We’re taking a break this summer from updating the Missourian Neighborhood News blog, in part to look at whether this is the best way to showcase neighborhood news for Columbia. We’ll be asking a similar question about the monthly newsletters we e-mail to people who sign up for them.

If you have thoughts on this or ideas about how we can improve, please be in touch. As the editor overseeing the Missourian’s neighborhoods coverage, I’d like very much to hear from you. Some of the things on my mind: Should we include the obituaries of people from your neighborhood in newsletters or on the blog? Should we include your submissions to MyMissourian.com?

Send me an e-mail at brixeye@missouri.edu. I’m in and out of the newsroom until June 27, when I’ll be back full time, but I am reachable by e-mail.

Thanks for your help with story ideas and information about your neighborhoods this year.

Regards,

Elizabeth Brixey

City editor, Columbia Missourian

By SARA JOHNSON

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

Parkade Elementary is hosting its annual Spring Festival from noon to 3 p.m. May 21.

The school has been hosting the Festival for more than 10  years as a way for teachers and students to have fun together.

“As teachers, it’s fun to have the students see us in a more fun environment, and it’s fun for us to see them in that environment,” said Emily Noelker, learning specialist and PTA member at Parkade Elementary.

The festival is opent to students, families and community members.

“We advertise it as a community event,” Noelker said. “We’re hoping for people in the neighborhood and people who have been to school here and moved on. It’s a great chance to see the school and everyone here.”

Noelker said the festival will happen rain or shine, and if it rains the entire thing will be pulled inside.

Six game tickets will be sold for a dollar in advance and for 25 cents at the door. Four raffle tickets will be sold for a dollar.

Truman the Tiger will be making an appearance from 12:30 to 1 p.m. and the Missouri Mules will be at the festival from noon to 2 p.m.

Food will be available:

• The Hot Dog Meal (includes a hot dog, chips, drink and a cookie): $3.50
• Snow cones: 2 tickets
• Popcorn: 2 tickets

Activities at the festival include:

• A bounce house
• Face painting
• A duck pond
• A cake walk
• A tattoo station
• Ping pong
• A silent auction
• Donut game
• Bozo Bucket
• A dunking booth
• Lollipop tree
• Arts and crafts
• Estimation jars
• Crazy hair salon
• Bean bag games
• Jump rope contest
• Bingo
• “A Minute to Win It”

The festival will also have Animaland, where festival-goers can make their own animals and dress them in Parkade t-shirts.

Parking will be available in the staff parking lot behind the school and at Parkade Baptist Church.

By KACIE FLYNN

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

Pilates for Every Body, 4200 Merchant St., Suite 105, provides a monthly boot camp in the Village of Cherry Hill.

Jenn’s Pilates Boot Camp is a 10-day program designed to get participants into shape using intensive Pilates classes. Boot camp sessions run Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:20 a.m.

According to the Pilates for Every Body website, Pilates is an exercise system developed by Joe Pilates to strengthen muscles, increase flexibility and improve overall health. Activities in the 10-day program include mat exercises and some use of special equipment.

Aside from the boot camp, Pilates for Every Body offers classes for golfers and Mini-lates, a Pilates class for children ages 6 and older.

The next boot camp will begin June 13 and run through June 24. To sign up, visit the Pilates for Every Body website.

By KACIE FLYNN

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

The Fairview United Methodist Church’s Mothers Morning Out program will run two Summer Fun Camp sessions during the month of June. The first camp session will run from June 13 to June 17, and the second session will be from June 20 to June 24.

Both sessions will be Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon.

The camp will include water and sand activities, arts and crafts, music, dancing and snacks, according to the church.

Sign up for Summer Fun Camp at the church’s website.

By KACIE FLYNN

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

The Fairview United Methodist Church youth group is at it again.

The group is trying new methods of fund-raising for its summer mission trip to Cincinnati for a Week of Hope volunteer event. Right now, the group is holding Rent-A-Youth month, which will last the entire month of May.

