ODA students arrived for the first day of classes on Tuesday to find campus both sparkling and welcoming yet also dusty and unfinished. Heavy rains delayed the completion of roads and parking that school staff hoped would have been finalized before the first day of the school’s 95th year. Luckily, it seems that only parking has been disrupted for the week. Students are encouraged to be patient and to drive slowly as the community navigates construction and unfinished parking lots and throughways.

Despite an unfinished campus, however, teachers and classrooms were ready to get started. Faculty have been meeting and working hard to get courses ready to be launched and spaces ready to be occupied.

The ODA student paper, The Bolt, is also ready to get started. This year, the paper hopes to entice students to build their digital footprints by publishing in the Bolt’s online space. Students are encouraged to consider ways the paper’s site can support them in efforts to build their online presence into profiles of creative, thoughtful, and engaged community members.

Published work can include creative pieces, editorials, art work, photography, blogs, and more. Interested students are encouraged to leave a comment after this article with suggestions for content as well as being encouraged to join the staff of the ODA Bolt, a Thursday club.