Id te
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
dvance
manag-
Drive,
ing with
internet
y area,
n over
stander can be people that it is e com- > teach deployers
wroteence
nician,ian,
resume
ends to
review
no need
use the
right.
understand
s inform-
"Many
learning
ant that
simple
og post,
ole alter nooping
Twitter d online
moment'
heir peri
nate in his
heared?
What do
why?"
tylor Lewis
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013
PAGE 3
MUSIC
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Genuine Imitation, the University's a cappella group, will be going to the International Competition of Collegiate A Capella semifinals on March 20. It will compete against 216 different teams.
University a cappella group heads to semifinals
REID EGGLESTON
reggleston@kansan.com
Coming off its highest tournament finish since the program's inception 10 years ago, Genuine Imitation, KU's premiere a cappella group is primed for a semifinal showdown on March 20.
The group will compete against the Midwest region's top-five performing clubs in the annual International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella, or ICCA.
The 17-member program defeated other groups across the region last Saturday on its way to a second place finish in the quarter-finals of the ICCA at Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.
Nationally, 216 teams compete in the quarterfinals to master the fields of intonation, blend, soloist performance, choreography and musical arrangement. In a 12-minute routine, Genuine Imitation has made KU history with its now
award-winning mash-up.
"It was overwhelming for sure," he said. "I felt extreme happiness and validation that all the hard work going in really made us into something worth considering for placing."
Chris Salvitch, the group's music director and a junior from Lansing, recalls the moment it won the second place ribbon.
From the chorus of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses to the vocal percussionist who supplied the choir's instrumental-sounding hip-hop and drum beats, all cylinders clicked in rhythm to outlast competitive teams from Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
Andrew Shaw, a member of the group and a junior from Shawnee, likens the ICCA to the competition in the movie "Pitch Perfect," but he acknowledges that the team aspect that is evolved from the music-making process could never be captured on the silver screen
alone.
And members claim group cohesion as the reason for snagging the coveted hardware on Saturday.
"The run we had this year was due to our great soloists," Shaw said. "We've always been good in this area ... but for the first time in Jayhawk history, we grabbed best soloist performance at the competition, a landmark for the future success of Kansas a cappella."
But harmony didn't come without practice. In fact, it was the trials preceding the competition that molded Genuine Imitation into the prize-winning program it has become.
At the beginning of the year, the program lost four veteran members to various commitments. A hole, inconceivable at the time, developed.
"We had auditions halfway through the semester," Salvitch said. "We lost a few people. I can't even imagine what it would have
been like without them. It hasn't been perfect. It's been a learning experience."
Today, they look back on the setback as definitive with four new members on board who helped them defeat the Mizzou squad in Springfield.
"In establishing that bond, it's surprising how the dynamic of the group can change how we individually sing," Salavitch said. "The new people melded into the group. That's one of the biggest reasons we did so well here."
Despite the accolades, members agree that at the core of the experience is the camaraderie. They note that their efforts may have been all for naught had the group lacked the melodic diversity that highlighted the team's strengths.
"It's an interesting mish-mash of people," said Matt Russell, business director of Genuine Imitation and a junior from Topeka. "You get a bunch of different majors. We have
people from all over from different backgrounds. It's a very interesting dynamic. It's fun, but it's fun in a different way."
The group recognizes the workload ahead of them in the runup to the regional semifinal and national competitions. But six-hour weekend'rehearsals and upcoming philanthropic events in Lawrence, Kansas City and Topeka in the next few weeks are aimed to pare down the team's rougher edges.
And with competition on its radar such as a Nebraska squad that, last weekend, accumulated more points than any other team in the nation, this will be a crucial element to fulfilling its search for a satisfying close to the year.
"We're going to have some work to do before then, but I think we can do it," Russell said. "We can go all the way to nationals. All we need is a shot."
— Edited by Jordan Wisdom
POLICE REPORTS
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
- A 25-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1300 block of Vermont Street under suspicion of aggravated robbery and criminal damage to property valued under $1,000. No bond was set.
- A 23-year-old female was arrested Sunday on the 900 block of Iowa Street under suspicion of theft. A $100 bond was paid.
- A 37-year-old male was arrested yesterday on 24 Highway under suspicion of no proof of liability insurance, no proof of vehicle registration and driving while intoxicated. A $525 bond was paid.
● A 32-year-old male was arrested Sunday on the 1300 block of Michigan Way under suspicion of obstructing legal procedures and criminal damage to property valued under $1,000. A $1,000 bond was paid.
