/ GRADUATION GUIDE / THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
Wide range of options available for new graduates
BY CLAIRE MCINERNY editor@kansan.com
As some seniors are preparing for jobs and planning their lives after school,some students are experiencing a different scenario the end of college panic.
Four years of classes and one degree later, so.
know what college, e'
college. e'
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er. One opportunity that enables students to make that happen is through Teach for America. Teach For America is a program that allows recent college graduates to teach in public schools in low-income communities. The assignment lasts for two years.
Wiechman spent his two years in Saint Lucia doing community development. He helped a farmers' cooperative develop a grant proposal to get funding for a composting project from the United Nations and also taught reading and music at a school.
The Peace Corps was an attractive option for Wichman because
a way to prolong having to find a job, but rather look at it as a way to find new opportunities and new ways for students to use their passions. She said a lot of politicians who now work in Congress were in the program and are now fighting for education rights.
Gina Littlejohn, the campus
PEACE CORPS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 6
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2011
HEALTH
Hookahs aren't as harmless as you think
BY LAURA ERDALL
ierdall@kansan.com
Kelsey Connolly, a junior from Stilwell, Kan., enjoys the occasional hookah smoking with friends on Massachusetts Street. The atmosphere in the hookah bar is filled with excitement. The room she sits in is decorated with antique hookah pipes and the blissful sound of Indian music rings through her ear drums as the mouthpiece is passed
to her. She wraps her lips around the hookah pipe, filling her lungs to full capacity. When she finally exhales, lungs empty of the mint-tinted smoke. She lowers her body into her seat feeling relaxed and a slight buzz as she pesses the hookah pipe to the next person.
"I only do it once in awhile, so I enjoy it when I do, but I've heard that a single session of hookah smoking can equal up to the volume of smoking a lot of cigarettes,"
Connolly said. "But it is fun and relaxing and it doesn't leave a nasty taste in your mouth."
Many people believe hookah to be less dangerous than cigarette smoking, but experts say that hookah smoking has the same, if not more, harmful effects as cigarette smoking.
The hookah is a water pipe used to smoke specially made tobacco that is available in a variety of flavors. According to the Centers of
Disease Control and Prevention, this traditional smoking method originated in ancient Persia and India and has been used for centuries. However, in the last few decades, hookah smoking has become quite popular on college campuses across the United States.
The charcoal, which is placed at the head of the hookah pipe, is used to light and keep the tobacco burning during the smoking session. Kimber Richter, associate professor of preventive medicine, said that the charcoal produces high levels of
carbon monoxide, which prevents a person from not getting enough oxygen, and therefore makes their heart work harder.
"The myth that water filters out harmful chemicals in hookah isn't true," Richter said. "Even after it has passed through water, the hookah smoke still contains high levels of toxins, it doesn't filter out chemicals, just cools them."
Smoking sessions can last anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on the situation. Edward Ellerbeck, chair of the department for medicine, said that hookah smoking delivers nicotine and is at least as dangerous as cigarette smoke, especially when it comes to secondhand smoke.