4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2001
Program sends gifted children to college
KU offers classes,learning opportunity to DukeTip participants
By Mark Hansen
Kansan staff writer
At lunch, a heated discussion arises on what a dinosaur could or couldn't do based on its bone structure — and some of the students are only in seventh grade.
The students are part of DukeTIP, or the Duke talent identification program, a nonprofit organization started 20 years ago at Duke University.
DukeTIP conducts an annual search for gifted seventh-grade students. Most participants score higher than 1050 on the SAT or the ACT equivalent—a higher score than 75 percent of high school seniors. Students can participate for up to four years.
PHOTO BY THAD ALLENBERG
Last year, 2,000 students participated nationally in the program, for which Kansas is one of five host schools.
They spend seven hours in class during the three week program, which is taught by KU graduate teaching assistants. KU
While at KU, the TIP students live in Ellsworth Hall.
KU has had about 350 TIP students on campus this summer.
The classes cover a year-long high school course or a semesterlong college course in three weeks. They receive an evaluation instead of a grade. Course offerings this summer include Shakespeare, architecture, psychology and ecology.
Lynne Lammers, Baldwin, plays the violin during a talent show for DukeTIP fellow students in Ellsworth Hall. DukeTIP, a special course for seventh-grade students who score higher than 1050 on the SAT, crams a year-long high school class into three weeks while they meet at KU.
offers two three-week sessions.
It's not all work for the students. There is no homework, and the schedule is filled with activities.
"Just because they're gifted kids doesn't mean that they're not kids," said Bonnie Blossom, program coordinator who teaches at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Blossom said the program was formed to find out how students learn.
Duke has studied the performance of TIP students and dispelled myths that talent is biological, that boys are better than girls in math and that gifted children are not social.
Blossom has been at the University of Kansas site for seven summers. The University was chosen when program officials were looking for a Midwest location.
Carol Prentice, assistant to the provost, helped bring the program to KU.
For many children, it is a
chance to be with people of their ability for the first time.
"Many have been taught to regurgitate information. Here they learn more about synthesis," Blossom said.
Whitnie Bauer, an eighth grader from Kentucky, said she enjoyed being around the campers.
heads like with my other friends," she said.
Jason Welstead, a high school junior from Omaha, Neb., is participating in the program for his third year. He has made friends from Japan, Korea and Hawaii through the program.
"My parents said in three weeks I came back a new person," he said. "You meet people
from all over."
Hansen can be reached at 864-4810 or writer@kansan.com
Parking at a price: risk-takers ticketed or towed
By Brandy Straw
Kansan staff writer
"Some people take the chance they are not going to get a ticket," said Donna Hultine, assistant director for the Parking Department.
Many students risk spending money every semester paying the Parking Department for parking in the wrong zone or without a permit.
Heather Krasovec, Garden City senior, said she took chances parking in blue or red lots when school was not in session and received a $20 ticket because she violated the posted signs.
Hultine said there was no free parking on campus during the restricted hours posted on the parking signs. Instead, she said students must have a yellow permit and park in the designated yellow parking lots or pay to park at a meter.
Yellow permits cost $75 annually or $45 for one semester.
The department oversells parking permits so having one does not guarantee a parking space, Hultine said.
She said the signs told students the restricted hours and what permit was required to park in each lot. The signs also indicated tow-away zones.
"It's important to read the signs." she said.
Hultine said cars could be towed if they were parked in fire lanes, by fire hydrants or in hand-capped zones. Cars also could be towed if they had three tickets more than 10 business days old.
She said students whose cars had been towed had to pay the $30 tow cost.
Rita Jordan, office specialist for the parking department, said parking officers tried to call car owners before towing a vehicle but could only call if the vehicle was registered with the department.
Hultine said it was important to register all vehicles that might be driven to campus. If a permit
was not displayed, the department would identify the vehicle by its license plate and mail the ticket to whomever the car was registered.
Jordan said the department had about 15 student officers and four full-time officers. The officers check for violators continuously during their shifts and usually give out the most tickets when they are fully staffed and there are not many events on campus.
She said officers gave out warnings during the first week of each semester.
Hultine said the officers should use judgment in the field. She said people who didn't have
a record of tickets or warnings usually would get a warning for first offenses.
Hultine said general tickets for parking without a permit or in a wrong zone cost $20. Meter tickets cost $5 every hour or 20 minutes depending on the time limit at the meter. The meter tickets can add up because the cars can be ticketed repeatedly, Hultine said.
She said the department collected $547,274 in parking fines last year.
Straw can be reached at 864-4810 or writer@kanans.com
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