Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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K-State operates at half-speed; activities, people, classes fewer By John Lonergan Maybe you ' re a senior, and you need those extra hours to graduate. Maybe you ' re an underclassper- son, and you want to fill in some time so you won ' t be taking 18 hours a semester your senior year. Maybe you ' re a high school graduate, you want to get the jump on your future classmates and get used to college life. Or maybe you ' re a schoolteach- er and you ' ve come for a few more hours of credit during your vacation. Whatever the reason, you ' ve made your decision. You ' re in sum- mer school. For the most part, your friends have deserted you; the cam- pus is operating at half-speed. So now what? You can resign yourself to the drudgery of too much class in too lit- tle time; or you can try to make the most of an otherwise bleak situation.. You can feel fortunate that it ' s easier to concentrate in the total immersion atmosphere; or you can sit dumbfounded trying to figure out why your summer GPA is the lowest of your college career. You can bum it and try enjoying your quasi-vacation for whatever it ' s worth; or you can depress yourself with thoughts of how much money you would be making at your old summer job. You can rejoice that housing isn ' t as scarce as usual; or you can wonder belatedly where you ' re going to pick up a roommate on the spur of the moment. You can be glad your classes are small and you can get to know the teachers better; or you can despair that your classes are small and your teachers can get to know you better. You can rest assured that nine out of ten K-State students are ing, good-looking persons with great personalities; or you can be dismayed that every tenth one goes to summer school. You can take heart that the competition in intramurals is not as tough as during the regular season; or you can lament when you discov- er that the all-University handball champion of the last three years just happened to stick around this summer. You can amuse yourself watch- ing the high school orientation stu- dents walking around in various states of shock and awe; or you can curse that every time you turn around you run into one of them. You can appreciate being able to find your companions in Aggie- ville more easily; or you can tire of turning down propositions from the great many ROTC men who have suddenly flooded the taverns. You can be grateful the Union isn ' t as crowded or noisy as it nor- mally is; or you can bowl four lines and try pretending that you ' re hav- ing a good time. You can exalt and carry on as you confirm your notions that sum- mer school is one big party; or you can come to the sobering realization that it may be a party, but it is indeed a rather small one. And so summer school, like many things in life, is another case of give and take. You can take advan- tage of many situations that don ' t exist during the regular school year. But, there are still classes to at- tend, books to read and papers to write. You have, perhaps, more free- dom, more decisions to make, more time to regulate; yet a good many of your choices have already been made for you. But then, if you had It your own way, you probably wouldn ' t be in summer school, would you? Summer School — 23

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Art Graduation: a rite of passage some students find unnecessary Just another ceremony in your life — Pomp and Circumstance, caps and gowns and speeches. You ' ve been through it all before. Some of your classmates aren ' t even going to bother with it. They are going to pack their belongings, leave K-State and wait for their di- plomas to arrive in the mail and make those four or five years of classes official. They don ' t want a formal good- bye from K-State, the place they called home and where they at- tempted — and, in some cases, suc- ceeded — in finding themselves. To one graduate it was just an- other ceremony. Since I was planning to attend graduate school at K-State, I knew I ' d be returning in the fall. So I really didn ' t feel like I was graduating. But I went through the cere- mony for my parents. It gave them such a thrill to watch their first col- lege graduate march in the stadium with hundreds of other students dressed in caps and gowns. My mother took dozens of pic- tures, too. She actually recognized me in that mass of graduates. And the evening ceremony, only one hour long, was shorter than in previous years. The masters and doctoral de- grees were awarded in an afternoon ceremony, saving the evening for bachelor degrees. I guess I would have gone through the ceremony anyway even if my parents wouldn ' t have wanted me to — just to satisfy my curiosity. And I ' m glad I did, be- cause it was a lovely evening, one graduate said. The procedure is simple. Buy your cap and gown in the Union, show up for practice in the stadium, be present at the formal ceremonies, and you ' ve made it — you ' re a col- lege graduate. Graduation .)5