UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, November 22,1993
9
Nontraditional students face challenges
Some find they need assistance balancing classes, kids and jobs
By Colleen Ryckert
Special to the Kansan
The world of a nontraditional student is filled with unique responsibilities. Many worry about child care, juggle full-time jobs with study time and often have difficulty building a social life.
One of their beacons in this tumultuous world is the Student Assistance Center.
More than just an information booth, the center offers direction in finding adequate child care options suggestions for improving time-management skills and help in building an academic social life around a tight schedule.
A nontraditional student is defined as anyone who is married, has children, commutes, is a veteran or who is more than four years older than other student peers.
Lorna Zimmer, director of the center, said the purpose of the center was
to improve the quality of life for all students.
"We try to look at the whole picture and see the problems the way real people see them, not the way a bureaucracy does," Zimmer said.
One of the concerns student parents have is finding reliable child care. Student parents often miss classes because they need to stay home with children.
Zimmer is a member of the vice chancellor's task force for child care. The task force was established this year to identify the most important child care needs and propose some affordable solutions.The task force is made up of students, faculty and administrators.
The task force is studying the child care programs of other comparable universities and is planning to conduct a phone survey of KU parents to find out their concerns. They hope to have a proposal within the next year.
Parents can get help by using a directory at the center. Several child care centers in the Lawrence area are listed with the center.
Even without children, nontraditional students can experience conflicts between their academic and social lives that are more demanding
Laura Morgan, assistant director of the center, said that busy lives away from campus could make it difficult to succeed academically.
than traditional students.
The center offers several workshops throughout the year on time-management, note-taking and study skills.
Rob Cook, a nontraditional Lawrence senior, took the note-taking and time-management workshops last fall. He still uses the skills he learned, he said.
"In note taking, you split your paper in half and write your notes on one side and questions about the notes on the other," he said. "That way, you can also play 'Jeopardy' while you study."
Busy lives away from campus can make the University seem impersonal, Morgan said.
Morgan is the adviser to OAKS — Non-Traditional Student Organization. She said the most beneficial thing the center could do for nontraditional students was to introduce them to OAKS.
But even with a successful academic life, many nontraditional students face other problems.
$ ^{b} $OAKS provides a social support
Non-traditional students are defined by several criteria. of 26,127 total graduate and undergraduate students at KU, the number of students who are:
The breakdown
older than 25 — 8,635
commuters — 2,459
veterans — 368
married, without children — 1,824
married, with children — 1,330
Source: University Relations
Gerry Vernon, Lawrence graduate student and president of OAKS, said OAKS sent out a newsletter to all nontraditional students, sponsored social events and worked closely with the Student Assistance Center to ensure all nontraditional student needs were being addressed.
that the center can't offer," she said.
Morgan said the University had a special interest in nontraditional students.
"Nontraditional students are a real benefit to the University," she said. "I don't know of any instructor on campus who does not appreciate the life experience and diversity these students bring to the classroom."
Poinsettia festival blooms in downtown
By Tracl Carl
Kansanstaffwriter
It is beginning to look a lot like ... a plant store.
Almost anywhere Lawrence residents go this week,poinsettia plants will greet them.
The festive red plant usually associated with the Christmas season is part of the Festival of Poinsettias, a promotion coordinated by the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau. This is the first year for the festival.
Judy Billings, bureau director, said that more than 4,000 pointetias will
be placed in area businesses and public places, including the Kansas and Burge Unions, starting today. All the poinsettias should be in the 151 businesses that are participating in the festival by Wednesday. Each business paid $75 for 10 poinsettias and many bought more, Billings said.
The festival, along with making Lawrence more festive, is part of a promotion to attract people to Lawrence for the holidays.
"It's just a marketing hook," she said.
Advertising about the festival in magazines has snagged the interest of
quite a few people. More than 300 people have called the bureau for information about the festival, which was advertised in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri magazines, Billings said. Advertising in area newspapers will begin this week, she said.
Other new Lawrence holiday activities include a parade of horse-drawn carriages, wagons and buggies down Massachusetts Street. The Eldridge Hotel Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade will begin at 1 a.m. Dec. 4 at Bufford M. Watson Jr. Park.
The parade is not officially part of the festival, Billings said.
Both outlet malls and many downtown businesses will be participating in the festival.
So far the festival seems to be a success. Billings said.
"We have for years tried to promote Lawrence during the holidays," she said. "We just finally hit on a good one."
Greg Easter, manager of Eastons Ltd., 839 Massachusetts St., said the clothing store decided to be a part of the festival as part of the holiday season and not for more business.
"We'll probably give them away to customers right before Christmas," he said.
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