If you rent a youth, you can employ members of the youth group to do tasks such as babysitting, painting and lawn work.The proceeds will go directly to funding the July trip.

To rent a youth, call Linda Adams at  (573) 445-2832.

By KATIE MORITZ

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

Rock Bridge High School senior Niyonzima Etienne was named one of the 1,000 nationwide recipients of the Gates Millennium Scholarship, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The scholarship will pay for Etienne’s undergraduate education at Missouri State University, where he plans to earn a degree in construction management.

According to the program’s website, the scholarship can be used at the university of the recipient’s choice, and is awarded based on academic achievement, community service and leadership potential.

Niyonzima Etienne

Etienne, who was born in the Congo, was a refugee in Tanzania until he moved to the U.S. with his family in 2007. When he came to Columbia, he spoke no English. But he was a quick learner, and soon wanted to teach English to other African refugees in the area.

In an interview with Etienne earlier this year, he said the three needs of refugees that must be met for them to have successful lives in the U.S. are English language skills, transportation and employment. Etienne began teaching refugees English in his living room every week. He also travels to churches and hospitals with them to act as a translator. In February, he was helping 10 families.

Earlier this year, Etienne was named one of six distinguished finalists in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. The program honors middle and high school students for outstanding community service.

Upon receiving a construction management degree, Etienne hopes to employ refugees to help build structures in their communities. Etienne will graduate from Rock Bridge on May 21.

Ted Glasgow talks about the ads he has been featured in. Photo By Kathryn Landis

EAST CAMPUS

By KATHRYN LANDIS

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

Ted Glasgow’s smile is infectious, but his physique may be a little intimidating. He’s a body builder, originally from East St. Louis, who has won the Mr. Missouri title four times.

He got his start in 1976 at a competition in Springfield.

“It was in an air-conditioned hotel, and they didn’t have a stage or anything like that,” Glasgow said. “There were no weight classes, no music, and we did our posing routine.”

At 5 feet 8 inches, 189 pounds and 53 years old, Glasgow is still competing.

“At one time … I could probably name eight to 10 good body builders competing,” Glasgow said of body builders in Columbia. “I am the last one left.”

The competitors are judged on their physique, including muscularity, symmetry, definition and muscle size.

Glasgow grew up in East St. Louis until he hit his teenage years. Glasgow said that when his father passed away, his mother recognized the negative influence the city could have on him, and he was sent to live in a small town in northwest Missouri.

“So I went from the big city to a town that had like 200 people,” Glasgow said. “It was very bizarre. It was a little bit of a culture shock.”

He quickly learned there were significant differences between the two locations.

“During goose season, these kids actually brought their guns to school and would leave them in the office until school was out,” Glasgow said. “So I’m thinking, ‘Wow.’ I mean, kids brought guns to school in the city, but they didn’t actually forecast it.”

By the time he was a teenager, Glasgow weighed around 250 pounds and had a 47-inch waistline.

“I was a little on the obese side,” Glasgow said. “But then I started getting into athletics, started watching my diet a little bit more.”

His first introduction to body building was through a body building magazine featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dave Draper.

“Arnold and Dave Draper were both on the cover, and I was enthralled by it. I read it over and over again,” Glasgow said. “I’d go to the local drug store, which (was) eight miles away, and I’d skim through all these car magazines. While I was there, I saw a body builder magazine, and I was thinking, ‘Wow, I want to look like that.’”

It took him a year and a half, but Glasgow lost 110 pounds.

He started off by boxing and then started track and field, where he set two records at his high school. He also received a scholarship to Northeast Missouri State University for track and field, where he studied physical education for two years.

After college, Glasgow started bodybuilding, and at the Lone Star Classic, he won his first overall title and received a 6-foot-tall trophy.

“My friend that went with me luckily had a truck,” Glasgow said. “If I had come in a car, there is no way we could have gotten it home.”

Body building competitions have taken Glasgow to seven or eight states.

