theknoxparent

Knox Parents Online
What do more than 1,000 Knox parents and alumni have in common? They have joined the Knox Online Community. Have you?

It’s now easier than ever for members of the Knox College community to keep in touch with each other and stay up-to-date on College news and events. All you need to do is join the new Knox Online Community.

According to Larry Forssberg, father of Grant Forssberg ’09: “Being the parent of a first-year student at Knox, I am more and more impressed with Knox overall and with this new tool to help stay informed.”

The new community also offers its users more features, such as a searchable online directory and searchable class notes; individual member photo albums; instant messaging; business networking; classified listings; and much more.

Register today! Visit the parent gateway, click the “Join the Online Community” button, and then click on “First Time Login” in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Simply follow the instructions to gain access to your personal profile.

You will need a Constituent ID number in order to register (please email records@knox.edu if you need your ID number). If you have any questions regarding the new online community, please read our list of Frequently Asked Questions. You can also contact Megan Scott, advancement communications coordinator, or Jennie Hemingway, director of constituent relations.

We hope to see you soon in the new Knox Online Community.

A Note from Jennie Hemingway
It’s a great time to be a member of the Knox Family! Since the beginning of the new year, Knox has opened the fitness center; recognized Alumni Achievement Award winners David Axelrod ’67, William Barnhart ’68, Semenya McCord ’71 and Caitlin Muelder ’96; received two major gifts —one to endow the million-dollar R. Lance Factor Professorship in Philosophy, and one to establish the Sandra Lumberry Library Collections Fund for Seymour Library; and received a $10 million gift that will be invested in the endowment. Students just finished performing As You Like it and are getting ready for Prairie Players performances, Rootbaga Jazz Festival, winter term final exams, the Knox Choir's trip to Spain, and a hurrican relief trip to New Orleans during spring break.

No doubt that many of you have seen Loren Pope’s book Colleges that Change Lives. I realize that I am preaching to the choir by reminding you that he writes, “There is no better college in the country for developing the mind and character of young people.” More and more people are discovering what you already know as Knox has received more than 2,000 applications for admission, setting a new College record. Keep up the good work of telling everyone that Knox is a great place to get a liberal arts education!

Just a quick fact in light of the tuition letter your recently received. Of the $23.5 million educational and general expense budget this year, net tuition and fees provides only $14.5 million, or 61 percent, of the budget. The College bridges the gap from contributions (2,208 Knox alumni have given to the College, up 24 percent from last year at this same time) and endowment support. This amounts to another $9 million, or $9,000 per student.

Please continue to check the Knox College Parents Web page for news and events. Keep letting me know what information you like seeing there and what you think should be added.

Please join me in congratulating Xavier Romano, who has been selected as the 2006 Outstanding Senior Student Affairs Officer by the Latino Knowledge Community of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

Sincerely,

Jennie Hemingway
Director of Constituent Relations
Parent Program Coordinator

A Note from Xavier Romano
These have been challenging times here at Knox, but also times of great courage and character on the part of our students. We ended the fall term learning of the tragic death of Matt Grawey, who graduated in June 2005 and was immensely popular on campus. Our winter term began with the tragic loss of Claire Fisher, a first year student from Topeka, Kansas, who was lost in an automobile accident while en route to Knox. Given the unique nature of our community and the fact that quite literally everyone knows someone who knows someone (put another way, that everyone at Knox is at minimum only two or three persons removed), the loss of both Matt and Claire have given our community pause for grief, reflection, and self assessment. You can only imagine how we are all looking at our lives differently and are reminded, as I have shared with our student community, that even with the best of plans that “life sometimes happens.” Knox College is better because of the presence of Matt and Claire, and they in turn touched so many lives within our community. Not surprisingly, we continue to work with their family, friends, and extended members of our very special Knox family.

The winter term has been incredibly successful in terms of activities, engagement, and extraordinary academic work undertaken by our students on a daily basis. Socially, our students are as engaged as ever, although much of their behavior has turned “indoors” due to the winter weather. If anything, we are finding that more of our community members are thinking about their place in the world and how their education is preparing them for life-long engagement in a global society. For theirs is truly a world without borders!

