Truman State University - Echo Yearbook (Kirksville, MO)

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plans for more trips to Costa Rica with the intention of recruiting more students and curbing the price. Although the cost scared many students away from the program, the price was ac- tually low for such a major trip. Susan Plassmeyer, junior, said. The low cost and the chances of me doing this after graduation for the same price and benefits are almost virtually nil. That was a big factor in my decision to go. she said. Plassmeyer. a junior who was working toward a double major in business administra- tion and economics, chose to participate for an obvious reason. It allowed me to pick up a bachelor of arts in economics which required 12 hours of foreign language.” Plassmeyer said. Participants in a third trip offered by the University didn't have to travel quite as far to earn their college credit hours. The Division of Social Science, which had offered a travel workshop for ten years, decided to explore the Southeastern United States. Emphasis was on the Civil War and Washington. D.C. We had covered just about every other area of the U.S. except the Southeast, so that's where we went.” said Larry Stephens, assistant pro- fessor of history. For $500, the group of 25 students spent two weeks traveling through Tennessee. Georgia. South Carolina. Virginia, and Washington. D.C. “It was a 500-level workshop so we got a lot of teachers who came back to take it.” said Stephens. The workshop included visits to the Battle of Shiloh in Shiloh. TN; Atlanta. GA and Washington. D.C. Participants of the excur- sion did most of their travel- ing by bus. For one hour, a chartered bus drove the group around the entire bat- tlefield and memorial cemetery at Shiloh. In Washington. D.C.. the group attended Mouse of Representatives. Senate and Supreme Court hearings. Ac- cording to Karen Metzger, sen ior, this was not something that people usual- ly did when visiting the capitol. I went to Washington when I was younger, but it just didn't have the same im- pact. I think going the second time when I did was at the perfect age for me.” Metzgar said. Metzgar. said the trip was informative and entertaining. I would never go to summer school down here otherwise, but this was a fun way to earn three credits. she said. The majority of the people on the trip were teachers from rural Missouri schools who were well informed and had in- put. she said. The trip also helped Met- zgar come to a decision. The East Coast is definitely for me, she said. The three travel workshops attained the goals the University had intended. Participants agreed that the programs were educational, fun and worth the money. Most gained insight about their own lives, whether it was realizing how good we have it in America or something more important. As Dunseith said. I met my fiancee in a disco in Tokyo. Dixieland — Andrea Brown, sr.. and Karen Metzgar. sr.. stand near General Johnston's death place at the battle of Shiloh. The trip was pari of the Southeast Workshop. — Photo by I-arry Stephens Feasf’ivily — At a picnic with family and friends. Fiorella Rojas, sr.. relaxes after a long day. while Dofta Renee Vargas, a native of Costa Rica prepares for the picnic. — Photo by Joni Kuehl Academics = 9 = Travel Workshops

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Workshops pack credit into Suitcase full of culture I was on a subway and a drunk Japanese businessman came up to me and tried to prac- tice his karate and English on me. Needless to say, his karate was much better than my English, said Terry Dunseith, senior. Dunseith added that it was by far one of the most in- teresting things to happen to him while visiting japan. He was one of 20 students who were part of a travel workshop to that country. But it Japan would not have interested you. you could have had the choice of going to Costa Rica or the Soutneastern United States. Of course, anybody could go on vacation, but the students on these three trips gained a little something extra — col- lege credits. Six students paved the way for future summer exchange programs to Costa Rica by spending eight weeks travel- ing the country and living with Spanish-speaking host families. After discovering student interest in the pro- gram, Vera Piper, Spanish in- structor and native of Costa Rica, made arrangements through her family in Costa Rica for possinle host families. The only prere- quisite for participation was completion of Intermediate Spanish I. Although the students spent a majority of the trip with their host families, the group also made several overnight trips to various cities, spent a week on the Pacific Coast and took a five-day excursion to Panama. In Panama City, the students watched ships from all over the world pass in and out of the canal and the enor- mous lock fill up with water to allow ocean-liners through the passageway. Because im- ports were easily accessible, the group did a great deal of shopping due to extremely low prices in the city. The trip, plus air fare, housing and six college credit hours cost the student about $1,450. which Piper con- sidered very economical. For eight weeks and all those things included, you couldn’t find a better price.” Piper said. The reasonable rice was partially due to the ospita lity of the host families and their willingness to provide housing for the students. Carol Trampe, senior Eng- lish education major who was considering a second major in Spanish, said the trip had been affordable, beneficial and enjoyable. Every day was a learning experience. There was no sit- ting in class with pencil and paper. If you wanted to com- municate you had to speak Spanish because the majority of the host families didn't speak English. she said. Trampe found her lang- uage skills put to the test dur- ing her last day in Costa Rica. Faced with having to find her way back to the home of her host family, she could not find the bus stop. It took me one hour and a half. I asked 30 people direc- tions. and finally I found it. It was scarv. but I was so proud when I climbed onto that bus and I knew I'd made it on my own.” she said. During the excursion, the group attended a festival in the small town of Tilaran, where the people were celebrating the town's patron saint day. Tilaran was very similar to a small town that might have been found in Iowa or northeastern Missouri except that a large Catholic church instead of a courthouse dominated the middle of the square. The festival, called a tur- ni” in Spanish, was very typical of Costa Rica. Children were dressed in the bright traditional town costumes and vendors sold various Spanish pastries like orejas, melcochon and candy-coated peanuts called mani’gadapinadas. The high- point of tne festival for the students came at a dance on Friday nivht when Lionel Richie’s “Hello. a not-so- traditional Spanish song, was a favorite. Visiting Costa Rica gave some students a different view of their own country. It tave me a lot of pride, ecause they (Costa Ricans) idolize the United States. said Jerelyn Potts, senior in- terpersonal communication major. I also realized that we don't have it so bad here. We take a lot of things for granted.” While Piper pioneered a trip to Costa Rica. A1 Srnka. faculty adviser of the Japanese Language and Culture Studies Program, ac- companied another group of students to Japan. It was part of the exchange program with Hosei University. Students earned 12 college credit hours by attending classes in Japanese history and language for eight weeks. The group then spent the following tnree weeks traveling throughout the country. Students were selected according to their grade point average and an essay concerning interest in the program. Interest in the program has grown so much that students were turned away for the first time. said Srnka. Srnka said that interest in the program had continued to expand. In Spring 1984. courses in the Japanese language were added to the curriculum which eventually enabled students to spend an entire academic year study- ing in the country. That’s something we wanted to work on.” Srnka said. Although the program was in its fourth year, it was not without new experiences. For the first time, the group traveled to Taipei. Taiwan during the last leg of their journey. The people of Taipei were wonderful to us. The Ministry of Education made arrangements for us to go to the national museum and the university at their ex- pense, said. Srnka. The trip, which included transportation to and within Japan, plus housing and tui- tion. cost $2300. Srnka urged students not to let finances hold them back.” Students with a G.P.A. above 3.0 usually got a loan from the University that they could partially pay back through work programs, said Srnka. Piper said that she had made f'romo One: Impromptu classroom for visiting students rises from the steps of the ticket outlet of Meiji Miura. a village that visually depicts the history of |apan through its buildings, costumes and artifacts. Frame Ttva In order to depict traditional (apanese housing, two men build a section of a park dedicated to housing in Yokohama, japan Frame Three: Cross-legged artist uses intense concentration when painting intricate designs on (apanese teacups in his family-operated shop. Frame Four: A burst of insanity seizes Mary Beth Nowlan. jr.. an intern with the summer (apanese program, to join a group of lapanese students posing for a formal class picture. — Photos by Al Srnka Academics = 8 = Travel Workshops

