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Tes Mehring

Discussions of proposed reassigned teaching loads could result in the elimination of The Sunflower, the campus yearbook, as a student-run publication.

“I raised the question with the interim department chair to see if we could create a course that students would enroll in so that (advising) could be a teaching-related kind of a function because that’s really what we’ve been instructed to do,” said Provost Teresa Mehring.

This conversation occurred after the fall 2008 Legislative Post Audit, which compared teaching loads of the six Regents Institutions, among other things. The audit showed Emporia State as having the highest reassigned teaching loads of any institution and the Kansas Board of Regents challenged the university to lower it.

“It makes us stand out in a very negative fashion and it makes us an easy target when it comes to budget kinds of decisions,” Mehring said.

A reassigned teaching load means that a professor is given time apart from teaching for research, advising or other things of that nature.

One such position is held by Tom Winski, who has an eighth of his job designated to advising The Sunflower. The proposed reassignments did not have his position as adviser listed. Instead, there has been discussion of yearbook as a class.

“There’re a lot of issues that need to be considered, not the least of which is if The Sunflower is a class and as instructor I’m supposed to give a grade, that conflicts with The Sunflower being an independent student publication,” Winski said. “There would be a perception that I would read through and grade things before-hand, which is a violation of student rights.”

Winski said, as proposed, the yearbook staff positions would remain paid student jobs. Lindsey Gentry, Editor-in-Chief of The Sunflower and senior business management major, said this could pose a problem in funding the publication, which currently runs on a budget of $90,000.

“I’m afraid of our funding being cut completely because if we’re considered a class and they’re already cutting things on the academic side, I don’t know how we’d have enough money if we didn’t have the support of Associated Student Government funding,” Gentry said.

In addition, if The Sunflower had an instructor rather than adviser, Winski said the instructor, not the Editor-in-Chief, would control the publication. This would allow for prior review and ultimately censorship, which is strictly prohibited in the College Media Adviser’s Code of Ethics, the recognized professional standard of conduct for advisers.

“Faculty, staff and other non-students who assume advisory roles with student media must remain aware of their obligation to defend and teach without censoring, editing, directing or producing,” the document says.

Article II of the Student Media Board Constitution, the governing document for the board and The Sunflower, reinstates this idea:

“The editors and managers of the student media are free to develop their own editorial policies and news coverage or content.”

But Marie Miller, Department of English, Modern Languages and Journalism interim chair, said that after talking to Winski yesterday, she realized yearbook as a class is not plausible.

“After I proposed this to Winski I learned it would not be possible because The Sunflower is a student publication and is funded by ASG and that it would not be appropriate to have class for this,” Miller said. “We will not have it as a course, we will have an adviser to the Sunflower not in a class situation. It will operate the same way it does now.”

But at an open forum yesterday evening, Mehring said yearbook as a class is still being considered. The first forum was on Tuesday, the second yesterday and the third was held after press time today.

Winski said communication could clear up confusion.

“I trust and hope that people making final decisions will listen to what people have to say and the law,” Winski said. “Whether it’s going to be a independent publication depends on whether they want it to be a student publication and the voice of the students or a publication of the English department.”

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With the Memorial Union renovation groundbreaking having just occurred, and renovations currently underway, students will have a few different looking parts to their Union when they return in the fall.

“We’re about a month behind schedule,” said Dave Hendricks, director of the Memorial Union. “Ferrell Construction is responsible for bidding out the project, and we’ll find out who is doing the work on May 20. They’ll also supervise construction.”

The first phase of construction will be closing down the east and north entrances to do work on the northeast section of the building that holds the Information Center, the Memorial Union Bookstore and the old Hornet Express. This will mean moving the Memorial Union Bookstore to a temporary location in what is now the Heritage room downstairs in the union.

“The work on that part will last for the entire fall semester, and most likely into part of the spring semester,” Hendricks said. “The original timeline had it set to be done by Christmas.”

