Fall break has come and gone, midterms have been taken and students are back at the books again. For sophomores, juniors and seniors, it means that they are one step closer to their goal of graduation.

Fall break has come and gone, midterms have been taken and students are back at the books again. For sophomores, juniors and seniors, it means that they are one step closer to their goal of graduation.

But for freshmen, it is the half-way point for their first semester of college.

Some may be stressed with the strain of too much schoolwork and others may be empowered by finding out that they are on top of things. Whatever situation students find themselves in, many lives are different from when they first came to Emporia State. We continue to follow three freshmen, Meghan Murray, Caroline Murray and Will Smith, as they forge onward to finish their first semester.

***

Meghan and Caroline Murray, twin sisters from Olpe, are finding that they are enjoying their college experience so far. They are happy with the independence of living in Emporia and the campus itself.

“I like how it’s big enough to where you don’t see everyone every day, but it’s small enough to where you don’t know where everything is,” Meghan said.

“And you can get to class in, like, three minutes,” Caroline said.

“Not really, like, four depending – ”

“Depending on the classes.”

“Yeah,” Meghan said. “The library is really far away from the dorms, that’s the only bad thing.”

Meghan is still pursuing a biology major and Caroline is also working for a biology degree before she pursues a career in speech pathology and, so far, they are well on their ways.

The sisters were very happy with their midterms, as they didn’t have very many and those that they did, they received high grades in. For fall break, the sisters went back to their home in Olpe.

“We went home for a night then we went shopping in Lawrence with our mom,” Caroline said. “Some of our friends came back from community college or whatever schools they were out, so we went back to Olpe for a while.”

Both of the girls want to become ambassadors for next semester’s incoming students and they also recently joined the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority.

“A lot of the girls in our sorority live on our dorm floor,” Meghan said. “And we met some girls through the LEAD institute that we’re still friends with.” Caroline said.

“They actually joined the same sorority we did, so that was kind of cool,” Meghan said.

***

Will Smith, criminal sciences major, is also having a good freshman year so far. He has been taking plenty of general education courses, training with the cross country team and competing in a few track meets as a walk-on member.

“(I will run) at places like K-State and some of the Emporia ones we have here,” Smith said. “I’ve ran at two cross country meets so far…I think I was satisfied, it was the best I’ve ever done long-distance wise.”

For fall break, Smith went back to his home state of Texas to visit family, friends and his girlfriend, who goes to school at Tarleton State University in Texas.

“It’s been kind of hard,” Smith said. “We argue here and there, but it’s not that bad. We’ll make it through.”

Smith has met “a ton” of friends during his time here at ESU and seems to enjoy living in the dorms, where he has a co-ed floor.

“My floor is pretty fun to be around,” Smith said. “We’re all in active living so everyone is awake until two in the morning just talking. It’s a good floor, the dorms are a pretty good way to make friends.”

Alex Pederson

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Freshmen Meghan and Caroline Murray hang decorations on their dorm room door with the help of their friend Brooke Schmidt (far left) during Move-In Day Saturday afternoon at the Towers Complex. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin.

Part I: A Freshmentality

The dawn of a new year is upon us once again. For the returning students, seeing the old sights of places like Silent Joe, the Memorial Union and William Allen White Library can bring a rush of nostalgia, sometimes followed by high levels of stress.

But freshmen have a different kind of stress. Their stress does not stem from realizing that the toils of another school year are here, but from the fact that most of them are in a very unfamiliar place. They are separated from their parents, tossed into the sea of college and are forced to either sink or swim.

Four such freshmen are Lei Zhang, Will Smith, Meghan Murray and Caroline Murray.

Meghan and Caroline Murray are two twin sisters who hail from down the road in Olpe. They decided to come to Emporia State because it is close to home, and like Olpe, is small enough to have a down-home atmosphere.

“I liked that it was one of the smaller universities because that’s what we’re used to,” Meghan said. “It would be an easier adjustment.”

Between the two of them, they participated in just about every activity their high school had to offer: Student Council, forensics, theater, volleyball, track and cheerleading, just to name a few.

