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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012
CULTURE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SUA to bus students to Kansas City art museums
ALLYSON MATUREY
amaturey@kansan.com
It's FREE to increase your artistic knowledge! Take a stroll and observe impressive art collections that The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art have to offer. This Sunday, SUA is
"In my opinion, students — myself included — do not take advantage of how close we are to Kansas City and everything the city has to offer," said Bea Tretbar, coordinator of The Fine Arts Committee. "The museums are worth the trip and would be a
taking an afternoon to explore the art scene in Kansas City.
The bus will leave the Kansas Union at 10 a.m. and will return by 6 p.m. To tag along, sign up in the SUA Box Office in the Kansas Union. Tickets are $3 with a Student Saver Card and $5 with a KUID.
great experience for anyone interested."
— Edited by Sarah McCabe
DORM DISTRACTIONS
BRANDON SMITH/KANSAN
Freshman Warren Scipio from Manhattan, Kan., enjoys a fun game of ping pong in the lobby of Oliver Hall. This is one of the many activities offered to pass free time while in the dorms.
CAMPUS
Program aims to help freshmen stay on track
EMMA LEGAULT elegault@kansan.com
Get off to a good start. It's a phrase that echoes through students' ears — freshmen especially — during the first month of school. Between trying to memorize bus schedules, drafting roommate contracts, balancing a social schedule and starting life as an actual college student, the topic of academic success can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, there are several outlets specifically to help freshmen to stay on top of their game in class.
For these students, it can feel like info about KU organizations, volunteering and employment is being thrown at them every direction they turn. "I know where to go for my club meeting on Tuesday," they might think, "but where can I go for academic concerns?"
Last Wednesday, the Mount Oread Scholars (MOS) program hosted an academic success seminar called "Keeping Your A's." According to the Mount Oread Scholars mission, MOS "is a high-ability freshman program that supports engaged students and fosters empowered communities."
The seminar was intended to offer tips on how to bridge the gap between being successful in high school and staying successful in college. Scholars who attended the event received handouts with helpful information and had their questions answered by a panel of upperclassmen who were previous Mount Oread Scholars.
"It mostly reiterated points that my siblings told me, but it was good to hear other perspectives," Brittany Sawelle, MOS freshman, said of the seminar.
Sawtelle said that her main academic concern this year is falling behind in her schoolwork. However, she has set goals to help her focus on keeping current
"[I want to] learn as much as i can," Sawtelle said. "That's why we're here. Also, to not fall behind in my work and to just get through the semester."
with classes.
Another Mount Oread Scholar, Andrew McGrew, felt the student panel was helpful in giving advice.
"It was better having someone closer to my age to get an unbiased opinion." McGrew said.
One topic stressed by the students on the panel was visiting teachers during their office hours in order to get questions answered and to develop a relationship with them.
"I gathered good info about keeping good grades and the importance of getting to know my professors," McGrew said.
McGrew said he was planning to visit his professors before the seminar, but he said that attending the seminar gave him "more confidence" when he went to talk to them last week.
The Academic Achievement Access Center (AAAC) is one place to consider when addressing academic concerns. The AAAC offers academic support with small group tutoring in many first-year, entry-level courses and individual consultations that are tailored to specific needs, such as better time management or better note-taking skills.
"Getting academic support is critical to success," said Maryann Rasnak, director of the AAAC. "The transition, adjustments and differences in demands from high school to college, juggling those responsibilities and the pressure to feel like you're doing your best — that can be extremely stressful, so we help [students] to balance those things."
Students can meet with representatives from the AAAC one time, once a week, on a regular basis or just whenever they need
the extra help.
Alongside the academic support, the AAAC helps students to get connected within KU, whether it is to clubs, organizations, advising or career resources.
"This university has an incredible number of services. We take pride in helping [students] connect," Rasnak said. "We do a great deal of connecting and helping students develop so that they have a lifeline."
No matter the request or the interest, the AAAC is dedicated to becoming that lifeline for students to depend on when they need help.
The AAAC is located in the first floor of Strong Hall and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. To schedule an appointment, students can visit the offices, contact via email at achieve@ku.edu or by phone at (785) 864-4064.
"Our motto used to be: 'any student, any question, any time,' Rasnak said. "We'll do whatever we can do to help that student feel connected."
"What is the big picture? What do you have to do this semester? What do you have to do this week, and 'what do I have to do today?' We'll show them a variety of ways to do that." Rasnak said.
The AAAC will be partnering with the Writing Center to host a workshop, "Planning Your Semester Now," today at 12:30 p.m. in Anschutz Library, room 421. The focus of this workshop is how to create schedules to plan ahead, use academic resources and use different tools to be academically successful.
Rasnak said the upcoming workshop would focus an a few main questions.
Edited by Sarah McCabe
FILM FESTIVAL
Telluride becoming exclusive
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TELLURIDE, Colo. _ Two years ago, a prominent Oscar voter left the Telluride Film Festival's world premiere screening of "The King Speech" and said with certainty that the film would be shortlisted for best picture. At the festival this past weekend, that same voter issued a new prediction: Ben Affleck's "Argo" will be among the finalists for the top Academy Award.
The Telluride festival, which concluded its 39th annual installment on Monday, prides itself on eccentric programming (among the offerings was the nearly three-hour Russian film "Stalker" from 1979) and against-the-grain tributes (the 2012 actor award went to Denmark's Mads Mikkelsen). But in recent years the Labor Day weekend gathering has become something of a herald of awards season success.
In addition to booking the best
In this year's schedule, the programmers partially may have achieved their desire. Though "Argo," a story about the 1980 rescue of State Department employees hiding in Iran during the hostage
It's a record the festival feels conflicted about, as Telluride officials would rather their lineup be more focused on surprises than trophies. "I worry about the time when we don't have 25 Oscar nominations for films playing at the festival," said Gary Meyer, who with Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger directs the festival. "It's not our purpose in life."
picture winner "King's Speech," Telluride programmers over the last few festivals have scheduled the world or North American premiers of "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Artist," "The Descendants," "Black Swan" and "A Separation," all of which either won or were nominated for prominent Academy Awards.
crisis, will leave the mountain resort town with tremendous momentum heading into its Oct. 12 release, the festival did not clarify a clouded awards picture.
In large measure, that's a reflection of the movies Telluride couldn't play, mostly because they weren't finished. Meyer said the festival would have loved to consider Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" and Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," but neither film was completed, the same as with Sacha Gervasi's "Hitchcock," which hasn't yet been added to the 2012 release calendar.
Concerned that the makers of Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" had held too many sneak previews around the country, Telluride programmers declined to invite that film, and they also refused to book the sex surrogate story "The Sessions," which had played in January's Sundance Film Festival.
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