Aug. 16, 2002

Contact: Lloyd Sponholtz, Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center, (785) 864-2885.

Mount Oread Scholars to begin freshman year with walk up the Hill Aug. 19

LAWRENCE -- At 7:15 a.m. Monday, Aug. 19, a select group of freshmen known as Mount Oread Scholars at the University of Kansas will walk up the Hill, also known as Mount Oread.

The walk and upward direction symbolize the scholars' first year at KU and their preparation for their graduation goal of walking down the Hill, said Lloyd Sponholtz, Mount Oread Scholars program director.

Each May, thousands of graduating KU students make a processional from the top of Mount Oread through the Campanile and down into Memorial Stadium for the commencement ceremony.

In August for the past six years, during the week before classes begin for a new fall term, about 200 Mount Oread Scholars, all freshmen, have joined some KU faculty and staff to walk up the Hill and learn a little campus history as they go.

The scholars will gather on the south end of Memorial Stadium and walk up to Spencer Research Library, where they will have a commanding view of the Kaw River Valley, meet KU library staff and have a continental breakfast.

KU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost David Shulenburger, Sponholtz and English Professor James Carothers will join the scholars for the walk and breakfast. Carothers, who proposed the walk six years ago, annually walks with the students and provides commentary about the campus history.

For the third year, the walk will conclude with a breakfast at KU's Spencer Research Library. Stella Bentley, KU's new dean of libraries, will greet the students and join William J. Crowe, Spencer librarian, in asking the scholars to sign special note cards reflecting on their first week at KU. The notes will be sealed to be put in University Archives in Spencer library and opened about the time of the students' 25th reunion at KU.

The Spencer library staff will take digital group photos of the students, which may be seen on its Web site, spencer.lib.ku.edu.

The library staff will offer the scholars information about the KU Libraries' many collections. For example, Spencer Research Library includes one of the best sports photo collections in the United States -- about 350,000 printed books from the 15th century to the 21st century and a nationally renowned collection of science fiction.

Established in 1996, the Mount Oread Scholars Program is designed to recruit and retain high-ability students who do not automatically qualify for admission to KU's honors program. The program's retention rate of freshmen is above 90 percent.

Students are invited to become Mount Oread Scholars if they graduated in the top 20 percent of their high school class and received an ACT composite score of 28 to 30 or an SAT score of 1,240 to 1,330. Mount Oread Scholars work individually with an adviser in their field of interest and may enroll in relatively small classes or be taught by veteran faculty.

MOUNT OREAD
Mount Oread (pronounced "or EE ad") is the name given to the ridge above the Kaw River on Aug. 1, 1854, by New Englanders settling Lawrence. They pitched camp on the ridge, naming it for an institute in Massachusetts that also occupied a commanding site overlooking its town. The word "oread" derives from Greek and Roman mythology meaning "mountain nymph."

ROUTE: WALK UP THE HILL
 • 7:15 a.m. Begin outside south end of Memorial Stadium near the scoreboard.

 • Proceed about halfway uphill and stop at the Rock Chalk Cairn, once a heap of limestones, created through the efforts of Omicron Delta Kappa honor society at KU in the 1920s for a torch-lighting ceremony that is now used in KU's Traditions Night at 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19. Originally the cairn contained stones from Old North College, the first building on the KU campus. Neither Old North nor the stone pile exists today.

 • Proceed to the north side of the Campanile, stopping at the paved entrance to look over the Kaw River Valley and learn about the tradition for graduating seniors.

 • Proceed to the esplanade between Strong and Spencer Research Library (main entrance level for both buildings).