Senior guard Sophia Lenard shoots over a FHSU defender Thursday night during the first round of the MIAA Tournament. The Hornets beat the Tigers 72-66.

After a rough start, the Emporia State women’s basketball team was able to pull together and defeat Ft. Hays State 72-66 in the first round of MIAA Tournament action.

A trio of three-pointers late in the game from senior guard Jamie Augustyn led the Hornets to come back from a large deficit.

“I just did what I do,” Augustyn said. “My teammates did a really good job of finding me open, so I just shot it.”

Freshman guard Jocelyn Cummings was the first to score for the Hornets on a slashing move to the basket. With just over 17:30 to play in the first half, the Hornets found themselves down 3-7 thanks to a pivotal Ft. Hays three-pointer.

The first media timeout of the half stopped the action at the 15:56 mark with ESU trailing the Tigers 5-7. Following the timeout, the Tigers went on a 4-0 run until senior guard Sophia Lenard made a basket in the paint.

Another media timeout saw the Hornets still trailing Ft. Hays State, 9-15, with 11:20 remaining in the half.

ESU Coach Brandon Schneider was forced to call a timeout when the Tigers’ lead extended to 11 with 8:09 left in the half.

Senior guard Lacy Corker made a three-pointer following the timeout, cutting Ft. Hays State’s lead to eight, 12-20. Two straight treys from Ft. Hays’ Naomi Bancroft put the Hornets behind by 14 with just over six minutes to play in the half. The final timeout on the floor of the half saw the Tigers with a 29-17 lead over Emporia State with 3:27 remaining.

Senior guard Lacy Corker puts up a 3 point shot Thursday night in Kansas City.

A well executed offensive play by the Hornets saw Cummings take it to the rim and score, cutting the lead to 10. A pair of free throws from Lenard and a slashing basket by Boston saw the Hornets pull within six of Ft. Hays’ lead, 23-29, with just over a minute to play in the opening period.

A three-pointer from the Tigers gave them a nine point cushion going into halftime with a 32-23 lead over ESU.

Schneider said that Hays’ effort in the first half proved to be formidable.

“In the first half, Hays was really good,” Schneider said. “I really felt like the difference between the two halves (was) Hays’ seniors played like they wanted to play another game. They out-competed our seniors.”

Boston led the Hornets in their comeback effort with seven early second half points. A timeout on the floor stopped the action at the 11:33 mark with the Hornets trailing the Tigers 38-47.

Augustyn sparked the comeback by the Hornets, who cut the Tigers lead to four at 43-47 with just under 10 minutes to play. Junior forward Alli Volkens followed up Augustyn’s basket with one of her own on the low block, setting the score to 47-45 in favor of FHSU. Another three-pointer from Augustyn that led the Hornets to within one of the Tigers’ lead, 48-49, led to a timeout by Ft. Hays Coach Tony Hobson.

Senior guard Cassondra Boston attacks the FHSU defense Thursday night in the first round of the MIAA Tournament.

Following the timeout, ESU finally took the lead thanks to yet another Augustyn three-pointer. The Hornets went on a 7-2 run after the timeout by Ft. Hays, bringing the score to 55-51 in favor of Emporia State with just over five minutes remaining in the contest.

Boston said that it was at this point the seniors realized it was time to step up.

“We knew we had to pick it up right then and there,” Boston said. “I just kept stressing that every possession mattered. We couldn’t take any possessions off.”

Ft. Hays went on a small run of their own to tie the game up at 55 with 4:08 left to play.

The final media timeout saw ESU leading FHSU 58-57 at the 3:37 mark.

A myriad of lead changes occurred in the final few minutes of the game until a hard earned basket on the low block by Volkens stretched the Hornets’ lead to three, 66-63, with 1:04 remaining in the half.

Following a FHSU timeout, a trip to the charity stripe for Boston led to two more points, extending their lead to five, 68-63 with under a minute to play.

Boston gave the Hornets four more free throw points as the team left the court with a victory over the Tigers, 72-66.

