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

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Lost deans ' cards don ' t stand a ghost of a chance with four people searching for them. Seems they ' re necessary items for enrollment. At this point you found yourself confronted with a grimy fistful of IBM cards and a little man who sorted through them and pointed you toward a table. Gee, did your fellow students ever impress you that day! Why, they slaved more over their collection of cards than you had ever seen them work on a final exam. With pen poised and ready for action, you set forth to put your life history on IBM cards. This proved to be more of a task than you had expected. For one thing, the assortment of colors didn ' t enhance them any in your estimation. They also presented some- what of an obstacle course. After you maneuvered your name and curriculum around the holes on one card, you turned to the next only to find a new set of holes. Life does have its little problems, doesn ' t it? Through Anderson, and your bank account, you next found yourself in the midst of ROTC or Home Ec blanks. Then — your adviser was at last in sight. With altered schedule in hand, you found the end of another line and pulled your class cards. But those lines weren ' t purely a waste of your valuable time. You watched your fellow seekers-of- knowledge .... 5,385 of ' em, to be exact .... come and go. There ' s Jim .... hadn ' t seen him since that rousing picnic over the Fourth .... Five 8 o ' clocks? That ' s a fate worse than death .... ' Can ' hour? .... Sure .... How about 9 and 10? So they said there were only seven per cent more Cats in ' 54 ... . Somebody miscounted .... Surely there were more than that .... Come to think of it though, 1,717 new little Aggies were quite a few. Step up and claim housing and auto cards — while they last. Old seniors ponder the results if they don ' t fill out these cards. Up, down, over and around the holes. Can anyone sue- Spending money never seems quite so difficult, as it is when you cessfuUy, and legibly, dodge the holes on the IBM cards ? sign your life and your folks ' bank account over to the College.

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Crowds gather, with mixed emotions, around Anderson in early September, and a new school year is about to begin at K-State. As the sun beats down and the perspiration beads grow, freshmen wonder if they ' ll get in and seniors wonder if they ' ll get out. and the line was 5,385 Ion And the lines formed .... the deans ' cards came .... the ID photographer flashed a bright light .... and more lines came. The year was a rat race from the very first day of enrollment to the last day of packing odds ' n ends. You dashed back to Manhattan after a rather leisurely summer, only to be halted by lines. During enroll- ment you rushed through Anderson so you could join the line in Nichols gym where you pulled class cards. And while you waited with the 1,740 daily mob, you thought how futile it was to break your neck to get somewhere — only to wait. Upon your next stop, you meditated on this thing called pre-enrollment. Who was it that had called it the freshmen ' s answer to enrollitis ? Raw nerves .... equally raw heels .... cramped fingers and legs .... exhausted minds after hours of tests (how many times CAN you meet yourself going around in a circle?) .... yes, those little Cats-to-be had missed a good deal by enrolling early.

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So the birdie is the thingfor which to look! Who can see a birdie with a hght glaring in her face? The last dollar is drained from his weak bank account as this student signs his X to a check and heads for the last lap of enrollment — Nichols gym. Mill 1« -WWE None can escape the north end ot Anderson where the comp- troller takes his semesterly cut of each K-State student ' s bankroll. Rat races weren ' t infrequent in t he lives of your fellow red-blooded K-State students. Many events ranked high for the position of worst, but most students argued that enrollment was head and shoul- ders above the rest. Yes, just about every College event had its own particular little race and idiosyncrasy. Had they all been put together, they still wouldn ' t have beaten enrollment. Homecoming decorations had their runny papier- mache .... Y-Orpheum skits had their originality .... but enrollment presented something worse yet. After several hours of argument with the dean, you agreed that you should have such-and-such a course to graduate .... Okay .... so you reconciled your- self to the idea of having to study for it ... . then The power of concentration is high as advisers try to outwit conflicts, and students try to outwit advisers. A stock exchange? No, it ' s just the up-to-date information on which classes are closed. Late enrollees see almost a solid mass of numbers.