“I’m excited to meet a lot more people,” Caroline said. “In Olpe, we never really met anyone, we just got really close to them. I think it will be fun to meet people and have a large group of friends so that you don’t always have to be with the same people every single weekend.”

Meghan and Caroline are no strangers to ESU. Their mother is Jacquelyn Murray, an instructor for Newman Division of Nursing. They also plan to go into different fields. Meghan is studying biology, while Caroline is working toward a degree in secondary education.

“I wanted to do speech language pathology, it’s like speech therapy,” Caroline said. “I’ll have to transfer to K-State, but I can get a degree here in education. You have to have four years and then you go apply to the school.”

The twins are also already used to their roommates, because they are rooming together. Even their room at home is approximately the same size, so they are very comfortable with their new surroundings.

“I would rather be together,” Meghan said. “I think it will make school easier. We can still meet people, we can meet everyone on the floor, but it’s nice to go somewhere that you know is private to you and comfortable.”

The girls are jumping straight into school, with Meghan taking some of her biology and chemistry courses and Caroline trying to get some general education classes out of the way. One thing that they are nervous for, however, is the trouble they will have in finding their independence from each other.

“It’s kind of the same because we’re still the twins,” Meghan said. “We’re not really separate, which kind of stinks sometimes. You want to be your own person, have someone actually know your name… We’ve already had some people say, ‘alright, we’re just going to call you the twins.’”

Another new name to ESU is Will Smith. No, not the famous Hollywood actor, but the freshman from Wylie, Texas.

“It’s a big change, coming from Texas to here, with a lot of flat land,” Smith said. “To be honest with you, I thought it would have been boring, because it’s out in the middle of nowhere. That’s not the reason why I came here though – I just want to get an education.”

Smith is studying criminology and his ultimate goal is to be a U.S. Marshall. He is cousins with Kameron Gee, a football player here at ESU, and lives in the co-ed dorms of South Towers, which he finds to be a very friendly experience.

“It’s real tight, everyone comes up to our floor, even North Tower comes up to our floor,” Smith said. “I think we have the best floor out of all of the floors there, so I’m lucky out on that part… there was a room with probably 10 people, girls and guys, just chilling.”

Smith lives about six or seven hours away and, like many freshmen who live a long distance away, he said he feels homesick. Although he gets along excellently with his new roommate, he still misses his old room and his parents.

“They’re actually really happy for me,” Smith said. “It’s saddening, but they’re really happy that I’m out and going to school, so it doesn’t matter… They actually called me today and yesterday. My mom and my dad (were crying.) I was crying, too. I’m not going to lie. I’m from Texas, it’s so far away. Maybe if I lived in Topeka or something, it wouldn’t be bad.”

For all four years of high school, Smith ran track and currently trains with the ESU Cross Country Team. He is considering doing track here, but has much higher expectations for himself after his college experience.

“I expect for me to become a man, I guess,” Smith said. “I’m not going to be babied by my parents anymore, so after college I’ll be a man, really… I’m excited. I’m ready to grow up and become a young man, living on my own, you know?”

ESU is known for its large international student population, of which Lei Zhang is a new member. Zhang is a Chinese student who attended Polytechnic University, but now must complete the Intensive English Program before she can start taking classes for her business studies.

“I hope I can start my start my major classes and get my diploma,” Zhang said. “I also hope I can enrich my life and make some new friends.”

Zhang came here with her roommate, Ziwei Li, on Aug. 9. Since then, they have moved from their temporary dorm room in the Towers to their more permanent residence in Trusler. She plans to be in Emporia for three or four years and has already met new friends.

“I met a lot of new friends, and not just Americans,” Zhang said. “I’ve met Japanese, Korean, and some from Indonesia… I think it is real interesting and I think we can get some things that are new that I would never get otherwise,” Zhang said.

As is common with many freshmen, Zhang has found that it is not very easy to be so far from home.

“It is very hard without my friends and parents because if I had some problems, I could tell them,” Zhang said. “But instead, I must solve this problem myself and not with them. So I think it will be better for me than there, but I think I can adapt to this and do my best.”

