University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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A LARGE GROUP of new students shoots the breeze at the home of Laurence C. Woodruff, dean of students, during one of the many Apple Polishing parties. date, that ' s September 10. . On and on and on. The endless instructions and girls running up and down the aisles handing out pencils, lapboards, tests and more tests all seem to take twice as long as actually doing the darned things. Between sieges of test installments there is chattering back and forth: who ' s pledged whom, what all the home-town kids are doing. And final remarks: Well, that ' s over. First shot, anyway. There ' s more tomorrow. You ' re crazy. Says so right here. watermelon, girls Don ' t tell me we have a few hours off ? You check the blue folder of optional activities. Maybe you wander over to the Union to participate in a Meet Your Church hour. Maybe you head toward Potter lake to eat watermelon with the YMCA. Ah-ha! Some girls trying to crash the party. The YMCA president looks dubious but doesn ' t challenge them. Good watermelon. Evening. Still more to do. New women students meet in Fraser; men in—oh, no, Hoch. Men are lured by tales of ROTC with a few jokes thrown in. Women hear of closing hours and appended information. Friday morning already ? You ' ve been here almost a week. Lot of things happened, more to go. Conferences with faculty advisers that morning. He doesn ' t seem to know much what ' s going on. Now I heard. . . Afternoon. More placement exams. Period. Which is not mentioning some spe- cial exams you may be indulging in such as music theory test, trigonometry exam, language placement test. Noth- ing like getting into the swing of things. So now it ' s Friday night. End of the week and the heat ' s off. There ' s a Jayhawk Nibble slated for Potter lake. You consider catching it. Free food! You do. There ' s the dean of men, dean of women, dean of students all plunked down on the grass eating potato salad and baked beans. Their faces are familiar now. Chances are you ' ve been in to meet them or they ' ve said hello to you. Nice people. Hey, entertainment, too. The cheer- leaders are going to lead you in some of the yells. The head cheerleader is explaining one to you, can ' t remember how it goes. Laughter. He thinks of it you yell. Now the MC takes over, introduces some sports stars. You ' re impressed. 9

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SLURP! Five freshmen men pause in work- ing their way through juicy watermelons to talk a little at the YMCA sponsored water- melon feed held at the Potter picnic area. There was a show you wanted to see that evening, but your orientation schedule of required events proclaims that your presence is requested at Hoch auditorium — check the guidebook for a kick-off convocation. You find that you didn ' t have to check the guidebook at all, for shortly before the hour listed there ' s a whirling stream of humanity all headed stoutly in one direction. You join the laughing, talk- ing crowd and you ' re in Hoch. Someone ' s telling you how glad the University is to receive you. You won- der how high the ceiling is. Someone else is booming over the microphone what you ' re expected to do in the next few days, how to do it, why it ' s done. Look at those bald heads sitting on the stage! Wonder which one belongs to Mr. Murphy? But you sit and take it all in and think that they ' re very friendly, up there on the stage. How about that? faculty confabs Thursday. What next? Um-huh: visiting the school you ' re going to en- roll in to make appointments for in- dividual conferences with faculty ad- visers. Sounds pretty important. Bet- ter go. You do. Chances are you ' re in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to start off with, anyway so it ' s back to Hoch. Again you wonder how high the ceil- ing is. Again someone is up on the stage booming things out at you bet- ter pay attention. This sounds con- fusing. Fifteen hours in each of the first three divisions with at least five in two fields of each division. How was that again? Oh, there ' s more. . . . junior-senior credit hours . . . grade points . . . customary freshman work load . . . Western Civilization . . . language requirement . . . speech re- quirement . . . Gosh. Lunch - time. Lunch-time. Gang- way. Lunch-time. There ' s a great surge toward the Student Union. You ' re caught up in it, carried along, and deposited in a line. You ' re still won- dering about those fifteen hours in each of something or other. 1:30. Tests! There must be some mistake. There just must be. Tests— already? Back to Hoch, which by this time seems like a second home. Place your last name first, then your first name, and then your middle initial (five minute pause)—all done now ? Then—wait a minute, you there in the first row, stay with me place the A NIBBLING threesome shown at the Jayhawk Nibble are Beverly Crom- well, Carolyn Settle, and B. L. Redding. 8

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But the main thing which impresses you this evening is the beauty of the campus as you look out over it from the sloping hillside above Potter lake. There ' s the campanile, which looks as much a part of the scene as if it had always stood there. The luxuriant- leaved trees now just beginning to be touched with brown. The warm, rich silence of a fall evening. You think you ' re going to like this place. first game And now it ' s Saturday afternoon, and the atmosphere is entirely differ- ent. You ' re in Memorial stadium to watch the last intra-squad game before the Big Red Team opens against TCU a week from that day. There are the cheerleaders again, leading you in the yells again. Must want you to learn them. Collectively you meet the coaches of the various sports, get some pointers on the new rules, and get a preview of an after- TESTS ALREADY — In Hoch auditorium the new students sweat out those dratted place- ment exams. noon splashed with the color of a game day. So that ' s the first week. Whew! A lot of fun, though, in addition to the unpleasantries. All over but the shout- ing now, though. Just a few little things left: registration and enroll- ment and physical exams. Did you say little things ? Half a day for the physical examination at Watkins hospital. Will you make ROTC? Your blood pressure goes up to 1.50 just thinking about it. Then registration and enrollment! Really wasn ' t so bad with everyone helping you, but with all those people and the noise and closing classes and not knowing where to go next—well, it ' ll be easier next time. Two social events the first part of the week, too. On Monday night are Apple Polishing Parties at homes of faculty members, sponsored by the YWCA. You meet in the Student Union. Everyone is holding up signs with faculty members ' names on them. You pick blindly, not knowing Zara- bodowski from Smith. If you choose right, you laugh heartily all evening; if you don ' t, you smile politely. And then a Last Nighter dance sponsored by the Independent Student Association on Wednesday night, held in the parking lot across from the Stu- dent Union. A sound truck with re- corded music, soft drinks. Lots of dancers. Wild snake lines doing the bunny hop. Nice. the final step So it ' s Thursday night and you ' re all enrolled and (supposedly) orient- ed. You ' ve even got one day of classes and the opening convocation under your belts. You ' ve passed all the requirements, attended all the must ac- tivities — and you ' ve got a punched card to prove it so now you ' re all set to be inducted. You meet in — you guessed it Hoch. And there are skits telling you of University traditions. You laugh when the man says we should be proud to have the Cornell alma mater melody for our school song since 67 other schools have it. Steeped in tradition, you leave Hoch and four abreast march down past the campanile to the far end of the sta- dium. As you walk along you notice little vignettes along the way: Jay Janes chasing some stragglers back in- to line; a fellow trying to stop to light a cigaret but being swept along any- way; a Japanese exchange student jogging to the band music. (Continued on page 92) AND FINALLY comes the moment that ends orientation week and augurs in four years of fun and work for almost 2,000 students.