12B the university daily kansan
graduation
monday,may10,2004
The 'Freshman experience': In 2000, students kept journals for the Kansan'. Here's an update on their lives.
The 'Freshman experience Brandon Tobias: One year left
SEPTEMBER2000
Hometown: Osage City
Lives in: Pearson Scholarship Hall
Major: architecture and urban design
Can be found: Playing flag football, listening to alternative and modern rock, trying to learn the piano or in Manhattan visiting his girlfriend.
Farthest destination: Mexico City
Came to KU because: "The money. K-State was too tight."
... Coming from a town of only 3,000, I thought the sheer size of the campus and student body would scare the hell out of me. Quite to the contrary, I have not felt like a "number," a face without a name. Not once.
NOVEMBER 2000
Something I've noticed abut this campus has been bothering me for a while. Being in college, one would think that these young adults, regardless of how conservative/liberal a lifestyle, would exude a sense of self-confidence. Then why, I ask, doesn't anybody look a person in the face as they walk by?
respect for who they are, but also a way to show confidence in yourself. Walking with your head held high is a thing of the past. And why is that?
I can count the number of times somebody looks me in the eye in a day on one hand. And if somebody nods, smiles or gasp) says "hello." I almost fall over from the shock. To me, acknowledging someone on the street is not only a way of showing them
DECEMBER 2000
DECEMBER 2006
Even on a campus of 25,000 people, we sometimes find cliques or sects to be a part of. Thus, we are in our place. I'm a scholarship hall guy. I'm an "archie." I didn't necessarily ask for those labels, but I've accepted
them for what they are: fairly accurate, but still innocuous. Mo matter where they came from before, who they were, how they acted, or what they did, people come to college and are filed away rather quickly and accurately. Frat boys, sorority girls, queers, Bible-beaters or even your "typical" college student is categorized
... Some people could say that
SEE TOBIAS ON PAGE 11B
Andrew Pull: In Costa Rica
SEPTEMBER,2000
Age:18
Age. 18
Hometown: Colfax, N.D.
Lives in: Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall
Major: mechanical engineering
... The people here are friendly,
but it's still quite a culture shock.
I'm not used to seeing so many
"minorities" - North Dakota (or
at least the corner I come from) is
about 98 percent white. ...
I've noticed there's a lot of idealists around here. It bothers me that people would waste so much time on worthless causes.
NOVEMBER 2000
I still don't have a clue what I want to do with my life. But college is really changing some of my
views of life, and I have faith that God is shaping me for the future.
DECEMBER 2000
I get the feeling the editors of the Kansan have been taking out as many of my comments about God as possible. I'm beyond being politically correct.
College has waken me up to God's plan for my life. My newfound faith has changed my speech, my behaviors, my thoughts and my emotions. What greater freshman experience would there be?
MAY 2004 Update: Pull is studying abroad in Costa Rica until July. He will graduate in August. He started college majoring in engineering, spent a year undecided and after a study abroad trip decided on Spanish.
MAY 2004
Q: What has changed since you did the journal entries for the Kansan?
A: Well, a lot. I've changed majors, become more self-confident, and learned a lot about God, the world and human behavior. I've seen a lot of stupid things, but a lot of noble actions as well, and I've caught a little bit of a dream for the future that doesn't have as much to do with money as it used to.
Q: Has your perspective changed at all?
A: Yeah, quite a bit. I realized that I wasn't about to become a contender for the "center of the universe" award, and that this life is super-short.
Marea Judilla: To work for printmaker in N.Y.
SEPTEMBER,2000
Age:18
Lives in: Templin Hall
Hometown: Wichita
Farthest destination: The Philippine Islands
Major: Fine arts and psychology
Came to KU because: "My
Can be found: Singing in the St. Lawrence Choir, at shops on Massachusetts Street, reading art magazines or listening to Lauryn Hill or Miss. Satign.
father taught here many years ago. I was impressed with their art department. We come here to football games and the campus is gorgeous."
Goals for KU: "I want to meet some people very similar and very different from myself,some true friends to connect with,too."
met her to I met a Filipino-Caucasian girl
the other day who I felt I really
connected with [Editor's note:
Rea also has a Filipino-Caucasian
heritage]. She urged me to do
more "self-discovering" in a cultural group, and I was really excited to hear the invitation. It's hard sometimes to make that effort, though. A lot of times I feel cut off from the majority of the Asian population, regardless of my father's background. I often feel labeled as just another white girl.
Today at lunch, I decided that my roommates and I should sit at the nearest and largest table. After a little while, someone made the
comment of how many segregations there were around us. Nearly every table in our section was populated by African-American people.
"They separate themselves and call other people racist," someone said. "Why don't they try to expand from what they know?"
How do I react to that? I feel like part of that comment is directed at me. I grew up surrounded by mostly "white" people, and yet I still take comfort in those type of people now.
Why don't I step out of my comfort zone and try to meet some culturally different people? No matter my effort or thought on the matter, I'll end up being a hypocrite. You can't try to make friends with people simply based on the fact that they look different.
SEE JUDILLA ON PAGE 11B
Wesley Becks: graduated, teaching English in Uzbekistan
SEPTEMBER 2000
Age:19
Hometown: Topeka
Major: political science
Can be found: Clubbing at Tremors, playing basketball, reading Toni Morrison or listening to jazz and classical music.
Farthest destination: Charlotte, N.C.
Came to KU because:"I had no money to go back to Arizona State University."
Goals for KU: "To have as much fun and take as many road trips as possible; write an article for the UDK."
or the UDK.
My classes are all right. I like Politics in Africa the most... I like it because we are learning about a continent the world tends to forget about. We learned the 48 countries and capitals in two weeks.
be right here. I can go home and do free laundry. ... I really miss Arizona State. I've been doing some thinking. I'm still not sure if I'm going to transfer back if I get some scholarships.
I'm kind of glad I'm close to home this year. If something goes down, I can call my dad, and he'll
[KU National Society of Black Engineers] is just different from ASU-NSBE, but that's expected. KU is like a small band. Sometimes I feel as though I'm on the outside looking in. It was like that at ASU, but I became part of the group. I
don't know if I have energy to do it again ...
What frat do I want to become a part of? There's only a few Black frats, and I'm not sure which one I want to join.
NOVEMBER2000
NOVEMBER 2006 I had a presentation in Politics in Africa. WE did all right. It was more interesting than you could imagine. Like a soap opera; corruption, fighting, stealing differing personalities and reasons to be involved ...
I think I found my future job: US/UN envoy to sub-Saharan Africa. I could be man of the year, decade, century and millennium
OK, why am I reading European white male after European white male in Western Civ II? Nothing from any Spaniard or Portuguese? I think racism is still prevalent in education. Shakespeare is required. Scholars "interpret" his writing to be so profound. Sometimes it just sick-
I finally got a job. I'm going to tutor for Upward Bound. The pay is good, but I can only work on day a week. I will be a tutoring in Lawrence ...
DECEMBER 2000
Today is Nov 28. It's a good day. I was hyped for Western Civ because I had to read "The Souls
SEE BECKS ON PAGE 9B