A day of celebration at K-College
Sunday, June 16, 2002
BY NATE DEGRAFF
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
It's not like Diana Okuniewski didn't distinguish herself at Kalamazoo College.
After all, the Kalamazoo resident received a prestigious scholarship, played four years of volleyball and was accepted to medical school. But as she made her way down the campus quadrangle with the other seniors at K-College's 166th commencement ceremony Saturday, her father, Paul, couldn't resist a chiding remark.
"Hey Di," he yelled. "They let you graduate?"
Knowing her father's friendly intentions, Diana Okuniewski just smiled and waved.
"It's an exciting thing. They want to know you're here for them," Paul Okuniewski said, smiling.
Like all commencements, the ceremony was bittersweet for the graduates.
Brendan Carroll recalled "sledding in the quad in their underwear" as he gathered with other graduates before the ceremony.
"That was a senior bonding moment," added Hallie Falquet.
But this year's 367 graduates faced more than exams and papers. The remembrance of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the symbolic graduation of Margaret Wardle, who was shot to death as a sophomore in the fall of 1999, added weight to a light-hearted day.
Before the full commencement ceremony, Wardle's parents received a bachelor of arts degree for their daughter. During the ceremony, when provost Gregory S. Mahler announced Margaret Wardle's name, the assembled masses gave a long applause.
Wardle was shot by another K-College student, Neenef Odah, who then shot himself. Odah and Wardle had been dating, but were not when the murder-suicide occurred.
Discussing the gesture, Hope Reynolds, a friend of Wardle's who graduated Saturday, said: "It was a beautiful, touching moment when they remembered her. I know she's in a better place."
Among those cheering for the graduates were K-College juniors Paul Natonek and Richard Jones.
When Mahler called their friend and comedy group partner, Adam Karell, to the stage, he received a long honk from an aerosol blowhorn, drawing chuckles from the audience.
"We thought we'd give him a boost," said Jones.
Natonek, scheduled to graduate in 2003, appeared wistful as he looked forward to next year's ceremony.
"I'm hoping that someone will bring me a horn," he said.
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Slain K-College student
will get her B.A. degree
Friday, June 14, 2002
BY LYNN TURNER
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
In a small, private gathering before the full commencement ceremony is to be held, Kalamazoo College administrators and some faculty will present a bachelor of arts degree to the parents of Margaret "Maggie" Wardle, who would have graduated Saturday with the Class of '02.
Wardle, 19, was a sophomore when she was killed October 18, 1999, by another student at the college, Neenef Odah, 20, a junior from Seattle. Odah shot her to death and then turned the gun on himself.
"All of the students participating in the graduation ceremony will be wearing white carnations in remembrance of Maggie," said Danny Sledge, dean of students. "Provost (Greg) Mahler will read her name during the regular alphabet-order reading of names during the ceremony itself and there will be a moment of silence and then the ceremony will continue."
Flowers will also be placed on a wooden bench dedicated in Wardle's memory near Stetson Chapel, he said.
Administrators and faculty recommended that Wardle be awarded her degree posthumously. It came after a request by Wardle's parents last fall.
"It's a degree that Maggie would have earned if she had lived to complete her education at the college," Sledge said.
The ceremony will be bittersweet for her relatives.
"We knew we'd be at K-College on this date as spectators, as proud parents celebrating her culmination of work for the last four years," said Rick Omilian, Wardle's stepfather. "This was the last thing she had planned out in her life."
The event will not be happening as originally planned, but the family will be there.
"We look forward to it but it's going to be hard," said Omilian.
In addition to Omilian and his wife, Martha, Wardle's mother, Bob, Wardle's father and his wife, Sandi, will be in attendance, along with other relatives.
"Maggie would have gotten this degree anyway," said Susan Omilian, Wardle's aunt, who lives in Connecticut and plans to attend the ceremony. "I hope it will be a healing event for all of us, but it will be sad too."
Wardle, who had not declared a major at K-College, was leaning toward going to law school after graduation, family members said. She would have been outraged if something like this would have happened to one of her friends, they said.
After the murder-suicide, Kalamazoo College hired someone to oversee issues of particular concern to women on campus, Sledge said.
"In addition, I think there's a heightened interest in the topics," which have included educating students on healthy relationships, he said.
Wardle and Odah had dated but were not a couple at the time of the murder-suicide, although police said jealousy was thought to be a factor. After her death, Wardle's family came to realize that Odah had been stalking her after their break-up.
Late on October 17, 1999, Odah asked her to proofread a paper in his dorm room. Just past midnight, both were dead.
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