Following that phase, the renovation will concentrate on the dining hall and west lobby, Hendricks said.

“The cafeteria closes before winter break, so we’re planning on starting renovating that part of the building during next winter break,” Hendricks said. “The dining will be moved temporarily to what is now the Flint Hills, Kanza and Greek Rooms in the upstairs of the Union. August 2011 will hopefully start with the remodeled cafeteria.”

Some students expressed concern about the timeline and cost of the renovation project.

“To be honest it’s a waste of money,” said Susie Cruz, junior elementary education major. “I don’t think it’ll attract more students to the Union like they think it will. I also think they should’ve waited for the summer to start closing stuff down.”

Raymond Jackson, junior English major concurred with Cruz’s analysis of closing down portions of the Union.

“It would have been more prudent to shut it down during the summer,” Jackson said. “I would have liked it if they had started it faster, since I’d rather see them in here now than having it spread out over a long time.”

Alumnus Roger Heineken, information center manager, believes that the Union renovations will affect students positively even if there are some temporary inconveniences.

“I think the plan is very well thought out,” Heineken said. “I suspect it will transform student social life in a positive way. Right now there is not ample social space for events.”

Hendricks encourages students to check out the renovations webpage that is linked to the Memorial Union portion of the Emporia University Web site.

“There is a timeline and concept photos on there that students should look at,” Hendricks said. “Students should check it out over the summer, since their will be pictures of the progress we make during the summer months and what they have to expect when they come back.”

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This week marked the annual Senior Week, which recognizes the accomplishments of the 2010 graduating class of Emporia State.The theme of the week was “Nickin’ It Old School,” based on the Nickelodeon Channel.

“There will be slime. There will be prizes. There will be fun,” said Lacee Hanson, senior week chair and ESU Ambassador. “I would love for seniors to come reminisce the good ol’ days and let us take care of the rest before it all gets real at the end of the semester and graduation.”

Hanson said there are approximately 800 students graduating from ESU in either May or December 2010.

The Newberg Outstanding Senior Award banquet was held in Memorial Union Ball room on Monday. Outstanding Senior Awards were presented to Jonathan Krueger, political science, public affairs and national security major, and Jeremy Walter, crime & delinquency studies major.

“It’s a formal banquet that gives awards to outstanding students. President Lane and student’s family members are invited to have dinner with students. And it’s the only activity that costs money in Senior Week,” said Nikki Metz, alumni programs coordinator.

Other activities that senior could participate in included a lunch yesterday hosted by the Emporia State Federal Credit Union and a barbecue yesterday afternoon hosted by the Alumni Center, Office of Student Affairs, ESU Ambassadors and the President’s Office.

“The lunch is very cool. They provide you free food, prizes. It let me to meet other senior students. It makes us feel that the school really cares about senior students,” said Michael Wormington, who is going to graduate in this May and prepare to enter graduate school.

Students had the opportunity to win to prizes at both events.

“Through this I can talk to senior students that I have never talked to before,” said Kelly Knight, senior biology major.

When she was asked how she felt about entering the real world after graduation Knight said: “It’s scary, but still exciting. I hope people can have fun and enjoy their life in college, because real life is scary.”

“Last year’s Senior Week was a hard one to follow. We have made some changes and swapped some events, such as the First Alumni Event for the Senior BBQ,” said Hanson, “The Liberty Mutual sponsorship this year gave us the opportunity to give Senior Week t-shirts away for free to the first 150 senior toregister at the Alumni Center.”

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Krueger

With a full agenda, Associated Student Government passed 10 bills, a resolution and a ratification, all without opposition, last Thursday at its last meeting of the year.

One bill readjusted ASG allocations for fiscal year 2011. The bill added $1,164 for the Empowered Students for University of Libraries and Archives to the total allocation amount, making the new total $139,624.

This group was one of three whose allocation requests were not heard at the last meeting.

