Spring Break
This is the town of Juarez, Mexico, a city on the United States-Mexico border that is now home to approximately 1,000 maquiladoras, or factories. The factories employ mostly Mexican women and are run by U.S. companies. In the maquiladoras, the women are mistreated, subjected to toxic chemicals and barely paid enough to survive.
It started with a group photo full of tight and tense smiles. It ended in tears of happiness. Few days will always be remembered in a medical student's career - Match Day figures high on this list. It is the day when all across the nation medical students find out where they will spend the next three or four years of their lives as residents, slogging through grueling hours to make the final grade.
For some, a hammer and nails might seem menial. But last week, they helped change eight families' lives. While many staff, faculty and students used their spring breaks to rest or get caught up on work, 16 Roos, myself included, journeyed to Laredo, Texas last week to work with Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge to give families in need homes of their own.
Reports of vehicular vandalism and theft in UMKC parking areas regularly appear in the Police Blotter, a summary submitted to U-News by the police of all reported crimes that happen on campus during the week. The University Center (UC) parking lot, the School of Education parking lot and the Oak Street Parking Garage have been the locations of many of the recent reports.
Debate about the location of UMKC basketball games was spawned by a resolution presented to the Student Government Association (SGA) March 16. School of Arts and Sciences Senator John Beeler drafted the resolution which, if passed, would support the basketball team playing more games at Swinney Recreation Center.
Don't need it? Don't buy it. That was one of the main points for those who were in attendance at the Culture House on March 18 to take away from "Money Matters," cosponsored by Multicultural Student Affairs and the Financial Aid Office. Paris Saunders, assistant vice chancellor of Auxiliary Services, and Donna Jackson, coordinator of Financial Aid, offered tips for avoiding financial ruin in the tough economy.
For most of the evening, it was pouring rain and the cardboard boxes quickly became soggy, but the group of seventeen students was determined to tough it out until dawn. They wanted, at least for a night, to try to understand what it was like to be homeless.
Little legs started moving as small hands began organizing with surprising speed. All it took was a quick ditty from the Operation Breakthrough organizer. "It's time for circle time, it's time for circle time, hi-ho the derry-o, it's time for circle time.
In a day's work, he has had people pull off their shirts, throw down their books and prepare themselves for a fight. No, Matt B. (who requested that his last name not be used in this article) is not a bouncer or a bookie's strong-arm - he's a UMKC Parking Services Officer.
A tragedy inspired one small town to set a precedent for the world. The sustainable rebuilding of Greensburg, Kan. was the topic of "Embracing a New Future: Toward Sustainability," held on March 19. Linda Hall Library hosted the event presented by Stephen Hardy, a Harvard graduate and associate at Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell (BNIM) Architects of Kansas City.
Jasmine Powell introduced "Faces of Homelessness" as a bam in-your-face event. Powell, director of the UMKC collegiate chapter of the NAACP, led the presentation and discussion for the first night of the "Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week" events. "The point is to have homelessness in students' faces," Powell said.
Lanny Bell discovered his lifelong passion for archeology in the 8th grade. He will soon be sharing some of his scholarly zeal for Egyptian history here at UMKC. "I took an Ancient History class and when everyone else had moved on to Greece and Rome, I was still stuck on Egypt," Bell said.
Better put on your hard hat for this one. Workers at the Miller Nichols Library construction site faced a bit of a predicament Monday March 16, when a hoe excavator tipped over and ended up on its side. One worker continued to haul dirt near the downed machine with a Caterpillar loader as other construction workers put their hard hats together to come up with a way to get the excavator back to a full, upright position.
Campus helps feed hungry While at least 120 individuals on our campus skipped a meal March 17, they doubled up on goodwill. The UMKC chapter of the NAACP partnered with Sodexo for the "Skip a Meal to Feed the Hungry" event, raising funds to donate to Harvesters.
March 15 1:53 a.m. Illness - A student living in Cherry Street Residence Hall complained of a headache and fever but refused to go to the hospital.