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‘Major’ decisions lead to Distinctive concentrations One fact is that there are not as many on campus who have it as a major. It’s a totally different field, said Jim Hurst, junior. When he was in his high school machine class. Hurst found out about a scholarship offered by the society of plastic engineers. After look- ing into it. he eventually received the scholarship. Hurst came to the University to start his studies in plastics. Students worked hard for business degrees, education degrees and a myriad of others offered by the univer- sity. Each student might have argued that his or her degree was the toughest to earn, but a small number of students at the University worked towards degrees that were uncommon and challenging. These students took pride in their major and their future because they worked toward a degree quite different from the norm he said. Hurst add- ed there was quite a demand for plastics majors. Hurst decided to major in plastics because he thought the plastics industry would boom in future years as com- pared to the business field. “The difference from the field of plastics and the field of business is that business is tapering off while plastics is skyrocketing. It's still going to increase in the years to come. he said. The ocean has always been a special attraction to Tyler Erickson, junior, and after having lived in Florida for almost a year, he decided to major in marine fresh water. He attributed his interest to Jacques Cousteau, oceanog- rapher. (His) specials used to be my favorite. said Erickson. I would like to follow in his footsteps. Erickson had studied at the Gulf Coast Research Lab in Ocean Spring, MS. so it was unusual to find him studying marine fresh water at a university in Missouri. It's (the University) one of the few Midwestern colleges that have this course of study,” he said. Marine fresh water deals with the ecologv of the ocean and marine zoology. Erickson loved the ocean, but he had one fear, its future existence: pollution. There is a lot more pollution now. We need oceans very badly. he said. Through his knowledge and experience, he planned to use the ocean's resources rather than destroy it. Radiation has been a topic of major concern ever since the first atomic bomb was dropped nearly forty years ago. (Radiation) is not as big of a hazard as crossing a street in New York City. said Lila Albin. radiological surveillance major. I've been interested in radiation ever since high school. said Albin. Her in terest in radiological sur- veillance began with a book she had read. It was about Marie Curie and how she stumbled on radium and radiation,” she said. My major was not estab- lished until two years after I was going here. said Albin. She had been involved in the science department as a chemistry major. When I say I'm in science, people scream and freak out. said Albin. “People think it's too difficult and only strange people are in it. For this intense area of study, one needed the right attitude and concentration to devote to the major. It's generally a more rigorous course of study and demands more mental appliance. said Technical procedures — Machine work engages jeff Hurst, jr.. in the Industrial Arts building. The plastics major chose his field, in part because of a scholarship he was awarded. — Photo by Kay Krupcla Albin. Statistics may not have seemed a very enjoyable ma- jor or profitable in the job market but according to Bob Clark, senior, computer science and statistics double major, it's a good field to get into. “It's a good field to get a job in. Any oig company that makes some kind of product will hire stats people. There are more jobs than people. he said. Most companies need to hire statistics personnel but they don’t have the funds to afford them. The main job for someone in statistics is to save money by determining whether it would cost money to remake (defective pro- ducts) or even more money to change the way of making (the product), said Clark. He became interested in statistics after taking a class for his computer science ma- jor. There is only one re- quired (statistics) source in computer science. I needed to take more electives and I kin- da wanted them related to math. Statistics just happen- ed to be the one he chose. It's something I'd never done be- fore. I think it's interesting. Such majors as marine fresh water, plastics, radio- logical surveillance, and statistics may have seemed unusual to the average per- son. but to these four students it was exactly what they wanted to do. It will open up opportunities for me. said Alhin of her radiological survelliance degree. She planned to continue her education, then someday work with nuclear industry. The less populated majors added diversity to academic offerings and gave students a broader range of career options. Academics = 10 = Unusual Majors