Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Noland)

At holiday gatherings while other students are celebrating with fudge in one hand and peanut brittle in the other, Ashlen Angelo, Overland Park sophomore, is empty handed. That is, if she is even at the party. She might be laying in bed watching episodes of “Golden Girls” on DVD with a heating pad on her stomach, consuming only crackers. Angelo has Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the digestive tract that develops ulcers on the inner surface of the colon. The disease affects Angelo’s small and large intestines and causes her severe abdominal pain.

“For me, overeating doesn’t just add on weight, it makes me actually sick. I have to eat slowly so I am satisfied with the amount I can have.”

Ever since being diagnosed in October 2002, Angelo has had to be careful about what foods she consumed. Anything spicy or greasy tends to leave her with intense stomachaches and cramps and can leave her in pain for a full day.

“It can last up to 24 hours after I have eaten,” Angelo said. “Usually if I overeat, the next day I’ll be feeling bad and reduced to eating only crackers because I don’t want to risk feeling even worse.”

While Angelo has to carefully monitor her food intake on a daily basis, doing so is tougher around the holiday season.

“It is harder because there are a lot of holiday foods that I like to eat and look forward to eating when I go home. It’s annoying having to work in eating something I really like. I have to find a time when my Crohn’s is under control before I can eat foods that I like. I get frustrated and I feel like I’m old.”

For healthy students the holidays are a time of temptation. With delectable holiday treats sitting around and a break from the structured routine of school, healthy eating and exercising habits can rapidly vanish. Experts warn against giving into these temptations and advice students to stay physically active. A recent study from the National Institue of Health suggests that the commonly held idea that Americans gain five to 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and the new year is false. While the study more accurately states that Americans only gain about one pound over the holidays, students still need to be mindful of their health.

“Don’t skip meals,” said Ann Chapman Student Health Services dietician. “This is really important. In fact, you should eat every three to four hours. You should also stay physically active, even if it is different activities than usual. If you normally jog, you can go ice skating with your friends or cross country skiing if you live somewhere really cold.”

Chapman also advises to avoid packing on the winter weight by eating limited amounts of holiday sweets. Rather, students should opt for healthier snacks. Some options she suggests are 100-calorie snack packs, fresh fruit or dried fruit, like a package of raisins, low fat granola bars, fat free pudding, string cheese or applesauce.

Snacks aren’t the only place where the intake of food should be limited. At holiday feasts, people should not overeat to the point of feeling uncomfortably full.

“It’s better to not have a huge feast and overload calorie and fat intake in one feeding,” Chapman said.

With limited income, and consequently limited amounts of food year-round, Krysta Beaver, Lawrence freshman, doesn’t follow this concept. Rather, she takes advantage of the abundance of food available.

“I dig in,” Beaver said. “I’m a starving college student; I don’t get the opportunity to pig out on a good, home-cooked meal very often. Eating is followed by a two-hour, tryptophan-induced coma.”

The holiday season also ushers in another health risk for college students: stress that is a result of final exams and projects.

“Stress mostly comes from finals,” Angelo said. “I take little breaks when needed and I tell myself it will be over soon. When I’m working hard during these last few weeks, I remind myself that I’ll get to relax later and that helps me get through it.”

John Wade, Counseling and Psychological Services psychologist, agrees that it is important for students to take breaks from schoolwork.

“Making sure they still do other activities that aren’t all school related is important,” Wade said. “I realize this is difficult. Students should exercise and socialize, but probably not as much as normal. It is important to look at things in perspective. Think about how important this situation will be in five years. It’s still important, but not as urgent.”

Amanda Knoll, Quinter senior, has a demanding job to worry about in addition to the typical stress of finals that other students deal with. Knoll is the scholarship hall director of Sellards Scholarship Hall, which is a position typically filled by a graduate student. Knoll’s job requires her to be available to assist her residents whenever they may need her.

“When I have finals the next day, some situation always comes up,” Knoll said. “It requires time to deal with it, time to process the situation after it happened and time to take steps to deal with situation. If an emergency comes up, I have to deal with it immediately, regardless if it is one hour before a final or the day before when I am studying.”