“When I was a kid on the farm, they had these livestock contests, and they’d take the prize bull to the state fair,” Glasgow said. “I’ve said, ‘You know, what I’m doing really isn’t that far from that.’”

He now works as a physical therapist aid at Boone Hospital Center and does private physical therapy work with six other clients outside the hospital. One of Glasgow’s patients was a CEO at Boone Hospital Center and helped Glasgow start working at the hospital.

“I always tell my friends that if I come in and say more than, ‘Hi, how are you doing?” you’re not doing so good,” Glasgow said.

Glasgow and other staff members joke that they put out the “Ted” signal when help is needed.

“Kind of like the bat signal, except it’s the Ted signal,” Glasgow said.

Between work at the hospital and with his private clients, Glasgow said his life has to stay regimented.

“I think as humans, sometimes we need to be a little regimented,” he said. “Left to our own accord, we tend to be slackers sometimes.”

Glasgow said he will be competing at Muscle Mayhem in Kansas City on Saturday, May 14, the National Championships in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, July 22, and the North American in Cleveland in August.

By KATIE MORITZ

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

Connie Leipard works daily to give girls the chance to do whatever they want when they grow up — including construction work.

Connie Leipard works in her office at Quality Drywall Construction on May 5. Leipard is a regional director for the National Association of Women in Construction.

Leipard, who owns Quality Drywall Construction, 165 E. Hoedown Drive, with her husband, Michael, is the Region 6 director of the National Association of Women in Construction. The all-female organization supports women in the construction industry, and sponsors youth events to build awareness and interest for construction work in the younger generation.

Region 6 comprises Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, and part of Illinois, and includes seven chapters with about 300 members total. Nationwide, NAWIC has 14 regions and about 4,000 members. The organization also has chapters in Canada, the U.K. and South Africa.

NAWIC sponsors the Block Kids Building Program, which challenges elementary school-age children with the MacGyver-esque task of creating a structure in one hour, using only 100 Lego bricks, a rock, a string, a piece of aluminum foil and a poster board. This year, a second grader from Region 6, Augustus May, won first place at the national Block Kids competition and will be honored this fall at the Construction Innovation Forum NOVA Awards banquet in Orlando, Fla.

Leipard said the most influential youth program NAWIC sponsors is Mother-Daughter Construction Career Day at Linn State Technical College in Linn.

“We try to get out and help the girls think that in real life they can be successful at anything they really want to do,” she said.

Through the career days, fifth through seventh grade girls get the opportunity to use heavy equipment simulators, operate a backhoe and read blueprints while visiting the college with their moms.

“We’re focusing on that middle school age, and bringing the mothers in, and giving them information on salary ranges and careers,” Leipard said.

Leipard said programs that incorporate parents are the best way to get girls thinking about careers in construction.

“Sometimes kids are just groomed,” she said. “You don’t think outside of the box on nontraditional things unless somebody around you comes from a nontraditional background. So, a lot of times, the moms are like, ‘Wow, I wish I would have had this when I was a kid.’”

Connie Leipard chats with coworkers as she stands in front of one of Quality Drywall Construction's two scheduling walls. The business employs as many as 50 construction workers at a time.

Leipard has worked in construction for about 30 years, and joined NAWIC about 16 years ago. This is her first year as Region 6 director, but she took the position after being her chapter’s president two times. After a member serves as chapter president, they are eligible to be voted in as a regional director.

“I had to campaign, give speeches and all that good stuff,” she said.

Leipard said she feels comfortable turning to anyone in the international organization for advice or help.

“That’s just how NAWIC women are,” she said. “It’s kind of like a sisterhood, and that’s a huge support, especially if you’re a newcomer in the industry.”

With her father and grandfather both working in construction, Leipard was exposed to the field at a young age. When Leipard started out in the business, she helped her husband on weekends by working on finances and paperwork. The couple founded Quality Construction Drywall in March 1978.

Leipard began working as the president of the company 16 years ago. She said no two days have been alike and the job has been extremely rewarding.

