Monday, September 25, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 5
... And the bands played on
The KU marching band leads the procession down Massachusetts Street in the 33rd Annual University of Kansas Band Day parade Saturday. About 50 other marching bands, mostly from Kansas high schools, followed the KU band down the street. All of the bands also performed during the Kansas football game half-time show, despite soggy weather. Photo by Nick Krug/KANSAN
Leah Robinson, St. Louis senior, straightens her daughter's dress. Robinson, an architectural engineering student, often brings her 4-year-old daughter, Annika, with her to the computer lab in Learned Hall. Photo by Selena labra/KANSAN
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Leah Robinson hates to ask for help — especially when it comes to her daughter Annika, who's now nearly 5.
"I brought her into this world, and I will take responsibility for her," said Robinson, St. Louis senior.
Annika is one of Robinson's many responsibilities these days. In addition to being a full-time parent, she also is a full-time architectural engineering student and plans to graduate in December with a B average.
Robinson was 17 when she gave birth to Anmika. The pregnancy was unexpected, but she said she never regretted her decision to raise her daughter.
"I thought about adoption," Robinson said. "When it came down to it — when she was born — she was just such a blessing. My mom was a foster child who was never adopted, and she really swayed me when it came to Anika."
Robinson broke up with her then-boyfriend, Annika's father, during the pregnancy, and he soon ceased to be part of their lives. Even today, Robinson said she had no contact with him and was demanding child support.
Despite this hardship and the fact that many teen mothers never graduate from high school, let alone college, Robinson persevered. She said she never questioned going to college. The closest school with an accredited architectural engineering program was the University of Kansas, and Robinson was soon accepted and enrolled in classes.
"Proximity was very important to me," she said. "And KU has a great program."
Robinson and her parents decided it would be best if Annika stayed in St. Louis with them, which she said was a hard decision.
Friend and fellow engineering student Shree Watson, Independence senior, also has hended a hand. Like Robinson, Watson is a mother. She has a 2-year-old son, and said she and
Her first semester at the University was a difficult one. Everything was fine academically, she said, but the homesickness and missing her daughter took its toll.
Robinson said baby sitters hadn't been too big a problem. Once, when she had to meet with a professor, his wife watched Annika.
"That was really difficult because I felt like I wasn't a mom," she said. "I seemed more like a baby sitter because my mom was doing all the
"I will never hesitate to ask my friends to baby-sit if I need to go to the lab or I have something going on with school," she said. "But I won't ask people to baby-sit if I have a date or something social going on. I don't want to impose."
things with her I should be doing."
need of a baby sitter in the evenings. In addition to working part-time in Lenexa for an engineering firm, Robinson also is an active member of the Society of Woman Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers and the Tae Kwon Do Club.
Robinson said that in Fall 1998, she found her rhythm. She was doing well in school, and things were looking up. She and her mother discussed it, and although her mother didn't know whether it would work, Annika, then nearly 3 years old, came to live with Robinson.
"I missed her," Robinson said. "And I felt like it was my duty to raise her. I wanted to bring my daughter up with my ideals instead of my mother's."
With Annika living with her, life was complicated. Robinson often found herself at Learned Hall, home of the School of Engineering, until the early hours of the morning, with Annika
"She knows her way around Learned better than most freshman," Robinson said.
Despite that Annika attends school during the days. Robinson often has found herself in
Robinson share a special bond.
"She's just someone I can relate to," Watson said. "She works so hard trying to pay for it all. Child care is so expensive. It's also harder for her because she doesn't have her daughter's father there, where I still have my son's father living with me and helping."
Robinson said money was one thing she always worried about.
"I got to the point last year when I didn't want to open bills because I didn't know how I was going to pay them," she said.
Although money is tight, Robinson does have help. She received an architectural scholarship and a minority engineering scholarship. She also receives grants, loans and subsidies that help her make ends meet. Robinson's mother helps out when she can, but Robinson said she never expected help from anyone.
She also never expects special understanding from her professors.
"I've never asked for any special consideration." she said. "I don't want that."
Florence Boldridge, director of diversity programming for the School of Engineering, said Robinson was a very independent woman.
