Two Ohio University alumni have provided present and former students with an unconventional way to commemorate their time on campus — by using crayons.
Liz Foreman and Erik Laursen, who married after they met on OU’s campus, created “The Completely Unauthorized Ohio University Coloring Book” and are taking early orders online.
The book is 48 pages long and can be preordered online for $9.95 at oucoloringbook.com. It includes pages that allow users to color the Burrito Buggy, Galbreath Chapel, residence hall rooms and house porches as well as student celebrations on Halloween.
“We’d always thought we wanted to do something fun and cool, both for ourselves, because we like to make stuff, and for OU,” Laursen said. “We met there. We have friends there, and we still like to go back. So much of our lives were formed by our time there.”
The book is complete with jokes that OU students will appreciate, such as a drawing of a fake ID.
“I’d call it a PG-13 coloring book,” Foreman said.
The pair posted the book online this week and said copies would begin shipping by June 6 so they could be used as graduation gifts. They are also considering making copies of the book available at a local bookstore.
Laursen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communications in 1995 and received a master’s degree in telecommunications two years later.
Foreman studied journalism at OU and graduated in 1998.
Foreman was one of the first OU students to focus on online journalism, said Bob Stewart, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, who served as adviser for both Foreman and Laursen and has kept in contact with them since then.
“(The coloring book) doesn’t surprise me,” Stewart said. “They’re both creative people. I think this idea is rich with potential, and I have to believe this is going to be a big-ticket (item).”
Foreman and Laursen said they hope the coloring book will not only provide entertainment for current and past students and faculty but will serve as a reminder to administrators that students do enjoy reminiscing about their years at OU.
“This is one way we could recreate our time there,” Foreman said.
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