“I think I could write a book about all the things that have happened in the course of 30-some years,” Leipard said. “You see the fruit of your labor, you know the projects you’ve worked on and completed. That part of it is very fulfilling.”

One of Leipard’s three children, Amanda, 28, is following in her mom’s footsteps, getting a civil engineering degree from the University of Missouri — Kansas City. Leipard said she’s one of three female students in the degree program. Stressing math and science for girls at a young age would influence more of them to get engineering degrees, she said.

Leipard said being a woman in the male-dominated field of construction is not always easy, but it has improved since she first started her career.

“In office environments, women are more accepted,” she said. “The last five years, 10 years, have been so much easier. When I was younger, and I would go on job sites, it was like they had never seen a woman in their life, and you know that’s not true.”

Women are still less accepted in the field than in the office, she said. However, she wouldn’t change anything about the job.

“I’m not much of a complainer on that, because I’ll tell you, I really enjoy working with guys,” Leipard said.

Being president of Quality Drywall Construction has constantly challenged Leipard, she said. She handles much of the paperwork for the company. But she also gets a chance to get back out in the field from time to time.

“I do go out on the job sites and I do safety visits,” she said. “I have to wear more than one hat. I do have a hard hat in my car.”

By ANN ELISE TAYLOR

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

When Melvin George stands at the front of a classroom, he commands it.

In his class on Thursday, May 2, George’s voice, clear and warmly rounded with age, filled the space with energy. The 75-year-old strolled across the length of the classroom and read animatedly from a packet of papers in his hands. Occasionally, he leaned forward on his desk towards the students and peered over his large, silver-rimmed glasses to emphasize a point. When he made a joke, his students erupted into laughter.

Although it was the second to last week of classes at MU, George’s students seemed entertained and engaged — quite a feat for any professor competing against laptops, cell phones and warm weather for students’ attention. But after 52 years of working as an educator, George has learned a few things.

“I think the secret to success is to like students,” George said “If you sincerely like students, it’s pretty easy to show that. I think students respond positively to people who really enjoy them, respect them and understand them. I think that’s the key to it.”

George said his passion for students and learning is what has kept him working in academia since his first regular faculty job as a professor in MU’s mathematics department in 1960, just after he graduated from Princeton with his doctorate degree in mathematics. Since then, George has held a myriad of positions ranging from presidencies to deanships at the University of Nebraska, St. Olaf College, University of Minnesota and MU.

“When I put it all together, it sounds like I can’t hold a job,” George said, laughing. “But I’ve had a good time during my career.”

Though George officially retired in 1997, the MU Honors College asked him to return around 2001 to teach classes of his choice and design. He taught a course called Music and Mathematics until 2004, when he began teaching his current class, Theology of Tolkien.

“I loved Lord of the Rings when I first read the books,” George said. “Then a book came out some years ago that I bought because it sounded intriguing to me … This book really opened my eyes to how much theology was really embedded in Lord of the Rings. I read it and was very fascinated by it. Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings as a Catholic novel, even though there’s never any mention of a God, there’s never any worship and there’s never anything overtly Christian about it.”

The book, Ralph Wood’s The Gospel According to Tolkien, gave George the idea for his current class.

“I thought it would be fun to do a course based on this book,” George said. “It was just fascinating to me.”

MU junior Lauren Manring, who took Theology of Tolkien this semester, said she has appreciated the course’s content and professor.

“It’s been a really interesting class,” Manring said. “He’s a really funny professor. He’s so active and so funny and literally knows everything about Lord of the Rings.”

George clearly cared about his students, Manring said.

“He was very interested in student learning,” she said. “He wanted everybody to come to his office hours and would even let us make our own office hours with him because he wanted to know us on an individual basis. He actually cared about what we found interesting outside of class. So he not only paid attention to that, but was such a nice professor. He even had us over at his house and made us dinner one night.”

George’s wife, Meta George, said that this type of behavior is typical of her husband.