Boldridge would know. She first corresponded with Robinson more than five years ago when Boldridge was looking through her application and decided that because of Robinson's excellent academic record in high school, she was a good candidate for a scholarship.
"She's a single parent, a minority and a female," Boldridge said. "But if you ask her, she would never tell you that those are strikes against her. ... She's a very hard worker and a very strong woman."
Robinson said she wanted to raise her daughter to be a strong woman, too. She said Annika had turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to her.
"I've gained so much from having this child in my life," Robinson said. "I guess I am missing out on doing the things a normal college student is doing, but you really can't miss something you never had. I am definitely happier with her in my life."
— Edited by Erin McDaniel
A wisdom tooth is the most likely tooth to become infected because its location makes it hard
Brahler said that people that had third molars did not need them removed if they grew in healthy and straight.
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Brahier said there were two options to getting wisdom teeth extracted. For impacted teeth, many patients choose surgical
Wisdom teeth can be painful if they decay and cause infections, said George Brahler, Lawrence dentist. And if they are infected, they have to be removed.
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to reach and clean.
"My teeth started hurting so I went to the dentist and he said that all of my teeth were impacted," she said. "My face was swollen because my teeth were infected and growing in sideways."
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He said that in certain situations, it was wise to get wisdom teeth extracted. If wisdom teeth become impacted, meaning there is no room in the mouth for normal growth, or if they become infected, the teeth should be extracted.
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Brahler said many patients rushed into surgery because they thought it would be less painful. He recommended local anesthetic over surgery because it wouldn't interfere with respiration and was cheaper.
Brahler advised students to consult a dentist before deciding to get wisdom teeth removed and to think about their options.
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Katie Kirkman, Springfield, Mo., sophomore, waited too long to get her wisdom teeth pulled, causing her a lot of pain.
removal, which consists of removing the gum tissue that lies over the impacted tooth, then removing the tooth and sewing back up the area. The other option is to take local anesthetics and have the tooth removed while numb but still conscious.
- Computer Diagnostics
Wisdom-tooth removal common for students
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Although most insurance covers the extractions, students without insurance are faced with bills ranging from $200 or more per tooth in a surgical setting compared to about $75 to $100 in a dentist office.
"I got them taken out at home so I could fully recover and have my parents take care of me," Kirkman said. "It's really not that painful if you let yourself recover, if not, it can be painful."
Edited by Erin Adamson
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BARGAIN MATINEES INDICATED BY ()
STADIUM SEATING * ALL DIGITAL
1 Duets * N°1 (1:15 4:10) 7:00, 9:35
2 Bring It On * N°2 (1:50 4:20) 7:15, 9:45
3 Bail * (1:35 4:25) 7:15, 10:05
4 The Watcher * N°3 (1:30 4:30) 7:35, 10:10
5 Woman On Top * N°4 (1:20 4:50) 7:55, 9:40
6 Almost Famous * N°5 (1:00 4:00) 7:30, 9:50
7 Urban Legends/Final Cut * N°6 (1:55 5:00) 7:55, 9:55
8 Almost Famous * N°7 (1:40 4:40) 7:30, 10:10
9 Nurse Belly * N°8 (1:25 4:35) 7:20, 9:50
10 Saving Grace * N°9 (1:45 4:45) 7:40, 10:05
11 What Lies Beneath * N°10 (1:10 4:10) 7:10, 10:00
12 The Cell * N°11 (1:20 4:10) 7:10, 10:00
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Sat & Sun Daily
| | Sat & Sun | Daily |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 Scary Movie * | 2:40 | 4:15; 7:15; 9:45 |
| 2 The Art Of War * | 1:55 | 4:35; 7:05; 9:35 |
| 3 Nutty Professor 2 * | 1:45 | 4:30; 7:05; 9:30 |
| 4 The Way Of The Gun * | 1:45 | 4:30; 7:00; 9:30 |
| 5 The Original Game of Conundrum * | 1:55 | 4:30; 7:00; 9:35 |
| 6 Space Cowboys **(4:50)** | 1:50 | 4:40; 8:00 — |