MONDAY,MAY 5,2003
GRADUATION
THEUNIVERSITYDAILYKANSAN 3B
Experience Lawrence before you graduate
Wait! Do not graduate yet. Odds are you have not done everything you need to do in Lawrence before you leave.
In fact, unless you are some type of Larryville aficionado, you are probably not even aware of all this fine town has to offer.
On campus and off. Lawrence is the crème de la crème of college towns, packed with unique bars and restaurants and those all-important nooks and crannies that give a place a certain distinguishable character.
If you are a senior and if you are graduating (many times these two do not go hand in hand), you might wake up one morning in early May and realize that you do not have much time left. Where did it all go? What have you really done the last four (or five or six) years? Gotten drunk at the Hawk, 1340 Ohio St., a million times, put on a couple pounds and watched the first half of a couple of Kansas football games? Carpe diem, my friend. Let this be a guide to the successful completion of your tenure at this beautiful university.
First and foremost, the most obvious of all KU traditions: Every student must attend a men's basketball game.
Yes, there are those misguided students out there who have not taken part in this most glorious event, and no, not having a ticket is not an excuse. Tickets are always available if you want to go, so just do it.
If you graduate from college as a Jayhawk without swaying in perfect harmony with your fellow students while singing the alma mater at Allen Fieldhouse, you are doing yourself a great injustice.
COMMENTARY
"I took it to the extreme," said Paul Bammel, Andover senior. "I was not only a rabid fan, but I was the mascot for a year. I don't feel like I could have left KU without that experience. I wasn't just a Jayhawk. I was the Jayhawk."
Bob Johnson correspondence@kansan.com
Numerous KU traditions can be accomplished on campus.
Before a big game or test, students often rub the nose of a bust such as that of Bob Dole in the Dole Center or the beak of the Jayhawk statue in front of Strong Hall. Phog Allen'seffigy also receives a plethora of
superstitious fans on basketball game days.
John Allen, Overland Park senior, suggests another amusing on-campus activity.
"Every student needs to form a strong uneducated opinion and join at least one protest on campus," Allen said. "You don't have to know what you're talking about. Hell, nobody else knows what they're talking about either."
While these are all safe and conservative actions, some students recommend less conventional ways to make a college experience memorable.
"I've already done this a couple of times, so I can tell you from experience that every student needs to do a naked campus run," said Beau Jackson, Andover senior. "I like to do it before it's too late at night so when I reach the Chi-O fountain, the girls are still up and can enjoy the show."
A college student would be hard-pressed to find a better place to go to school than Lawrence. Make sure you do not leave town before going to a movie at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., or $1 draws night every at Free State Brewery, 636 Massachusetts St., on Wednesday and Thursday or tossing back a few brews with some die-hard alumni at the The Wheel, 507 W. 14th St., on game day.
Head out to Clinton Lake for a day of spring sun and make it a point to explore all of the unique shops, restaurants and bars on Massachusetts Street, most found only one place in the world — Lawrence.
This is only a short list of the best the University and Lawrence have to offer, but the rest you can figure out for yourself. Four years is not much time, so put down this paper and go make the most of the time you have left.
Johnson is an Edmond, Okla. sophomore in journalism and Spanish.
Graduates consider job alternatives
By Marissa Stephenson
correspondence@kansan.com
Kansan correspondent
Jeff Eisenbeis, 2002 graduate thought once he walked down the hill. school would be over for him.
Photo Illustration by John Nowak and Jared Soares/Kansa
Photo Illustration by John Nowak and Jared Soares/Kansan
The state of the economy is making it more difficult for graduates to find jobs.
Many students opt to stay in school to avoid the uncertain job market.
But, after retiring his backpack, the psychology major found out jobs were scarce and the market did not look promising. So Eisenbeis did the only thing he could think of. He came back to the University of Kansas.
"Companies have been downsizing by the hundreds of thousands and some industries are in dire straits," he said.
Harry Shaffer, professor of economics at the University, said he didn't see the job market improving soon.
"Looking back, it was just a way of delving things." Eisenbaeu said.
Ann Hartley, associate director of University Career and Employment Services, said it was a decision she had seen many graduates make.
"Students will tell themselves, 'Oh, there's nothing out there for me. I'll just come back, take classes or go to graduate school,'" Hartley said.
The U.S. Department of Labor projects that between now and 2005, nearly 30 percent of college graduates will be underemployed or unemployed, compared to 19.9 percent in 1990.
As a result, the University's graduate schools report an increasing number of applicants. Kathy Mason, director of College Graduate Admissions, said applications were up.
"I do think that it was partly due to the fact that they couldn't find jobs," she said.
Rachel Smith, director of admissions at the School of Law, said law school applications had skyrocketed 66 percent since 2001.