This is also a time of great excitement at Knox with the announcement of the largest single gift in Knox history—a $10 million dollar estate gift to Knox from the late Walter Blair Hobbs, Knox Class of 1925. Rest assured that we will not be going on a spending spree but rather will be investing our dollars in the endowment.

Finally, thank you all so much for the volumes of advice and recommendations that I have received in regards to the transition of my 14-year-old daughter, who is now a self described “teenager!” What a fascinating experience, but, as she regularly reminds me, “...just remember, Dad, that you are not the Dean of Casa Romano, only Knox College.” As they say, perspective is everything, yes?

Thank you for visiting the Parents Web site. We will continue to provide you timely, and what I hope is thoughtful, information that is “real” and not simply “public relations statements.” There are so many exciting things happening at Knox, and we are forever grateful for your support of your sons and daughters as they move through what is a wonderfully challenging, yet supportive environment on the Illinois prairie. As always, please feel free to contact me directly or via e-mail when and if I can be of assistance.

Most sincerely,

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

Knox Housing Lottery Demystified
by Craig Southern, Associate Dean for Campus Life, Director of Residential Learning

Housing lottery is the process through which your son or daughter “chooses” where he/she will live on campus for the upcoming academic year. Due to the wide variety of housing options Knox provides, lottery can seem pretty complicated, especially to those students who are going through the process for the first time.

So here are some very basic questions you may hear from your daughter or son as they participate in housing lottery for next year, along with specific answers:

When does lottery happen? Lottery takes place during spring term.
How do I get accurate information about lottery? Basic information and specific deadline notices are sent out via e-mail to all students. A large sign with schedule and deadlines are posted in Seymour Union across from the Campus Life office. Students can always e-mail Campus Life with questions about any aspect of lottery.
They’re going to give me a lottery number. What’s that? Each student eligible to live on campus next year will be given a lottery number. This number is based on the seniority of each student (a student who will be in his/her last year here at Knox will receive a “better” lottery number than a student entering her/his third year on-campus, etc.). Once students are classified, a computer software program is used to randomly assign lottery numbers. The lower the lottery number, the more choices a student has as to where they can live for the following year. Lottery numbers are posted in Seymour Union across from the Campus Life office during the first week of spring term.
Knox has some very nice on-campus apartments. What are my chances of living in one next year? If a student has senior standing next year, he/she has a good chance of living in one of the apartments. Students apply online for these apartments as groups (two people apply as a group for a two-person apartment, four people apply as a group for a four-person apartment, etc.), and the groups’ lottery numbers are averaged. Please remember that Knox has fewer apartment spaces than the number of students in the senior class . . . in other words, not all seniors who want an apartment will receive one.
Are there singles on campus? Very few. In addition to the few singles in the apartments, there are only 18 single rooms available for the sophomore, junior, and senior classes combined. Unless your son/daughter is a senior next year, he/she should not expect to receive a single room.
When it comes to lottery, are there any special programs for students who will be sophomores next year? Many sophomores-to-be take advantage of “block housing.” This is an option where a group of students apply together for a block of rooms in particular areas on campus. Lottery numbers are averaged in the same way they are with apartments. This gives groups of friends a chance to be able to live in the same suite.
My son/daughter dosen’t know anyone he/she wants to live with. Can he/she go through lottery by his/herself? Yes, one of the last sections of lottery allows students without roommates to place themselves in a room by themselves, which generally gives students without roommates the chance to live in a preferred residence hall. These students will be assigned a roommate later in the lottery process.

I hope the information gives you an informative introduction to housing lottery at Knox.

E. & L. Andrew Fitness Center Opens

After much anticipation, the E. & L. Andrew Fitness Center opened for student, faculty, and staff use on January 24. The fitness center is a two-level addition on the west side of Memorial Gymnasium. It features new Cybex weight training stations, treadmills, eliptical machines, step machines, and exercise bikes in a 2,785 square-foot cardio-exercise area, an increase of 150 percent over the space formerly located in the basement of Memorial Gymnasium. The new 2,860 square-foot free-weight training area is 50 percent larger than the prior space. The fitness center also includes a new 800 sq. ft. fitness studio and two new locker rooms, with a total of 140 new lockers.

