Tuesday, April 3, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
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Section A · Page 3
Senate to announce results at Union
Coalitions to go to own parties
By Brooke Hesler writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
When Student Senate election results come in this year, the first announcement will be made at the Kansas Union, but neither presidential nor vice presidential candidates from Delta Force nor VOICE will be in attendance.
The elections commission is sponsoring the event at the Union. The announcement of the results will be made about 10 p.m. Thursday, April 12, at the English Room in the Kansas Union. Students are invited to attend.
However,VOICE and Delta Force presidential and vice presidential candidates have declined.
"The commission wanted to provide a little more of a formal announcement," said Dustin Johnson, elections commissioner.
Delta Force andVOICE candidates will both attend their respective coalition parties the night results are announced. However,VOICE and Delta Force may send representatives to the event.
Justin Mills, Delta Force presidential candidate, said he wanted to hear the results with his fellow candidates at the Delta Force party.
"It's a big tradition," Mills said.
"We all want to be there together and support each other when the results come in."
Mills added that the event at the Union would make for an awkward situation — with the winning presidential and vice presidential candidate shaking hands with the losing ones.
Bankston agreed. She said she knew from previous experience that emotions ran high on elections night.
Johnson said he didn't understand the reasoning behind that logic.
"I think we're all adults here at the University," Johnson said. "If I were a candidate, I would want the opportunity to be there."
Johnson said the commission wanted to include students who might not feel comfortable attending coalition parties, which were usually held at establishments that served alcohol.
Delta Force hasn't yet decided where its party will be. VOICE's party will be at the Tee Pee in North Lawrence.
"I'm of the opinion that Student Senate elections should include everyone," Johnson said.
Kyle Browning, Delta Force vice president candidate, said.
he thought the ceremony wasn't a good idea.
"You spend all this time working with these people, and you want to spend elections night with them," he said. "That's not the way any election — state or national — works. You spend that night at your victory party."
Hunter Harris,VOICE vice presidential candidate, expressed similar sentiments.
"I feel like we need to be with our candidates," Harris said. "If they win, I want to be there to celebrate with them, and if they lose, I want to be there to console them."
The commission was going to sponsor a similar event last year, Johnson said, but all the candidates declined the invitation. He said the commission originally thought the candidates would attend when the event was scheduled.
Edited by Jason McKee
On-campus day care teaches students, kids
Erica Dresslaer, Wichita senior in early childhood education, plays tag with Paulina Columbo at the Educare childcare program in the Dole Center. Dresslaer is one of 29 undergraduate students who supervise the 31 children at the Educare I and Educare II programs. Photo by Katie Moore/KANSAN
By Andrew Davies writer@kansan.com Kanson staff writer
At the end of the work day, Gina Hartsock gets more out of her job than most folks. She gets hugs.
The Smithville, Mo., graduate student is one of five graduate teaching assistants in the Educare I and II day care centers, which are two of the four day care programs run by the human and family development department.
Hartstock and the other GTAs supervise the 29 undergraduate students in the program and the 31 children in the Educare programs.
Before starting their practicum, undergraduate students shadow the GTAs.
"The coolest thing is, we teach their practicum while we teach these children." Hartsock said.
"They learn very quickly," Teri Varuska, Educare I and II coordinator said. "They have a day or two of training before the semester starts."
The day care centers for children ages 3 months to 6 years consist of the Sunnyside Infants, the Sunnyside Toddler and Educare I.
The program is used for undergraduate students to complete their practicum requirements and to do research, said Dale Walker, faculty director of the preschool and infant-toddler program. The day care facilities are used for research and training for students in early childhood education.
Graduate students and faculty also conduct research in child
development using these programs.
Typically, students in the program start the practicum in their junior years.
Walker said students participate in two or three practica, depending on the the program. The practicum is a certification program that licenses students to teach young children and perform child care until the preschool or kindergarten level, Walker said.
For Becky Blizzard, Overland Park, senior, the best part of the program was the kids she worked with.
"I like to help them learn and watch them develop and grow up," Blizzard said. "I get to be a mom without the responsibility. They're my kids."
Jan Sheldon, director of the
She said these programs cost more than Educare because it is more expensive to care for infants and the larger staff needed for the toddler program.
early childhood programs, said the Sunnyside Infant Program costs parents $480 per month and the Sunnyside Toddler program costs $450 per month.
The Educare program is open to anyone and costs from $315 to $370 a month, depending on the income of the household that the child lives in, Veruska said.
Veruska said the programs use the waiting list for the best use of the class, filling openings with what ages and gender the class lacks.
To enter both programs, parents must fill out applications for their children. The names of the children are placed on a waiting list.