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For Kyle Anderson, sophomore secondary education major, it’s about having a good time doing something fun. Sheldon Patton, freshman secondary education major, does it a lot. Brandi Lundgren, senior health promotion major, said that she may be an exercise addict.

“(I would call myself) an exercise addict (instead of a gym rat) because I like to go outside more than I like being in the gym,” Lundgren said.

Working out is the past time of many individuals and two of these student consider themselves to be gym rats.

“People who aren’t basketball players could see (the name gym rat) as a bad thing,” Anderson said. “But when you are trying to play for a team and you are trying to get in shape, it’s good to be a gym rat.”

But for Patton, it’s not an addiction.

“I wouldn’t call it an addiction. It’s just a habit maybe,” he said. “Addiction is a pretty strong word, like you can’t live without working out. I don’t think I would ever become like that.”

Each student claims to work out around five times per week.

“I like being active,” Patton said “Both of my parents are relatively unhealthy. Not only does it give you more energy and make you feel better but I’ve gained muscle and physique.”

While Lundgren and Patton work out to keep in shape, Anderson goes to the gym to play basketball.

“I really only go there to play basketball,” Anderson said. “I meet a few guys when I moved here and they started inviting me. We have 10-15 people who go (to the gym) everyday. We get in some good games of basketball.”

Both Lundgren and Patton have jobs at the places that they work out. Lundgren works at the Emporia State Recreation Center teaching fitness classes.

“Usually I work out alone and I do cardio alone before my class and then I teach my class (at the Rec Center),” Lundgren said.

Patton works at Genesis, formerly Walburns, located at 1007 Commercial St.

“Even if I get bored I go to the gym,” Patton said. “When I have free time I go to the gym. Even if I’m not working out or working, I’ll go to the gym to talk to the people that are working or working out.”

Since Patton works as a personal trainer, he makes up his own workouts.

“I don’t like to work muscle groups more than once a week,” he said. “So I make sure to hit a different muscle group every day. I make sure that I do a lot of cardio because cardio is a great way to burn a lot of calories. It’s really easy cheap way to stay fit. I wanted to work at a gym.”

Anderson said that lifting weights is also a part of his weekly gym routines.

“(I go to the gym) more to play basketball but sometimes I’ll lift weights to help myself stretch out and get warmed up,” he said. “Sometimes I get on a bike for a bit.”

All three students played sports in high school, and Lundgren ran track for ESU.

“In high school I was always really strong but never really ripped so when I started working out at the gym I always concentrated on being ripped,” Patton said.

The strenuous training that Lundgren did with ESU track team during her freshman and sophomore years have made it hard for her to run now.

“I do bike mostly because I can’t really run anymore because my knees are shot,” she said.

Running is an important part of Patton’s workout routine.

“I really enjoy running so the day that I can’t run is not going to be a happy day for me,” Patton said.

Part of many people’s workout routine is a healthy diet.

“I eat healthy,” Lundgren said “I’ve learned a lot about nutrition. I just have a lifestyle of eating healthy. It’s just what I like to do.”

Patton also said it’s more about eating healthy than dieting.

“I eat a lot. I wouldn’t say that I diet to lose weight but I watch what I eat because I know what it’s going to do to my body,” Patton said. “It’s about not wanting to gain weight. According to my BMI, I’m overweight but if you see me in person than you can tell that I’m obviously not overweight.”

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On average, James Elhers, assistant professor of art, gets a score of between 60 and 90.

But that doesn’t deter him from bowling. He uses the sport as a way to bond with his students outside of class.

“It’s a good camaraderie tool,” Elhers said. “And I’m a terrible bowler. It gives the students the opportunity to beat their professor at something. I like doing it. I’m just not good at it – 90 is a good night for me. I’ve broken 100 before, but I’m awful.”

Elhers tries to make group bowling outings a regular occurrence but in reality, he and the art students only go a few times per semester.

“It’s fun and (Elhers) wanted to bring students together and it’s actually fun to do,” said Thomas Fort, sophomore engraving major.

