Multimedia Reporting (Bradford)

Stephanie Altoro may not be a Harry Potter fan, but even she is excited about the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" release party on Friday, July 20, one of the four events that Student Union Activities has announced that they will sponsor over the summer.

The Bronx junior serves as the live music coordinator for SUA, and though there are no live music events being held over the summer, Altoro said that she plans to attend as many of the summer events as she can, including the Harry Potter book release party.

"I’m most excited for Harry Potter," she said. "I’m not even a Harry Potter fan, but it still sounds fun."

The book release party is the last in a series of four events that will be held this summer. The first event is a free showing of the movie "Blades of Glory," which will take place at 9 p.m. on Friday, June 22.

Though the showing was scheduled to take place on the east side of Campanile Hill, due to construction around the area the movie will instead by shown on Daisy Hill behind Ellsworth Hall, said Susan Hoffman, assistant director of union programs.

At 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 28, students can catch a pre-screening of the movie "Eagle vs. Shark," which is, according to summer programming coordinator Adam Diskin, a movie "like Napoleon Dynamite." The screening will be in the Kansas Union’s Woodruff Auditorium and is free to students.

On Wednesday, July 11 at 4 p.m., SUA will host a free kickball tournament at Robinson Field, where the top three teams can win $225 worth of prizes.

The Harry Potter book release party will wrap up SUA’s scheduled summer programs on Friday, July 20. Scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. in the Kansas Union’s Hawk’s Nest, the party will feature a costume contest, a Tri-Wizard Tourney, and a Hogwarts building competition, where students will get to design a gingerbread version of Harry Potter’s school using graham crackers and frosting. At 12:01 a.m. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will go on sale, and SUA has teamed up with Oread Books to offer the first 80 copies of the book for just $17. Prizes will also be available at the event totaling $400.

Hoffman encourages students who are living in Lawrence to come out and enjoy the variety of summer events that SUA is sponsoring, which will hopefully appeal to different types of people.

"It’s fun to hang out with people who have the same interests that you do, whether you may be a Harry Potter fan or a sports fan," she said.

SUA is a group composed of approximately 50 volunteers divided up into eight different committees - cultural arts, films, games, Hawk Nights, live music, public relations, social issues, and special events. According to SUA’s website, the group has been in existence since 1938 and, according to Hoffman, the group established approximately "20,000 to 25,000 touches with students per semester," she said.

To begin planning for this summer’s events, Diskin said he and the other members of SUA started preparation last semester. The Overland Park sophomore said that even for small events, planning and preparation takes a lot of work.

"We usually start planning events a semester in advance," he said. "We need a lot of time to think, do research, get contracts, money, and a place - it’s a lot of preparation even if it’s a small event."

Hoffman said she and fellow advisors J.J. O’Toole-Kurran and Kathy Talbot help with the event planning process, but that it is the students who come up with the ideas for events and work to see their ideas executed successfully.

"It’s the students who come up with the ideas to do events and get people excited," she said. "Student ideas tend to work out so much better. The students are amazing."

Hoffman compares SUA to a high school student government and quoted a poem that she had on a wall in her office when she said that without SUA’s approximately 130 events per semester, college would just be tuition and beer.

"Our purpose is to be the student organization that aids in the out of classroom experience," she said.

To sum up this summer’s four events and SUA in general, one word automatically comes to Hoffman’s mind - fun.

"SUA is just fun," she said. "It’s fun to plan, it’s fun to have an idea and see it come to be an activity. It’s fun to see students grow. It’s fun going to the events, it’s fun being involved. Students should take advantage of going to these things."

Gina Ross laughs as she remembers the young boy from Hiratsuka, Japan who once stayed in her home as a part of the cultural exchange program between Lawrence and Hiratsuka, one of Lawrence’s two sister cities. She remembers the boy as very excited but also afraid - afraid that every American he walked past down the street would be carrying a gun.