With these extra responsibilities, Knoll has a hard time scheduling sleep. As a result, she relies on the caffeine in coffee to keep her going.

“I have at least three cups of coffee a day, and sometimes they aren’t small cups,” Knoll said. “I go out for espresso at least twice a week and sometimes five time a week.”

Caffeine has become such a staple in Knoll’s life that her means of relaxing even revolve around this stimulant.

“To reduce stress, I drink coffee. Seriously, I’ll meet with my friends at a coffee shop and just relax.”

Wade warns students against replacing sleep with artificial stimulants like caffeine or relying on them for extra energy.

“Anything that gives a short-term boost of energy is followed by a crash of a low mood or a little depression,” Wade said. “Increasing energy artificially also increases anxiety, heart rate and breathing patterns. Sugar and caffeine do increase anxiety symptoms. It may feel good in a way, but also makes you more anxious during a time of stress.”

Wade suggests stepping back from the situation and assessing the importance of the task at hand. This tactic can be used with all holiday events, such as party planning, gift shopping or holiday baking.

“It’s easy to become overly focused and have tunnel vision,” Wade said. “We get really focused on finals or really focused on Christmas shopping that we loose perspective and become overly stressed. It’s really easy for anyone to do.”

This over emphasis on holiday details can lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder, commonly known as the holiday blues. The The American Psychiatric Association describes this type of depression as affecting patients during the fall and winter and is characterized by exhaustion, loss of interest in daily activities, social withdrawal and weight gain. Wade said the onset of this is commonly the result of unrealistic expectations.

“Expectations are so high that unless the experience meets unrealistic expectations, we feel let down. If our expectations are sky-high, it’s easy to miss them. We expect this to be the best day of the year, and it realistically may not be, so we feel let down.”

Living at home for winter break is another stressor during this time of year unique to students.

“Living with my mom for a month is stressful,” Beaver said. “My mom is a fantastic lady and a very good friend of mine, but I’ve moved out and lived on my own. Living with her again will be very stressful.”

Not only a change in atmosphere, but a change in pace can also affect students. After a semester of demanding class requirements and busy schedules, a month of downtime can come as shock.

“If dealing with a lot of free time, look for meaningful activities, spend time with friends or volunteering. Having some structure is important,” Wade said.

After the stress of the holidays is over, some set New Year’s goals for themselves to loose the weight they recently gained. When doing this, Chapman warns to not be too ambitious and take baby steps towards the ultimate goal.

“Set small, achievable goals,” Chapman said. “Look at one aspect of your eating habits you are not happy with. For example, if you drink three sodas a day, just drink two a day for a couple of weeks then go down from there. Or, if you don’t ever exercise, start exercising two times a week for 20 minutes each time.”

Posted by Jyl Unruh at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

.

The United States Department of Agriculture will update what food items participants in the Women, Infants and Children program will receive if its proposal is approved. Offering foods, such as whole grain bread, fruits and vegetables, which currently aren’t available to the program’s participants, is a key aspect of the proposal. WIC provides monthly vouchers for specific healthy food items to low-income, nutritionally at-risk pregnant or breast-feeding mothers, their infants and children up to five years old.

The Institute of Medicine proposed new guidelines for appropriate foods and portions for WIC to offer. USDA considered these recommendations and formed the new proposal.

“It’s time for the program to be revamped,” Linda Rippetoe, Douglas County Department of Health dietician, said. She added that WIC has run for 30 years.

The federally funded, but state administered program reaches approximately 1,500 Douglas County citizens,m Rippetoe said. In 2005, each WIC participant in Kansas received $33.14 worth of food each month according to the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service Web site.

The current WIC food package includes milk, some of which can be substituted for cheese; cereal, fruit juice, eggs and a protein source such as beans or peanut butter. The foods on the voucher are offered because of their strong nutritional values.

“The foods that are available are offered to fight the problem of obesity,” Trish Unruh, Douglas County Department of Health dietician, said.

WIC is unrelated to the Food Stamp Program and if they qualify, participants can be on both programs at the same time. While the Food Stamp Program’s mission is to end hunger and improve nutrition and health, according to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service Web site, WIC focuses on the nutrition of young children to ensure they healthily grow and develop.

