KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2011 / NEWS / 3
GRADUATION
Dreams,legacies and continuing the tradition
The class of 2011 Board of Class Officers selects class banner, motto and gift
BY MAX LUSH mlush@kansan.com
The class of 2011 banner was designed by Dani Hanson, a senior from Balwin City.
The class of 2011 motto created by the Board of Class Officers is "Began with dreams. Created legacies. Continuing the tradition."
The Board of Class Officers is comprised of four executive level members: a president, vicepresident, secretary and treasurer. There are also 12 members who apply to become a part of the senior class advisory board.
The Board decides:
• The class banner*
• The class gift
• The class motto
*This marks the first time the Board elected to choose the banner by staging a competition for University students to design their own.
Key to symbolic elements of the banner according to the designer, Dani Hanson:
1. The motto was created by the Board of Class Officers. The first line demonstrates senior class' aspirations upon coming to the University, the second line demonstrates what the senior class accomplished while at the University. The last line is in present tense to represent what the class will do after graduation.
2. The campus in the background represents leaving the University for the future.
3. The blue sphere represents having the world in front of the senior class.
4. The yellow and blue stripe represents the road to a new life for seniors.
5. The border is meant to allude to the 2008 men's basketball championship, which was won during the class of 2011's freshman year.
6. The black tassle is worn by graduate students.The senior class wanted them to feel that they were a part of the proceedings.
7. The pointed bottom of the banner is to make it appear a more traditional banner.
This year's class gift will be the framing of pictures of available past class banners inside of the Kansas Union. The class of 2011 banner will be displayed larger than the rest, along with the most recent graduating class'banner.
Former class banners
Class of 1873 the first on record.
Class of 2007 banner with their motto: "No longer following footsteps, but making our own."
Banner images provided by KU Memorial Unions
Other past class gifts include:
2009: the flagpole in front of Strong Hall
1956: the bronze Jayhawk statue in front of Strong Hall
1903: a bird bath outside of Lippincot Hall
CAMPUS
- Information provided by Mathew Shepard, vice president of the Board of Class Officers.
Financial literacy programs help ensure graduate success
BY LAURA THOMAS editor@kansan.com
National Financial Literacy Month comes just in time to prepare graduates for financial success. Student Money Management Services at the University of Kansas began its Financial Literacy Project yesterday, a grant-funded campaign intended to educate students on financial decision-making.
Student Money Management Services is a sponsored organization at the University that was developed out of a request from students. They focus on helping students with their finances, ranging from budgeting to dispersing financial aid, and helping students establish how to pay off their bills and loans in a timely manner.
"It's about helping them understand the time value of money." Leticia Gradington, program director of SMMS said. "It's helping them understand the importance of how money works."
Seventy-four percent of students make their money management mistake their freshmen year. Gradington believes that teaching students the significance of financial literacy at a college level, students will understand how things work come graduation.
"Lack of education tends to be a crash-landing," Gradington says. "The subject we are bringing to the table and the things we are talking about are not just things you use today, but things you will use for the rest of your life."
This is why every Monday and Wednesday in April, SMMS is putting on different lunches where students will hear from speakers and learn various tools and techniques that are critical in financial literacy.
Robert Baker, director of education for a nonprofit organization who helps with financial literacy and housing education, knows how important this month is.
"In these particular times, people are worried about what they are going to do when they graduate," Baker said.
Both Baker and Gradington agree that the biggest challenge students face today is paying off loans.
"When you have a bunch of loans from a bunch of different places, it can be such a hodge-podge of repayment," Baker said. "It's really hard to piece it all together when you don't receive the education of how to go about it."
Baker commenced SMMS's Project Financial Literacy by giving a presentation of five ways to maximize post-graduate lifestyle success. His was the first of six that will be given throughout the month.
The second part of the project is the CashCourse Challenge. Students who participate in an online scavenger hunt on the CashCourse website could be entered to win up to $200 in cash giveaways.
SMMS hopes to spread awareness throughout the month of April and reminds students just how important it is to be financially educated.
Edited by Danielle Packer
For more coverage of this story, check out KUJH's newcast today at 4 p.m. on Channel 31.
CAMPUS
Committees discuss ways to help students achieve goals early on
BY CHRISTOPHER HONG chong@kansan.com
A group of steering committees aimed towards maximizing undergraduate and graduate students' success held a town hall meeting in the Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union on Wednesday.
The chairs of the two groups, Energizing the Educational Environment and Elevating Doctoral Education, presented the pre-
changes needed at the undergraduate level. He said building first year experiences, such as using common books and revitalizing learning communities, was necessary.
liminary results of their reports and fielded questions.
"Right now there are problems involved with students who think they are going into professional schools and don't, and then end up leaving the institution as a result."
Chris Haufer, chairman of the Energizing the Educational Environment, focused on the
CHRIS HAUFLER Group chairman
He also emphasized the importance of advising in order to help students graduate in four years at the University of Kansas. He said he wants the University to help students find clear paths to majors and
into professional schools.
"Right now, there are problems involved with students who think they are going into professional schools and don't, and then end
up leaving the institution as a result" Hausler said.
He said this problem could be solved by making the entrance requirements clear and obvious to students during advising.
Haufler also discussed ways to retain students and set clear goals to keep students motivated.
Sara Rosen, chairwoman of the Elevating Doctoral Education group, focused on ways to help graduate students complete their doctoral work, and do so in a timely manner. Rosen said the national rate of students who fail to finish their doctoral degree is 40 to 50 percent. The number is 33 percent at the University, which is lower than the national average. Rosen said properly mentoring graduate students is a highly effective way to keep them in school and help them earn their degrees in a timely manner.
Edited by Corey Thibodeaux
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