theknoxparent

Welcome to The Knox Parent

Although this is the third edition of the Knox College Parents Association newsletter, some of you are receiving it for the first time. We hope you will find it to be both enjoyable and informative.

Flunk Day 2006 Arrives!

As you probably heard from your son or daughter, Flunk Day arrived on April 11, 2006. A Knox tradition for more than 80 years, Flunk Day is a campus-wide spring surprise party. The party’s date, and even the identities of its organizers, is kept secret until the morning when the entire campus is awakened by whistles and the ringing of the Old Main Bell. All classes are cancelled—and exam dates and paper deadlines postponed—for a day of music, games, food, and fun.

The first Flunk Day was celebrated on May 11, 1922. It evolved from a tradition known as “Roughneck Day,” when students wore outlandish costumes to chapel services and participated in various raucous activities. On that first Flunk Day, posters calling off classes appeared around campus. Students enjoyed a jazz concert in the chapel, a movie downtown, and a picnic in a local park. Men were not allowed to shave, and women were not allowed to wear makeup. Violators received a dousing under the pump in the town square!

Subsequent Flunk Days provided all kinds of entertainment, including a Ferris Wheel and helicopter rides in the mid-1970s. Fireworks were often a part of the early Flunk Day tradition, especially when festivities took place at Galesburg’s Lake Storey Park.

Some traditions have endured. Generations of students have been roused out of their beds by “friars,” an appointed team of students whose chief duty is to wake up the campus. Picnics on the Gizmo patio still take place. The “Friars vs. Faculty” softball game has been around for some time. In the earlier days, faculty and staff brought their spouses and children to the Flunk Day picnics. Now, special time is set aside for family activities, such as games for kids, a petting zoo, and the appearance of a fire truck.

Flunk Day is a day for having fun or relaxing, celebrating the coming of spring, and sometimes just being downright silly (as evidenced by some of the Web site photos). This is something that all Knox alumni have in common—the memories of Flunk Days last for years.

A Final Note from Jennie Hemingway

As the saying goes, the only thing you can count on is change. When you read this note, I will be working in my new position as director of development for the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University. Before I bid you farewell, permit me to reflect on the progress of the Knox Parents Program.

When I started at Knox in summer 2004, I remember seeing the bullet in my job description that read “establish a parents program.” Not being a parent, I started researching other college/university parent programs, reading some of the books on the reading list for parents, attending sessions on what college parents want, and talking with current and former Knox parents about their experience. I drafted a proposal on which Xavier Romano helped me dot the i’s and cross the t’s (the beginning of our partnership). President Taylor signed off on the program in March 2005.

So armed with proposal in hand, I set off to recruit a Parents Steering Committee. Fortunately, there are some wonderful Knox parents who were willing to take a chance and make the proposal a reality. During summer 2005, the parents section of the Knox Web site went live and The Knox Parent was designed. We held our first Parents Steering Committee meeting during Orientation/Move-In weekend in September 2005. The fall term brought the first Parents Association meeting and new ideas for Family & Friends Weekend. Spring term marks the third issue of The Knox Parent. Thank you to my colleagues in Student Development, Advancement, and Admission and to all the parents who have offered support and ideas.

Now it is time for me to turn over the reins to the new Parents Program coordinator, Jennifer Gallas. Please continue to share your ideas for the Parents Program with her. I have enjoyed my time working with you, and if you ever find yourself at Western Illinois University, be sure to say hi.

Sincerely,

Jennie Hemingway

A Greeting from Jennifer Gallas

Greetings to all of you! My name is Jennifer Gallas, and I am taking over as the coordinator of the Knox Parents Program. I am not new to Knox, having worked in the Office of Advancement for the last four years as assistant director of the Knox Fund. I look forward to working with the Office of Student Development and the Knox College Parents Association in this new venture.

My hope is that we are able to provide information in this newsletter that is helpful for you, and we will continue to use the Parents Web site to post resources and news stories about our wonderful Knox students. Please let me know if I can be of assistance to you. I look forward to working with all of you!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Gallas

A Note from Xavier Romano

Spring came to Knox rather suddenly this April . . . within the span of some 72 hours to be exact. Spring on the Knox campus is a rather special experience, as the grounds fill with student life, and one has to be constantly aware of flying frisbees and tennis balls masquerading as golf balls! Smiles abound and, if there is stress to be found, it is usually in the faces of seniors thinking about the reality of their post-Knox lives.

Spring is also a time of transition. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank my friend, Jennifer Hemingway, for her work with the Parents Association. I thoroughly enjoyed our partnership and her very hard work. That “state university” will benefit greatly from her talents . . . and that five minute walking commute will be very well received!

This is also a time of new beginnings, so I am very happy to welcome Jennifer Gallas into her new role with the Parents Association. Jennifer has jumped in with both feet and is already working with me in regards to the Association. No stranger to Knox, Jennifer has been working in Knox’s annual fund and has now moved to support the College’s constituent groups.

Wth a successful Flunk Day now past us, we find ourselves focusing on the academic “yin and yang”; that is, Commencement and fall New Student Orientation. As you might imagine, the planning for both is quite time-intensive but very exciting indeed.

