Oktoberfest. So this is something that I think a lot of people have been interested in and we’re just putting it together for a fun community event,” said Event Director Chris Jones.

Jones felt that whether people came for the food or the fun. Everyone found something worth staying for.

Jones said, “Honestly I think it’s a little bit of both. For me the fall season’s the best time to eat and you know, we’ve got about three hundred pre-sales on the event. Hopefully with everything looking the way that it is hopefully about five hundred or so.”

Ice-cold local beer topped everyone’s glass while the polka band played on, but the beer wasn’t the only thing that was cold. With temperatures in the forties most individuals camped out. Enjoying some good times as well as some delicious local beer.

“Most of them are New York State breweries. There are seventeen different beers that are going to be on tap in addition to a couple wines and beverages. So there’s a long list, Adirondack, Woodchuck, Davidson brothers, quite a few on there,” said Jones.

The weather was cold but more than 400 turned out for the night’s events.

Jones felt, “This is fall weather, this is what Oktoberfest is about,” and he hopes to re-create the event again next year. And based on the reception from Oswego resident Trish Auer.

“I think, yeah I’d love to see it come back again and definitely more entertainment,” said Auer.

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Jones added, “I think that bringing more events into the community and encouraging not only the people that live here to come out, but start getting people to come here from other regions.”

And Auer felt, “I just love it there’s just so much more going on here. This year especially and it’s just so exciting to have everybody out and about.”
Although next year’s Oktoberfest is a year away you can visit WTOP10.com and take a look at some photos of this year’s festivities.

by Daniel Manou

Oswego, NY- Today Show TV personality and Oswego State alum Al Roker returned the college on Mar. 31 as part of Rokerthon Three. Oswego State was the last stop on Rokerthon Three, which sent Roker to four other colleges during the week to break a Guinness World Record.

Oswego State’s world record was to have the world’s longest conga line on ice. The original record was held by the Ice Rink Canary Wharf in the United Kingdom with 353 people. Oswego State broke the record with 593 people.

Having Roker’s final stop be Oswego State, the visit had a little more meaning than the rest.

“It’s very exciting to end up having a week in Oswego. It’s very exciting and the school came through” he said.  

In order to officially break the record students had to follow strict rules. The students must step in unison while holding the hips of the person in front of them for five minutes. If at any point the line broke, someone fell or messed up the moves, the attempt would be disqualified.

Organizing such an event took more effort than meets the eye, which Del Sarte President Allison Anthony learned when tasked with choreographing.

“It’s important that we all came together and found one pace and one way to communicate that works for everyone” she said. “Doing that with 500 plus people was challenging but we got it done”.

Before the conga line could even happen, Anthony and the school advertised the recruitment of skaters and held practices to teach them the moves. Making the decision to participate in the record breaking attempt was easy for most people but were based on several different motives.

For students like Ethan Magram, the thrill of being having a world record in his back pocket was enough.

“I can’t wait to look back and say I broke a world record with some of my best friends, met one of the most favorite news personalities, and I’m going to remember this forever” he said.

Others such as freshman Hannah Enigh, had a strong admiration for Roker. She saw him as a role model in her pursuit to become a broadcast meteorologist.

“I was very excited to want to be a part of something Al Roker was a part of because that was one of the main reasons I came to Oswego, to be a meteorologist and broadcasting major” Enigh said.