In tornado's aftermath, OBU campus 'renewal process' continues as new school year begins

SHAWNEE — Uprooted trees, a slew of damaged rooftops and piles of debris are no longer part of the landscape at a private Christian university, but there are plenty of other signs that a tornado barreled through the campus almost four months ago.

These days, neon yellow-clad crew members work in and around buildings on the grounds of Oklahoma Baptist University, where a special construction storage and parking area has been set up. Trucks bearing professionals offering electrical, mechanical, plumbing, carpentry and other services fill numerous parking spots and the sounds of construction fill the air.

OBU President Heath Thomas said an EF-2 tornado may have caused extensive damage, but the worst natural disaster in the university's 113-year history has ushered in a new era at the Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated school. He said OBU has worked hard during what he described as "an important summer" to prepare for students arriving on move-in day on Aug. 19 and for the start of the fall semester on Aug. 23.

"There are really three things that you can do with a disaster like this," Thomas said. "You can raze and rebuild. You can remodel or you can refresh. A lot of our spaces, because of the tornado, need to be remodeled and a good number of our spaces need to be refreshed, so that's where the focus lies. Thankfully, we're not going to have many facilities that we're going to have to tear down."

Thomas said the university is moving forward much like bison, the school's mascot, conduct themselves during a storm.

"One of the things that we know about bison is that whenever a big storm comes, they head straight into it because they know somehow instinctively that if they go straight into the storm, and if they run, they'll come out on the other side quicker," he said.

"I feel like that's exactly what we're doing — instead of running away from our problems, we're going straight into it and we're going to come through to the other side. Honestly, that's the way that God has been really good to us. We've been working very hard and we are going to come back out on the other side, much stronger than what we were before."

More: Oklahoma Baptist University students to return to Shawnee campus for class after tornado

Ongoing effort to 'remodel and refresh' at OBU

Thomas was in the Dallas, Texas, checking in for an annual physical when he learned there was a high probability that OBU would be hit by a storm. He said he checked himself out within 20 minutes and headed back to Oklahoma. The college president arrived on the Shawnee campus shortly after the tornado had pummeled a swath through the school.

Thomas, 47, had become OBU president in January 2020 and he'd led the school through an ice storm and the COVID pandemic. Although he and the university had weathered so much together, he said learning that the campus had sustained extensive damage was a blow.

"It shakes you a little, but the Bison spirit is strong," Thomas said.

He said OBU alumni, current staff and students and other supporters — about 800 people ― came together quickly to assess the damage and work to clear the campus of debris and perform other necessary tasks. He said he couldn't put a price tag on the ongoing repairs and refreshing efforts but it's "going to be in the tens of millions of dollars." The OBU leader said the school has good insurance, but he was happy to report that donations from alumni and other university supporters are being funneled into a tornado relief fund to help pay expenses.

More: Cole, Shawnee, OBU reeling after tornadoes tear across Oklahoma

Thomas said one of the first things he discovered was that almost every building on campus had been impacted by the storm and many of them had sustained roof damage. Once university leaders and first responders made sure that no one on campus was injured or trapped, work immediately began to place temporary coverings over damaged roofs to ward off significant water damage. Recently, the college leader said only two buildings still have temporary coverings, the iconic Raley Chapel and Shawnee Hall, the oldest building on campus which was built in 1915. He said all of the rest of the rooftops have received permanent coverings and repairs, a major milestone in the ongoing refreshing process.

Thomas said other damage included the loss of a significant amount of trees. He said he wasn't sure how many were lost but Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief crews helped with fallen trees and tree limbs. On a brief tour of the OBU campus, Thomas pointed out what looked like sandpits. He said sand was placed in the areas where trees had once flourished. He also pointed out trees with orange ribbons wrapped around the base of the trunk. Thomas said those were the trees that an arborist examined and proclaimed were damaged beyond repair.

Meanwhile, Thomas said there are many buildings on campus that were due for a refresh, and the efforts to rebuild in the tornado's aftermath seemed a prime time to make that happen. He said the school's Wood Science Building was a prime example. On a recent tour, he pointed out construction crews that were working to remodel the building's interior and update labs and other areas where students in the university's inaugural engineering school will have classes.

A future of service for OBU, Shawnee, surrounding communities

Thomas said it's important to remember the tornado that wreaked havoc on the OBU campus also hit other areas of Shawnee and surrounding communities.

Along those lines, he said he's already let it be known that OBU will conduct a series of community service projects in Shawnee throughout the coming school year. It will be an expanded version of what the school has done for many years to come alongside the surrounding community as one of Shawnee's largest employers and stakeholders.

The college president said he informed Shawnee's city manager and other city leaders of the university's plans "because what we want to do is give back."

Shawnee Mayor Ed Bolt said he was impressed to see OBU students out helping with storm recovery in the aftermath of the tornado because the campus had received quite a bit of damage. So, he isn't surprised that Thomas and the OBU campus community will be helping throughout the new school year. He said hundreds of OBU students are already expected to participate in a service project on Aug. 21 in south Shawnee.

"I know everybody across town appreciates that," Bolt said.

Thomas said it is simply a matter of viewing the disaster through a positive lens.

"The reality is, this is a huge opportunity for us and this is what we do as Oklahomans, right? We take tragedy and turn it into a triumph," Thomas said.

"And that's what we're trying to do ― all across the city."

April tornado at OBU by the numbers

OBU tornado recovery

0 ― injuries were reported on campus

1 — OBU's Survivor Tree, grown with seed collected from the Survivor Tree on the grounds of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, escaped unscathed in the tornado. The Survivor Tree on the museum grounds is an American Elm which withstood the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bomb blast.

113 ― The April tornado was the worst natural disaster in the university's 113-year-history.

232 — students graduated on May 20 at an alternate location, First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, after Raley Chapel sustained tornado damage.

For more information about OBU's Tornado Relief Fund or to donate to the fund, go to https://www.okbu.edu/giving/tornado-relief-fund.html.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Baptist University heads into fall semester after tornado