Volume 125 Issue 34
kansan.com
Monday, October 29, 2012
ACADEMICS
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Christie Van Allen, a senior from Clearwater, works on her undergraduate research project in her lab in Malott. Van Allen is a recipient of an undergraduate grant for her research.
RESEARCH GRANTED
The Undergraduate Research Award helps pique students' interest in research by helping with the costs of their projects
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
mschmidt@kansan.com
Meaghan Moody, a senior from Chicago, hopes to spend spring break working on her senior thesis in London. Studying the Gothic literary period as part of her degree in English, Moody is vying for the Undergraduate Research Award worth $1,000 to fund her trip and expand the scope of her research project.
"I'll be able to have the actual documents in my hands to study." Moody said. "I will be looking at motifs that transcend Gothic literature even in today's literature. It'll provide fascinating context."
John Augusto, Director of Center for Undergraduate Research, said
the UGRA has been around for 25 years at the University. The purpose of the award develops students' interest in research.
"Students do research for a senior thesis, to help them get ready for graduate school or a career or just because they want to discover something new." Augusto said. "The program is for those students, who for a number of reasons, want more from their KU experience than just doing well in the classroom."
With applications due Nov. 16, Augusto hopes more than 30 scholarships will be awarded for the Spring 2013 semester.
Christie Van Allen, a senior from Clearwater, received the award last year. This assisted her project of synthesizing environmentally
friendly organic compound by products.
Van Allen works in the Organic Research for 15 hours per week. Through the application process, Van Allen gained valuable experience in writing research grant proposals that can help her with future funding.
Focusing more time on research and less time working a job is the reason Hunter Finch, a senior from Los Angeles, hopes to receive the UGRA next spring. Finch is already preparing for his sociology senior thesis, which will focus on how
"The UGRA program taught me a lot about preparing my research," Van Allen said. "My hope is to get my work published in part with the other graduate students" research.
masculinum in film has changed since the 1940s.
Casey Pederson, a junior from Clay Center, already spends five hours a week researching in the Clinical Child Psychology Lab. As a UGRA applicant, Pederson hopes to gain more research experience, which is vital for admittance into a graduate psychology program.
"I want to look at different types of aggression and how they correlate to conduct problems in children, and parenting factors that contribute," Pederson said. "The program definitely jumpstarted me to develop my research project."
— Edited by Christy Khamphilay
HEALTH
Balance is key with fall foods
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
mschmidt@kansan.com
With colder temperatures and a abundance of high-calorie seasonable foods, many students find themselves exercising less and eating more. For Lauren Ferris, a graduate student from Shawnee, staying healthy is a trick of avoiding treats during the fall season.
"Fall is my favorite time of the year, and I love pumpkin-flavored food, but it's not always healthy." Ferris said. "So I just make sure to eat in moderation."
When Ferris does indulge in fall treats, she makes sure to balance it out with exercise. And as the weather becomes colder, Ferris notices less students working out at the Ambler Recreation Center, where she works as a KU Fit instructor.
"We start to see lower numbers of participants in the exercise classes because students are busier with schoolwork and involved in group activities," Ferris said.
While students spend more time indoors during fall, they are more likely to eat fattening snacks that come with the holidays, said Ken Sarber, Peer Health Education Adviser for the University.
the pies, candy and other desserts are loaded with unhealthy calories," Sarber said. "But often we forget that a drink like the apple ciders, lattes and hot chocolates can also contain 300 plus calories that can lead to unwanted pounds."
Sarber said a student's visit home is often when these foods are most easily eaten, something Stephen Opskar, a junior from Derby, can relate to.
"I don't keep junk food around, but it's worse when I'm at my parents' house during breaks," Opskar said.
"Most people understand that
Wanting to maintain a healthy diet, Opskar prefers to only buy food that is good for him.
"If you don't have high fat foods around, it's a lot easier not to eat them." Opskar said.
Opskar stays fit by lifting weights every day as well as biking to campus, which becomes more difficult during the winter months.
So as long as students continue exercising, Ferris said eating a few trick-or-treats should not be a concern.
"It's OK to have a candy bar, just don't have six," Ferris said. "It's all about balancing your diet."
- Edited by Christy Khamphilay
COMMUNITY
Sources: Harvard Medical School. US Department of Agriculture, supertracker.usda.gov and starbucks.com
Teach for America looking for diverse applicants for program
GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
Teach for America places college graduates in teaching jobs in low-income areas, and the TFA student group on campus is recruiting graduating seniors. Applicants do not need education degrees to participate in Teach for America.
Only one in 10 students from a low-income background will graduate from college. Eight in 10 other students will.
That statistic comes from Teach for America, an organization that wants to change the odds for disadvantaged students.
Junior Megan McCloskey, a TFA campus campaign coordinator, said the ideal teacher for Teach for America is a recent college graduate with a high GPA and a leadership presence on campus. The students TFA hires sign a two-year commitment to the program.
Teach for America wants to raise students' standardized test scores and hire teachers who want the challenge of teaching in low-income areas.
"We feel as though if you can lead a group on campus, then that leadership will really help you in the classroom," McCloskey said.
The organization seeks a broad
range of applicants. Hired teachers complete a summer training program focusing on strategies for teaching students from low-income backgrounds. TFA has five application deadlines for graduating college students throughout the year, with the next one on Nov. 2.
TFA serves 750,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students in 46 low-income regions across the United States. Suraj Keshary, a senior from Overland Park and a TFA campus campaign coordinator, said the organization's goal is to prepare students for college. However, teachers can encounter demanding work while helping
students improve in their academics. One of the most difficult problems is just getting students to read at grade level.
"At these schools, it to the point where you could have a ninth grader at a third grader's reading level," Keshary said.
"Many classrooms, you are meeting students who have layers
Teach for America evaluates its teachers based on how much their students improve in reading skills and standardized test scores. Since teachers have only one year with a student, showing any sort of improvement, however minimal, is success.
and layers of lack of confidence or maybe a distance that they keep from teachers because school has not been a warm and welcoming place at times," said Candace Potter, Kansas and Missouri's recruitment manager for TFA.
Potter said when she taught for TFA for two years in Memphis, her students' reading level improved by more than a grade level. She said every Teach for America corps member tracks the data in his or her classroom in terms of their students' mastery, reading levels and writing levels.
"My first year in the classroom,
on average, my students had 2.3
- Edited by Christy Khamphilay
For more information, visit
http://www.teachforamerica.org/
years reading growth, which means they didn't just improve one year, but they improved 2.3."
Source: Teach for America