Volume 126 Issue 24
kansan.com
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
LAW
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Tamara Vitale, an international student from Germany, faces a mess of legal paperwork involving her permanent visa.
Tamara Vitale has spent more than half of her life in Kansas, but when she turned 19 she received the burden of not knowing whether she would be able to remain in the United States.
At 12, she emigrated from Germany with her parents, who obtained work visas, but now, at 25, she is studying at the University for her 11th semester so that she can keep her student visa and stay in the country with her family and friends.
KAITLYN KLEIN
kklein@kansan.com
There were more than 53 million people who came to the United States from abroad in order to work, study or visit last year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Vitale is one of more than 1.5 million international students in the U.S. under a temporary academic visa.
Vitale's family lives in the U.S. legally and started the application process for permanent visas as soon as they arrived — the process takes at least seven years to complete.
When Vitale's seven years were up, she found out that the lawyer handling her paperwork had made an error. She would have to reapply and wait another seven to nine years to obtain her visa. Instead of pursuing her own interests in writing and acting, she needed to pursue a career in law or engineering to stav in the U.S.
Student seeking visa reaches out
Other options that were suggested included becoming famous, investing $1 million in a company or getting married.
Right now she works as a GTA
"It was kind of like being told your future is going to be predetermined." Vitale said. "It's very unsettling."
She said she has rebelled against the idea of pursuing a career that she isn't interested in, but not without trying her options. She was accepted into the University's law program where she spent three days before dropping out, and she also tried pursuing a business major.
"I've always been a more creative person, but I don't have the liberty to do that," Vitale said.
in the Humanities and Western Civilizations department and tries to spend her free time writing or pursuing acting.Her immigration issue has prevented her from focusing on her dreams and has left her considering tough choices.
Kansas is Vitale's home and she said she wants to find a way to stay here within legal means.
"Why should anyone have to do that?" Vitale said. "I feel like it goes against the very fabric of this nation to require someone to get married to stay here."
Edited by James Ogden
"It's upsetting to think that somebody you love would have to leave the life that they've built." Marlowe said.
She hopes that she might become an exception, but is frustrated that her chances of being an exception are greater than the chance of legal immigration reform.
SUPERNOVA
"It doesn't solve the overall national problem that is this wealth of bureaucratic red tape for legal immigrants that makes it so difficult," Vitale said.
Vitale said she doesn't like the idea of marrying to stay in the country even though it's the easiest option, and she has a supportive boyfriend.
Beth Marlowe, Vitale's best friend, feels frustrated with Vitale's situation because it's no fault of her own.
Vitale remains hopeful that a policy change might help her obtain a permanent visa, but she said she understands why politicians wouldn't listen to her because she can't vote.
She wrote to Barack Obama, Joe Biden and all her senators and representatives.
Her visa expires in December 2014. Until then she contemplates her options and hopes that people will take notice of her issue. While illegal immigration reform sparks passionate conversation legal immigration reform is left out of the conversation, Vitale said.
"Everybody pays attention to illegal immigrants and their issues, which is great, but I am a very overlooked demographic," Vitale said.
Ryan Endres, a junior from DeSoto, interned with NASA over the summer and worked in the Jet Propulsion Lab. He helped compile the information the rover, Curiosity, sent back to Earth from Mars.
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
SKY'S THE LIMIT
Engineering student spends summer working on Curiosity rover
CODY KUIPER
ckuiper@kansan.com
Curiosity, the NASA rover exploring Mars, may be over 50 million miles away, but one University student's work has brought it a little closer to Lawrence.
Ryan Endres, a junior aerospace engineering student from DeSoto, spent the past summer in Pasadena, Calif., interning at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and working closely with Curiosity.
Despite being offered an internship at one of the most prestigious scientific institutions in the world, Endres spent much of his time proving to people why a kid from a small town in Kansas deserved to be there.
"The most awesome thing is that people would doubt me," Endres said. "They would be like 'Kansas? That's not a top 25 school.' I heard that so many times. Well no, but there are so many good things about it. KU holds its own very well, and we are producing just as good students."