Boston led all scorers with 23 on 6 of 18 shooting. Augustyn chipped in 11 points, while Volkens and senior guard Lacy Corker added 10 points each.

The Hornets will now face Central Missouri in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:15 on March 6 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

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Shane Wilson

While National Signing Day was abuzz on national television networks around the country, ESU also got a taste of the action, as the Emporia State football team announced their signing day class yesterday, headed by 17 incoming freshman and seven transfer players.

At first glance, the class looks very impressive. Three 2-star recruits according to various recruiting Web sites (ESPN Insider, Scouts, Inc. and Rivals.com) and other notables are making their way to Emporia this fall to continue the Hornets’ rich football tradition. Some of the transfer players are already enrolled in classes at ESU, giving them a step ahead in the playing time battle.

The thing that impressed me the most about this signing class is the amount of players that were brought in who play non-skilled positions. It’s widely known that to build a solid football program, you have to start from the inside out.

You have to start with offensive and defensive linemen.

The big guys in the trenches add an element to a football team few people think about – stability. The offensive and defensive line serve the most unappreciated, overlooked, yet one of the most important roles for a football team, especially a young one. If a team has no one to protect the quarterback or stuff the run up the middle, that team is destined to fail.

Now it goes without saying, you simply can’t just field a team solely with linemen (although I’m sure some of them wouldn’t mind getting a carry or two every now and then). Skill position players are a valuable asset as well. I’d like to see a team try and field an extra-point team without a competent kicker…and you would have seen one this past season if you had watched an ESU football game.

But don’t fret – a kicker happens to be on this year’s signing list.

Quite a few of the incoming skill players are transfers from other institutions. This is great news for the Hornets faithful, as experience in these areas especially is always important. Experience is one thing this Emporia State team hasn’t had enough of recently, and an influx of talented, experienced players could turn this team into a well-led unit of football players.

Whether or not this class will produce on the field remains to be seen. However, each individual’s personal accomplishments on and off the field, on paper at least, have led them to the Emporia State football program. The Hornets’ coaching staff placed enough trust in these players to allow them to compete for a prominent role in their program, a role that can feasibly make or break this program and Higgins’ legacy at ESU.

We’ll have to wait until the fall to find out.

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Harrison George

Over the last four years, I have had some incredible experiences while at Emporia State University. I have met a lot of great people, attended some very enlightening classes on a wide range of topics and learned a great deal about who I am as a person. But the most important experiences I’ve had while in college have stemmed from my involvement in student groups and organizations.

I have been lucky enough not only to be deeply involved in various student groups, but to lead them as well. I am sure most of you have seen me on campus working a table in the union or running around trying to get an event ready. Most people seem to know me simply as “the recycling guy” or “the Zoiks! guy.” I have worked hard to bridge gaps between other groups on campus, making it easier for the different organizations to work together and share information.

These groups have become a facet of who I am and how I define myself. I am very proud of the work that I have done within them. I feel like I have really impacted my community here at ESU, and I like to think that I left things better off than when I arrived.

But like all good times, it must come to an end. I will be graduating this May and my work with the groups of ESU will have to cease.

Though I am proud of the work that I have done, the one regret I have is that I was not able to get more students involved in the activities. In a school of nearly 6,000 students, it always seemed wrong that I would see the same 50 or so students working in various groups around the campus. Even when other organizations like UAC put on their events, the attendance is not what I’d expect for a campus this size. It seems most students simply come to school, go to class, then turn around and go straight home.

So this is what I’m going to do – since this is my last semester here, I plan to officially pull out all the stops in my quest to get more of my fellow students involved in campus activities. I am issuing a challenge to everyone reading this to go and make this the semester you get involved. It doesn’t matter what group you pick – with over 130 groups on campus, there’s bound to be some group that peaks your interest. And if not, maybe there’s a group you would like to start. It’s easy – I started the Environmental Club when there wasn’t one for me to join.

The benefits of getting involved on campus are numerous: you meet new people, you get to work on issues and matters that interest you and you can gain valuable leadership experience that could come in handy later on in life. Once we leave school, do you think it will be this easy to get involved? It will probably take twice the time and effort to get this much accomplished in the real world.

