Fall 2018 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine
In her footsteps
Over the past 15 years, two OHIO women have learned from and supported one another and, in recent years, have nurtured their shared Bobcat connection.
Angela Woodward, BSJ '98 | October 29, 2018
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鈥淒id you tell your special teacher?鈥
Anna Bekavac鈥檚 father has asked her that question countless times. The answer? Always 鈥測es.鈥 That special teacher? Kay Dauphin-Falkenhan, BSJ 鈥74, whose role in Bekavac鈥檚 life extends far beyond that of her grade school teacher.
Over the past 15 years, these two OHIO women have learned from and supported one another and, in recent years, have nurtured their shared Bobcat connection.
When Bekavac, BMUS 鈥18, was researching colleges, she reached out to her special teacher turned friend and mentor to ask about a place she had just learned of: 91探花. Before long, Dauphin-Falkenhan was taking Bekavac on her first college visit and herself on a walk down memory lane.
鈥淚 showed her the OHIO campus through my eyes,鈥 Dauphin- Falkenhan says.
Everywhere we went, Kay was talking about how much she loved OHIO,鈥 Bekavac recalls. 鈥淚 wanted to love my college as much as Kay loves OHIO.
Bekavac chose OHIO, following鈥攁t times quite literally鈥攊n Dauphin-Falkenhan鈥檚 footsteps.
When applying for OHIO鈥檚 inaugural class of Margaret Boyd Scholars, Bekavac wrote of Dauphin-Falkenhan in her essay about a woman she looked up to. When she was assigned a room in Bryan Hall, which houses second-year Margaret Boyd Scholars, Bekavac was placed in the same room Dauphin- Falkenhan had occupied.
鈥淲e were the closest we鈥檝e ever been when I went to OHIO,鈥 Bekavac says.
Photo courtesy of Anna Bekavac, BMUS 鈥18
Dauphin-Falkenhan鈥檚 son Justin, BSC 鈥04, graduated from OHIO, but her relationship with Bekavac provided her an opportunity to reconnect more fully with her own experience as an OHIO woman.
鈥淚t was fun to go through it again with Anna, although Anna鈥檚 experience at OU and mine were very different,鈥 Dauphin-Falkenhan says, adding that while she didn鈥檛 feel held back as a woman at OHIO, her professional life was a different story.
鈥淭here were definitely glass ceilings. There were definitely some of the things that the Me Too movement is now addressing,鈥 she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I was so proud of Anna for being chosen for that inaugural group of Margaret Boyd Scholars. I felt very strongly that we had made progress when Anna told me about that.鈥
Now both OHIO graduates, Dauphin-Falkenhan and Bekavac鈥檚 special relationship continues. When Bekavac recently passed her music therapy certification exam, she immediately reached out to her special teacher who, more than 1,000 miles away, was waiting anxiously by the phone.
Read about where other members of the inaugural class of Margaret Boyd Scholars have gone since graduation鈥攁nd how the program helped them get there鈥攅lsewhere in this issue.
Feature photo by Richard Wilson, BSVC 鈥90