To qualify, participants must be deemed by a doctor, nurse or nutritionist as being at nutrition risk. The USDA Food and Nutrition Web site defines this as having a medical or dietary based condition. A medical-based condition includes anemia, history of poor pregnancy outcome or being underweight, while poor dietary habits are an example of a dietary-based factor.

“It is not intended to provide the clients with all their nutritional needs; it isn’t enough food for all month,” Rippetoe said. “It is designed to provide some good food and make it easier on the grocery budget so the client can continue to buy other healthy food.”

Currently, no fruit items are on the voucher and the only vegetable available to WIC clients is carrots, Rippetoe said. Not even all clients qualify for these. To provide their bodies with enough nutrients to pass along to the baby, women who are nursing an infant up to one year old receive carrots along with tuna and extra dairy and juice.

Under the new plan, children will get six dollars and pregnant and nursing women will receive eight dollars in cash vouchers to buy frozen, canned or fresh fruits or vegetables.

Marty Glenn, nutrition lecturer, advises people on a low grocery budget to buy canned items.

“It’s tough to get fresh fruits and vegetables on a low budget because they really cause the grocery bill to go up,” Glenn said. “The good news is canned vegetables are really cheap and still have a high nutrition value. Frozen are a little more expensive, but still more reasonable than fresh.”

Also being added to the list of food on the voucher is two pounds of whole wheat or whole grain bread.

“Grains and pasta are real cheap,” Glenn said. “People can really stock up on these items.”

Additionally, Glenn advises the use of cheap, over the counter multivitamins to make up for nutrients they may be lacking.

“I always encourage people on a limited budget to take a multivitamin to play it safe because they have limitations on what they can get. It’s for good measure as much as anything.”

Glenn added that it is important to stay nourished for reasons other than physical well-being.

“Malnourishment or under nourishment affects your mental and physical energy. If you develop a psychological issue like depression, or even stress, it is harder to cope with these things, without good nutrition. It’s easier to deal with these things if you have energy.”

Another change is the availability of substitutions. Currently, soymilk is available to children and women with intolerance for dairy products. The new program proposes to add soy formula for infants with a dairy intolerance to the list of substitutions Rippetoe said.

The new plan is still being considered and it may take another two years until it is completely finalized and approved.

“The clients are looking forward to the change,” Rippetoe added.

One reason why the plan may take so long to be approved is a dispute over funding. While changes are being made to available food items, the funding remaining constant. This translates to the fact that other food items will be removed from the list to free up funds for produce. For example, for children ages one to five, the amount of milk supplied will decrease from 24 to 16 quarts, they will receive a dozen less eggs and 160 less fluid ounces of fruit juice.

“This program is a huge source of income for dairy and juice providers, so they are fighting to refrain from those foods being removed form the program,” Unruh said.

The lesser amount of milk, eggs and juice that participants will receive depends on what category he or she falls into. Each qualifying person in the family receives an appropriate amount of food required to be healthy for his or her age or status. Infants under one year of age are one group, children ages one to five are another, and women are divided into pregnant, exclusively nurse feeding their baby or a combination of nurse feeding and giving the infant baby food.

Posted by Jyl Unruh at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Native Australian Gail Allen, who has lived in Lawrence for the last 12 years, has been applying for American citizenship since August.

She sent in her Application for Naturalization and had to wait an extra two weeks.

She went to her appointment to document her fingerprints and had to wait two hours.

Yet, she remains patient and maintains a positive disposition. “That’s just how bureaucracy is,” Allen said. “The employees all are really nice.”

Allen filled out the Application for Naturalization and sent it to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services along with a check for the $390 filing fee that the Web site specified. She soon received her application back in the mail, with an explanation that the check was for the wrong amount; the filing fee was actually $400. Upon receiving this, Allen called the Nebraska Service Center, where she sent her application, and questioned the discrepancy between this latest information and what is posted on the Web site. The clerk she talked to said Allen was mistaken and the fee is $400. Allen directed the clerk to the Web Site where she found the information that said the fee was $390. The clerk simply said, “That’s a misprint.”