So, like I said, it’s time to pull out all the stops. I am going to make a deal with everyone and anyone reading this: I promise that I will double my efforts to make progress on campus through the organizations I care about, if you take the first step to get involved in something you care about. Find a reason to get involved – something you are passionate about, something you think needs to change (in the world or just on campus) or something you are already good at. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are getting up and doing something.

I want to make these last few months really matter so I can look back 20 years from now and know I did everything I could to get the most out of my college experience.

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Next year, Greek chapters will receive awards based on the Fraternal Relevance Assessment, a new program created to recognize chapters that exemplify the Greek values of leadership, scholarship, citizenship, stewardship and friendship.

The program was designed by Greek Life Director Jason Bosch and his interns and based on programs used by Indiana University and Kansas State University. This year, the chapters will be evaluated by their current programs, PAPE, or Presidents Award for Panhellenic Excellence for Sororities and Sweepstakes for Fraternities. Bosch sees many advantages to switching from these to the new program.

“The current programs that the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association were using were hard to navigate, difficult to understand and one of the biggest downfalls of the programs was that they only recognized one chapter, so unless you outscored every chapter in all of the categories, you really didn’t have an opportunity to be recognized for the areas that you are doing well in,” Bosch said. “One of the big changes with the new program is that even if they don’t score enough points in all the categories to be the top winner, they’re still going to be recognized for their strong points.”

In addition to allowing more recognition, the program will evaluate chapters based on Greek missions and values.

“All of our organizations on campus value leadership, scholarship, community service and involvement so this is going to recognize the chapters who in their day to day actions are living those values,” Bosch said. “It’s also going to help me know to be able to look at all that data and know as a Greek community where we are strong and where we can improve.”

Also, the new evaluation system allows for external feedback.

“In the previous programs there really wasn’t an opportunity for anyone outside of the Greek community to say, ‘you might look at doing this program differently’ or ‘have you considered taking on a new service project,’” Bosch said. “So with the new program we’re actually going to have a committee of faculty and staff who are going to be reviewing the applications and they’ll be the ones to score the points and give feedback.”

President of IFC Cody Pritchard, senior secondary education math major, said he hopes the new program will help to eliminate stereotypes by allowing more Greek organizations to become recognized.

“It’s something that I wish we would have had years ago and I think it’s going to do wonders for Greek life and allowing people to see what we’re really all about,” Pritchard said. “I think it will help get rid of the stereotype that Greek life gets sometimes.”

President of PHA Caroline Ewing, sophomore English major, agreed and said that the more specific categories on the assessment make it more credible.

“The Greek programs on campus really need solid proof that what they do matters,” Ewing said. “I think this is going to really show that what we do makes a positive change in a lot of different areas, so if people ever question what we do, we can actually have facts and figures to back it up.”

Bosch is excited to start assessment with the new program, but acknowledges that it may not yet be perfect.

“We’re gonna give it a shot and we may find after this first year that it needs to be tweaked a little bit,” Bosch said. “But I’m excited that the Greek community is willing to be open to change and willing to give this program a shot.”

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New Beginnings mark spring general assembly

Emporia State President Michael Lane discussed the budget crisis, new faculty positions and strategies for increasing school productivity with a shrinking budget during the Spring General Assembly titled “New Beginnings – New Realities” last Tuesday

“I think President Lane did a wonderful job articulating a positive direction but was still being honest about our current situation,” said Carol L. Russell, associate professor of Early Childhood/Elementary Teacher Education and President of Faculty Senate. “The budget issues force us to be creative problem solvers, otherwise we lose out. I think we’re in good hands.”

The current budget crisis came into focus as Lane discussed new strategies for coping with the lack of money from the state.

“This assembly was an opportunity for all the staff and faculty to get on the same page about the challenges we’re facing,” said Dave Sparks, media relations coordinator. “This also presents us with an opportunity to reaffirm the reasons we do what we do.”

The increase in student fees, and the relationship between their increase and falling state funding was discussed by Lane.

