8B • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
FRIDAY.OCT.12.2001
Scholars to be honored before game, at halftime
By Maggie Newcomer
By Maggie Newcomer Kansan correspondent
For most of us, the checklist of things to buy for homecoming includes hamburgers, chips, pop and any other snacks that might come in handy during the tailgate party. One group of students and their families, however, don't have to buy a thing to enjoy pregame festivities.
For the third year, Chancellor Robert Hemenway will honor scholarship winners during halftime of tomorrow's homecoming game and at a buffet before the game.
About 150 winners of the Summerfield, Watkins-Berger, National Achievement, National Hispanic and National Merit Scholarships will attend the event with their families.
"The chancellor will speak, and it's just a good chance for everyone to get to know each other," said Gail Sherron, assistant director of admissions and scholarships.
Recipients of the Summerfield and Watkins-Berger Scholarships are students who graduated from a Kansas high school with a 3.5 grade point average and a 31 or higher on the ACT.
"There are 100 people who get these scholarships," Sherron said. "Fifty boys and 50 girls. The Chancellor's Honors Scholarship Committee decides when the students are seniors in high school."
Jessica Pownell, Newton junior and National Merit Scholar, attended the event last year.
"Basically, we get free tickets to the game and walk across the field," Pownell said. "It's kind of fun, and it's good to see my family and hang out with them for a while."
Seats near the end zone are reserved for the students and their guests.
Mike Wellems, Andover, Minn., freshman and National Merit Scholar, said he looked forward to homecoming.
"It was a big deal at my high
school, so I hope it will be just as big of a deal here," Wellems said. "I hope it will be fun."
Wellems said the University's scholarship programs influenced his decision to come to Lawrence.
"KU was by far the best out of all the schools I looked at in their scholarship program," Wellems said. "For being a National Merit Scholar, KU offers a lot of great opportunities that other schools don't provide."
Each student participating in the event is allowed to invite two family members.
"My mom might come," Wellems said. "She'll have to decide if it's worth the drive all the way from Minnesota."
Sherron said the chancellor also would accompany the students onto the field at halftime.
"This is just something special we like to do for the students," she said.
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Jenny Griffiths, Leawood senior, said she would get more involved if the University offered a mix between Greek and nongreek events.
"I don't really care," Griffiths said. "Our football team stinks, and it's more greek-related."
kim Kardash, a member of Delta Gamma sorority and Overland Park junior, said Greeks attended most of the homecoming events.
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"I don't think that any other parts of the school do anything," Kardash said. "No one cares about homecoming. If I weren't in a sorority, I wouldn't have any idea of what is going on."
One KU student said not much was offered to nongreek students.
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Brian Scott, Chesterfield, Mo., junior, said other schools showed spirit at the football game.
Homecoming week gives students, both past and present, time to renew their school spirit. But in the past, homecoming has left something to be desired for KU students.
By Jennifer Hall Kansan correspondent
Student involvement,spirit lacking at homecoming
"We don't have as much spirit," he said. "Other schools are rowdy. Tailgating does have something to do with it. People love to gather and celebrate
together. We need that here."
Some said they simply did not feel the excitement during the week. Chris Brown, Katy, Texas, junior, said apathy ran high among students. It offered them little to look forward to, he said.
he said.
"It's not like the excitement of a high school homecoming," Brown said. "It's just another game to me."
Hall said the university offered parades, floats, alumni parties and philanthropy as part of the homecoming festivities. Still, Hall said the football game was the highlight of the week.
"The team has not won since I've been here," Hall said. "They don't treat the game any different, but the whole town comes out to see it. The attendance is the highest on homecoming day."
"It should be big," said Ronnie Miller, Milwaukee, Wisc., junior. "It's big at every other school. It's an important part of the festivities. Here, students don't support the team and therefore, it's not hyped up to be fun."
"The attendance is the highest at the football game." Hall said. "Honestly, it is an excuse to have fun. If we win, it's exciting. If not, it's not a big deal."
Other universities are known for their dedication and student support. A Kansas State University student said students took pride and participated in a full week of homecoming activities.
Whatever the reasoning, KU students generally focused their homecoming complaints on the lack of student involvement and spirit.
Other campuses share KU's low levels of homecoming participation. Laura Hall, junior at the University of Miam in Ohio, said her school also lacked homecoming spirit.
"It is good to see the school community coming together and to know that each and every student is proud of the university that they attend," Campbell said.
"Every type of student gets excited about K-State homecoming." said Courtney Campbell, a K-State junior. "The activities work to involve everyone in the spirit of the school."
While K-State has the obvious support of a strong football program, the university also
plans such activities as cookouts, bonfires, parades, community service, rallies and spirit contests. Campbell said that school devotion and homecoming spirit ran high at the university.
Contact Hall at 864-4810
Actress makes U.S. debut on Broadway
The show, already a big success in London, Toronto, Melbourne and elsewhere, appears destined to do just as well in New York when it opens on Thursday, Oct. 18, at the Winter Garden Theatre.
"It always seems like a fairy tale — when you finally arrive — but what they don't see is the 20 years that went into it," the euilbent Pitre said during an interview in her star dressing room at the Winter Garden.
Plus there's the Cinderella quality of its Broadway leading lady, Louise Pitre. The unknown performer (at least unknown in the United States) was plucked from the musical's Canadian company to star in the North American tour and was then chosen earlier this year to open the show in New York.
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NEW YORK — There is more than just two dozen songs by ABBA at the center of Mamma Mia! There are three great roles for women older than 40, a rarity in today's musical theater.
Not only was it Streisand's dressing room, but it was also occupied by Angela Lansbury when she starred in Mame. Past occupants also include all the Griabellas — from Betty Buckley onward — who appeared in Cats during its nearly 18-year run at the Winter Garden.
"This was Barbra Streisand's dressing room — can you believe it?" said Pitre, giggling about the thought that she and the star of Funny Girl shared the same space.
Pitre portrays Donna, a freespirited single mother and former singer, whose grown daughter is about to be married on a Greek island. The girl wants to include her father in the wedding, and there are three possibilities who he might be.
Also invited are two former members of Donna's raucous girl group, the Dynamos, being played on Broadway by two theater veterans: Judy Kaye, best known for her Tony-winning role in The Phantom of the Opera, and Karen Mason, Glenn Close's understudy in Sunset Boulevard and a longtime cabaret performer.
For Mason, used to a cabaret singer's life on the road, Mamma Mia! means she will be able to stay in New York for a while. "As my husband says, 'Be careful what you wish for,' because now I have to be at the theater eight times a week," Mason said. "But we all want to do Broadway."
Both actresses are reveling in their plum assignments, characters that are not exactly ingene roles.
"women get to a certain point in their lives when they are not really wanted very much in show business," Kaye said. "I have always been a character lady of sorts — even the young parts I did growing up."