Allen didn’t irately reply or speak gruffly to the employee. She simply said, “You might want to fix that.”

Because Allen had to resend in her form with a check for $10 more, the priority date of when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received her application was pushed back two weeks.

The system of priority dates is used to ensure everyone is treated fairly. “They are happy to give citizenship to anyone is qualified,” Allen said. “There is no favoritism. People can’t buy citizenship and lawyers can’t maneuver their clients’ names up the list.”

After the office received her application with the correct payment, she was told to go to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Kansas City, Mo., to have her fingerprints recorded. She had recently gone through this process for her green card, but was required to do it again. Eager to get the process under way, she complied. Allen received a notice in the mail stating that her appointment was at noon on a Monday.

She arrived at the office 15 minutes before her appointment, checked in and was told to have a seat in a waiting room full of people. After talking with the woman next to her, Allen discovered that the two of them had the same appointment time. Others who were waiting chimed in that their appointments were for noon, as well. Allen quickly realized that practically everyone in the waiting room had a noon appointment, so what she really had wasn’t an appointment, but a scheduled time to wait her turn. After a two-hour wait, Allen finally had her fingerprints recorded.

The next step was to be tested over topics ranging from American history to the constitution. This step went smoothly for Allen, in part because she took practice tests on the Internet.

The final step will be to make an oath of allegiance. Allen will do this next time the Dole Institute of Politics hosts the event.

Allen is expecting that the entire process will take one year. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site, www.uscis.gov, the process to become a citizen varies on how many other people are applying. Currently, it takes an average of six to nine months to become a citizen.

Allen, who was born and raised in Brisbane, which is the capital of Queensland, married an American, Rand Allen. Together they have moved back and forth between Australia and America throughout the years. Most recently, they moved to America 12 years ago after living in Australia, with their five children. Over this time, she has had a Permanent Resident Card, commonly known as a green card.

This past February when Allen and her husband Rand made their annual trip to Australia, she had her Australian passport and green card with her. While in Australia, her Permanent Resident Card expired, but she was unaware of this. She didn’t even realize these cards expired every 10 years. But she soon discovered this in the San Fransico Airport when she wasn’t allowed to enter the country. Allen sent to the back room of the head of immigration office. She was eventually granted permission to enter the United States, but was told since her driver’s license was expired, if they tried driving anywhere, they would be fined. Through talking to an official, she was able to avoid a fine.

Through this experience, Allen witnessed others’ attempts to get into the country. While waiting to be helped, she overheard a Mexican girl talking to an official, the girl told the official she was taking classes and needed a student visa. The official asked if she had booked a flight out of the country. She said she had, but her ticket was with her luggage. The official told her someone would escort her to get her ticket. The girl then changed her story that her ticket wasn’t there. Seeing this, Allen realized that her problem, an expired green card, was easy to fix and consequently had no problem getting what she needed.

One reason Allen has waited until now to apply for citizenship is that she didn’t want to jeopardize her children’s citizenship status. Her five children have dual citizenship for America and Australia. Because she waited until they were all over 18 years old, they are citizens of both countries.

Her children have affected her decisions in other facets of her life as well. Allen, who started teaching elementary school in Australia at the age of 19, after attending teacher’s college for two years, worked for a while when her two oldest Children, Kara and Katherine, were little. Ever since she has been a full-time mom.
Christy Allen, Lawrence sophomore and one of Gail’s youngest kids, understands what her mom has given up to raise all five of them.

“Even though she could have done almost anything, she made her job be a mother,” Christy said.

Christy appreciates this sacrifice. “I can honestly say that I can’t imagine someone being a better mother. I can’t imagine any changes I’d make to her personality or her contribution to my life.”

Gail said that being a mom is just fun and that she loves staying home with them. “I love them because they are my children, but I also like them. They are all interesting people. We have a special closeness because we are invested in each others’ lives.”

Posted by Jyl Unruh at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Amidst little league practices, waiting on mom or dad to have time to help and enjoying some much needed down time, some grade school students are not finding time to complete their homework. As a result Broken Arrow Elementary School started the after school program Extended Learning Opportunity Program this fall to help 4th, 5th and 6th grade students complete their homework.