“The day that we were scheduled to meet with the organizations we did meet with them, but I was in a meeting and then a blackout happened, and in that blackout, the papers got misplaced,” said Jonathan Rivers, junior secondary social sciences education major and chair of the Fiscal Affairs committee.

The other two groups either did not schedule a new meeting after the black out or did not file paperwork.

Four of the bills were reserve fund requests totaling $1,464 for the Kansas National Education Association, Student Honors Council, Biology Graduate Student Association and Collegiate Music Educators National Conference.

Five organizations were recognized: Emporia State University Students for Life, United Greek Association, ESU Student Chapter of USITT, Tops at ESU and the CKI Club of Emporia State University.

The United Greek Association has between 20 and 30 members and will focus on philanthropy as well as uniting fraternities and sororities across campus.

“What makes us different than Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association is that we are not a governing body like they are, we are mostly a social organization and we are kind of like the umbrella between them,” said Kyle Farmer, sophomore secondary social sciences education major and president of the United Greek Association.

Farmer said the organization is already planning its first event, a week-long capture the flag game during dead week.

Emporia State University Students for Life, with 17 members, is already planning its first event as well: a chalking of hearts on the sidewalk to represent how many fetuses are killed per hour by abortion.

USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, with 12 members, plans to attend conferences as well as host workshops at high schools to teach students better ways to build sets and incorporate technology. The group hopes to strengthen productions at ESU.

TOPS, or Take off Pounds Sensibly, plans to help interested students gain knowledge of healthy weight loss and maintenance. There are currently four students interested in joining.

CKI Club, or Circle K, will focus on community service. Currently, most of the 15 to 20 members are freshmen and they are working on a book drive.

The resolution that was passed is in support of the ESU Sustainability Recycling Proposal, which promotes use of more recycling receptacles and recycling in general on campus.

And as it was his last meeting, Jonathan Krueger, senior political science major and ASG President, concluded his presidency the way he began, with a quote.

“Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have termination dates,” Krueger quoted President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Krueger said that though his presidency may be ending, “there is going to be a lot that everybody still has to tackle.”

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Although it was sunny and 68 degrees outside at 7 p.m. on Friday, the Emporia Relay for Life was held in the Emporia State HPER building in gyms D and E rather than on the track in Welch Stadium due to thunderstorm warnings. The relay lasted until 8 a.m. Saturday.

“We really wanted to make sure we had it inside so we wouldn’t have to do anything with our luminaries in the event of rain,” said Tina Khan, event chair and ESU alumni.

This was the first year the relay was held at ESU after being held at Emporia High School for 16 years. American Cancer Society staff partnerAngela Preuitt said the venue was changed in order to help the event grow.

“There wasn’t a lot of room to grow (at the high school), they’ve been doing work on the track, on the field and the sidewalks and it’s kind of been a little issue for us in the past couple years,” Preuitt said.

Forty-three teams participated and raised a total of $41,000 for the American Cancer Society. Of those teams, 20 were from ESU.

“We’ve got a lot of involvement and the community’s still involved so I think it’s great that the community and ESU are coming together as one,” Preuitt said.

The theme for this year’s relay was “Survivor Relay” and the gyms were decorated with a sort of island theme.

“It was really cool to have a play on words, survivor, as in cancer survivor and patients and treatment, but yet Survivor the show, you know it’s hip and fun, so we had that double entendre,” Khan said.

Teams signed up through the American Cancer Society Web site or by calling their hotline. They paid a $10 commitment fee and were asked to raise $100. They then received participant t-shirts and showed up to walk in the relay.

Brittney Rinehart, chair for Chi Omega sorority and junior elementary education major, said her house was divided into five teams and each was assigned a team captain. Each team raised at least $25 and the sorority raised $2,000 total.

“I had a friend that was on the committee last year and I realized that we do this every year for Chi Omega and I just decided I wanted to be in charge of it because it’s really important to me,” Rinehart said.

