FRIDAY,MAY2,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Kellev Weiss/Kansar
Anna Kowalewski, Leavwood junior, is the new president of Asian American Student Union. Kowalewski, who was born in South Korea, was elected by club members Tuesday.
Pastfuels new club leader to fight racism
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
kansas staff writer
She can describe herself in three words.
"Adopted Korean girl," Anna Kowalewski said. "I'm a girl, I'm a minority and I have to deal with these issues."
On Tuesday night, Kowalewski, Leawood junior, became the newest president of the Asian American Student Union. Her decision to work in AASU comes from her experiences growing up in Leawood, where, she said, she struggled with racism and cultural misunderstanding.
"I keep a lot of it inside. It's fuel," she said. "If I wasn't angry about racism, I wouldn't do anything about it."
Born in Pusan, South Korea,
Kowalewski moved to Leawood
when she was 6 months old after she
was adopted by her parents.
Leawood, an affluent Kansas City suburb, offered Kowalewski the opportunity to grow up in a good school system and live in a relatively safe neighborhood.
But Kowalewski said she was never comfortable in her hometown, especially attending private, Catholic school from first through eighth grades.
"She would hear racist jokes," said her mother, Jan Kowalewski. "In grade school she was made fun of a lot because a lot of those kids were naive."
Anna Kowalewski, for her part,
doesn't dwell on it.
"It was not the most tolerant environment," she said.
Going to a public high school provided a more tolerant learning environment. After attending a conference at the University of Kansas, Kowalewski decided that her high
school, Shawnee Mission East, did not have enough Asian representation.
"I still didn't feel like Asian students had a voice," she said. "So my junior year I founded a club for Asian students."
After graduating, Kowalewski came to the University expecting a more diverse environment but found herself segregated once again.
"I lived in Ellsworth and I think there were only two Asian students in the whole dorm," she said. "Coming here was hard."
Kowalewski has wanted to go back to Korea for some time. Though she said she sometimes wondered about her biological family, Kowalewski said that was not why she wanted to visit Korea.
"I want to feel a part of the majority," she said. "And to go shopping."
Because she hasn't been able to go to Korea vet. Kowalewski said she
wanted to create a family atmosphere with AASU.
"When I came here I really wanted to focus on it because it's not just a club," she said. "It's a lifestyle, like a cult or something."
Vinh Nguyen, one of her best friends, said Kowalewski was well suited to lead AASU. Lastyear, when some executive board members resigned, Nguyen said Anna was quick to step up.
"She's internally motivated and has a lot of accountability," he said. "She always has ideas and she's always pushing the envelope."
In the future, Kowalewski said she wanted to go law school and eventually run for public office. For now, though, she's content to continue improving AASU.
Students prepare small aircraft for engineering competition
"I want to take it to another level," she said.
— Edited by Michelle Burhenn
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
In a metal building on the outskirts of Lawrence Airport, 15 aerospace engineering students have been building two radio-controlled aircraft with 6-foot wingspans since November.
Their hard work will pay off this weekend as they travel to Dayton, Ohio, to compete against 44 teams in the Society of Automotive Engineers Aero Design East Competition. The first place team will receive a $1,000 prize.
Malaysia, senior.
The team was unable to complete their airplane before competition last year, said Ganendra Selvaraj, Kuala Lumpur,
"Basically, we're learning off the mistakes they made last year. The motivation is much more because most of us are seniors," Selvaraj said.
Each team has to present a detailed report of its plane's design and construction, detailed drawings of the design and a payload prediction chart.
Carl Johnson, Lawrence senior and team captain, said the two,eight-and-a-half pound airplanes should hold up to 25 pounds in payload - steel weights.
The goal of the competition is to have an aircraft that can lift the most weight.
The two planes are made out of balsa wood, fiberglass, carbon
composite tubes and Monokote, a plastic film that give the wings a blue shine.
Jessica Landes, Kansas City, Mo., senior, spent her summer researching different wings the group could use for the planes.
Landes' research paid off because the team was able to construct two airplanes in a year.
Lance Holly, Omaha, Neb. senior, has been flying model airplanes since he was a young child. He will be the pilot during the competition.
"We've gotten a few flights out. You have to be real ginger with it. It's so heavy with the max payload you're not going to be doing aerobatics," Holly said.
Holly admitted he was nervous after the first test flight with the plane. The team was able to work out the problems.
"The second flight went off without a hitch. I'm real confident about the airplane," Holly said.
Bill Donovon, Osawotomie junior, will serve as the repairman if anything breaks down on the two planes. He said the experience had improved his team building skills and gave him skills that will help him in his career.
"It's good experience to actually get to build something and apply it, rather than crunch numbers which is what we do in the classroom," Donovon said.
— Edited by Leah Shaffer
Ganendra Selvaraj, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia senior, makes adjustments to the propeller of the aerospace students' small-scale biplane. Selvaraj and other University of Kansas students will enter their plane in a national competition next weekend in Dayton, Ohio.The goal of the competition is to have an aircraft that can lift the most weight. The two, eight-and-a-half pound airplanes should hold up to 25 pounds in steel weights.
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