“Clearly things are challenging at this time, and they’ve been coming a long time,” Lane said. “Tuition and fees have increased and our budget has been cut by $4,238,931.”

Lane listed out three words that represented the objectives that ESU intends to achieve despite the smaller budget.

“Recruitment, retention and graduation are our three success words,” Lane said. “These three factors are part of our strategic plan, also called Engaging Excellence.”

A strategy soon to be implemented involves the evaluation of the “strategic importance” of positions vacated by the retirement or resignation of faculty and staff, Lane said.

“We have to decide which positions are strategically critical,” Lane said. “We intend to serve our current employee base, but if positions are vacated they need to be evaluated for importance to our three goals.”

Lane discussed the importance of initiating a mentoring program that would encourage students to strive for national awards and scholarships.

The goal of Gov. Mark Parkinson is to provide more funds to higher education. The governor’s office estimates that 2013 is when state revenues will allow for additional funding to schools.

“Higher education is a critical part of Kansas economic development,” Lane said. “Parkinson raised us to the top of the pile in his State of the State address, and we need to honor that.”

The memory of Jeff Hodapp, associate professor of Music, who passed away on Dec. 30 from a heart attack in Owatonna, Minn., was also honored with a moment of silence. New faculty and staff members were introduced directly after.

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Roster Sam Maurer

The Emporia State debate team has started off the year with a “hell of a season, so far,” said Sam Maurer, debate director.

Kurt Fifelski and Chris Logrhy have had 26 debates and won 17 of them with one bye. LaToya Williams-Green and Ryan Wash have had 10 debates and won six and lost four.

“I feel really good about what we’ve done so far,” Maurer said, “but I fell like there’s still a lot of work that we can do.”

The squad has meetings and practices every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and students can set up additional practices. Maurer says many of the varsity debaters spend anywhere from 20-40 hours a week researching and constructing arguments.

In debate, there are three divisions that students can compete in: novice, which is for students with no prior debate experience, junior varsity, which is for those with limited experience and open or varsity which is the top division.

“(Varsity) is the one we compete in primarily,” Maurer said. “We usually don’t have a lot of people just kind of walk on the squad and stick around for very long. We actively recruit kids out of high school to come in and compete on our varsity team.”

There are currently nine members of the debate team. The group has an open walk-on policy, so any full-time student is welcome to join.

Fifelski, senior social sciences major, was recruited four years ago from Grand Rapids, Mich. He said he chose ESU because the debate team was willing to work hard and often.

“I think Sam Maurer is a wonderful person,” Fifelski said. “He’s s good friend of mine, which would not be the case if he wasn’t such a good coach. He’s very understanding of people, but expects hard work at the same time and that’s pretty cool.”

Hayley Holloway-Utter, sophomore communication major, has been a member of the debate team for two years. She said that she chose ESU because of the coaches.

“I can’t justify going anywhere else because of our coaching staff,” Holloway-Utter said. “They are two of the smartest people you’d ever meet in your whole life. They let you debate how you want to debate. I really like debating theory, or how the rules of debate should be within rounds, which is not their forte, but they’ve learned a lot more about it for my benefit which I think is really cool.”

The squad travels to tournaments all over the country. So far this year, they have gone to Gonzaga University in Washington state, Kentucky, University of Northern Iowa and Kansas City Kansas Community College.

The team will host a tournament at ESU this weekend, Oct. 16-19, and have the next weekend off but will be preparing for a tournament at Harvard the weekend of Oct. 31.

“There is no Division II in debate,” Maurer said. “We don’t just debate schools that are about our size. We debate Harvard, Emory, Wakeforest, Northwestern and whoever else has got an important program.

“We take a lot of pride in going and representing our small school that maybe nobody has heard of before and once a student from Harvard loses to us, they’ll know where Emporia is on the map. They can point to it.”