Rinehart said a lot of the girls in Chi Omega have been affected by cancer, and they are passionate about helping to possibly find a cure.

“People donate money and they see it as an opportunity to maybe cure cancer or fight for cancer because everybody’s been affected in some way or another, so it’s just a really good way to be involved in it and try to help,” Rinehart said.

The relay was kicked off with a lap for cancer survivors, and then all participants were invited to join. There was a silent auction with baskets donated by teams, a frozen t shirt contest, a “miss relay” contest where male representatives from teams dressed as women to see who could raise the most money, a whiffle ball game, balloon tosses, crayon coloring contests for kids and various other activities to raise money throughout the night.

“Anything that comes in tonight will go to the American cancer society for research dollars and local programs and services,” Preuitt said.

Khan said that she’s participated in Relay for Life since high school and feels that it’s important to promote awareness and raise money to fight back for those with cancer because everyone has met someone in their lives that has been affected by it.

“Kansas is really big with their college Relay for Lives and you know, if you have work or a job, get your coworkers and have a team, so every level of relay, you could do,” Khan said.

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Preliminary discussion of next year’s tuition costs began yesterday afternoon at the Budget Development and Tuition Committee Meeting.

The committee has suggested a 5.5 percent increase, which will be debated next week. Last year, tuition increased by 4 percent for resident graduate students, 4.5 percent for resident undergraduate students and 7 percent for non-resident students.

Tuition rates were predicted to increase because of rising costs of health insurance for university employees, minimum wage and faculty promotions and fringe benefits.

A factor in the FY 2011 budget discussion is federal stimulus support. Last year, the university received $700,000, used roughly half of it for scholarships, $300,000 for equipment and $100,000 for temporary faculty salaries.

While the amount of stimulus money the university will receive for FY 2011 is not yet finalized, Ray Hauke, vice president of Administration and Fiscal Affairs and Budget Development and Tuition Committee chair, estimates it will be around $750,000.

“The regents have already told us informally that they’re honing in on us having to spend all of that money for tuition reduction related kinds of things or otherwise known as scholarships or financial assistance for students in the upcoming year,” Hauke said.

The committee may propose that 1.5 percent of the 5.5 percent suggested increase be covered by stimulus money, but only for students who are Kansas residents. After this increase and the considered stimulus proposal, the tuition for undergraduate residents would be $1,807. It would be $2,191 for graduate residents, $6,662 for undergraduate non-residents and $6,786 for graduate non-residents.

The proposed amount of stimulus money that would go towards tuition leaves roughly $200,000 for other expenses.

“In terms of the rest of the stimulus money, I think probably it could used one of two ways,” Hauke said. “It would be whether we want to recommend a third year of the Hornet Scholars Program, or it could be used for need-based scholarships.”

Committee members composed a list of things to consider including reinstatement of student jobs, continued support of the Hornet Scholarship, promoting a sustainable environment and unfunded mandates.

“We are going to have to increase tuition, so if in any way we can do that so that it restores a few more student jobs I think that would be beneficial,” said Jonathan Krueger, Associated Student Government president and committee member.

Jonathan Rivers, ASG Fiscal Affairs Committee chair and Budget Development and Tuition Committee member, said it is important to consider student perspective.

“If students can see that what they’re paying for actually is having dividends in some respect rather then just paying for some bill, I don’t think there’s a way that we can really show that, but additional opportunities like student jobs or just through scholarships, focusing on those are huge,” Rivers said.

At the meeting, the committee unanimously passed three non-tuition requests for fee adjustment.

One was a requested fee of $25 monthly for guests of Emporia State students to use the Student Recreation Center.

Another request added the $200 fee for International SWARM to the Comprehensive Fee Schedule.

“We’ve been charging this for two years, we just didn’t realize it wasn’t in the fee schedule so we thought we’d put it in there,” said James Williams, Budget Development and Tuition Committee member.

The last request raised Center of Childhood Education fees. Though it was passed, the committee plans to revisit it next week.