There have been as many as 50 students who come to the bowling outings. Other nights, there are only about 20.

Elhers even created shirts for the art bowling “league.”

“I love (them),” Fort said. “I’m going to go get one.”

Although it’s not an activity that is free to students, Elhers picks night in which the bowling alley offers specials to make it as cheap as possible for the students.

“We do it on Wednesday night and we start at ten,” Elhers said. “It ends up being about $5 per person so it ends up being a bit more manageable.”

Elhers said that the students in attendance are mainly engraving students and people they may bring along.

“Last time it was only the engravers that were there,”  Elhers said. “But I’ll announce it to everyone.”

However, he offered the invitation to any student who wants to spend an evening with a bunch of art students.

“It hasn’t been exclusively art students,”  Elhers said. “Some of them will bring their boyfriends and girlfriends. If anyone reads this and they want to go bowling with some art students they are more than willing to come with.”

As an incentive in the past, Elhers even offers awards to the student with the highest score and the student who heckles the most.

“I’m really big on heckling,” he said. “I used to give two prizes just to keep it interesting.”

At times, the games can become pretty competitive.

“There are a couple of engraving students in particular who kind of taunt each other,” he said. “I kind of instigate that a little bit. It’s all fun spirited.”

While Elhers is naturally competitive, some of the students are just there to have a good time.

“I’ve felt the need to be competitive,” Fort said. “It’s all in good fun. I’m pretty sure everyone would agree with me on that. Usually it’s just one or two people jabbing at each other.”

Elhers said that he thinks students enjoy seeing him doing terrible at something.

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Being in a band is about more than fame and money. For Eric Murphy, senior English major, it’s about a love of music and a passion for the art.

“We just want to write good songs and play them and record them well,” Murphy said. “There’s the artistic motivation but then there’s the motivation of ‘I hate my job’. So it would be really nice if we could start paying some bills with this. We’re just giving it a shot. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll do something else.

Murphy is a guitar player, singer and writer for the local band Radio City.

“A band that a lot of people say we sound like is The Replacements and they were influenced by a band called Big Star,” Murphy said. “They had an album named Radio City but we didn’t know that. The original idea was to make super cheesy ’70s rock and we thought that that sounded completely extravagant and stupid so we used that (as our name). Now people think we did it on purpose because of Big Star.”

Murphy’s favorite part about music is being able to see it all come together from what he originally imagined.

“(My favorite part about music) is writing music and coming up with the arrangement with the band, the first time you play a song the right way, the way it sounds in your head,” he said. “The first time you play a new song live is the most exciting thing.”

Radio City plays all their own music so being able to compose a song is an important part for them.

“I just listen a lot (to get inspiration for my writing), to a lot of other people, all different kinds of music,” Murphy said. “Sometimes listening to music that’s not like what you write will inspire you more. Most of the songs we have right now are all about growing up here. We don’t try to sound like classic rock but we’re influenced by it.”

Radio City has never done a cover of another band because they haven’t found the right one.

“We’re not against (doing covers) and we toy around with it in the basement but we write a lot so we’re always more excited to play the songs we wrote than a cover,” Murphy said.

The band practices in the basement of their lead singer, Matt Kosinski, Emporia resident.

“How often we practice depends on what’s going on,” Murphy said. “For a while, If we weren’t at work or school, we were down there (in the basement) but now since we do shows every weekend and we all have jobs, we haven’t been down in the basement much.”

Since all of Radio City’s band members don’t live in Emporia, that also makes it harder to practice often.

“Everything has to be totally scheduled, band wise and the rest of your life,” Murphy said. “It’s not really conducive to most musicians.”

Radio City will record a full length album in St. Louis this summer. They have played in Kansas City, Warrensburg, Mo., Manhattan and Lawrence. They will soon take up gigs in Tulsa, Okla. and Omaha, Neb.

“We’re going to record a full length album in St. Louis,” Murphy said. “We’ll start with a national booking agent in June. The plan is to get an independent agent. We deal with Sidecho Records in California right now and that got us on ITunes. But the goal is to end up on independent label and tour.”