Lauren Walbridge/The Bulletin

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La’Darrian Page try’s to outrun the Pittsburg State defense Saturday afternoon as the Hornets faced off against the Gorillas at Pittsburg. ESu was over taken with a final of 14-44. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

On the afternoon of Pittsburg State University’s 1000^th football game, the Emporia State Hornets went down to the MIAA and state of Kansas foe Gorillas, 44-14.            Pitt State set several school records on the day, including most receiving yards in one game (Kendall Fisher – 238) and most passing yards in one game (412). The game marked ESU’s sixth straight loss on the year, having only beaten non-conference opponent Southwestern Oklahoma State.

The game started off well for the Hornets as they kicked off to Pitt State, which was followed by a big hit by senior linebacker and business major Blake Ringwall. Although the team was in high spirits, the momentum didn’t carry over. Large gains eroded the Hornets defense early as the Gorillas jumped to a 17-0 lead after one quarter of play.

“They hurt us with big plays,” said Head Coach Garrin Higgins. “We would hold them on first and second down and still had problems on third down giving up the big plays – we just can’t do that. You can look at everything, but that’s the bottom line – if you can’t get off the field on third down, and we can’t get momentum offensively and keep the chains moving, then we’re going to have problems.”

The start of the second quarter proved to be fruitful for the Hornets. A pass from freshman quarterback and business major Tyler Eckenrode traveled 33 yards and hit freshman wide receiver and undecided major Shjuan Richardson inside the Pitt State 10-yard line. The possession was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by junior running back and business major Kevin Smart.

The run game and passing game were in sync on the drive, noted Eckenrode – something other possessions lacked.

“For our offense to work, we need more balance,” Eckenrode said.

The jubilation received by Smart’s touchdown was short lived.

Four punts would come in the following four possessions, while Pittsburg State scored twice more, both on accurately thrown touchdown passes from Gorilla quarterback John McCoy.  Junior defensive lineman and recreation major Harold Ayodele recovered a McCoy fumble late in the second quarter, but to no avail – the drive resulted in the end of the half, with Pitt State leading, 30-7.

Spirits were down for the overmatched Hornets.

“We let it just slip away from us in the first half,” Higgins said.

The second half proved to be just as futile for ESU. Mistakes topped with poor execution on third and fourth downs decided the fate of the already struggling Hornets. A roughing the kicker penalty on ESU’s first possession of the second half was short lived, as a pass from Eckenrode hit freshman tight end Adam Schiltz in the hands and was dropped.

“Schiltz is a great player…he just didn’t have a good day,” Eckenrode said. “People just don’t have good days sometimes, but he’s a great player, and he’ll be a great player next week.”

On the following defensive stand for the Hornets, a pass was intercepted by junior linebacker and athletic training major Nathan Linsey. The Hornets couldn’t capitalize on the turnover – the following drive resulted in a turnover on downs due to an incomplete pass in the endzone on fourth down. On the bright side, the Hornets escaped the third quarter while only giving up one touchdown. Pitt State led the game heading into the fourth quarter, 37-7

The fourth quarter went by in a blur, as the Gorillas used their powerful, yet underused running attack to thwart off the Hornets and run down the clock. Pittsburg State would score once more, this time on the legs of backup quarterback Jeff Smith on a 15-yard scramble. For ESU, a lone second half score came in the form of a touchdown run by sophomore running back and business major Adrian Abner.

The tale of the tape served as a reminder of the dominance shown by the Pitt State Gorillas, as they gained over 630 yards of offense, next to ESU’s mark of 269. Page noted that time and rhythm are factors that contribute to the Hornets’ recent blunders.

“I think right now we’re still trying to find our rhythm,” Page said. “We’re still trying to get rolling on offense – we still have some pieces to put to the puzzle to move the ball. We just need to get rolling….We just really need to get in a rhythm and make plays and keep the defense off the field. We have to help them (the defense) help us.”

Even though the emotional turmoil was present due to the loss, Higgins found a way to stay somewhat upbeat.

“Let’s look at the positive – we made two extra points today,” Higgins said.

Shane Wilson/The Bulletin

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Eddy

Emporia State University has shown a decrease of 90 students from last year’s enrollment count, according to Kansas Board of Regents Web site. ESU was one of two of the KBR schools that experienced a decrease. The University of Kansas has also reported a smaller enrollment number for this fall with a drop of 98 students.