After the committee finalizes its tuition and fees recommendations, Michael Lane, president of ESU, will host a forum for students to ask questions at 1:30 p.m. on May 11 in the Kanza Room of the Memorial Union. The following day, the recommendation will be proposed to the Kansas Board of Regents for the final decision.

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Kirchhefer

Dan Kirchhefer, professor of art, has been a teacher for 40 years.

“I have the greatest job in the world,” Kirchhefer said.

Kirchhefer is from a small town called Hastings, Neb. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in printmaking and the University of Kansas with a master’s degree in printmaking. Kirchhefer began teaching at Emporia State in 1980.

“ESU selected me,” he said.

Being a good teacher and looking at art, are always the goals of Kirchhefer.

“Professor Kirchhefer is a gifted teacher, with a tremendous knowledge about and passion for instruction of printmaking and drawing,” said Monica Kjellman-Chapin, professor of art.

Watercolor and gouache are Kirchhefer’s favorite types of paintings. Kirchhefer said teaching drawing and printmaking were hard at first. However, now he has his own way to do it perfectly.

“As a teacher, he is a model to which we might all aspire – his willingness to work with students so they might improve, his diligence and comprehensiveness in terms of preparation and critique of individual projects, and his somewhat irreverent sense of humor, coupled with a determination to help his students learn and grow as artists, render him an outstanding professor,” Kjellman-Chapin said.

Michelle Parkman is a non-degree seeking student who has taken all levels of life drawing and printmaking classes with Kirchhefer.

“(Kirchhefer) always pushes you further than you think you can go with a piece. His favorite line is ‘that’s a good start’ and he knows so much I don’t know how he fits it all into his head,” Parkman said. “You never get bored. He teaches more than just art to his students. he teaches life with his quirky spin on it.”

According to Kjellman-Chapin, Kirchhefer consistently gets tremendous work out of every student, regardless of previous experience and skill. They walk out of his class with improved technical ability, a keener observational eye, and a deeper commitment to composition, craftspersonship, concept and content.

During many of his classes, Kirchhefer comes up with a survey question which he asks every student for his/her opinion.

“(Kirchhefer) gives good advice.” said Marco Hernandez, junior painting and printmaking major. “He provides new techniques and a great knowledge about art to his students.”

As an art teacher and also an artist, Kirchhefer said sometimes it is hard to find time to work in his studio. Kirchhefer has more than 130 juried shows and more than 40 awards. His artworks includes drawings, paintings, prints and artist books. Most of them are showed in several public collections or galleries, such as the Charles M. Young in Portland, Ore., and the C.T. and Strecker-Nelson Gallary in Manhattan.

“Professor Kirchhefer’s images are often provocative, challenging and are historically rich, with an exquisite handling of line and color,” Kjellman-Chapin said.

“(Kirchhefer’s) art is so realistic without being too photo-like,” Parkman said. “He draws the human figure in a way that catches the viewer in the process and his use of graphite and color is like no other I have seen.”

Next October, five of Kirchhefer’s prints are going to be in a show in Chamalier, France. Kirchhefer will be one of only four American artists invited to exhibit artworks at the International Triennale

Kirchhefer made his first artist book in 2004 and now has made 10. The artist books are made on Japanese papers connected with string. Kirchhefer thinks Japanese paper is some of the most beautiful paper in the world and it has flower peddles in it.

“They are like books of hours or prayer books,” Kirchhefer said.

The books are about people, dogs, lust, Kirchhefer himself and the secrets he keeps.

Kirchhefer is a dog lover, and he had 2 dogs who just died. When talking about them, Kirchhefer said, “(They are) good dogs, good subjects and they both appear in same print I made titled ‘Jackdog and Bart Watch Jesus Build a Boat, While He Worked on His Tan Boat Say He was an Above Overage Carpenter.’”

Kirchhefer has different kinds of hobbies, such as baseball, gardening, travelling and reading.

