CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, October 13, 1905
3A
AmeriCorps initiates new members
Harold Coleman of Kansas City, Mo., moved to Bartle Hall with other members of the AmerCorps to be sworn in by President Clinton. Coleman is part of Youth Net, a Kansas City organization that promotes community involvement.
Tom Leininger / KANSAN
Inductees celebrate their commitments to community service
By Joann Birk
Kansan staff writer
About 400 young men and women took time from helping their communities yesterday to celebrate their induction into AmeriCorps. President Bill Clinton joined them via satellite.
The celebration at Bartle Hall in Kansas City, Mo., was one of many nationwide that inducted about 25,000 people into AmeriCorps, the Clinton administration's national service program. AmeriCorps is a national network of community service organizations, financed by public and private organizations, that focuses on the environment, public safety, human needs and education.
The crowd at Bartle Hall cheered as Clinton appeared on the screen to read the oath for the new group of AmeriCorps members. He told the audience that they were a vital part of his dream of creating a national commitment to community service.
"AmeriCorps should be continued if for no other reason than it proves that the American idea is alive and well," Clinton said.
President Clinton speaking to AmeriCorpsinductives via satellite
AmeriCorps staff members said that KU students and graduates were participating in the program in communities throughout the nation.
Tad Biggerstaff, a KU graduate from St. Louis, started service in AmeriCorps after he graduated in May. He said he had volunteered at Headquarters, 1419 Massachusetts St., while attending KU and wanted to continue his community service.
interesting to learn to help people help themselves," he said.
Biggerstaff and other AmeriCorps members receive other benefits from the program. Full-time members earn minimum wage and are awarded $4,725 when their service is completed to help pay for higher education or vocational training.
"I thought it would be really
Susan Jackson, also a KU graduate, said she was living proof of
how AmeriCorps could help the community and the members. Jackson graduated from KU in 1993 and joined the Peace Corps. After about six months, she joined AmeriCorps' Kansas City group, the Metropolitan Energy Center.
Since her induction into AmeriCorps, Jackson has become a leader. She has assisted in writing a grant for the Environmental Protection Agency and received a full-time staff
position at the Metropolitan Energy Center.
"I think almost everyone would do community service if they had the opportunity," she said. "Ameri-Corps not only gives you the opportunity, but also benefits."
Friday the 13th spooks the superstitious
Its eerie shroud of mishap has scared people for ages
By Craig Lang
Kansan staff writer
If it were up to Michelle Kalatsky's parents, she would not go to class today.
"I was the youngest in the family," she said. "My parents were so protective of me, they never let me out of the house on Friday the 13th."
Because her parents were very superstitious, Kalatsky, Overland Park junior, never went to school on Friday the 13th when she was younger.
All around the world, Friday the 13th has been a day of bad luck. The true origin of this superstition is unknown, but for centuries people have considered it bad luck to start a journey on this day. On Friday, November 13, 1931, the SS Aquitania did not leave the New York dock until well after midnight because of frantic requests and protests from passengers.
At the University of Kansas, the superstition still has a hold on some students.
Watch out!
Ben Johnson, Parsons freshman, said that he was very superstitious, and that he was nervous about experiencing his first Friday the 13th since he had started college.
"I'll watch out for things," he said. "I'll stay away from mirrors. I'll stay away from ladders. You never know about those things."
Peggy Sullivan, child psychiatrist at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said
The origins for the superstitions associated with the number 13 are unknown, although for centuries religions and cultures around the world have viewed 13 as signifying either good or bad luck.
In both French and American cities, most buildings do not have a 13th floor or a room 13.
A Georgia countryside saying is, "Never set a hen on 13 eggs. If you do, only one will hatch."
It is unlucky for 13 people to sit together at a table. If this happens, superstition says one member of the group will die within a year. One of the oldest examples of this is the Last Supper. Judas, the last discipline to join the group, was the 13th man and brought about Jesus' death.
Any children born on the 13th of a month are said to have good luck on anything they set out to do on the 13th of any month.
American soldiers in the Air Force in World War II used to carry in their pockets silver dollars bearing a year whose last two numbers added up to 13, such as 1912 or 1921. The coins were said to act as protective talismans.
She said that although superstitions people were not clinically obsessive-compulsive, their beliefs in superstitions were similar to obsessive-compulsive rituals used to cope with anxieties.
people decreased anxiety with superstitions.
Source: "The Luck Book," by Maria Leach.
"It's a coping mechanism," Sullivan said.
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"It's just like people who have to have coffee first thing in the morning."
Sullivan said that the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th made people able to blame any misfortune they experienced on the unlucky day.
That's what Virginia Downey, Parsons freshman, did her sophomore year in high school. Downey's car was hit while she was in school on a Friday the 13th. The accident was announced to the whole school on the intercom when it was discovered.
Downey said that since that Friday the 13th, she had been more nervous about what would happen on that day, but she had not changed her routine.
Bobby Stumpff, Overland Park junior, said Friday the 13th did not have any effect on him. In fact, he rarely notices when the day comes along.
"I do U'ings as I normally would," she said.
"I'm just more paranoid."
"I usually don't realize its Friday the 13th until the day after," he said. "When I think back, I realize nothing happened."
Kalatsky said she was more nervous about this Friday the 13th because it fell in October, the same month as Halloween.
"Some crazy people could come out," she said. "There will probably be a lot of drinking and a lot of accidents."
Kalatsky said she had inherited her parents' superstitious nature, even though she would not be locking herself in her room.
"I'll just be overcautious, but I can't miss any more classes," she said. "I've missed too many Fridays already."
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Looking Back Looking Ahead
an address by
Charles E. Spahr
Charles E. Spahr, the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Standard Oil Company of Ohio, will be on campus to discuss his career and to encourage students to be optimistic about their futures in today's challenging work environment. His outstanding accomplishments include negotiating a merger with British Petroleum Co. Ltd. and his efforts to construct the Alaska oil pipeline that opened the North Slope oil reserves.
Spahr graduated from KU in 1934 with a degree in civit engineering and was the major contributor to Spahr Engineering Library.
Friday, October 13, 1995
3 p.m.-5 p.m.
106 Green Hall
Students, faculty and staff are invited
This free event is sponsored by Engineering Student Council.
Expect a new attitude!
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