"We maintain a waiting list and fill according to the needs of the classroom," she said. "We fill openings in Sunnyside based on our educational, research and service needs, including the fact that we have tried to reserve approximately one-third of our enrollment in Sunnyside for children with special needs."
Children of both faculty and Lawrence residents use the facilities, which Walker said created a good blend of backgrounds and personalities.
"It serves a diverse group of children, in terms of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as children with and without disabilities," she said.
Stacie Kirk, Lawrence graduate student, said the centers tried to incorporate learning into activities the kids do, such as coloring, learning numbers and pre-literacy skills.
"We just really capitalize on what the child is interested in and use that as a learning experience," she said.
Those are among the skills the centers try to teach the children to prepare them for school, Hartstock said.
"We try to give them all the basics before they go to kindergarten," she said.
Hartocks said she liked making an impact on the children.
"Knowing we make a difference at the end of the day when we hear the 'I love you' and get hugs," she said.
Edited by Brandy Straw
School violence causes future teachers to worry
By Lauren Brandenburg
writer@kansan.com
Kansan still writer
Tracy Lucas joked with friends recently about wanting a bulletproof vest for protection when she graduates with her degree in education.
Lucas, Wichita junior, said the number of threats and acts of school violence didn't bother her in the past, but they did now.
A high school sophomore was shot and killed Friday outside a high school in Gary, Ind. A former student at the school is accused of the shooting. Outside San Diego, Calif., two students were killed and 13 wounded at Santana High School less than a month ago.
But threats of school violence have also hit home in Lawrence.
A student last week found a note in the bathroom at Free State High School, 4700 Overland Drive, that threatened violence, said Lawrence police Sgt. Mike Patrick. The note had no time frame and did not target specific individuals or groups of people or specify what kind of violence, he said.
Only about two weeks before, graffiti that threatened violence was found on a bathroom wall at Southwest Junior High, Pattrick said. He also mentioned a recent incident at Pinckney Elementary in which a student said he would bring a gun to school the next day.
Patrick said the threats seem to be taken more seriously after two students opened fire and killed 12 students and a teacher in the spring of 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
In the wake of the numerous
threats, both at Lawrence schools and around the nation, Lucas said she had to reconsider whether she really wanted to teach.
She decided she did.
"There is a risk in anything you do." Lucas said.
She said she is not too worried about school violence because she plans to teach children in third grade and younger.
Natalie Morrell, Beloit sophomore, said she was not as scared for her safety because she wanted to teach younger grades in a small town. She is concerned, she said, that the students threatening and committing violence at schools seem to be getting younger. She said she cannot keep the incidents straight because so many have occurred.
"They kind of all blend together, but it seems like they're in the bigger schools," she said. "But it sounds like some are coming to the smaller schools."
Mona Ahmed, a Lawrence senior who plans to teach kindergarten through third grade, said she had recently become concerned that elementary schools were part of the trend but that she was more worried about her son's safety. Her son is four years old and attends preschool inside an elementary school.
"I'm more scared for him than myself." Ahmed said.
But she said some of the violence was not surprising after so many children have been repeatedly mistreated and picked on throughout their school years.
"I think a lot of it could be avoided if teachers and parents paid more attention to kids," she said.
Edited by Sydney Wallace
Continued from page 1A
Common backgrounds help form strong bonds
"We're supposed to be servants to the community," he said. "The more connections we have, it's easier to have the resources to put together community service projects."
Haydel said besides focusing on community service, minority chapters differed from "traditional" greek chapters because they were smaller and their members had distinct cultural and ethnic bonds.
He said his chapter, Alpha Phi Alpha, had 11 members, which is similar to most NPHC chapters.
Although their membership is limited, which keeps them from getting enough money to house their chapters, Haydel said the unity of the organizations and the bonds
"We know each other on a personal level," he said. "It's very easy to keep contact because we're friends."
between their members was unhindered.
Common backgrounds may form the strongest link among members of minority chapters, but some minority students have chosen to join houses that don't cater to specific groups.
Sarah Osbern, Alpha sophomore and member of Piper Delta Pi, said because she grew up in a predominantly White town, she felt more comfortable in a "traditional" sorority even though she was Hispanic.
"I just wanted something that fit more with my personality, rather than with my culture or race," she said.
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Edited by Jacob Roddy
3303 Iowa (K-68) · 242-4555
Panelists for the debate are:
PANEUSES for the debate are:
Dr. Barbara Ballard, State of Kansas Representative
Ben Walker, current Student Senate President
Jesse Borion. Public Relations Director for Secretary of State Ron Thornberg
When: Tuesday, April 3, 2001
Where: Ballroom, Kansas Union
Time: 7:00 - 8:00pm
Debate sponsored by the 2001 Elections Commission.
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