With the connections that Radio City has, the band could well be on its way to stardom.

“People can give you chances and you can go out and play and if there is a good crowd there and if you have a good show, then that’s good,” Murphy said. “But you to make sure that the people come. There are a lot of factors (affecting our success). We’re thankful for opportunities.”

While he has big hopes for the future of Radio City, being a full time musician has not quite become a serious option for Murphy yet.

“It’s not really hard to make a CD anymore,” Murphy said. “We don’t really know about it being a ‘career’ career. It’s something we’re toying with. At some point I realized that the caliber of the song writing and the performances are about as good as other people that are doing it. So it’s like ‘shot we should do it then.’”

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Parkour is the art of trying to get from point A to point B as fast and efficiently as possible using your body to get over any obstacles, said Austin Schopper, senior secondary education major and avid parkour participant.

However, parkour also has a life philosophy that trainers follow. Schopper said that trainer is the correct term for a person who does parkour because that acknowledges that there is both a physical and a philosophical aspect.

“When you limit parkour to just physical than you ignore the philosophy side of it,” he said. “You use whatever you have at hand to try to overcome obstacles in your personal life. I have a lot of problems with math. I just have to take every resource that the college gives me to overcome that obstacle.”

Other trainers said that while parkour is extremely physical, there is a lot more than just jumping off of things.

“If you just run at a wall, you’re going to run into a wall,” said Nathan Brown, senior English education major. “You have to think about every body movement that you put into it. You are constantly thinking of what you are doing.”

According to Schopper, parkour started in the 1980s in Paris when a group of teenagers got bored.

“The founder’s father worked in the military and part of their training was to do parkour,” Schopper said. “After his father taught him, (the group) took it further and started applying it to everyday activities.”

Scopper said that parkour means “obstacle course” in French.

“To me it’s a like a martial art,” he said. “It’s kind of a personal thing but it’s like any other exercise or sport you might be involved in. I use it to try to better myself physically.”

Although there is a large physical component, Schopper said that anyone can participate.

“Nobody starts being a professional,” he said. “I’ve worked with people that were not physically fit at all and I’ve worked with people that are in the best shape that I’ve ever seen. It’s really for anybody. You just have to know where you are at and where you are comfortable starting with. There is no minimum level that you have to be at.”

And parkour can be done almost anywhere.

“If you are willing to get creative with it there is really nothing that is off limits,” Schopper said. “You get people that will say that they can’t come up with anything to do but you just have to get creative.”

Sometimes their training can draw a crowd.

“A lot of people gather when we fall,” Brown said. “When we do it on campus, the people that live on campus will watch for a little while. If we are doing something extremely dangerous they will watch for a little longer. If they are interested they are interested. If they are not they are not.”

Both Schopper and Brown have different reasons for their interest in parkour.

“I do it because I like to see how far I can push myself and where my limits lie,” Schopper said. “To me it’s almost religious. I feel like you are given this body and if you don’t use it then you are spitting in God’s face.”

The skills that Schopper has gained from parkour are unique.

“The hardest move that I can do it a double kong,” he said. “A double kong is a vault where you have to push yourself off with your hands twice.”

Brown has also gained some interesting skills from parkour.

“I can wall run,” he said. “I can probably go up to 10 feet in length. I’ve gotten to the point where I just coast. It’s not something you can just do.”

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“We’re just gay. We’re not space aliens,” said one Emporia State student. And for other students, the sentiment was the same.

“It’s not a big deal for me because I don’t feel like (my sexuality) is most people’s business,” said Eric Fox, senior secondary education major. “I want to stress that it’s not like I feel the need to tell everybody.”

Joshua Smith, mental health counseling graduated student, has known that he was gay since 6th grade but did not “come out” until his freshman year of college.

“I was around a new set of people that I was more comfortable being around,” Smith said about coming out. “I was more comfortable being myself and not living up to a pretense.”

Fox came out in high school.

“I was 16 and I was well adjusted by the time I came to college,” Fox said. “I started out by telling my family and then I told a really close friend. I was okay with it so nobody else really had that big of a deal with it.”

