Fridav.March 31.197
5
University Daily Kansan
California bound
Staff Photo by ELI REICHMAN
For the first time in the history of cheerleading, a national champion will be crowned next week in Los Angeles. The KU Spirit Squad was one of five teams selected to participate in the competition. Other squads competing will be the University of Southern California, the University of Florida, the University of North Carolina and the University of Pittsburg.
School provides rugged relaxation
By JERRY JONES
Associate Entertainment Editor
Tired of running the rat race and having the rats break the tape ahead of you? What you need is a change. What you need might be Outward Bound.
Outward Bound is a school, but not in the traditional mode. There are classrooms, but they have no walls. Subjects are taught, but they are not reading, writing and arith-
The classrooms are unspoiled wilderness—the awesome mountains of Colorado, the snow-shrouded evergreen forests of Minnesota, the spectacular canyons of the Southwest, the rugged swells of the North Atlantic. Subjects include safety training, search-and-rescue, first aid and food preagregation techniques.
A standard course length varies from 21 to 28 days. Physical conditioning and instruction is special skills occupies the student for most of the year, and is formally formed to participate in short expeditions.
A solo experience is next. A student may be left to fend for himself on a three-day weekend at an isolated Colorado mountain, or on a remote island on a clear, cold day.
FOLLOWING THE solo excursion, the student joins the group again for a community service project, which might involve teaching school children wilderness skills, clearing trash from public areas or helping fight forest fires. A four-day-long expedition, entirely student planned and led, caps the course.
There are 30 Outward Bound schools worldwide, seven in the United States. Probably the two schools closest to them are in Denver and Wazeta, Minn.
The schools are the creation of the late Kurt Hahn, who was an internationally renowned educator with unconventional ideas. He first applied his ideas to a school he headed in 1920 in Salem, Germany. He supplemented the school's textbooks and classic materials for creative activities and difficult tasks like giving the school its own food on a nearby farm.
Today, in the United States, about 6,000 students attend Outward Bound schools annually. Tuition ranges up to $700. The non-profit school also receives support from grants and foundations, so that nearly 30 percent of the students receive full or partial scholarships.
High school or college level academic credit may be earned, although few schools will recognize these credits. The University of Kansas does not recognize Outward Bound as a school because the program is not accredited.
On the other hand, the Hurricane Island school in Maine is accredited and serves as an internship location.
MARY LOVETT, of the Colorado school, said that credit was accepted by schools on
an individual basis. She listed the University of Colorado in Denver, Washington State University and Pennsylvania State University. The student also received a granted credit for Outward Bound courses.
She also said that Kansas State University recently had made inquiries about her school and was in the process of referring some students to Colorado.
The two closest schools, Minnesota and Colorado, show the diversity of the courses offered by Outward Bound. The courses are designed to build and skills are adjusted to meet the climate.
Minnesota Outward Bound is located in the Superior National Forest, "only a day's paddle from Canada." In the winter, students are introduced to "a snow-covered wilderness inhabited only by meandering moose, hibernating black bear, timber wolves and white tailed deer," according to a brochure.
Students can learn techniques in crosscountry and downhill skiing, snowshoeing and warm winter camping. ice crossings and rescue, emergency care, expedition planning, navigation and shelter construction also are taught.
SUMMER ACTIVITIES include caneing, ropes course training, orienteering, rock climbing, rappelling and ecology. Spring activities provide a fun opportunity for canoeing on white-capped rivers.
The Colorado school uses five mountain ranges throughout the state, plus the rocky
canyons and southeast eastern Utah, to provide a variety of courses, winter and summer. Naturally, mountainaineer, skiing and rapid river rafting are featured there.
Extremely tantaling, too, is the appeal of the rugged terrain available to this school. As the Uabt frontier is described by another brochure, it is 'as complete a country as this country, including some of the last areas to be explored in the Continental U.S.
"VIRTUALLY IN ACCESSIBLE, this country has remained wild; indeed, many of the canyons we travel are completely unknown. The canyons, deserts or high aspen-carved plateau, the bare sandstone towers and pinion pine forests, the harsh dryness and the blossoming of the desert after a spring rain-all are expressive of the contrasts of this unfamiliar land, rarely seen and appreciated."
Now, that sounds like a refreshing change from clusters of apartments, expanding housing developments and monster-sized classrooms. Outward Round student, agreed.