Finally, with so many health issues getting media attention, I want you to know that we continue to work in close partnership with Knox County Health Department and are planning for worst case scenarios that we hope never materialize within our community. We are fortunate to be able to work with such talented public health care colleagues.

I wish you the very best as we come to the end of April. As always, please telephone me should any questions arise or if you simply want to touch base!

Go Knox!

Most faithfully,

Xavier E. Romano
Vice President for Student Development
Dean of Students

Preventing and Recognizing Mumps

The following note regarding the recent mumps outbreak in Iowa was sent to all students and parents by the Office of Student Development on April 7, 2006:

With the recent outbreak of mumps in Iowa, including some students at local college campuses being tested for the disease, we want to provide students with information regarding the disease itself and prevention measures.

Because the mumps is a virus, medicine will not help. The best medicine is prevention. As with all viruses, the advice is simple:

Wash your hands thoroughly and regularly.
Try to stay away from those who are ill.
Don't share drinks or straws with others.
Cover sneezes and coughs.

The Office of Student Development is in constant contact with the Knox County Health Department regarding the mumps outbreak and other important public health issues.

More information . . .

Hurricane Katrina Relief Trip

At 5:30 a.m. on March 10, the day after winter term finals, more than 60 bleary-eyed Knox students boarded vans traveling to New Orleans and Mississippi, where they spent their spring break helping with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The majority of students spent their break in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where they gutted, cleaned, and repaired houses, as well as distributed food, water, and clothing to residents. They returned on March 21, just in time for the beginning of spring term the next day.

Five Knox students posted Web logs, or blogs, from New Orleans. Thanks to all of the parents who posted to the blogs. Knox appreciated your involvement, and the students appreciated your responses.

The students who went on the trip found it to be immensely rewarding, and some students plan to go back to do further work this summer. Several Knox students will talk about their experiences at 7 p.m., Monday, April 24, in the Muelder Room, Seymour Library, on the Knox campus. Some students have created displays about the trip, and others will show slides and photographs they took while helping clean up in New Orleans. A silent auction of trip photographs will also be held to raise funds for the Common Ground Collective, a volunteer disaster relief organization created after Hurricane Katrina.

Center for Teaching & Learning

The Low Down on CTL

The CTL offers academic counseling and assistance in the following areas:

Appropriate course selection
Course load
Course sequencing
Areas of personal, academic, and/or career interest
College survival skills
Motivation
Graduation requirements
Internship programs and applications
Graduate/professional school information and applications

Read more about the CTL.

Knox College’s peer tutoring program has been recognized for its training of students who assist fellow students in academic subjects. Knox’s tutor training program has been awarded mastery level certification by the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA).

Mastery certification, which is good for five years, is the highest level awarded by the CRLA, an independent organization that evaluates academic tutoring and mentoring programs.

“Five-year certification is granted only after the applicant has met the toughest standards for at least four years,” said John Haslem, director of the Knox Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL), which operates the peer tutoring and tutor training programs.

Peer tutoring links students with other students who have strong backgrounds in specific subject areas and who have received pedagogical and practical training through the CTL.

According to Haslem, about one in five Knox students take advantage of the program in any given year. Last year, the CTL provided more than 6,000 hours of academic support, and this year it looks like those numbers will be much higher, with many students taking advantage of a familiar practice at college—the informal study group.

“If you need help in a subject, you don’t need to wonder if the study group has someone who ‘knows what they’re doing,’ or whether anybody’s going to ‘show up’ for the study group,” Haslem said. "The CTL has already selected strong students, given them excellent training, and set regular schedules."

Peer tutoring is provided both individually and in small groups, with open group sessions held three nights a week in Knox’s Seymour Library. “Peer tutors don’t substitute for faculty, and they don’t provide remedial assistance,” said Haslem. “Their job is to share their knowledge and enthusiasm about a subject in order to help other bright people learn.”

The center currently employs about 40 peer tutors, making it one of the largest employers of students on the Knox campus. Students who are interested in teaching, or at least in helping others, find the work at the CTL to be excellent preparation for life after Knox. So far three Knox faculty got their first taste of teaching in the CTL.

“ Peer tutors are selected using faculty recommendations, demonstrated mastery of the subject in question, an interest in teaching those subjects, and the ability to work well with others,” Haslem said. “Literally hundreds of Knox peer tutors have made significant contributions to the CTL tutor training program,” Haslem said.

The top level of tutor certification requires student peer tutors to produce a project worthy of publication or presentation at a professional conference.

Haslem also praised the work of the CTL writing coordinator Sharon Trotter-Martin, as well as prior CTL professional staff, Jennifer Wannen, Melissa Helquist, and Julia Collins, in helping receive the CTRL certification.

“This certification represents years of hard work developing, implementing and improving the CTL and especially its tutor training program,” says Haslem. “But there is much more to be done. The certification tells us we’re on a good track, but we aren’t the least bit satisfied. We are always looking for ways to improve ourselves and our programming.”

Contact Us

To submit questions or article ideas for The Knox Parent, please contact Jennifer Gallas, Associate Director of Alumni and Constituent Relations and Parents Program coordinator.

If you do not wish to receive further issues of The Knox Parent, please type “Unsubscribe The Knox Parent” in the subject header of an email message and your full name in the message window. Send to Jennifer Gallas.