Louisiana State University - Gumbo Yearbook (Baton Rouge, LA)

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bu-Vions, . e d her mother, Dr. Diane Buns supervises Travis, David and Joe while they listen to a cassette recording. Jt ' vme Economics Preschool Xabocatory 1Q

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J Daniel and Micheal explore the sensation of touch at the LSI) Preschool Labora- tory. Pat shows Kane an interesting shape on the computer ' s screen. df Dr Diane Burts instructs Nikki, Joe and Ben as they manipulate objects, including pipes and valves. Preschool Serves as Lab for Students, Teachers any students passing be- tween the Home Economics and Food Sciences buildings may have seen and heard young chil- dren at play. No, they weren ' t hallucinating. What they observed was the School of Home Economics Preschool Laboratory. The lab, headed by Dr. Diane Burts, actually serves many colleges on the campus. The lab plays an important part in several Home Economics courses, including 2055, 4056, 4057, 4059 and 7054, among others. These courses cover topics such as adult-child rela- tions, reading concept develop- ment in children, and theories of child development. Other colleges using the Pre- school Lab are Education, Speech, Journalism and Psychology. The students enrolled in the home economic courses, and those utilizing the facility for other purposes, have the oppor- tunity to both observe and in- teract with the three and four- year-old children. Not only students use the lab. The preschool serves as a field testing laboratory for extensive research programs. Because re- search is more accurate with a large number of subjects-- something the preschool can ' t offer— researchers use the pre- school for pilot studies. This means they test their procedures and equipment and train their personel in a mock situation. Us- ing the preschool in such a man- ner assures the researchers that the actual study will be con- ducted with any possible bugs already worked out. In addition to providing a laboratory for LSU, the pre- school is a safe and educational atmosphere in which parents may leave their children. Those who wish to enroll their child may apply when the child reaches two years old. At pre- sent, the lab can accept only 20 children, so certain criteria are looked at in selecting the chil- dren. Instead of randomly pick- ing the semester ' s ' class, ' the preschool staff looks at such things as the parents ' occupa- tions, their ages, other family members living in the household, special needs of the children, the number of siblings , as wel l as the family ' s ethnic, racial and reli- gious background. This selection process assures th preschool will have as diverse a set of children as possible. There is a set of tri- plets in the preschool, and other children from teenage pregnan- cies and from single-parent fami- lies. There is a fee to have one ' s child in the program, but, like LSU ' s tuition, it ' s rising and may change by the time this article sees print. The teachers for the preschool are Joan Benedict and Terri Hughes, although students often are involved in teaching as well. The children arrive at the cen- ter each day at 8:30. During the day they have access to a compu- ter terminal, a painting table, a reading table and various games. They enjoy music time, story time, and of course they get to go outside to play. Their day is punctuated by a juice break and lunch. Also, the children take part in an educaional program. Dina Hebert 18 JCome €conomics Preschool laboratory

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Mike the Tiger captured in words umbo reporter Laura Forbes gathered her big-game equipment, namely a high- powered cassette recorder, and began to stalk her elusive prey, Mike, the mascot of the LSU Ti- gers. After weeks of false leads and phone calls never returned, Laura cornered the wary feline in his lair, an upstairs apartment somewhere in the heart of Tiger country. What follows is Laura ' s grilling of the human in Tiger ' s clothing. Bob Grenchik. GUMBO: Does the fact that you portray Mike the Tiger affect your dating opportunities any? BOB: It does and does not. I ' ve never been a real active dater. I never have the money to spend, unfortunately. I ' ve never gotten into the regular scene of bar crowds too much, either. I enjoy going out but I don ' t do it on a regular basis. I ' d rather spend my time with just certain friends. staying home, or doing my own fun. A lot of my fun comes from working at Merry Minstrel. I have a good time doing that. For most people who have been Mike the Tiger, I know it has affected them. Don Smith, the guy who did it last year, complained about it and so do I to some degree. Inside the suit, I get a lot of in- vitations but people never see me outside the suit. I ' m usually the last one out of the building or the stadium or whatever. There ' s no real opportunity to do much dat- ing. A lot of the people I ' d really be interested in dating are not the same people that I enjoy messing around with at the Stadium, Assembly Center, or where ever. GUMBO: What is your present curriculum? BOB: I plan to graduate next Au- gust. I am in General Studies right now, with an eventual de- gree in Education, which came from Mike the Tiger too. I ' ve always known I enjoyed being around kids. The more I was around them, the more I came r- ' V ' . ' r ' r 20 JVtike the Ziger