The E. & L. Andrew Fitness Center is named in honor of Knox College Trustee Laurel Andrew ’86 and her parents, Edward and Edith Andrew of Orland Park, Illinois, and their family members, who provided the lead gift. The project also has received gifts from approximately 50 additional individual donors.

Knox dedicated the new E. & L. Andrew Fitness Center this past Friday, February 17. The dedication and ribbon cutting featured remarks from representatives of the student body, college staff, trustees, faculty, and athletic department.

A Supreme Experience

Knox Internship Program

Knox College is committed to providing excellent educational opportunities for its students. This commitment led the College to encourage students to complete a practical experience prior to graduation.

An internship is a short-term work experience emphasizing learning. An intern takes on the role of a worker in an organization and observes and reflects on what happens while there. An internship is also a three-way partnership between the employer, the student and the College. Knox students learn how to connect their liberal arts education to the workplace; the employer benefits form the fresh perspective and energy that a student can bring to the work site; and the College benefits by learning how to structure meaningful learning experiences.

When speaking with your son or daughter about an internship, it is important to remember:

Internships have an educational element.
An internship should balance the needs of the student intern and the needs of the organization.
Some internships are paid, but many are not.
Academic credit may be earned for some internship experiences.

______________________________

Could you use a Knox Student as an Intern?

Participate in the Knox Internship Fair on April 21, 2006

Email the Center for Career & Pre-Professional Development or call (309) 341-7436
for more information.

The United States Supreme Court is a surprising combination of tight security and remarkable openness, according to two Knox students who recently completed internships there.

Megan Rehberg ’06 of Racine, Wisconsin, a political science major, worked in the Court’s Office of the Curator, which handles photographs and other artifacts of court events. Although she has taken two courses in constitutional law and was familiar with a number of cases, her supervisors advised her and other interns to remain neutral in responding to questions from visitors, as well as refrain from discussing court cases in general.

At the same time, Joel Christensen ’06, a political science major from Kansas City, Missouri, who is pursuing a second major in philosophy, says, “It’s remarkable how accessible it is to the public. All a person needs is interest and to get there early enough to find a seat in order to witness this final rung on the ladder of justice.”

Christensen and Rehberg shared their internship experiences with fellow Knox students this month in a talk sponsored by the Knox College chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. Rehberg interned in 2004, working for the court two days per week, while also taking classes as part of the Washington Semester program. She delivered 30-minute lectures on the art and architecture of the building, organized and cataloged photos of court events, and staffed an information desk. In addition to working as an assistant to the court photographer, she gave tours to visiting international dignitaries, including a group from Turkey. “I got to meet people from all over the world,” she said.

In the summer of 2005, Christensen was one of just two college students nationally selected to intern in the office of Sally Rider, administrative assistant to the Chief Justice, which handles the Chief Justice’s non-judicial responsibilities, such as oversight of the federal judiciary. Christensen's responsibilities included monitoring daily news outlets like the The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post for stories pertaining to federal, state, and international judicial bodies, then summarizing those stories for distribution to other offices throughout the court. He assisted with more than 20 judicial briefings, in which the Supreme Court Fellow briefed foreign visitors on the role and function of the Supreme Court. A highlight for Christensen was sitting in on oral arguments in the Supreme Court—sessions in which attorneys representing both sides of a case concerning constitutional or federal law argue before the justices.

Christensen began the internship with a dream of being a trial attorney already in place and witnessing more than 20 oral arguments only furthered his goal. “It was a chance to see the justices’ personalities as well as their jurisprudence, shine through,” he said. “It was a remarkable experience . . . exhilarating yet humbling,” he said of the internship overall.

Rehberg and Christensen credit their professor, Lane Sunderland, an expert on the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court and a Supreme Court Fellow, for encouraging them to apply for the internships. “Had I not chosen to attend Knox, I honestly believe this opportunity would not have presented itself to me,” Christiensen said. “There are so many things about Knox that make something like this possible, not the least of which is the student life, support from administrators, and amazing professors.

Contact Us

To submit questions or article ideas for The Knox Parent, please contact Jennie Hemingway, director of constituent relations and parent program coordinator.

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