“We are working hard on recruitment plans for next fall,” said Laura Eddy, director of admissions. “We would really like to see a growth in enrollment for 2010.”

On Sept. 24, the KBR released the enrollment numbers for the six Board of Regents schools. The state overall has experienced an increase of 1,435 students, or 1.6 percent since fall 2008.

Fort Hays State University showed the biggest enrollment increase with a total of 1,201 students, and Kansas State University showed the smallest enrollment increase of 61 students. Pittsburg State University had an increase of 150 students, and Wichita State University showed an increase of 211.

In addition, ESU has 520 international students on campus this fall.

Last year, Emporia State’s student headcount was 6,404 – it has declined to 6,314. The university overall has experienced increases and decreases in enrollment since 2000 but ultimately enrollment has risen by nearly 700 students from 5,616 in 2000.

Statewide, enrollment has increased by over 5,000 students from 88,817 in the fall of 2005 to 93,307 in the fall of 2009.

That makes for a 5.1 percent increase for the state of Kansas over the last five years.

The number of students taking classes from off-campus has increased by 114, in addition to ESU seeing an increase of 17 for the non-resident student category. Statewide, the only decrease in enrollment is in the number of resident students, which has only decreased by 35.

“To increase enrollment for next year, we want to offer more special on-campus visits and special scholarship promotions and programs,” Eddy said. “We will also be traveling more in Kansas and the NEARR states.”

The NEARR program is a plan that gives students in certain states near Kansas the option of getting a tuition that is lower than out-of-state tuition but not as low as in-state tuition.

“The ‘NEARR states include Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and Nebraska,” Eddy said. “We are set up to travel to forty different college fairs from Kansas City to Liberal in the next year.”

Emporia State also plans to increase the number of Hornet Nights, as well as hold fairs that are targeted towards students with specific backgrounds, such as Minority Recruitment Days.

“We also plan to host more visits specifically for international and transfer students,” Eddy said.

A lot of the enrollment recruitment is also done through advertising and the view books that are sent out in the mail to prospective students.

“Hopefully with these new recruitment plans in place, we can bring enrollment up next fall,” Eddy said. “We are really working on getting the information out there and getting faculty more involved in the recruitment process as well.”

Shawna Berry/The Bulletin

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Thomas Field and the rest on the Trusler Sports Complaex will be shared with the EHS baseball team for the rest of the season. The decision will benefit both ESU and EHS by reducing costs of maintaining their own facilities with their funds alone./PHOTO BY KELLEN JENKINS

The Emporia State athletics department and Emporia High School athletics have recently agreed to share the Trusler Complex.

According to ESU Athletic Director Kent Weiser, both schools have had a history of the cooperative use of each other’s facilities.

“Emporia State and Emporia High have always had a very solid and strong relationship with our athletic programs as far as sharing facilities,” Weiser said.

For several years, EHS has used ESU’s facilities.

“Emporia High School uses Welch Stadium for their football and track meets,” Weiser said. “They were a major part of helping fund the artificial surface on Jones Field.”

Although both schools are cooperative, the use of all facilities is not free for EHS.

“They pay the hard costs like electricity bills and upkeep,” Weiser said. “As far as their use of the Trusler Complex, there are really no extra expenses for ESU because we will have our maintenance staff mow the grass, which they do anyway. Emporia High school is responsible for all of the other field maintenance.”

According to Weiser, Emporia High is responsible for using dry agents on the infield, striping the infield and providing their own bases.

Britton Hart, athletic director for Emporia High, said the use of the facilities will be a great improvement from the school’s previous arrangements.

“It is a great deal for them because it is a much nicer facility than using Whittier Park because it was not as nice for fans or student athletes in comparison to Trusler,” Hart said.

Although both schools have a good rapport with each other, scheduling conflicts will always be an issue.

“The only conflict we have this year is when they have a contest we will only have one field to practice on, which really is not bad because we have a couple batting cages, a couple pitching mounds and a large outfield,” Hart said.