Endres worked with the Integrated Planning and Execution team for Curiosity, where he helped compile a database for the information the rover was sending back
to NASA from Mars. He learned of the internship through a family friend who was impressed with his work at the University, primarily his work outside the classroom.
Endres' extracurricular activities include being president of Engineers Without Borders at the Uni
versity, involvement with the Self Engineering Leadership Fellows Program, and even running marathons. He said it was these experiences at the University that made him feel qualified to work at the JPL and appreciative of his roots.
"I felt like I be-
tasks, like learning to write in the programming language Python. He said the strain of the job could feel overwhelming at times, but the importance of what he was working on served as inspiration for him.
longed there," Endres said. "I felt like there were aspects of KU that are vital and essential to being a well-rounded person that made me fit in. It was humbling to be there, but it made me realize I'm just as good as everyone else there too, which is pretty cool because there's people at KU who are better than me, so it shows you just how good the University of Kansas is."
"The cool thing about the aerospace engineering industry right
"It really did open up a lot of opportunities for me... It looks really good when I can write 'NASA'...on my resume."
Endres' work with Curiosity required difficult and complicated
RYAN ENDRES
Aerospace engineering student
now is, for us,
when we're at the peak of our careers at 35 or 40 years old, I think we will be sending people to Mars," Endres said. "I want to change the world, and working there gave me the
idea that I could be on that front line of going out and expanding the capacity of humanity"
Bob Lyon, faculty advisor for Engineers Without Borders, has worked with Endres since he was a sophomore. He said the qualities Endres displays within their organization, such as traveling to Bolivia to help make latrines in mountain villages, make him an obvious candidate for such a prestigious internship.
"He really wants to make a difference and build a better world in whatever capacity he can." Lyon said. "He's a real people person who's a real visible member in the School of Engineering, and he's just a real leader and a real servant, too."
Charles Neiss, the program coordinator for the SELF program, reiterated that it shouldn't come as a shock to see Endres working on something like Curiosity.
"He's definitely a student who seeks out and maximizes opportunities and wants to go above and beyond the norm, so it doesn't surprise me he sought out something unique and individual like the experience he had." Neiss said.
Even though his internship and work on Curiosity ended in August. Endres knows it will serve him for much longer.
"It really did open up a lot of op portuities for me," he said. "There's internships I'll apply for this year and my opportunity of getting them, or at least an interview, is definitely greater. It looks really good when I can write 'NASA,' 'Jet Propulsion Lab' and 'Curiosity' on my lab. That's just — wow."
Edited by Emma McElhaney
CAMPUS
KU Common Book program successfully inspires growth
KATIE MCBRIDE
kmcbride@kansan.com
Over the past two years, the KU Common Book program has successfully provided the University with an experience that promotes unity and discussion in the freshman class. As the program continues into its third year, coordinators are considering moving away from the previous type of books chosen, but hope to maintain the same goals.
Sarah Crawford-Parker, director of the Office of First-Year Experience, said it's possible that the 2014 Common Book may end up being written by a deceased author.
If this were the case, the coordinators of the program hope to bring in a speaker "on the same level as the author," said Crawford-Parker.
2012 and 2013 Common Books visited campus following the reading and discussion of the books among the University community.
Crawford-Parker said that an important component of the beginning of the Common Book program was the interaction created with the author. The authors of the
Christina Kerns, project coordinator for the Office of First-Year Experience, said she has found that many students were able to make a much stronger connection to the book and gained a greater understanding after hearing the author's point of view. Hearing from the authors seemed to clarify the goals they tried to achieve through the
writing.
Kerns added that they want the book to be challenging, yet provide resources such as a reader's guide for students to utilize in order to maximize their understanding and engagement with the book.
"We don't want the KU Common Book to seem like something that's forced," Kerns said.
The 2013 Common Book was
CLASSIFIEDS 11 CRYPTOQUIPS 5 SPORTS 12
CROSSWORD 5 OPINION 4 SUDOKU 5
SEE BOOK PAGE 3
Don't forget
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2013 The University Daily Kansan
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