"In his mind, everyone carried a gun," Ross, a system analyst for the Kansas Biological Survey and also the chair of the Lawrence City Commission’s Sister Cities Advisory Board, said. "But, of course, everyone he met didn’t have a gun. I guess what people see in movies, that’s what they think is real life."

Ross said that if that young boy had never had the opportunity to visit the United States through the cultural exchange program established between Lawrence and Hiratsuka, he may never have known that his stereotype about America wasn’t true. Bashing stereotypes is just one of the many benefits of having relationships with sister cities, Ross said.

"The primary mission is to bridge the gap that culturally exists between high school students," she said. "Lawrence high school students wouldn’t have the opportunity to travel abroad or experience other cultures without the program. They live with a family that they wouldn’t get to otherwise. It is very important to make young people aware of the global economy. If there is respect, then there will be better relations among countries."

Both Hiratsuka, which became Lawrence’s sister city on September 21, 1990, and Eutin, Germany, which Lawrence established a sister city relationship with on October 29, 1989, have become very important to Lawrence in the city’s efforts to become a more culturally diverse place. Not only does Lawrence sponsor cultural exchange programs with both cities - in which high school students, college students, and adults visit Eutin and Hiratsuka as ambassadors of Lawrence - but even when ambassadors from the two sister cities are not visiting, their culture is reflected in Lawrence. On the campus of the University of Kansas, there is a Japanese garden dedicated to the cultural exchange program students - a garden that Ross said Hiratsuka "spent a lot of money on." The American culture is represented abroad as well - when Eutin turned 750 years old recently, a Lawrence artist created a sculpture to give to the city that was unveiled just last week at a "Kansas Night" barbeque that attracted many of Eutin’s 18,000 residents.

The success of the relationships between Lawrence and its sister cities has prompted the Sister Cities Advisory Board to consider adding another member to the family - and, according to the advisory board’s staff liaison Michael Tubbs, it will most likely be a Spanish-speaking city.

"We are looking at potentially getting a Spanish-speaking city down the road," he said.

Ross said that the possibility of establishing a relationship with a Spanish-speaking city has drawn approval from the Lawrence community.

"The response has been overwhelming, and we’re looking at any country that is Spanish speaking," she said. "Mexico, Argentina - the only requirement is that the commitment must be reciprocal."

Lawrence and its sister cities spend roughly $12,000 annually on one another, Ross said. Any future sister city would have to be willing to spend roughly that much on Lawrence every year and would also have to be willing to host cultural exchange programs with Lawrence students and residents for it to be considered as a candidate to become a sister city.

Eutin - The "City of Roses"

Frank Baron has heard from many of his German students that their trip across the Atlantic to study in Eutin was "one of the more important experiences of their lives," he said. The German professor at the University of Kansas has seen many friendships formed, and two of his students have gotten married to women from Eutin. The University typically sends around 15 students annually to Eutin, and has been doing so for over 40 years.

"It’s one thing to study in class, and it’s another to visit and experience it," he said. "It is interesting to learn the context and the culture in which the language is being used. It’s a unique feature that students get to live with families and get to know what life is like."

Eutin is described in the Lawrence Sister Cities Program brochure as "a picturesque town with a long history, located in northern Germany not far from the Baltic Sea." Called the "City of Roses," the town of 18,000 is host to the Eutin Summer Festival, which attracts thousands to hear "open-air opera in the romantic setting near the medieval castle beside a tranquil lake," the brochure said. Lawrence and Eutin established a relationship in 1964, but it wasn’t until 1989 when Lawrence mayor Robert Schumm and Eutin mayor Gernot-E. Grimm signed the official sister city agreement on October 29.

"We believe that the contacts between nations and cultures foster international understanding, cooperation, and peace," the agreement said. "Awareness and appreciation of other cultures are essential in today’s world. The knowledge gained through visits and exchanges will enhance the quality of life in our respective communities."