“He often recites poetry, and can recall at will sections of dialogue from movies such as The Big Lebowski,” said Kjellman-Chapin.

Looking forward to the creation of future artwork, Kirchhefer wants to go travelling and do cows and water. He has been to France, Mexico and Italy, and his next stops may be Brazil, Alaska or the Grand Canyon.

Parkman thinks Kirchhefer can always keep you laughing.

“(Kirchhefer) can not only name all of the U.S. presidents in order, but can also tell you which ones had mutton chops or other configurations of facial hair,” Kjellman-Chapin said. “He is always ready with an anecdote, a bit of trivia, or a joke, and has an unparalleled affection for River Dance.”

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A potentially explosive situation is at hand.

The Sunflower, Emporia State’s yearbook for over 100 years, may be in danger of becoming a class instead of an independent publication.

And frankly, that’s unacceptable.

Currently, the Sunflower is designated as an independent publication in the university handbook and the Student Media Board constitution.

However, according to the Teaching Load Reassigned Time Draft Proposal of April 19, a university report, the adviser for the Sunflower was not listed as receiving any release time to advise the publication. The report was in response to inefficiency concerns in the Legislative Post Audit and from the Kansas Board of Regents.

If the Sunflower becomes a class, as has been proposed by some administrators, the Sunflower will lose its independence.

When a publication loses its independence, it is not just losing a title. The students who work on the publication in a classroom lose the ability to choose what ultimately appears in print.

Prior review becomes the name of the game. Instructors (who, at a state school are seen as extensions of the state) have the ability to edit or completely eliminate anything they want from publication.

We are pre-professionals, not high school journalists, and many of us are using our experience as workplace training. If these changes were to occur, how could students continue to receive salaries? How could an editor discipline his or her peers in a classroom setting? How can the Sunflower continue to function as an independent publication when the instructor – who answers to the administration – has the option of giving a bad grade to a student? How can an instructor not be retaliated against by the administration for what they “allow” students to publish in a classroom setting?

Independence of student publications, especially at a public university, is a pillar of free speech in America. Our greatest fear is that turning the yearbook into a class would set a precedent for all student publications – a precedent that would destroy the integrity of the journalism program and the people in it.

There is no doubt that the articles in the Sunflower vary from those in the Bulletin. But despite the type or quality of content produced by these publications, free speech must be protected.

On a campus where freedom of expression is (or at least should be) a core value, there must be a free and vibrant press.

If the Sunflower is turned into a class, is the Bulletin far behind?

We call upon the administration to scrap any plans it may have to turn the Sunflower into a “class project.”

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Alex Pedersen

Emporia State University is a great school.

I respect and love this place and I have been enjoying going to school here for years. I love the teachers, the classes, the architecture, the history and, of course, all of my peers. The campus is beautiful and I am genuinely happy I chose ESU.

ESU may be fairly small, but it is moving forward, trying to become bigger as we can see with things like the Union renovation. Despite its size, ESU seems to be as open-minded and progressive as any larger school.

But we have a single designated “free speech zone” on our campus.

Ridiculous.

The entire campus should be a free speech zone, there should be absolutely no censorship on the campus.

Now, that is not to say that microphones are listening in on your conversations, waiting to hear you insult a teacher outside of the zone. It does mean that a recognized student organization, or any organization for that matter, can only proliferate propaganda on one small part of the school.

The rules are that an RSO can use chalk to advertise for something anywhere on the sidewalk on campus, but they can only write political and persuasive messages in the confines of the Union Square. Also, offensive messages are disallowed. These rules also apply for any public demonstration, like the protest against the Iraq war a few years ago.

I can understand that ESU would not want spray paint on their sidewalks or buildings, although a college that had an open graffiti policy would probably be the coolest looking school possible.

I can also see the argument against a campus-wide free speech zone. We are already bombarded with so many messages, it will only create clutter and the school could be held responsible for any offensive messages.

