Park embraces international diversity at annual event

Janek Sunga at the International Fashion Show during International Education Week. Photo credit/Babu Batchuluun

Over a cacophony of whoops and cheers bouncing off the high dome walls, in front of a rainbow swirl of international flags proudly waved by international students, senate president Jordan E. Korell addressed the crowd packed in Breckon Sport Center on Nov. 19.

“These are just a portion of the countries represented here at Park University,” said Korell. “We are a community of nations… And while we are all from different places on Earth, I am proud to call everyone here my friend.”

With a cheer that seemed to raise the roof, the International Festival began.

Ashley Allee: ‘There’s still a long way to go’

Ashley Allee. Photo credit/Joshua Evans

According to American biologist Alfred Kinsey, approximately one in every 10 Americans is gay. Others estimate the figure is closer to one in five. Even using Kinsey’s more conservative estimate, 1,300 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) students may be spread across Park University’s 43 campuses, and two GLBT students may be in every Parkville daytime classroom.

‘Philosophy about more than the existence of chairs’

Park University does not have a philosophy major, or minor. All Park University students have bright futures. Therefore, philosophy majors do not have bright futures. This kind of equation statement is called logic, a passion of new full-time philosophy professor Adam Potthast.

Kind of like math, Potthast’s philosophy is based around argument. It’s a far cry from the stoner-kid philosophy concepts seen in every college movie ever.

“Substances actually make you worse at philosophy,” says Potthast. “There are the crazies that want to argue about the existence of chairs when you’ re not looking at them… I’ m pretty sure chairs exist, and the more important issues are about right and wrong.”

Real Life GI Joe Fighting To Serve

Photo credit/Joshua Evans

 

When Decius A. Sanders was a little boy, he dreamed of being a real-life GI Joe.

“I think every kid is like that,” Sanders says. “Every kid wants to see the world. Every kid wants to play war and be a soldier. You end up learning stuff you’d never imagine.”

The sandy-haired junior broadcasting major was well on his way to being a living action figure in his fourth year as an ROTC cadet, when everything he worked so hard for was jeopardized by his own body.

When parking could be deadly…

Angelica Hodgdon walks back to Copley Quad from Chestnut. Photo credit/Joshua Evans

If Angelica Hodgdon falls down, she will die. No ifs, ands, or buts about it – the freshman secondary education major wouldn’t stand a chance.

Rachel Dryden invests herself in a new kind of spring break

Rachel Dryden sank into the hard airplane seat, already resenting the trip. Her friends were taking a much-needed break from school and work – but Dryden was on her way to Jacksonville, Florida to spend her fall break volunteering. All she wanted was to be back in her comfy dorm room in Parkville, Missouri, snuggling with her boyfriend and watching VH1. She had no idea that the trip would change her entire perspective on life.

It’s not like she even needed to go, she reasoned with herself. She grew up below the poverty line – why can’t someone else give back to the community? What did the community ever do for her? The first-generation freshman had already gone farther than anyone in her family before her. She deserved a rest right about now, right?

Lair of the Bugbear

Walk into the Campanella Gallery in McAfee Library, and you will be faced with a pile of metal junk. Weapons. Doors. Wheels. Anchors. Most pieces rusted or tarnished. Some twisted and melted beyond recognition. This is the lair of the Bugbear, the Scandinavian version of the boogey man.