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10 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
THE UNIVERSI WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2003
ARTS
Local children get artistic at Spencer Museum of Art
By Jennifer Wellington
jwellington@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
College students aren't the only ones learning something new on campus this summer. For the second summer in a row, the Spencer Museum of Art is holding art appreciation classes for elementary and junior high school children.
The classes, which run every Saturday through July 26, combine art study with hands-on activities. Each week, art students will investigate and discuss selected artwork from the art museum's collection and create art of their own based on the techniques, media and traditions they see, said Kristina Mitchell, educational coordinator for the museum.
Karen Gerety, graduate student in art museum education, is an intern for the summer program.
"Art is a way for me to express myself in some form," she said. "Kids will get a greater knowledge of the history of art and
the world from this program and be able to express themselves too."
Since elementary school, Gerety has had a passion for art, museums, and teaching. She decided to get her graduate degree in art museum education because it combined her loves.
Larry Peeno, deputy executive director of the National Art Education Association, said the arts were for children of all ages.
"They also allow a person to look at a large body of knowledge and synthesize that," he said.
Peeno was a secondary school art teacher for 20 years. He said children came to school with a mental makeup that resembled art, music and physical education activities more than reading, writing and mathematics.
"Arts allow for new ways of doing things. If they think like an artist, they're better off in all activities," he said.
For more information, contact Kristina Mitchell at 864-0137 or kemitch@ku.edu.
—Edited by Kevin Wiggs
KU MED CENTER
Bioterrorism speech begins lecture series at Med Center
By Kevin Wiggs
kwiggs@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., is doing its part to prepare for the possibility of a bioterrorist attack, thanks to funding from an old friend.
"He wants to promote knowledge of current interest, not historic stuff," said Alisa Lange, director of special events for the Med Center.
The Med Center hosted the first annual Colonel Wallace Weber Lectureship on Military and Disaster Medicine on Friday. The series, sponsored by Weber, gives experts in the military and medical field a chance to speak about military and worldwide threat issues.
Weber, who graduated from the KU School of Medicine in 1969, said there was no better place to hold the series than his alma mater.
"There's a time for learning; a time for earning and a time for giving back," he
Weber's lecture addressed the six major bioterrorism agents most likely to be used in a terrorist attack, including anthrax, smallpox and the plague.
said. "Medicine has been good to me and it's payback time."
Representatives from Lawrence Memorial Hospital did not attend. Belinda Rehmer, communications specialist at the hospital, said they had been planning for an emergency terrorist response long before Sept. 11.
Weber's long-time colleague Col. Thomas Clements discussed federal and local response to smallpox.
Weber spent 31 years in the military, including service in the first Gulf War where the threat of a terrorist attack loomed large. He is a director and dermatologist at Heartland Dermatology Center P.A. in Hays.
"We're very up to date with what would be going on in the case of an attack," she said.
- Edited by Amy Kelly
Saju Ng'alla/Kansan
Gaming enthusiasts young and old enjoy a video game tournament at Holcomb Park Community Center. The tournament, held on Saturday, was staffed by members of the Lawrence-Douglas County Promise organization.
RECREATION
Students volunteer time; aid Lawrence community
By Kevin Wiggs
kwiggs@kansan.com
Kansan staffwriter
As the summer rolls along in Lawrence, a few University of Kansas students are doing more than taking summer classes or slacking off. Students like Monaica Vineyard, Wichita senior, use the free time in the summer to volunteer to help the community.
Vineyard and other KU students help out the Lawrence-Douglas County Promise, located in the United Way building, 2518 Ridge Court. The group brings volunteers together and matches their interests with a need in the community.
"Volunteering gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling," said Vineyard, a project assistant and youth advisor with Promise.
"And then it gets addictive," Vineyard said.
The Lawrence-Douglas County Promise is a chapter of America's Promise, which was founded after the Presidents' Summit for America's Future, April 27 to 28,1997, in Philadelphia.
Tomorrow the Lawrence-Douglas County Promise will be supplying volunteers to the Big Pig Roast, an annual fundraising event held by the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence.
The Roast is an all-you-can-eat barbecue held on the lawn of Meadowbrook
Volunteers are still needed and will gain free entry for working a two-hour shift.
Apartments near 15th Street and Crestline Drive. The barbecue will be from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and costs $20 to enter.
The Lawrence-Douglas County Promise sent volunteers, including Vineyard, to a video game tournament hosted by Nathan Loukeges, an employee of the Yellow House, 1904 Massachusetts St. The tournament, held on Saturday, had children and adults, ages 6 to 26, playing Super Smash Bros. Melee to win a Nintendo GameCube.
"Next year I'll have to be more organized. It relies on the help of the volunteers and they've been great," Loukeges said. "But even if it's a mess, the kids still have fun."
Although the kids are enjoying the event,some parents are not.
"It's a living hell," said Erica Bessy, mother of two contestants. "If it was up to me we wouldn't have a TV, but I cut them some slack. I'd rather be at home having a beer."
Despite the parents' misery, the tournament raised nearly $300 for Promise.
Zach Parr, Topeka senior, won the tournament and entertained offers for the prize within minutes.
— Edited by Amy Kelly
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