Amanda Bullard, senior information resource studies major, considers herself to be bisexual, although she doesn’t like restricting herself to one label.

“I started out with an interest in guys and came to college and realized that girls were a pretty good option,” she said. “I forgot about guys entirely for a year. When I really started to put things together I realized that I had an attraction to both males and females in a different capacity.”

For those who are coming out, telling family members can be tough.

“My father is okay with it but my mother still thinks it’s a phase,” Smith said. “(It’s hard) sometimes but me and my mother don’t really talk about it.”

While Fox’s family is accepting, the news still came as a shock.

“I had tried telling them once before but they thought I was too young to know something like that,” he said. “I actually told them the second time when I was sixteen. They still thought that I should be careful. My mom’s big thing was that she didn’t want me to get hurt.”

Bullard’s family and friends were also supportive.

“My mom was very supporting, ‘whatever you are I’m cool with but don’t feel you have to take a label yet,’ (is what my mom said),” Bullard said. “I’ve let it change over time.”

For them, being gay is just a part of life.

“I don’t really think there is a difference (between my college experience and that of students who are not gay),” Smith said.

Bullard has never faced difficulties because of her sexuality.

“There is a difference between every student’s experience,” she said. “I haven’t really run into any issues because of my sexuality but there have been people who have. Discovering your sexuality, straight, gay, bi, is a personal journey that everybody goes through to some extent.”

All three are a part of ESU’s awareness group PRIDE.

“(Being in PRIDE) makes it easier,” Fox said. “It makes me feel like a part of the community because I have that outlet. My high school didn’t have a gay-straight alliance or anything like that and I feel it really needed one. It’s important that people have a welcoming family and that people know that they are going to be accepted no matter what the rest of society says. A lot of people have a misconception that it’s about waving a flag or marching in a parade.”

Coming to a more conservative state like Kansas was not a far stretch for Smith, from Nebraska, or Fox, from Virginia.

“I knew that Kansas was conservative but at the same time I didn’t feel like my behavior should change,” Fox said.

For Smith, it was important that the university had a Gay-Straight Alliance group.

“You read in the papers and the conservative attitudes are not necessarily expressed directly towards you,” Fox said. “You know that people are sometimes downright hateful but for the most part, I’ve never had anyone (say anything) directly to my face.”

Legislation in other states has left impressions on the gay population at ESU.

“When looking for a job here that is one concern I have and with (the changing of discrimination laws) in Virginia I think I’m going to stay on the west coast after I leave (Emporia),” Smith said.

Fox echoed Smith’s feelings.

“There are people that will make decisions off of something insignificant like that,” he said. “It is kind of scary. I’m going to be a teacher. I’m well aware that I have to be very careful of what I say or do and how the parent’s might perceive anything that has to do with sexuality at all. The wrong person finds out and you’re out of a job.”

Bullard said that she had mixed feelings about legislation in other states.

“When Iowa passed gay marriage we were all elated but then you hear about discrimination things coming up and sometimes you wish that the world would just grow up and realize that we are all people. It’s been a long journey to get this far and we have a long way to go,” she said.

The lack of support for homosexuals in many legislatures makes some feel as if they are the forgotten minority.

“We do get overlooked,” Smith said. “Most states are just now getting around to the gay and lesbian communities. We’re a couple of decades behind.”

Fox summed up some of the biggest issues that the gay community’s face.

“A lot of people can say that we’re not a minority,” Fox said. “A lot of people can negate the status of the rights of gays and lesbians because they think that it’s a choice. People can say that we are not a real minority because ‘we can change if we want to.’ In legislation all across the nation, the opponents of it don’t see the big deal because they don’t really understand the people who are gay and lesbian.”

All three gave similar advice to individuals who may be questioning their sexuality.

“Talking to people that have been through the coming out process may be insightful, do research and don’t be pressured to be any one thing,” Bullard said. “If one label doesn’t fit you, find another one. There isn’t one meaning for gay. It doesn’t matter what label you choose to apply to yourself. Feel free to explore.”

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