Currently 13 students from the Germanic Languages and Literatures Department at the University are abroad in Eutin, and members of the Sister Cities Advisory Board are also currently returning from visiting the city. Ross said that Eutin students stay for six weeks and attend school in the city. She also said that even beyond sending students and members of the advisory board, the Lawrence Children’s Choir has performed in Eutin in the past.

Baron said that his students say that their trip to Eutin was important because of many reasons, but mostly because of the cultural knowledge that they gained from the visit.

"The people that they meet and get to know, the places, seeing the way that people live - it’s so different," he said. "It’s a totally new way of life."

Hiratsuka: The 10-Day Tour Is Underway

Last Wednesday, June 13, delegates from Lawrence set out on a 10-day visit to Hiratsuka, a city of 244,000 residents located one hour by train southwest of Tokyo. Called "a modern trade center" by the Lawrence Sister Cities Program brochure, Hiratsuka is home to the five day Tanabata - translated in English as "star" - Festival, which is held every July and attracts over three million visitors to the city. Though the Lawrence delegates will not be there for the festival - they return this Thursday, June 21 - they will be there for an abundance of activities ranging from visiting with Hiratsuka’s mayor to participating in rice transplanting at the local agricultural high school.

The group’s 10 days will not involve going to school but will instead focus on the students staying with their host families and learning important parts of the Japanese culture. Of their 10 days in Hiratsuka, two days are completely devoted to home stays, where the students will closely bond with their host families and learn about their daily lives.

When Lawrence mayor Shirley Martin-Smith and Hiratsuka mayor Kyoichi Ishikawa signed the sister city agreement on September 21, 1990, they said that they established the relationship "to deepen the understanding and friendship between the two cities in fields such as education, culture, industry, economy, and youth," the agreement said. "It is our intent that this relationship will contribute to promoting better relations between the two countries and consequently to the peace and prosperity of the world."

Tubbs said that he realizes - just as Martin-Smith and Ishikawa did when they signed the agreement - that building relationships between the people of the sister cities is what makes the program important and valuable to both Lawrence and Hiratsuka.

"It is important from a cultural standpoint that relations are established," he said. "In the end the people make up the cities and the countries, and nations and cities will get along better in this world. If nations know each other better, they will get along better."

Even before the Lawrence delegates return from Hiratsuka this Thursday, the Friends of Hiratsuka are already planning a welcome reception later this summer to welcome delegates from Hiratsuka to Lawrence. Details are forthcoming, but as Ross said, "the friendships - that’s what we’re all about."

Looking Forward to the Future

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower established Sister Cities International in 1956, he may not have been able to predict the success that it would have. According to the Lawrence Sister Cities Program’s brochure, as of the brochure’s publication 900 United States cities had at least one sister city, with 1400 cities in 96 foreign countries also participating. According to Ross, it isn’t uncommon for a city to have more than one sister city - she said that she is aware of some cities in Texas that have 10 sister cities.

"One city can have many different sister cities as long as relations are active relations," she said. "As long as you have a response from the community, you can have as many as you want, just not two from the same country."

Ross said that she is thankful for the support of Lawrence families - who open their homes and offer room and board to visitors from Eutin and Hiratsuka - and said that without them "we cannot function very well," she said.

The Sister Cities Advisory Board was established by a city ordinance in 1986 and reports directly to the Lawrence City Commission. The 14 members of the advisory board are appointed by the mayor and serve three year terms. The advisory board meets on the second Wednesday of each month at the Fire and Medical Station No. 5, located at 1911 Stewart Avenue. Meetings are held at 5:30 p.m. in the Jayhawk Room. Within the advisory board exists two groups - the Friends of Eutin group and the Friends of Hiratsuka group - and each group plans the trips to and from their respective city.

Ross said that the sister city relationship was forever and was so important not only for participating students today, but also for the world of tomorrow.

"We say ‘one friendship at a time,’" she said. "It is so important that the kids experience this and make friends forever. The kids today equal the leaders of tomorrow, and this international forum gives them more understanding. That’s what we need in this world - to bring everyone together."

