CSI | ESU Bulletin

Written by Bulletin Staff
Friday, 27 April 2012 08:25
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Students swarmed into the first floor lounge of the Memorial Union for music, refreshments and a prize giveaway to celebrate the grand opening of the new Center for Student Involvement yesterday afternoon. There was a raffle for prizes such as an iPad and a 32-inch flatscreen LCD TV, plus gift baskets donated by eight Registered Student Organizations.

“This is basically a grand opening celebration for CSI,” said Union Activities Council President Eden Tullis. “The new Center for Student Involvement opened one week after spring break. We set the date for the event when we moved into our new location.”

The new area was opened up to students for tours. Tullis said that CSI started planning for the event in November and that UAC was “very excited” to host the event.

“The grand opening is just very exciting,” said Ashley Vogts, ASG president. “Students usually don’t get to know much about what CSI does. This gives them a better look at who they are and what they do.”

CSI member Enilisse Ortiz said they were not the only group participating in the event on Wednesday afternoon. The Office of International Education, Greek Life, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Associated Student Government, L.E.A.D., Community Hornets, P.R.I.D.E. and the Earth Science Club also participated, setting up booths or donating prize baskets for the raffle.

“ASG also has a booth there with fliers that have information about what ASG does,” Vogts said.

Ortiz said CSI wants to encourage students to come by and check out the new facility.

“It’s also an opportunity for students to find out information about groups relevant to their interests,” Ortiz said.

Tullis said that with the union renovations, she has noticed more people in the lounge area by the CSI.

CSI has also started planning another event for students next year. Tullis said CSI is getting ready to put together a time capsule in the fall and hide it within a recess in a wall in the newly finished Memorial Union, close to where the new CSI is located.

“We recently dug up a time capsule when the renovations to the Memorial Union started,” Tullis said. “We are really looking forward to doing the time capsule in the fall.”

Steve Edwards

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Laps for Landon raises most funds ever

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:59
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Landon Dody plays with bubbles during Laps for Landon Tuesday evening at Welch Stadium. This was the fifth annual Laps for Landon benefit. A total of $4,700 was raised with all profits going toward the Cystics Fibrosis Foundation. Julie Thephachan/The Bulletin

When Blythe Eddy, associate director of the Center for Student Involvement whose 5-year-old son Landon Dody has cystic fibrosis, saw 400 people from the university and the surrounding community show up to support the fifth annual Laps 4 Landon fundraiser this Tuesday, she was grateful.

“We are just thankful, very thankful for every day,” Eddy said with tears in her eyes when the sun went down at Welch Stadium. “It gives Aron (Eddy’s husband) and I hope that someday Landon can be as excited about living his life as we are because he has hope and a future because there are good medicines. The money that’s raised here helps research, and hopefully there are medicines that can help him live longer.”

Laps 4 Landon is an annual event to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to find a cure for the disease. It raised $4,700 this year, the highest amount ever.

“It’s pretty amazing that there is so much support from ESU and students. I’m so thankful for all of the students being here and the support from the surrounding communities,” Eddy said.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States, and 70,000 worldwide, according to the CFF.

Landon was diagnosed with the disease when he was three months old. Since then, Jennifer Thomas, assistant professor of health and physical education and recreation, and her health promotion majors have organized the event every year as a final project for a health marketing class.

“The meaning of this event is that CF needs to stand for ‘cure found’ instead of ‘cystic fibrosis,” said Lindsey Kunkel, junior health promotion major. “It’s important to health promotion majors because health is an ever evolving practice. And as long as we keep raising money to fund the research, then we can find cures for cystic fibrosis and other diseases that haven’t found cures yet.”

Thomas called Landon “an ESU kiddo” because his mom works at the CSI, his aunt, Laura Eddy, is the director of Admissions, and his grandfather, Tom Eddy, is a professor of biology.

Eddy said the predicted median age of survival for a person with cystic fibrosis is 37 years old, but not many years ago, they wouldn’t even live until pre-school.

“It’s a pretty a rough battle, but I hope there are more medicines in the future to help them live longer,” Eddy said.

Landon is now taking strict breathing treatment and medicines. One of his top medicines, a necessary breathing treatment to keep his lungs clear, costs $3,500 a month.

Tianhai Jiang

Mini-Big Event takes ESU students to William Allen White Elementary

Written by Josh Johnson
Monday, 24 August 2009 10:46
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Student volunteers, Emporia Freemasons and Center for Student Involvement staff members donated time last Friday at William Allen White Elementary School to host a series of activities called “The Mini-Big Event.”

“It’s kind of a great way to start off a new year – for the kids and us,” said Taylor Relph, school counseling graduate student. “ I think it’s been pretty good for our first Mini-Big Event, but there’s always room for improvement and more organization.”

The Mini-Big Event consisted of seven different activities for the children that participated, including hula hoops and a bean bag toss. Each activity was lead by a student volunteer or CSI staff member.

One of the seven activities was registering children with the Child Identification Program. CHIPS gathers physical information on a child so that if the child goes missing, there is a collection of material that may aid in the search for the child. The information in the CHIPS kit includes DNA, a video recording of the child, finger prints and voice recording.

Freemasons from Emporia Lodge #12 ran the CHIPS station.

“The CHIPS program was put together by the Grand Lodge of Kansas,” said Robert Nelson, master of Emporia Lodge #12. “We gather all the information and give it to the parents, then all the data is wiped from our computer. We can gather the information for 25 children in an hour. Over 6,000 children in Kansas have had these kits made for them, with 800 coming from Emporia.”

Jonathan Krueger, senior political science major and ASG president, organized the collaborative event that included the participation of 300 elementary school students.

“This was probably about a 15 to 20 hour ordeal to get ready,” Krueger said. “I would describe it as organized chaos. There were kids here from kindergarten through fourth grade, and any time you can get them outside and engaging in team building activities, you’ve done something good.”

Since this was the first year for the Mini-Big Event, it was unknown how the event would flow in comparison with the normal “Big Event” which is held later on in the year, Krueger said.

“This was on more of a small scale than the normal ‘Big Event,’” Krueger said. “The main purpose of this ‘Mini-Big Event’ was to get college students interacting with service organizations and the community.”

Volunteers and organizers agreed that future Mini-Big Events would run more efficiently with even more planning.

“With more planning and organization in the future it will run smoother,” Relph said. “It’s still an effective way to get college students to get involved and be role models.”

Krueger said he believes ESU students participating in this event made a difference to the elementary students.

“Though our numbers were smaller than the normal ‘Big Event’ I think we made a difference here,” Krueger said. “We can show future generations that college is always a possibility and that they can have fun while learning about one another and interacting.”