I THURSDAY, Dec. 6, 2001 PSU's World Campus allows disabled student to return By Erica Zarra COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I emzll2@psu.edu Kelley McKee of Steelton, Pa., grad uated high school, went into the mili tary and got married. She had a son and obtained her busi ness .school paralegal certificate. Her life appeared to be set. But when she got into an accident that broke her neck, leaving her para lyzed at the age of 27, McKee's future drastically changed. "After I began experiencing some progress, I knew that I should be doing something more," McKee said. "I wanted to finally get my bache lor's degree." McKee started weighing her future options. "The accident changed my outlook on life," she said. "I immediately turned to education." She contacted Penn State' 4 and was introduced to Distance Education and the World Campus. It is a program that offers planned learning opportunities outside of the traditional classroom setting. "The key is that students don't have to come on campus to take them; it's good for working adults and people with disabilities," said Gary Miller, associate vice president and executive director of Distance Education. Many of the program's courses can be taken via the Internet, he said, which adds to their convenience. "Because of this, we have students in all 50 states and in 45 other counr tries." - Miller added that some of the key benefits to this program are the flexi bility of self-paced courses and the prospects for career advancement. He also mentioned the opportunities it gives to students who are home- Jeep owners warned of their By Justin J. Snick FOR THE COLLEGIAN The State College Police Department has advice for jeep owners: be careful. : The State College area sees a large number of break-ins, particularly among soft-top jeeps, police said. ' The police do not keep statistics regarding the type of car involved in a theft, but Sgt. John Gardner said soft top jeeps are the most common targets. "(Jeeps) are a target because they're easier to get into," Gardner said. "It's a crime of opportunity" Police also said the State College area is particularly vulnerable to break-ins. "The key is that students don't have to come on campus to take them; it's good for working adults and people with disabilities." Gary Mika associate V.P. of distance education bound or working so that they can't take classes. It is also possible that some of the students have jobs and family respon sibilities. "What education is about is helping people change their lives," Miller said. McKee agrees that the program helps people achieve goals. Now in her third semester, McKee is enrolled in four courses. McKee has plans to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in letters, arts and sciences. At some point, she would like to attend law school. "Kelley inspires not only others stu dents, but also faculty fortunate enough to encounter her," said Susan Waitkus, English instructor at Dußois Campus. "She reminds us how privileged we are to teach." McKee explained that distance edu cation benefited her because she has a disability and children, so she could only learn from home. "I'm learning so much and never before realised the value of education. Even if I don't work after this, I know that I am better for my kids. I have knowledge to share with them," she said. "In my opirion, the frequency on car break-ins is equivalent to a metro area," Sgt. John Wilson said. Gardner said students are typically the most vulnerable to theft. Not only do young people usually own more jeeps, but college students are also less likely to protect themselves. "When you have a town of this make up, there are a lot of targets," he said. "(Students) are usually the most trusting people." Wilson cited other reasons college students are particularly at risk. Col lege-age people own more CDs and nice stereo equipment, Wilson said. MrTa i rM i rrr7TnTnn 240 S. PUG I STAIIT VOUS INN 110TI1 Offit YlllO 11101919 THOM 4111/11V. No TIM OUT. No WIIIIIING. No TIMM. Ma 1110 IN kiIIISTUT WWW.IIGIUtRITO.(OOI SPA Mal fail DOll4llB LOCAL Students present final projects They led tours through virtual designs of their building projects. By Natasha Cahill FOR THE COLLEGIAN Yesterday afternoon, in a darkened room in Engineering Unit C, audience members wearing 3-D glasses watched as architecture students presented their final projects by leading tours through virtual designs of their build ings. "Last night and the night before were very long nights," Sally Gimbert (soph omore-architecture) said about finish ing the work on the designs. Gimbert was one of the students who presented projects yesterday. The designs were for the class Architecture 231 (Basic Design and Research III). The class lasts for half a semester, allowing stu dents seven weeks to work on their projects. Though the workload was heavy, Gimbert said she enjoyed the opportunity to see her design progress from the two dimensional concept on paper to the three dimensional design on the computer. "The idea of being able to get in the building and walk around the building is really cool," she said. Christopher Conner (sophomore architecture) agreed. "It helped so much with the design," he said. "If we were doing this with pencil and paper, there's no way that we could get some thing like this." The students' presentations were made possible through the combined efforts of both the Center for Academic Computing and the School of Architec ture and Landscape Architecture. The product of this effort is the Immersive Environments Lab, located on the third floor of Engineering Unit C. susceptibility to theft because of soft tops jeep owners so that they can avoid being robbed. His first tip is to keep the vehicle locked at all times. Gardner also suggests locking valu able items in the trunk, or at the very least, putting them away from view under the seats. All cars are less likely to be broken into when parked in well-lit or well-pop ulated areas, police said. Wilson said that while it is best to fol low this advice, no area is completely safe. "Every area is at risk," said Wil son. "We've seen break-ins at parking garages, on the street, in isolated park ing lots." Wilson also said that the early morn ing hours of darkness is when most break-ins occur. Andrew Miller (senior-administra tion of justice) had his jeep broken into the Saturday of Thanksgiving break while it was parked behind his house at 234 E. Beaver Ave. The next morning, he found items in his car shuffled around and his mini disk player missing. "To be honest, I didn't really expect it to happen," said Miller. "I guess from now on, I won't keep valuable things in my car" Police suggest that victims always report a theft. Denim Weaver (sophomore-architecture) guides a group of professors and peers through his project which was one of 11 virtual, 3-D engineering projects. "We're trying to make these kinds of tools more accessible to students and instructors," said George Otto, manag er of the CAC Visualization Group. This group works to integrate emerging technologies into Penn State research and instructional programs. Earlier technology was available, but barriers such as the cost of the technology and the distance of the labs from the stu dents limited its use, Otto said. With the location of tho new lab so much closer to the students, it will be much easier for them to utilize. "To me, this is what the university is all about, what academia is all about," said Loukas Kalisperis, professor of architecture, who teaches the Architec ture 231 course. "It is wonderful to see individuals from different areas of expertise providing different opportuni ties for students to learn." Kalisperis gave his students the THE DAILY COLLEGIAN In 3-D assignment of designing a single room occupancy to be built on an actual site in State College, and then to use the 3- D software to design a tour of their cre ations. "What they can do with this environment is test their designs and ideas," Kalisperis said. Yesterday, the students were finally able to show off their designs, guiding their tours using a joystick to take the audience in and around their buildings. "This was the first time I've ever done something like this," Gimbert said. "It feels like you're flying." Conner agreed with her. "It's one of the reasons you want to be an architect, to design something and see what it's like to actually walk through it. As stu dents, this is the closest we can get." Kalisperis was happy with his students' results. "I've always been very proud of my students. They've done some very good work," he said. Then, if the police recover the stolen items, the victim has a chance of get ting their belongings back. Therefore, police said, it is best to mark valuable items or record their serial numbers. Police said there is no.way to com pletely avoid being a victim of a crime, but jeep owners should nonetheless fol low the suggested precautionary meas ures. "If someone wants something bad enough, they'll find a way," said Gardner. "But you need to make yourself less of a target by not giving them the opportunity."
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