Laura Miller was one of thousands who attended this year's Country Stampede, held at Tuttle Creek State Park in Manhattan this past weekend. Click on the image above to view an audio slideshow about the festival.

A Castle in Lawrence

Click here to view an audio slideshow about The Castle Tea Room renovations.

One of Lawrence’s historical gems is about to shine a little brighter.

The Castle Tea Room, located in the heart of the Oread neighborhood at 1307 Massachusetts St., will soon undergo renovations that will turn the landmark into a twenty-first century jewel.

The former home of John N. Roberts, distinctive by today’s standards and unique when it was built at turn of the twentieth century, was used as a restaurant by the castle’s most recent owner, Libuse "Libby" Kriz-Fiorito, who died in 2004.

"We want to be able to have the house continue," Suzie Taylor-Meadows, historian for the Castle Tea Room Foundation board. "In fact, Libby demanded that it continue to serve other people."

To honor Libby’s wishes, renovations must be made. Planned renovations include an elevator, a new heating and cooling system, and handicap accessible bathrooms.
To raise the money for the castle’s refurbishment, the board is hosting a tagged estate sale of Kriz-Fiorito’s belongings from Thursday, July 19 to Saturday, July 21. The sale will coincide with the sidewalk sale in the shopping district of Massachusetts St. and will conclude with an auction of Kriz-Fiorito’s possessions from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

The castle means so much to so many and its rich past the castle’s rich past spans over a century. In 1892, a successful businessman named John N. Roberts began building a home for himself and his family. Two years later, it became one of the epicenters of the Lawrence social scene.

For a span of 24 years, from 1919 to 1943, the house changed owners several times, and was even at risk for demolition when the Assembly of God church bought it and planned to build a new church on the property. Finally, in 1947, Kriz-Fiorito intervened, bought the house, and turned it into the restaurant and social hotspot that Lawrence residents grew to cherish.

"So many people have such a stunning emotional connection to this building,” said Taylor-Meadows. “They have a huge emotional connection to the castle and they have a huge emotional connection to Libby."

For over 50 years, Kriz-Fiorito literally lived at work in the Castle Tea Room, operating the restaurant on the home’s three floors and residing on the top floor of the castle. The restaurant became a social setting for all sorts of community events in Lawrence. From sorority dances in the third floor ballroom to bridge club meetings, Taylor-Meadows said that the castle became one of Lawrence residents’ most loved treasures.

The brilliance of the castle attracted teacher Jan Green to volunteer with John Hughes - the man overseeing the tag sale next week - and help him sort through the treasure trove of possessions that fill Kriz-Fiorito’s home, from an old wedding dress to Green’s favorite find, a butter mold.

"I like antiques so I love this," she said. "I told John once ‘this is like Christmas!’ This stuff is like treasures."

Green’s fellow volunteer Sue Van Zuiden agreed. The homemaker said she loved the thrill of finding antiques that Kriz-Fiorito owned.

"I like opening boxes and going ‘oh, look at this!’" she said.

Taylor-Meadows said she hoped to see the castle reopen to the public by 2008. Not everything will be the same, though. Fire codes prohibit the use of the Castle’s third floor, and the Tower Room, where guests of the Roberts family used to sleep, will be used exclusively for board meetings and not for public events.

Despite some minor changes, the board still hopes to uphold the mission of the Libuse Kriz-Fiorito Historical Foundation: "to maintain the physical structure of the castle for future generations; to preserve and promote the castle’s unique history and heritage; and to maintain access to the castle for the public’s use, enjoyment, and education."

Sifting through antiques and valuables that Kriz-Fiorito once cherished and reminiscing on how much the Castle Tea Room has meant to the Oread neighborhood and Lawrence, Taylor-Meadows summed up the feelings of so many as she reflected on the castle’s importance.

"It just doesn’t get much better than this," she said.

Click here to view a slideshow about this year's KU Cheer and Dance Camp.

