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

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Lisa Griggs, freshman In kineslology. and Amanda Curth, freshman in elementary education. walk together to Bramlage Coliseum Nov. 29. The two were picking up basketball tickets for Griggs ' parents. ' We had football season tickets so we saw her at every home game. Julio, Griggs ' mom said. We see her off and on every two or three weeks. Outing basketball season we won ' t because we didn ' t get as many tickets, but she makes it home enough. ' (Photo by Steven Domineer) Before the Pant the Chant performance in Ahearn Field House Nov. 27. Lisa Griggs bites her fingernail. Tho squad put together the special routine for Homecoming week. Both Curth and Griggs stayed busy Homecoming week with several cheerleacing apperances and late- night practices. (Photo by Steven Domineer) 20 student life

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racing off the BE1W ACK Dirt bike racers love of male-dominated sport challenges stereotypes, earns respect from peers, strengthens relationship with father. BY EMILY CHERRY While other 5-year-old girls marveled over dolls and kittens, Michele Eidam, freshman in chemical engineering, said she learned how to ride her shiny red Honda PW 50 dirt bike. My dad bought a dirt bike for me when I was bon, Eidam said. He started teaching me to ride when I was little, and I started racing when I was about 14. But Eidam did not just race. She won. After claiming the 1999 Missouri State Hare Scramble Series Champion title in the women ' s class, she emerged as a top female racer. She also won first place in an American Motorcycle Association National Hare ScrambleChampionship race and earned second at the 1995-1996 and 1996-1997 Black Jack Enduro Circuit. I get more respect when people know I do this since I ' m a girl and it ' s somewhat rare, she said. My goal, however, is instead of hearing people say, ' She ' s good for a girl, ' to hear them say, ' She ' s good. ' Eidam said while people initially acted surprised to find out about her hobby, her friends ' reactions tended to be very supportive. When I first heard she raced dirt bikes, I thought it was a joke, Ryan Dreiling, freshman in electrical engineering, said. Then she started bringing home trophies and I thought, ' Wow, here ' s this girl who rides did bikes, and she ' s really good. Eidam said she faced obstacles as both off-road racer and student. The season is March to November, Eidam said. During that time I race or ride about every weekend, which means leaving around 6 am. on Saturday and getting back here around 2 a.m. Monday. Alexandria Dunn, Eidam ' s roommate and freshman in mechanical engineering, said Eidam did not keep her dedication a secret. She told me she raced dirt bikes within 10 minutes of our first conversation, Dunn said. The neat thing is that dirt biking doesn ' t influence her personality, her personality influences her performance. Siam said she considered the close relationship with her father to be the largest benefit she received from riding dirt bikes. ' The bond my father and I share is unimaginable, she said. He ' s my teacher, my mentor and my companion. He tells me some of his proudest moments are when people see us ride and ask him if that ' s his son out there and he gets to tell them, ' No, that ' s my daughter dirt bike racer I 1

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day by day ail THE BASICS Their room had boxes stacked on top of each other, two beds covered with clothing, bare white walls and no room to walk. Lisa Griggs ' , freshman in kinesiology, and Amanda Curth ' s, freshman in elementary education, Room 828 in Ford Hall had only a small path to walk through Aug. 21, the weekend before fall semester began. While attending Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kan., the women knew each other from cheerleading, but did not spend much time together. During their senior year of high school the two became friends. After making the K-State Junior Varsity Cheerleading squad last spring, they decided to become roommates and rush. Griggs said she felt uncertain about attending K-State and thought living with Curth would make her feel more comfortable. We were talking about school, and I wasn ' t sure about K-State, Griggs said. We got along and really didn ' t know anybody else. And our senior year we became friends. At the end of Rush Week, Griggs pledged Pi Beta Phi and Curth pledged Chi Omega. After Rush Week Griggs ' family arrived to help them move in. We knew exactly what we wanted, Griggs said. We went shopping beforehand and got matching bedspreads and had everything planned out. They pushed the desk with books, the microwave, photographs, dirty dishes and shoes into the hallway to create enough room to rearrange. But clothes, refrigerators, shoes and other belongings still consumed the room. Julie, Griggs ' mom, unpacked clothes, filled drawers, stocked the medicine cabinet and made the room feel more like home. Griggs ' brother, Chris, and dad, Steve, put up lofts and created more living space for the girls. Noticing tears while unpacking, Curth asked Griggs ' mom why she cried. Because I ' m leaving my daughter today, Julie said. Julie said it was tough to say goodbye to her only daughter. They will either kill each other or be more best friends, Julie said. I think I ' m just a worrywart. I wonder if she is as independent as I want her to be. I worry about her paying her bills and everything. It ' s a live-and-learn situation. Every parent has to get used to the adjustment. Kids grow up. THE NOISE Twelve hours of classes, two to three hours of daily cheerleading practice and sorority ac- tivities filled their weeks. Every night from 6 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m. the cheer- leaders practiced at Brandeberry Indoor Com- plex, working on stunts, chants and physical condi- tioning. Following most prac- tices, part of the team went to the Chester E. Peters Rec- reation Complex to work out more. Curth said appearances played a bigger role in college cheering than in high school. I didn ' t feel like I was in competition with my appearance, my weight, my everything, Curth said. I look at the other girls and want to be thinner. Practice and performances, along with worrying about gaining the freshman 15, made Curth unhappy with college cheerleading, she said. Cheerleading interferes with everything, Curth said. Like date parties. Semiformal, everybody got there at 6, and I didn ' t get there until 10 p.m. because I was cheering at a basketball game. The fun had been taken out because it involved too much time, Curth said. Cheering also took away from her studying, she said. She had hoped for a 3.5 grade point average her first semester but received a 3.0. THE REASON Aug. 22, the weekend before fall classes started, they walked campus together to find their classes. Class had been moved to King 209 so I go, 7:30 in the morning, Griggs said of her first day of class. I go to class. At about eight I realize I was in Chemistry 935. I just stayed there. Then, at lunch, I set my tray down, get my drinks, whatever, have all my food and cups on it, and it falls. Everybody looks at everything break. CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 by steven dearinger Between classes. Griggs studies in Hale Library Nov.14 for a test. Griggs also spent two hours a week at the Pi Beta Phi house for mandatory study hours. (Photo by Steven DeatiVe0 their world 21