Not all job fields are facing a tough market. Rita Clifford, associate dean for student affairs at
the University of Kansas Medical Center, said the nursing job market couldn't be better.
"Basically, anyone in our graduating class that wants a job can have one. I know of one senior that just received her seventh job offer," Clifford said.
"The federal government is expecting huge amounts of retirement and are starting to recruit more heavily," Hartley said. "They have competitive pay and good opportunities for advancement."
Hartley said one of her best suggestions to graduating seniors was to consider government jobs.
Hartley said many graduates decided to pursue alternatives such as the Peace Corps and Teach for America. These two year programs give students experience without worrying about a tight job market, plus additional time to decide what jobs are right for them.
Visiting the Career and Employment office on campus can help in job searches. It offers one-on-one appointments, an extensive job-search library, résumé postings and videotaped mock interviews.
Another service on campus, the Career Counseling and Planning Service, also helps students decide what field they want to go into. Although it's geared more toward freshmen and sophomores, Hartley said she often sent seniors to take occupation tests that help students narrow their job focus.
Looking back, Eisenbeis wishes he would have thought more about job searching and internships before he graduated.
"If I could go back in time," he said, "I'd take one of those jobs I thought I didn't want and just try to work my way up."
Graduation traditions evolve over time
Edited by Brandon Gay
By Laura Clark
correspondence@kansan.com
Kansan correspondent
Universities, colleges and high schools have one every year. Some kindergartens even hold one. We've all been through one or another before, so what is so special about the University of Kansas' graduation?
"This is what people look forward to from day one here at KU," said Jennifer Alderdice, director of student programs for the University of Kansas Alumni Association.
Commencement has been a important event at the University since the first one in 1873. Though the University opened its doors in 1866, it took seven years to produce four students worthy of a KU bachelor's degree, according to a story by Brian Drake on the KUHistory.com Web site.
In the University's early days, graduation exercises included a Baccalaureate prayer service, a banquet and Class Day. On this
day, each graduate was required to give a speech on an intellectual topic, such as 1873 valedictorian Flora Richardson's speech on "Uses of Superstition."
During commencement, the graduates walked across a platform in University Hall, now Fraser Hall, to receive sheepskin diplomas.
One of the University's oldest graduation traditions is now defunct, and generally obscure. According to the University Relations Web site, seniors began smoking a peace pipe, sometimes called a senior breakfast pipe, in the very early days of the University. Graduating classes gathered on Commencement day to smoke the pipe and symbolically end past feuding. BJ Pattee, a 1946 graduate and Lawrence resident, said she vaguely remembered the existence of this tradition, but thought that perhaps it was an effort to pay homage to Kansas's Native American heritage.
"I guess they thought it was something neat to do." Pattee said. "I don't know what was in
(the pipe) since I never did it, but they passed it around and everyone took a puff."
Jeff Weinberg, assistant to the chancellor, said there were new traditions.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway and his wife started hosting a brunch at their home for graduates four years ago. Usually about 2,000 people attend the event. The MegaVision in Memorial Stadium is in its third year of use for commencement exercises. Live photographs of graduates walking down the hill are shown on the screen.
Traditions may rise and fall in popularity, but Alderdice and Weinberg agree the most important and famous tradition of the University's commencement, old or new, is the walk down the hill.
Each year family and friends line the sidewalks on the side of Mount Oread to watch the graduation processional into Memorial Stadium.
Kansas seniors have been walking down the hill for years, and into Memorial Stadium since
its construction in the 1920s, but the class of 1950 was the first to pass thorough the Campanile tower on the way.
According to a story on KUHistory.com by John H. McCool, this historic walk occurred months before the tower was completed and a year before it was dedicated. This tradition remains a superstition.
Erin Lockley, Crystal Lake, Ill. senior, said a friend told her that if she walked north through the Campanile before commencement, she wouldn't graduate.
University graduates past and present are united by the enduring traditions involving KU landmarks.
When the Campanile was dedicated in 1951, former Chancellor Deane Malott said the memorial was "a challenge to the future, to those generations of students who will come in succeeding classes, through scores of years, connecting always the ancient past with the distant future."
— Edited by Amber Byarlay
"It's ancient. It's enormous. It 's the only real dinosaur on display in Kansas."
Brad Kemp, Assistant Director of Public Programs KU Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center
KU's awe-inspiring camarasaurs fossil dwarfs the 200,000 visitors who come to the Natural History Museum each year to view this remarkable specimen.
KU First: Invest in Excellence made it possible. Donations to KU First, the University's $500 million fund-raising campaign, paid for the reconstruction and mounting of this rare fossil. Now, visitors can stand tooth to tooth with the past and discover more about life on Earth.
INVEST IN EXCELLENCE