“Besides being very intelligent, he really cares about what students are learning,” Meta George said. “I think another thing that makes him a good teacher is that he regards teaching as a two-way street. That is, he learns as much from the students as they learn from him. So they have a good give and take and love for learning.”

Melvin and Meta George met when they were undergraduate students at Northwestern University and have been married since 1958. They have two daughters, Elizabeth George and Margaret Eggenberger, and one granddaughter, Hanna Eggenberger.

“We always go visit for Hanna’s birthday,” Melvin George said. “She’s the only granddaughter we have, so we have to spoil her.”

In addition to traveling to visit family, the Georges have traveled extensively for another one of Melvin George’s passions – penguins.

“I first saw penguins when my wife wanted to go to Patagonia, the southern tip of South America,” Melvin George said. “That was the first time I ever saw penguins on a beach, and they were so adorable and so human in their behavior. So I said to my wife, ‘We’ve got to go see all of the species of penguins in the wild.’”

Over the next 10 years, Melvin and Meta George did just that. The couple traveled to New Zealand, Australia, the Galapagos Islands, Chile, Argentina, the South Georgia Islands, the Falkland Islands and South Africa, eventually reaching their goal of seeing all 17 species of penguin in the wild.

While Melvin George said New Zealand was his favorite place he has traveled in search of the aquatic birds, choosing a favorite species of penguin was an entirely different matter.

“I don’t answer such questions,” Melvin George said with a grin. “I mean, they’re just remarkably adaptable creatures. When you think of the emperor penguins – Antarctica used to be a tropical island, and then it started drifting south, and most of the wildlife left. But not the emperor penguins…their behavior just fascinates me.”

Melvin George’s office in MU’s Ellis Library is brimming with penguin paraphernalia – penguin cards, trinkets and pictures line the perimeter of his desk. A calendar featuring a group of the birds hangs on the room’s left wall; a penguin comic strip, neatly cut out of a piece of yellowing newspaper, is taped up across from it.

Melvin George pointed to a crayon picture of a bird in a large frame next to his computer.

“That’s a penguin drawn for me by my granddaughter,” Melvin George said. “People get me any item associated with penguins. It makes it easy to buy presents for me.”

Melvin George fills what spare time he has when he’s not traveling or teaching with organizations, causes and clubs, Meta George said. Most of them are related to teaching and improving students’ academic experiences.

“I’m passionate about students,” Melvin George said. “My favorite thing about teaching is the contact I have with students. I get very engaged. I find students fascinating and interesting.”

Melvin George said this is what motivates him to continue to teach.

“I want to sit with a student and hear their questions, watch their faces, hear them laugh, that kind of thing,” he said. “For me, they’re a sign of hope for the future.”

By CATHERINE NEWHOUSE

neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com

This year’s Heritage Family Weekend will feature three gospel groups  from St. Louis, a DJ and games in the park on Saturday, May 14, and Sunday, May 15 in Douglass Park.

Bill Thompson, recreation specialist with Columbia Parks and Recreation, said the annual event has been held in the park at the corner of Rogers Street and Providence Road for more than 20 years.

“It kicks off the summer activities for Douglass Park,” Thompson said. “It’s like the opening of Douglass Park for the season.”

The event will begin with a performance by Danny and the Voices of Praise at 4 p.m. Saturday, followed by the Dynamic Silver Wings gospel legends at about 5:15 or 5:30 p.m., Thompson said. Saturday’s music will close with another guest from St. Louis, a younger gospel group.

On Sunday, Annette Driver will DJ from 4 to 8 p.m. Driver is a radio show host at Lincoln University’s KJLU/88.9 FM.

There will also be games, including a horseshoe tournament, dominoes and cards. Balloons will be given away to children, the spraygrounds will be open and sidewalk chalk will be available, Thompson said.

“The family can get together and come out and enjoy the park, and just have a good day in the park,” Thompson said.

WHAT: Heritage Family Weekend
WHEN: 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 14, and Sunday, May 15
WHERE: Douglass Park, on the corner of Rogers Street and Providence Road