But we are all adults. If you ever watch more than 30 minutes of television, then you can see how you are already bombarded with persuasive messages. Every single advertisement and TV show you watch is filled with various messages on what to buy, who to believe, what to do.

I would say that it takes at least a certain amount of intelligence to come to school, so it’s safe to reason that every single student at ESU is smart enough to interpret and evaluate any message they see. If students saw the message, “do not go to class today,” it is likely that most would still go to class because we can think rationally. We are able to disagree and not follow a message’s command if we do not want to, we are all mentally competent.

So why is the school treating us like they are an overbearing parent, like we are stupid? Why do they want to censor anything that could be controversial? Why are they forcing anything with any passion into the choke hold of the Union Square?

The answer is fear. They give us the chalkboard of the Union Square because they don’t want us to write on the wall with our crayons.

It is odd that the school chose the Union Square to be its free speech zone, as it is at the heart of the school. But it is also tucked away and a very small area, it would be hard to get more than 100 people in the Square comfortably. I am reminded of a singer with a beautiful, powerful, strong voice that is forced to wear a muzzle.

A University is naturally a hub for ideas and knowledge, an exchange point for brilliance. Each day we go to class, we are trading intelligence and learning from each other. There is no need to censor us to any degree because we are all able to judge for ourselves what we believe or do not.

Fuck Censorship.

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Harrison George

This is the last issue of The Bulletin for this semester. As we wind down the year and prepare for finals all eyes are on summer vacation.

Summer means a break from school and enjoying the great weather outdoors. For Emporians it also means a mass exodus of students as they return home for two months. Unlike other college towns such as Lawrence and Manhattan Emporia does not seem to retain its student population during the summer months.

This could be for a couple of reasons. Students wish to return to their homes to be with their family and friends. Others return home to resume a job left on hold or because their city has more job opportunities than Emporia.

But the majority of students seem to leave Emporia for the summer simply because they feel there isn’t enough to do within the city. Emporia has long tried to fight its reputation of being a slow town without much to entertain its college-aged crowd.

It’s true that if you compare Emporia to bigger cities like Wichita or Kansas City it appears that Emporia is lacking in entertainment or jobs. But if you were to take the time to really look Emporia over you might realize there is plenty going on to keep someone occupied and entertained during the summer.

First to be mentioned should be the music scene. Emporia’s live music scene has begun to rebuild itself after a three year lull and the summertime is always a high point for good shows. Beer:30 will be opening its scenic beer garden area which is perfect for live music.

Live in the Lot will also be starting up come summertime. Live in the Lot is the yearly music event held in the Farmer’s Market parking lot that showcases good live bands for the whole family to enjoy. There will be concerts held there throughout the summer.

In terms of other entertainment the historic Granada Theater will continue to show films throughout the summer on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Tickets are cheap and the movies are fun for dates or just a night out with friends.

If you are looking for something to do outdoors go explore one of Emporia’s 18 parks spread throughout the city. Or check out the zoo (the largest free zoo in the country) and see what the animals are up to during the heat of the summer.

As always the ESU theatre department will be putting on a wide array of plays from comedies to musicals to dramas.  You can check them out throughout the summer for a very reasonable cost.

And of course all the great local restaurants you know and love in Emporia will be there day in and day out to serve up delicious foods. You’ll even be able to visit some of the restaurants that might be hard to get to during the school year because of their limited hours (Amanda’s Bakery, for example).

The more students we can get to stay in Emporia during the summer the better the end result will be for all of us. If you stay in Emporia and spend your money at locally owned businesses they can use their profits to reinvest in their business and in the Emporia community. This will only help the economy grow and expand. The more it expands the better the shopping and dining experience will be for everyone.

But in order to get there they need your business and your support as a customer.

Everyone knows that Emporia has a reputation for being a little slow. But if you do your part to become engaged in the local community and economy you can help make that reputation a distant memory and we can all enjoy the benefits of a thriving booming Emporia.

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