4A NEWS
GENERATIONS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
Robinson was a member when he attended the University and lived in the same house as Bales at 1425 Tennessee. Bales said Robinson was always excited to talk about his memories from life
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
in the house.
"I want that to be important in my life as well," Bales said.
Bales said Robinson also enjoyed KU sports. Bales said his grandmother worried
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"I if I was thrilled, then he was ecstatic," Bales said.
that Robinson became too intense during the KU championship game last April.
See a photo gallery of Aaron Bales' KU family at www.kansan.com/ photos
"I've lived here all my life."
Bales, a pre-business major, said he was still not sure about his career path after graduation.
"I'm using my undergraduate years to determine that," Bales said.
Bales said he also would like to spend some time volunteering for children. He said he used to volunteer to help children who needed extra support in an inner city area of Kansas City.
Jason Sneeqas
"I was in a class with 20 kids with a lot of energy," Bales said. "It's a little overwhelming. But here and there, I like to do it, I think people really appreciate having a role model — somebody to be there and helpful."
Jason Sneegas, Lawrence freshman, played football in high school. He was following a family tradition of athleticism. He was also following a family tradition of attending the University, being the fifth generation in his family to do so.
His grandfather, Donald Sneegas, won the javelin throw at the Kansas Relays in 1954 and 1955 and at the Texas Relays in 1954, and he took first place at the Big Seven in 1954.
His great-great grandfather, A.R. "Bert" Kennedy, was captain of the KU football team in 1887, 121 years before Sneegas graduated from high school and decided to follow his family members to the University.
Jason said he chose the University because it offered a good education and because many of his high school friends came to the University.
Sneegas said. "I knew I was going to be a lahawk."
Jason's parents and both sets of grandparents graduated from the University, However, Ruth Anne Sneegas, Jason's mother
and a fourth-generation Jayhawk, said she never pushed him to attend the University. Jason's older brother goes to Western Illinois University and plays baseball.
"The generation thing just happened," Ruth Anne said. "We want what is best for Jason."
Until recently, Jason didn't know much about the generations before his grandparents. He found out about Kennedy, the first generation Jayhawk in his family, during the last year's football season.
Kennedy was the head football coach at the University in the 1900s. After seven seasons, his record was 53-9-4. The 1905 Jayhawker yearbook said the Fall 1904 team was one of the best and Kennedy should be attributed for that. In that single season, the Jayhawks scored 179 total points to opponents' combined 38.
Ruth Anne recalled that her grandmother, Kennedy's daughter, often talked about Kennedy's team play. Ruth Anne said she always enjoyed the small talk between different generations when the family learned about itself.
Ruth Anne said Kennedy coached the undefeated team of 1908, which continued to win until 1909. She said his emphasis on team play and the harmony of the team differentiated him from other coaches at the time.
Ruth Anne said when she went to the University in the '80s, fans wore Jayahawk shirts and supported the KU teams, just like now, when Jason and the Sneegas family enjoy sports seasonal every year.
But she said Baby Jay was more popular then than and more people wore crimson shirts along
with blue.
She said that while Lawrence had expanded west and changed its landscape during the past few decades, the campus and downtown area carried the same atmosphere.
"The character of campus and students have never changed," she said.
Danielle Adam
Danielle Adam. Overland Park freshman, also became the fifth generation in her family to attend the University this fall.
Adam said she always wanted to study at the University because of its nursing program and her family tie to the school.
"Jokingly, they are always like, 'We are Jayhawks,' Adam said. "I knew I was coming here for a long time and I really didn't want to go to anywhere else."
Adam said that though she had been at the University for only a few weeks, she already liked the experience of a big school and enjoyed the diversity, especially in meeting different people.
"I don't think I could go to a small college." Adam said.
Because many of her family members graduated from the University, they were involved in different aspects of campus. Her family donated to the KU Endowment Association campaign and that helped build Eaton Hall, which was dedicated in 2003 as part of the engineering complex.
When the football team played in the Orange Bowl last winter, her grandparents bought seats on a charter plane to Miami and game tickets for the family.
"It was one of the best experiences I've ever had." Adam said.
"What I really need is a team," Adam said. "I've been playing soccer since I was 5. Being on a team is part of my life."
Adam started rowing for the club team at the University this semester. She said she had participated in sports since she was young and had played soccer in high school. She said she suffered many injuries in the sport but always wanted to participate in team sports at the University, so she chose rowing as the next step in her athletic career.
Adam is also following an athletic family tradition. Her great
grandfather Paul James Adam played football at the University in 1929 and her great uncle Jim Mills played for the team in 1960.
ABOVE: Jon Goering/KANSAN LEFT: Contributed Photo
Adam's first regatta, or boat race, is scheduled for Oct. 11 in Moline, Ill. She said she eventually wanted to be on the University's NCAA varsity team.
ABOVE: Jason Sneegas, Lawrence freshman,
became the fifth generation in his family to attend
the University this fall. He said until this year he did not know how far back his family history at the University went.
The other three fifth-generation students are Katherine Barnes, Prairie Village freshman, Jordan Fee, Hutchinson freshman, and Christopher Galle, Overland Park freshman.
LEFT: Sneegas' great great grandfather A.R. "Bert" Kennedy started for two years on the KU football team in the 1880s. He later returned to the school to coach the team, leading the team to an undefeated season in 1908.
Edited by Brenna Hawley
PAKISTAN (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
an insurgency because of the large funding leaders of these movements had.
Schrodt said the war in Afghanistan is different from conventional wars of the past.
Chris Blackstone, St. Louis senior, said students should be more interested and concerned with what's happening.
"The world where we could
"Pakistan isn't given a high enough role," he said. "Iraq has taken most of the attention."
take on countries that would be willing to fight us with the sort of weapons that we have more of than they do — and once they're beat they stay beat, like Japan and Germany stayed beat — that just isn't the case anymore." Schrodt said.
The U.S. has been fighting in Afghanistan since it invaded in 2002. U.S. casualties reached 514 on Monday, according to The Associated Press. President George W. Bush has announced
Chelsea Stieb, Springfield, Mo. freshman, said she attended the forum because of the importance surrounding the current events.
he will redeploy 4,500 troops to Afghanistan by January.
"I feel like I need to know more about it because of the upcoming elections and the importance of what's going on over there," she said.
Edited by Andy Greenhaw
INTERNATIONAL
Russian troops stay put during negotiations
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TBILISI, Georgia — Russia announced Tuesday it would keep 7,600 troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia for the foreseeable future, asserting power in the breakaway regions even as it began a pullout from positions deeper in Georgia.
The Kremlin's plans for a heavy military footprint in the enclaves mock Georgia's hopes that a revised peace agreement will lead to a complete Russian withdrawal from the fractured country at the heart of a bitter fray between Moscow and the West. The deal that emerged from a day of frantic French diplomacy Monday may defuse tension by removing Russian forces from positions they hold in Georgia weeks after last month's war. But it left serious questions unanswered.
After hours of talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised to withdraw all Russian forces from positions outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia within about a month.
Medvedev's pledge seemed like a startling concession from Moscow, which had adamantly claimed to have met its obligations under the cease-fire brokered by Sarkozy last month. As recently as Sunday, Georgia said Russia was reinforcing its positions around a key port
But even as it promises to pull back from positions outside South Ossetia and Abkazia, Russia is strengthening its grip on the separatist regions themselves. That runs counter to Western demands that they remain a part of Georgia and casts a shadow over President Mikhail Saakashvili's hopes of uniting the nation.
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