BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – It has been a decade without seeing the smiling faces of Illinois Wesleyan University students gracing the pages of a yearbook. The last issue of the Wesleyana was printed in 2000, and then discontinued when no one stepped forward to take up the helm.
This year, the Wesleyana returns. The planned 160-page tome with its theme of “restart” is set to be printed in April, with sophomore Cameron Ohlendorf at the head. A business major from Beecher, Ill., Ohlendorf said he felt something was missing on campus without the Wesleyana. “Where is the history of what our classes are doing? There really isn’t one right now,” he said.
Sitting in the sparse Wesleyana office in the Memorial Center, Ohlendorf flops open a 1985 yearbook to answer the question of what inspired him to resurrect the publication. “Those are my parents,” he said, pointing to a smiling couple in the glossy pages. Greg and Melissa (Packard) Ohlendorf were both editors of the Wesleyana when they attended IWU. “They got me interested in yearbooks in high school, and when I got here I figured it was something I could restart,” said Ohlendorf, who notes his parents have been proud of his efforts.