Staci McKee/Daily Nebraskan
Student assistants Toni Dike of Selleck Residence Hall and Nick Kincanon of Harper Residence
Hail watch dance instructors Kirsten Bartels of Neihifrdt Residence Center and Chad Thornton of
Harper. Bartels and Thornton have been teaching country dancing since January 1989.
Programs guide students
By John A. Skretta
Staff Reporter
The residential education pro
fram offers students about 400 to
00 programs and workshops
annually about a variety of topics,
said Dr. Lyn Jakobsen, assistant
director of housing for residential
education.
"We assess student needs in
relation to current issues and re
spond to these needs through
programming," jakobsen said.
’'Well probably reach three-fourths
ofour students in any given year."
"We try to educate students and
provide a supportive environment
that simultaneously challenges
students to broaden their thinking
concerning these issues," Jakob
sen said.
The programs and workshops
are structured around the school
year to meet student needs that
research has shown follow an
annual cycle, Jakobsen said. For
instance, at the beginning of the
semester, programs about finan
cial aid ana time management and
study skills are more relevant than
they might be at the end of the
term, she said.
The programming schedule also
includes passive programming,
Jakobsen said, "which is merely
posting items on bulletin boards
encouraging students to get in
volved with different activities."
A number of issuesare relevant
year after year, Jakobsen said, and
these topics include responsible
alcohol consumption, responsible
sexual behavior and others. These
programs will continue in about
the same path as they have previ
ously, Jakobsen said, because every
year they reach different audiences.
One current issue of overwhelm
ing importance that the residen
tial education program is attempt
ing to respond to through pro
gramming is Operation Desert
Storm, Jakobsen said.
"Keeping up with the Iraq situ
ation is obviously of immediate
relevance to our residents," she
said. "We're approaching this in a
variety of ways. For instance, we're
encouraging students to attend
teach-ins so that they can get a
cognitive view of what to antici
pate as the crisis continues."
"The anticipation is really what
we're dealing with," she said.
"Students have questions about
their loved ones stationed in the
middle east, questions about their
country and the anticipation of
how the war will affect it."
"One immediate problem is how
to get the students to deal with the
news coverage," Jakobsen said. "I
mean, people are just glued to the
television sets, ana so you're look
ing at a situation auite detrimen
tal to some of tnese students'
grades."
Jakobsen feels quite confident
about the ability of her staff to
meet questions and concerns about
any current event, however.
"The Nebraska housing pro
gram has a wonderful national
reputation for this (program
ming)," she said. Jakobsen recalled
one inter-collegiate housing con
ference where a colleague informed
her that UNL's student assistants
were the caliber of many other
universities housing directors.
"We've got super, just super
people working for us/' Jakobsen
saia. "I couldn't ask for more from
the people I'm working with. I
mean, I love to come to work."
Jakobsen oversees the program
ming work at five complexes with
a total of 122 student assistants.
The student assistants are required
to program and deliver program
summariesat the end of each term.
Statistics on student attendance
at programs and the number and
kinds of programs delivered are
then compiled from these reports,
she said.
Discovering relevant program
ming ideas is a matter of monitor
ing current media events as well
as assessing the student popula
tion, Jakobsen said. The residen
tial education program previously
delivered the Life Skills Interest
Survey to housing residents until
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Country swing spins
S.A.s into winter whirl
By Heather Heinisch
Staff Reporter
Country music blared from the
stereo as members of a wide-eyed
audience watched the twirling,
foot-stomping, two-stepping
demonstration of country swing.
Their turns were next.
As part of the student assis
tants' winter workshop, Chad
Thornton, an S.A. in Harper Resi
dence Hall, and Kirsten Bartels,
an S.A. in Neihardt Residence Hall,
showed five couples die basic steps
of the country swing.
Dance steps with names like
Pretzel, Suicide Dip, Double
Decker and Thread the Needle
caused most of the participants to
react with cynical disbelief that
they could ever twirl without get
ting tangled, much less rememoer
the correct order of the steps.
Roger Miller, an S.A. in Selleck
Residence Hall and a senior ac
counting major, said, "This was
the first time I ever learned to
dance in my life. I wasn't good."
Thornton and Bartels have been
dancing together for two years and
have given demonstrations to
organizations like the Farmhouse
Fraternity and presented a cam
puswide show, with each show
drawing about 150 people last year,
Thornton said.
A junior English and history
major, Thornton said he first
learned to dance at age 7 at the bar
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Childhood bear wins
approval from S.A. s
By Connie L. Sheehan
Senior Editor
On the third floor of Fedde, if
someone calls you a Pooh, you can
take it as a compliment.
The childhood character, Win
nie-the-Pooh, has once again be
come a hero in the eyes of some
students at Fedde with the publi
cation of the book, "The Tao of
Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff.
The book compares the enter
taining accounts of Pooh with the
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Chinese philosophy of Taoism that
advocates simplicity and selfless
ness.
As part of her midyear Student
Assistants' training session, Sue
Richart, a law student and sec
ond-year S.A. at Fedde, demon
strated how to apply the Pooh
Tao philosophy to everyday life in
the residence nails.
With the help of Winnie-the
Pooh animated videos, Richart
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