Luckily for me and everyone else, we live on a beautiful campus that is surrounded by nature. After a long day of classes and homework, I usually take a short walk to relax and digest my dinner. I have found that walking helps me tremendously and gives me more energy to finish my homework at night. Based on my experience, I present a small collection of pictures to show the beauty of nature around Jewell. 

The first walk I recommend starts at  the bottom of William Jewell College’s infamous long and steep stairs. Instead of walking up the stairs, you can take a right turn about halfway up and follow the sidewalk. This direction leads you to a small but pretty trail right behind the old science building – Marston. Across from Marston, you can find a small brick building – the Pryor Leadership Building. If you have time during working hours, you can stop by for a short self-tour. It is truly a nice, old mid-western building with great views outside the big windows. 

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Sadly, the part that leads you all the way up to the entrance of White Science Center is currently closed. However, that part of the trail will be open soon as the construction finishes next year. 

If you decide to go up the stairs instead of turning right, you will walk up the long stairs until you reach Jewell Hall. Standing at the top of the stairs, you can find yourself witnessing a breathtaking sunset and the Kansas City skyline in the distance over the trees. From there, you can take a loop around the Quad and enjoy the green grass and trees. This might be a boring walk for us students as we walk on the Quad to go to our classes everyday. However, if you have a visitor, they might be appreciative of taking a short tour of our main buildings around the Quad. 

Away from the main academic buildings, students will find a walk from the Union to the upperclassmen dorms. You first will encounter the Grand  River Chapel that lays a bit higher on a small hill. This is my favorite spot at Jewell because there are always colorful flowers with bees and butterflies. Next to the chapel is a small and old-looking water fountain. Thanks to our landscapers, the flowers are always blooming and the water is always crystal clear in the summer and fall seasons. Sometimes, I feel like I am lost in a secret garden, where I can listen to the relaxing sound of the water falling and enjoy looking at the busy bees stopping by those beautiful flowers. 

Facing away from the front of the Chapel, you can find an old school house and a swing if you look to the far right. I have heard that the school house is an original building for a school in Liberty. It is kept intact to represent the reality of the past – so much so that when I walked in, I found myself going back in time and attending classes in that small school house. The wooden swing next to the school house, despite its ordinary looks, is believed to hold a powerful spell that affects romantic couples. There is a long-lived tale saying that if a couple sits on the swing, they will be “stuck” with each other for their entire life. I think it is time for Jewell students to test the accuracy again!

I have introduced all of my favorite walking routes at Jewell. Maybe now, you can share yours  by writing an article for the Hilltop?

Not all sorority members necessarily qualify as Walkers, however.  Through the little research we have, one potential theory is that a select group has been infected by a mysterious plague that causes the subject to be spontaneously compelled to walk away from the sorority complex at inopportune times.  Symptoms are similar to the dancing plague of medieval Europe, in which those affected would dance until they collapsed from exhaustion.  Similarly, these sorority women are compelled to live far away from campus and walk long distances every day.  As of yet, there are no cases of collapse, but Campus Safety is carefully monitoring their behavior regardless.

Even then, other theorists have suggested that if a virus had really taken hold of Shumaker Hall, all women living there should be affected.  Those who drive to school are either naturally immune to the plague or—perhaps more reasonably—simply do not wish to climb the Hill.  Some studies have shown that the act of walking up might be completely voluntary, even though Shumaker is nearly a kilometer away from the Quad.  In any case, some groups of women among the Walkers often carry cell phones by their side, and have started using a tracking device known as “Pokémon Go” to chart their progress.  We are not yet sure if the two acts are correlated.

Whether it is caused by a disease or by sheer recklessness, more and more women in Shumaker Hall are opting to walk.  Progress on their reasoning has been incredibly slow, and the odd phenomenon is spreading at an alarming rate.

Any attempt at an interview was promptly refused, only for the sorority sister to continue with her mysterious walking.  We are left only with this cryptic code commonly left by Walkers.

“I wish I could stay and chat, but I have a 7:45. Talk to you later!”