Donisha Carter runs from her seat in the bleachers of Horejsi Gymnasium to grab her camcorder, plugged into the wall below. She has got to catch this moment on tape.

Her daughter Shakila Tribue and the three other members of Washington High School’s cheerleading squad step onto the mat at this year’s KU Cheer and Dance Camp’s last day competition, watched by a handful of encouraging parents, including Carter, who is by now as close to the mat as she can be with her camcorder in hand.

Tribue and her squad perform a solid routine, which concludes with Tribue executing a stunt in the air and landing firmly in the arms of her bases, who put her down gently before breaking into smiles and cheers.

Carter, with camcorder in hand, jumps up and down wildly. Her daughter has accomplished what she came here to do.

"Oh it was wonderful!" she said. "I wouldn’t miss it for the world. She landed the stunt she came here to learn - she twisted out into a cradle!"

Tribue and approximately 175 other campers began their KU Cheer and Dance Camp experience on Friday, July 13 and ended with the last day competition and awards on Sunday, July 15. Packed into those three days were cheer and stunt classes, team building activities, and even cheerobics, the peppy warmup to each days events.

"All of our camps are about safety, learning, and having fun," Cat Jarzemkoski, spirit squad coordinator and director of the camp, said. "We want these girls to start their seasons off great, and camp is a way to bond and get to know each other."

Jarzemkoski - who in her role as spirit squad coordinator oversees the Jayhawks’ cheerleading squad, dance team, and mascots - said that campers would learn about pom technique, jumps, tumbling, stunts, and working as a team in their three days at camp. The campers are taught by members of the spirit squad, whose days at camp were not too long ago.

"A lot of the instructors are saying ‘remember when you went to camp?’" Jarzemkoski said. "We want these girls to have a great time, love their instructors, and learn something."

Jarzemkoski also said that hosting the camp at KU was admittedly a way to get current middle school and high school cheerleaders and dancers thinking about becoming a Jayhawk one day.

"We have girls who want to come to KU to be cheerleaders and we have girls who already want to come next year to camp," she said. "The experience at the university is amazing and the kids feel grown up."

Friday afternoon saw the campers performing their home routines - pre-choreographed numbers that the squads brought to camp to show off to other schools - inside the heat of Anschutz Pavilion. The girls from Douglas Middle School started the performances, wearing matching gray tops and pink shorts and dancing to Cyndi Lauper’s "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." The Horton High School dance team followed with a routine to Destiny’s Child’s "Lose My Breath" before the campers broke into cheerobics, jumping and dancing despite the sweltering heat in the building, which isn’t air conditioned. No wonder Jarzemkoski uses the word passionate to describe her campers.

"These kids are really passionate about cheering and sporting," Jarzemkoski said.

When Sunday afternoon rolled around and the parents packed into Horejsi Gymnasium to see their daughters - and one son, as there was a lone male this year at the camp, a boy named Joe - it was obvious that Shakila Tribue wasn’t the only one who had learned something over the course of camp. Excited campers in matching uniforms sat with their squads and surrounded the mat that each of them would soon perform on.

"Cheerleaders and dancers are hams so they have a sense of pride, like ‘look at me,’" Jarzemkoski said. "The parents are really supportive. My favorite part is the end not because it’s the end, but because it all comes to fruition."

At 1:30 that afternoon the last day competition began with a series of individual competitions, starting with jumps and going on to kick dance, tumbling, and cheer competitions. Blair from Blue Valley West steps onto the mat during the individual cheer competition and runs into the center as her teammates and fellow campers cheer her on.

"Red and black! Jaguars on this side yell red, red! Jaguars on this side yell black, black! Jaguars, yell with me - red and black! Jaguars!" Blair finishes the cheer and returns to her team. She’s just performed by herself in front of a crowd, and she’s done it well.

The mini-campers then take to the mat. On Sunday only second graders through fifth graders joined their older counterparts for a small taste of cheer camp, and they perform a routine after only working on it for a few hours. Next up is the individual campers - the girls who came to camp by themselves and not with their junior high or high school squad. They have formed a team with a mascot of, appropriately, the Indies, and their colors are pink and green. These girls really impressed Jarzemkoski.