"It's a trip for your mind," he said. "If you go to think, I'm going to Outward Bound to learn outdoor skills, you're not going to get it. You go to learn a different skill."
"If you're going there as a super-jock, you'll be disappointed."
LEO KOTTKE
Appearing with Special Guest John Hammond
Friday, March31 8:00 p.m.
Hoch Auditorium
University of Kansas
Reserved Seats $6.50 & 5.50
Tickets available at SUA box office in the Kansas Union and in Hoch box office at 6:30 the night of the show.
An SUA & Schon Production in cooperation with KY102
The KU Spirit Squad, which has entertained crowds at KU football and basketball games, has been selected to take part in the national cheerleading competition ever held.
KU squad selected for national contest
"WE'RE NOT LIKE the other squads which will be there," Johnson said. "They are 'cheerleaders,' while we are more of a performing group."
"We want to have an identity of our own,
the nobody else in the Big Eight like KU.
The University of Kansas may not have succeeded in the quest for the NCAA basketball championship, but it will have a chance to be a national champion next week.
Johnson said he hoped the competition would encourage more people to become interested in the squad. There is a possibility that next year's squad will be making commercials for some of the sponsors of the competition.
But the judges react to the Spirit Squad's style. Johnson said he was proud of the group and liked being the best at that style of cheerleading.
Johnson's hopes are running high, but a lot depends on how the judges react to KU's style, he said. The crowds at KU are not responsive to the traditional "high school" style of cheerleading, he said, so the Spirit Squad has developed a more physical style. The men use mini-trampolines and do various stunts to entertain the crowd, and the women's routines are similar to dance, he said.
By DICK WADE
Staff Writer
The squad will leave Sunday for Los Angeles and will have three days to prepare for the competition, which is being sponsored by Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Buick. The competition will end April 6 when the contestants' routines are judged in a studio air on GCS April 24, according to Toum son Dogu, coach and sponsor of the KU squad.
The five squads that will compete were picked by International Cheerleading Federation, Inc., which ranks the top 20 squads in the nation each year. This year, however, the top five will have to compete against each other for the No. 1 ranking.
THE KU SQUAD will be competing against the University of Southern California, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia and the University of Pittsburgh.
Johnson, who came to KU two years ago,
said yesterday that the competition would be held in the Los Angeles Sports Arena and a winner would get $10,000 for their school.
Each squail will be required to give a sixminute synopsis of its regular routines, he said, and will be judged a group of 10, consisting of celebrities, athletes and a couple of cheerleading coaches from other schools.
Tourns for next year's squad will be held April 17-29 and he encourages anyone interested to come out even if they do not have gymnastic experience.
THE PROGRAM was organized and will be filmed by Mendelson Productions, which also produces the "Peanuts" specials, tand will be hosted by Phyllis George and Bruce Jenner. Johnson said: Commenting on him will be Cheryl Ladd of "Charlie's Angels."
Some of the personalities who will act as judges are: Cheryl Tiegs, a popular model; Baltimore Colt quarterback Bert Jones; and the creator of the comic strip "Peanuts."
However, the competition isn't all hype and glory for the Spirit Squad, which has been a consistent part of the team.
and 10 women practiced three times a day, spending from two-and-a-half to three hours at each session. Since the break the practices have been cut back to a two to two-and-a-half hour session a day. Johnson said.
YOUR
EDUCATION
DOESN'T
STOP
HERE
Take the Air Force for example. As a commissioned officer we will be required to work with people and systems. You will be expected to perform well, and you will have the opportunity to grow.
Your education doesn't stop with a baccalaureate degree. It begins there. Once you enter the world of work, you will gain valuable experience and really discover what it's all about to use what you learned in college.
You can get there through the Air Force ROTC program. In fact, you have a scholarship plan that will net you $100 monthly tax free and pay for all tuition, books and lab fees. And that will give you to concentrate on your studies so you can get well prepared for whatever you're going to do.
Check it out. Find out how you can get into a "graduate" program like the Air Force. It is a great way to serve your country, and possibly find your formal education extended at Air Force expense as well. "SOPHOMORES: Apply during March for acceptance." You will have the chance to see us immediately. Ask for Capt. Macke, Military Science Building, room 108, or call 864-678-4787.
AIR FORCE
ROTC