— Emily Donovan
REGIONAL Accident hospitalizes Holton cheerleader
HOLTON, Kan. — A northeast Kansas high school cheerleader is expected to undergo at least two more surgeries after her team's van rolled off an icy road and into a ditch.
WIBW-TV reports Christa Merriman already has had surgery to reconstruct her nose after the accident Friday night as she and fellow Holton cheerleaders were coming home from a game. The van carrying Christa, three teammates and their supervisor hit black ice on a bridge just north of Topeka and went into the ditch.
Christa says everyone had their seatbelts on, but she somehow ended up in a storage part of the van.
She was still in the hospital Monday evening and says she will have at least two surgeries to fix fractured vertebrae and a ruptured disk.
Associated Press
NATIONAL
Children's suspensions renew debate over 'zero tolerance'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Waiting in line for the bus, a Pennsylvania kindergarten tells her pals she's going to shoot them with a Hello Kitty toy that makes soap bubbles. In Maryland, a 6-year-old boy pretends his fingers are a gun during a playground game of cops and robbers. In Massachusetts, a 5-year-old boy attending an after-school program makes a gun out of Legos and points it at other students while "simulating the sound of gunfire," as one school official put it.
Some school officials are taking the latter view, suspending or threatening to suspend small children over behavior their parents consider perfectly normal and age-appropriate — even now, with schools in a state of heightened sensitivity following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December.
Kids with active imaginations? Or potential threats to school safety?
The extent to which the Newtown, Conn., shooting might influence educators' disciplinary decisions is unclear. But parents contend administrators are projecting adult fears onto children who know little about the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators, and who certainly pose no threat to anyone.
son, was suspended by Mount Carmel Area School District in eastern Pennsylvania last month for making a "terroristic threat" with the bubble gun. "They're treating them as mini-adults, making them grow up too fast, and robbing them of their imaginations."
"It horrible what they're doing to these kids," said Kelly Guarna, whose 5-year-old daughter, Madi-
"It's horrible what they're doing to these kids. They're treating them as mini-adults..."
KELLY GUARNA Parent of suspended student
Mary Czajkowski, superintendent of Barnstable Public Schools in Hyannis, Mass., acknowledged that Sandy Hook has teachers and parents on edge. But she defended Hyannis West Elementary School's warning to a 5-year-old boy who chased his classmates with a gun held made from plastic building blocks, saying the student didn't listen to the teacher when she told him repeatedly to stop.
"Given the heightened awareness and sensitivity, we must do all that we can to ensure that all students and adults both remain safe and feel safe in schools." Czajkowski said in a statement. "To dismiss or overlook an incident that results in any member of our school community feeling unsafe or threatened would be irresponsible and negligent."
The boy's mother, Sheila Cruz-Cardosa, said school officials are responding irrationally in the wake of Sandy Hook. She said they should be concentrating on "high school kids or kids who are more of a threat, not an innocent 5-year-old who's playing with Legos."
Though Newtown introduces a wrinkle to the debate, the slew of recent high-profile suspensions over perceived threats or weapons infractions has renewed old questions about the wisdom of "zero tolerance" policies.
Conceived as a way to improve school security and maintain consistent discipline and order, zero tolerance was enshrined by a 1994 federal law that required states to mandate a minimum one-year expulsion of any student caught with a firearm on school property. Over the years, many states and school districts expanded zero tolerance to include offenses as varied as fighting, skipping school or arguing with a teacher.
Some experts say there's little evidence that zero tolerance — in which certain infractions compel automatic discipline, usually suspension or expulsion — makes schools safer, and contend the policies leads to increased rates of dropouts and involvement with the juvenile justice system. Supporters respond that zero tolerance is a useful and necessary tool for removing disruptive kids from the classroom, and say any problems stem from its misapplication.
75¢ Off Any Sub
Not Valid with any other offers
1814 W. 23rd
Lance, KS
843-6000
Tuesday is DOUBLE Stamp Day
THE LANGSTON HUGHES VISITING PROFESSORSHIP COMMITTEE
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST
Representation, Prophetic Voices, Popular Culture and the Contested Rhetorical Legacies of the Civil Rights Movement
OCCUPY THIS:POLITICAL
A lecture presented by
DAVID HOLMES
Spring 2013 Langston Hughes Visiting Professor
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 @ 3:30 pm.
in the Kansas Room at the Kansas Union
A reception in the Malott Room will immediately follow