“The program is for students who fall behind,” Brian McCaffrey, Broken Arrow principal, said. “It provides them with an opportunity to catch up and have more one-on-one contact with a tutor, which helps many students learn.”

The program is designed for students who come to class with incomplete homework or haven’t turned in assignments that are past due.

“Students don’t really have a choice to come,” Alyson Cistola, reading resource teacher, said. “Their parents are contacted and the students are told they need to stay for extra help.”

Extended Learning Opportunity Program, which is held three afternoons a week for 30 minutes immediately after school, has a different environment than a typical classroom setting. With approximately only 15 students attending, those there can get more individual help. McCaffrey said usually one teacher is working with a maximum of four students. It’s also different from what students experience during the school day in that a faculty member who isn’t necessarily their teacher teaches them. Cistola said that a variety of staff members collaborate to help anyone there.

Duke University Researcher Harris Cooper recently published a report that examined if homework is necessary for grade school students. His results show that the only homework grade school students benefit from is reading practice and work that develops basic skills and concepts.

In accordance with these findings, Extended Learning Opportunity Program focuses on math and reading. When the program started last month, it focused solely on homework completion, but when October rolled around the program also started to include the math and reading focus.

Emily McEnroe, Lawrence sophomore, volunteers at Pinckney Elementary School’s after school program said she agrees with Cooper’s findings.

“Too much homework is assigned to elementary kids. Homework is not a productive use of students’ time because the learning occurs at school. Homework, like busy work, doesn’t help students, but some teachers still assign it, but not all do. An after school program is good because it helps students stay focused.”

Teachers at Broken Arrow saw this lack in focus last spring when they started developing Extended Learning opportunity Program. The development of the program was seen as necessary because the school did not have any sort of after school program to offer students, McCaffrey said who is new to the school this year.

“Teachers in the past years have seen the need for an after school program,” Cistola said. “A lot of kids don’t have the home life to support getting homework done. Teachers have a hard time distinguishing if students don’t understand the material, or they chose not to do it.”

“Students don’t do the homework for a wide variety of reasons,” Cistola said. “Some don’t have a good home life, some don’t understand it and some struggle with motivation. A lot of the problem is motivation. We try to overcome these obstacles any way we can.”

McCaffrey said the program was necessary in order to accommodate different learning styles.

“Different types of learners need extra time to master concepts.”

Federal education laws, such as No Child Left Behind, which requires students to take standardized tests that evaluate their skill level and understanding of basic material also impacted the creation of this program, as all students are requires to meet reach nation-wide standards

“Regardless of No Child Left Behind, the ultimate goal is to have kids at the grade level and we’ll do whatever it takes to get them there,” McCaffrey said.

Putting the concept of Extended Learning Opportunity Program into action was a result of community participation.

A parent of a Broken Arrow student who works for one of the school’s business partners, CMP Technology, worked with teachers to write a grant to fund the program. The school received a $10,000 grant, which enables the school to run a late bus after the program. The bus picks the students up at the school after Extended Learning Opportunity Program is over and drops them off at their usual stops. McCaffrey said it is important to have the late bus to ensure all students who need this extra help can receive it.

While Broken Arrow just added the after school program this year, other local grade schools have had after school programs a while. McEnroe who has seen children improve academically as a result of these programs said she sees the benefits of after school programs.

“A lot of kids’ parents don’t get off work until late and after school programs keeps them out of trouble during times when they’d be on their own,” McEnroe said. “They like to stay because it is better than the alternative of being home alone. It is good because it is supervised.”

Posted by Jyl Unruh at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For some it’s a hobby. For others it’s a way to make personalized gift. And for others, yet, it’s their livelihood. Regardless if it’s used for leisure or a source of income, the business of scrapbooking is popular.

“Scrapbooking is a multi billion dollar industry; it’s absolutely huge,” Beth Ridenour, Stampin’ Up demonstrator, said. “This whole industry is just wild right now.”

