J
Volume 124 Issue 106
kansan.com
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
CAMDHS
TRAINING DAY
Words by Marshall Schmidt Photo by Travis Young BECOMING BIG AND BABY JAY
The Jayhawk spirit is perhaps best personified by Big Jay and Baby Jay, who can always be found at any major University event. The history and people behind these mascots represent the Jayhawk spirit and give Kansas fans a recognizable face for the University.
"We find that people can relate to them," says Kamille Ratzlaff, mascot coach. "They are celebrities in their own right."
Ratzlaff has coached the mascots for the past three years and served as Baby Jay when she was a student in 2005.
The two mascots appear at seven major sporting events: football, men's and women's basketball, softball, baseball, soccer, and volleyball. In addition, mascots show up at other University functions, weddings, birthday parties, and charity events, which amount to 150 to 200 appearances a year.
In order to fulfill these obligations, three to five people are selected to be each mascot during tryouts. Aside from a willingness to put one's self out there, those playing Big Jay and Baby Jay must meet the height requirements of 6 foot 1 to 6 foot 5 and 4 foot 11 to 5 foot 1, respectively, to fit in the suit.
Maintaining a consistent, novel personality for the mascots is also important.
"Baby Jay has a three-year-old personality. She's mischievous, happy and loves living life," says Ratzlaff. "Big Jay is a college-age guy who thinks he's the most amazing thing. When he tries to get something done, something funny happens and he just rolls with the punches."
In the past few years, the two mascots have made an effort to play together more when entertaining fans. But Big Jay didn't always have a sidekick.
Baby Jay was first introduced as a mascot in 1971. Alumnus Amy Hurst
was the first Baby Jay, and she constructed her own costume, which she even wore at her graduation. However, Big Jay's history is less documented. University archives show the earliest version of a Jayhawk costume at the 1953 homecoming football game.
Tryouts, announced by posters, Facebook or the mascot's Twitter profiles – @kubigjay and @kubabyjay – are held in April.
Candidates are required to create their own themed two-minute skit using audio and props. After performing their prepared skit, they are given music to dance to and scenarios in which they have to improvise.
If selected, the new mascots begin following around the seasoned birds at spring sports games before attending practices during the summer. During the year, the mascots have two-hour practices twice a week, in addition to two workouts with a personal trainer. Practices ensure the mascots review all the same cheers and are consistent no matter who is wearing the suit. It's all worth it. Ratlaff says
"The best time is when little kids come up and hug you," Ratzlaff says.
Even still, when rival fans send taunts and heated words their way, it is difficult for the mascots to stay in character. Walking away is the only option for mascots, no matter how poorly the opposing fans treat them, Ratzlaff says.
For anyone interested in trying out for Big Jay or Baby Jay, Ratzlaff has one piece of advice.
"Be funny," she says. "We can teach you everything else, but we can't teach you to be funny."
25
infuse
estrians
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN HAWK signals have created confu-
place to cross," Woosley said. er times it's pedestrian res, we look at the number vehicles on the road to see if it's ole."
ntucky and Tennessee streets between 7,000 and 10,000 day, a number not surprising by Benson, a nearby resident former University student. he were excited when we saw were putting them in at first see there are so many cars, they just fly by," Benson said. I guess I don't understand they couldn't put up a sign what each signal means."ough puzzling at first, Gaines we would rather the signals be sing than unsafe.
lo like having them there just se it does slow down traffic, see so many people using walking to campus." Gaines "It's definitely better than g someone get run over or thing."
Edited by Max Lush
Changes to MCAT will affect incoming students
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
mschmidt@kansan.com
Freshmen pursuing pre-medical education at the University of Kansas will face a significantly different MCAT on their road to medical school this fall. Although recently announced changes to the MCAT will not affect current pre-medical or medical students, they do reflect a shift in the medical community
"Doctors need to be effectively trained in working with real people and the complex factors they face," said Dr. Jeff Koetje, the Kaplan national director for pre-health programs. "Historically, doctors have been criticized with dealing with patients as organ systems or diseases."
Changes to the MCAT will include more upper-level biology and chemistry to the biosciences, elimination of the writing portion and a new section covering behavior and social sciences. Kojeet said. The added section intends to convey the complexity of factors affecting patients' health, including language, culture, economics, value systems and ethics.
While Koetje cited that 73 percent of surveyed medical school admission officers approve of the change, only 50 percent believe that undergraduate programs will have enough time to make the necessary curriculum changes.
Paul Crosby, pre-medical advisor for the University, is excited for the coming changes but is concerned about the changes to pre-medical
All sections will be longer, lengthening the test from five-and-a-half to seven hours.
"Having custom courses sounds great," Crosby said. "However, it's very expensive, and this would place a great burden on small colleges. Overly specialized courses would not prepare students as well for further learning and other career possibilities."
Heidi Chumley, senior associate dean for medical education at KU Medical Center, sees the changes as long awaited. While medical school admissions will have to recalibrate the weight MCAT scores have on admission standards, Chumley sees other aspects of admission, such as grades, the in-person interview and written answers, as continuing
The MCAT has been part of the medical school admission process for 73 years, and this is the fifth revision of the test. The last changes were made in 1991.
course work.
Last year, 173 KU students applied for medical school. Koetje encourages pre-medical students to keep up to date with changes, which are slated to go into effect in 2015.
"I would encourage students at the University of Kansas to stay tuned and follow along," Koetje said.
Koetje said students can find additional information at kaplan-cat.com, or by following @kaplan on twitter and "liking" Kaplan on facebook.
Edited by Taylor Lewis
"I hope the changes in the MCAT is an opportunity for all institutions to look at more holistic measures for admissions," Chumley said.
to be relevant.
The Kaplan Test Prep surveyed admissions officers at 69 universities with Association of American Medical Colleges accreditation about how the new MCAT format will affect test and medical school preparation. Some of the highlighted results to questions of the survey are given below.
Based on what you know, do you support the recommended changes to the MCAT set for 2015?
— Completely yes: 18%
— Generally yes: 52%
— Generally no: 3%
— Completely no: 0%
— Not sure: 27%
Don't forget
Do you think the changes to the test will better prepare students for medical school?
- Completely yes: 11%
- Generally yes: 62%
CLASSIFIED 11 CRYPTOQUIPS 4 SPORTS 12
CROSSWORD 4 OPION 5 SUDOKU 4
Should pre-med programs revise their curricula in order to sufficiently prepare students for the new MCAT?
- Yes: 67%
- No: 5%
- Not sure: 29%
- Refused to answer: 8%
— Generally no. 9%
— Completely no. 0%
— Not sure: 17%
Which would you say is the most impor
Today is National Pancake Day.
Indulge in a few pancake stacks.
On stacks, on stacks, on stacks...
Which would you say is the most impor-
tant admissions factor?
— MCAT score: 43%
— Undergraduate GPA: 28%
— Relevant experience: 19%
— Interview: 9%
— Letters of recommendation: 2%
— Personal statement: 0%
in contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
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Source: Kaplan Test Prep's 2011 Survey of Medical School Admissions Officers
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