EHS is not the only school that will benefit from these arrangements. According to Weiser, EHS also allows ESU’s tennis team to use their courts.

“The high school has been terrific with letting us use their tennis courts,” Weiser said. “They have got a great tennis complex with 12 courts and when we have dual meets with both men and women it allows us to go to a quality facility and play all the matches at once.”

According to ESU tennis player Andrew Shipp, the larger facility is a necessity when it comes to hosting matches.

“It is mostly for matches where we need more courts than our courts supply,” Shipp said.

Weiser said he feels the alliance is good for the community.

“We share facilities with the city of Emporia, Emporia High School and Emporia State,” Weiser said. “We can each end up with a very nice facility and share rather than each having smaller facilities.”

Doug Irby/The Bulletin

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International students met with Emporia State President Michael Lane and his wife, Peggy Lane, associate professor of accounting and information systems, last Tuesday night in the Flint Hills room to discuss topics of their choice.

“I really appreciate learning the things that we can get better at,” Lane said, as he thanked the students for sharing their opinions.

There were students from China, South Korea, Finland, Japan and Kenya present, all of which are from ESU’s exchange universities and are in their first semester at ESU.

“I like Emporia,” said Kari Huolila, business major from Finland. “The people are very friendly. We didn’t have any problems here except for getting our visas.”

The discussion lasted for nearly two hours and each one of the 16 students asked at least one question about topics that ranged from roommate assignments and food in the residence halls to learning to socialize with American students and getting involved on campus.

“Here the professors respect and listen to our opinions very carefully and give us useful advice,” said Younghai Li, political science major from China.

Students also talked about the troubles that they have had in America, including getting student visas and understanding their American classmates.

“In (some of my classes) we have group meetings and (in my group) I’m the only Asian girl,” said Soo Jin Lee, business administration student from South Korea. “All of the Americans go so fast. It’s hard to participate and I can’t make my opinions heard.”

The students also discussed the differences that they have encountered between ESU and their home universities.

“It’s totally different from China, the education system, but I prefer here,” Li said. “In China, I just took my head to the classroom and listened to the teacher. Here we have to take our brain. I have to do homework every day and I love it.”

Students from Finland also agreed that American education programs are a huge adjustment for exchange students.

“In Finland, we have academic freedom so you don’t have to go to class if you don’t want to,” Huolila said. “It’s different for us but it’s good. Professors have been very friendly.”

One major difference for all of the students is the size of the classes at ESU.

“We have a lot of students and it’s always very crowded,” said Wang Lu, mathematics major from China. “It’s seldom that we have discussions in class. But here the teachers will ask what your opinion is and we discuss. It’s hard for me to speak (my opinion).”

Most of the students agreed that SWARM was a useful tool that helped them become acclimated not only to ESU but also to the U.S. as a whole. However, the students were surprised to find out that there was a bus system in Emporia.

“I really learned a lot of useful things that can help me to study here during SWARM,” Li said.

Lane used to invite students to have pizza with him while discussing topics that were important to them. These “Pizza with the President” meetings were not as successful as the administration would have liked, said Marjorie Werly, director of public relations and executive assistant to the president, so they decided to go in a different direction.

“The president has been meeting with these student groups just to have conversation and get to know each other better,” Werly said.

Werly said that students are more comfortable speaking in a group setting when the other students at the meeting are familiar to them. During “Pizza with the President,” students were randomly invited and it was hard to get more than 10 to come.

There haven’t been less than 20 students in attendance at the new style of meetings, Werly said.

Several other groups of students have been invited to meet with the president, including Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Alpha Kappa Lambda Fraternity and Trio.

“Last semester, I visited with a bunch of different student groups and I asked them if they would be interested in visiting with the president,” Werly said. “They all said yes, so I asked them what days and times are best.”

International students will have another opportunity to meet with President Lane in April.

Lane said that his main goal was to learn about the areas in which ESU could improve for the international students.

“Our purpose is to learn what the international students are interested in, what’s going well and what can we improve,” Lane said. “I think we learned lots of things tonight and we can work on what we need to improve.”

Ashley Peaches/The Bulletin

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