"The individuals are amazing," she said. "They come as individuals but they work together and friendships evolve."

The Indies are followed by junior high squads and then high school squads performing for the crowd. The KU cheerleading squad performs a demo of one of their routines for the crowd before the show culminates with the awards ceremony at the end of the day. The awards, judged by the KU cheerleaders, are handed out to the best in every category that was performed, and the ceremony honors a group called the Rock Chalk Team, a select group of campers whose spirit made them stand out among the crowd. Donisha Carter applauds wildly when her daughter’s school, Washington High, wins the Most Improved Squad Award.

Cheer camp is over, and in between posing for photos with her campers, Megan McGinley, Topeka sophomore and member of the Rock Chalk Dancers team, is already missing her girls.

"It was so much fun," she said. "We developed into a big team. We had a lot of fun and it’s so sad to see them leave. I’ll miss them a lot."

As the gym empties and the campers reunite with their proud parents, a parting shot is symbolic of all that the campers learned during their three days at KU - spectators can see Shakila Tribue being hoisted into the air by a male KU cheerleader, performing the stunt that she came to camp to learn. As she lifts her arms into the air and steadies herself through the stunt, her mom Donisha Carter is smiling broadly, pointing her camcorder right at Tribue’s beaming face.

Click here to view a slideshow about Alpha Kappa Lambda, a fraternity that is returning to campus this fall.

A fraternity that left campus six years ago will return this fall, the fraternity’s executive director said.

Alpha Kappa Lambda will begin recruiting members with what executive director Jeremy Slivinski calls a slow start expansion program.

“The chapter at KU was our fourth oldest chapter and we have a huge alumni base there,” Slivinski said. “KU is an excellent campus with an excellent Greek system, so we couldn’t see why we shouldn’t come back.”

The slow start expansion process includes the fraternity recruiting five to six incoming freshmen by the beginning of the school year, giving them scholarships from the fraternity and lessons on how to recruit new members.

Slivinski said that once classes began the push for new members would “slowly pick up” and that they would choose each recruit “one by one” until the recruitment process was done in roughly 12 to 18 months.

“This is an opportunity for these men to create their own fraternity experience,” he said.

Alpha Kappa Lambda used the same slow start expansion process at Emporia State University and it worked well, Slivinski said.

Michael Gillaspie, the vice president recruitment for the university’s Interfraternity Council, said that Alpha Kappa Lambda will initially recruit on its own but will receive help from the Interfraternity Council in the future. He said that Alpha Kappa Lambda’s lack of a chapter house may hurt recruiting at first, but that with a strong commitment to the recruiting process the push for new members could be successful.

“Becoming a chapter without a chapter house is hard, but with hard work and dedication it could be possible to pull off,” he said. “They’ve got to have a true commitment to fraternity life.”

Laura Bauer, the university’s director of fraternity and sorority life, said that Alpha Kappa Lambda is currently not planning to be housed on campus. She also said that after the fraternity’s national headquarters approached her last spring, she and the Interfraternity Council were pleased to see the chapter return to campus.

“We are very supportive of their effort,” she said. “We welcome them to campus and we’ll do anything that we can to assist in the process. We welcome them with open arms.”

The last fraternity to return to campus with a recruitment push somewhat similar to Alpha Kappa Lambda’s was Delta Tau Delta, who returned to campus last fall. Sigma Nu will also be returning to campus this fall, raising the university’s fraternity count from 19 to 21.

A year from now, Slivinski hopes to see Alpha Kappa Lambda as a permanent fixture on campus with the possibility of expanding further in the years to come.

“We hope to have a strong undergraduate member base with a lot of potential to grow,” he said.

After the fraternity was founded in 1914 at the University of California, Berkeley, Alpha Kappa Lambda has grown to 31 college campuses and is the fraternity of 24,000 men nationally.