Ridenour has tapped into the scrapbooking business by holding workshops through Stampin’ Up company. Like Tupperware parties, Ridenour’s events are hosted in a home and give friends a chance to catch up while looking at the latest stamps and paper.

“I can give them a lot of service. I show them how the products work and how they can use it,” Ridenour said.

Another popular facet of the scrapbook business is scrapbook specialty stores, specifically those in bigger cities and suburbs. With sales associates who scrapbook themselves, customer service is key to these stores. Archiver’s Photo Memory Store in Overland Park is part of a chain that has stores throughout the Midwest. Sarah Brown, Archiver’s store manager, said that she sees a wide variety of clientele shopping in the store.

“We’ve been open for two years and have had a steady flow of people coming in the entire time,” Brown said.

Not all avenues of scrapbooking are thriving, though. Lawrence scrapbook supply stores have been going out of business lately.

Scrapbook Barn, 711 W. 23rd St., closed its doors this year and more recently, Crafty & Company, 918 Massachusetts St., called it quits this month after being open for a year and a half. While local specialized stores have a greater selection, they often have a hard time competing with low prices big chain stores offer.

“I usually shop at Hobby Lobby because they put their stickers and paper half off. But, if I need something specialized, like stickers for a specific theme, I go to a scrapbook store because they’ll have what I want,” Melissa Cooper, Ovideo, Florida, junior, said.

Another reason Lawrence scrapbook stores have struggled to stay open is they aren’t as well known as the big chains.

“I go to the big stores like Hobby Lobby and Michaels,” Minh-Tu Pham, Overland Park junior, said. “I don’t really know about the little ones.”

Even if scrapbookers purchase supplies that are on sale, this hobby is an expensive one. Not only do scrapbookers pay for developing of picture, but there is the cost of the actual scrapbook, which averages between $15 and $40, paper that can cost from 25 cents to $1, stickers, which range from $1 to $4 a sheet, and any other accessories used to dazzle the page, according to Brown. Additionally, in order to preserve the photographs, stickers and glue must be acid free, which is more expensive.

“For one scrapbook I spend $70 to $100,” Pham said. “If you buy the paper, the stickers, the little letters, the markers and the mini stickers for accents it is really expensive.”

“Scrapbooking is fun for me, so I am willing to spend some money on it,” Cooper said. “But I have to budget my money other places. Like I usually don’t go to the theater to see a movie, I wait for it to come out on DVD.”

Kelli Martin, Pratt junior, said prioritizing how to spend her money is key in order to budget for the expense of scrapbooking.

“Usually I won’t scrapbook as much if my budget is tight,” she said. “I’ll spend my money on other things and put scrapbook supplies last.”

Ridenour said many scrapbookers justify the cost by giving the finished product to family and friends as birthday or Christmas presents.

“I scrapbook for gifts, mainly,” Pham said. “Scrapbooks are sentimental. It’s not like I went to the store and bought a shirt. It’s a gift that goes straight to the heart.”

Other people create scrapbooks for more personal reasons. This hobby is a way to relax.

“This is like therapy,” Ridenour said. “It’s something that’s not hard, but fun.”

With midterm exams around the corner for KU students, any source of stress relief is welcomed. For experienced scrapbookers, turning to their hobby to reduce stress seems natural.

“It’s therapeutic when school is very stressful and my life is very hectic,” Martin said. “It’s a good way to forget about the bad week or day I’ve had and focus on the good times.”

This time of year isn’t popular only for college students to scrapbook, but many scrapbookers start projects in the fall. Ridenour said women in their mid 30’s to 50’s are her biggest area of clientele, most of whom are mothers. With their children returning to school, working on a scrapbook to commemorate the summer or preparing gifts for the holiday gift-giving season is a natural way to fill extra time.

“In the fall, after school has started and the weather has cooled, soccer moms don’t have as many soccer practices to go to,” Ridenour said.

With the biggest scrapbook season of the year currently taking place, the biggest trends and scrapbookers favorite techniques are becoming apparent.

“I really like to play with different types of paper and patterns. Like vellum is a little bit see through so it’s fun to play with,” Pham said.

Posted by Jyl Unruh at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)