PAGE 6
FEATURES
Kuester Comes
By John Cohen
Staff Writer
Many positive changes have al
ready been seen in the few short weeks
that Dr. Ken Kuester has been at St.
Andrews. Dr. Kuester replaced Dr.
Roger W. Decker, the former director
of Health and Rehabilitation Serv
ices and resident director of Highland
Hall.
Bom and raised in Maryland, Dr.
Kuester has spent the last 30 years of
his life working at administrative level
positions for different rehabilitation
centers. His most recent job, which
lasted from 1980-1989, was as the
assistant commissioner of rehabilita
tion facilities at the Virginia Depart
ment of Rehabilitation Services,
where he brought national attention
to the company with his outstanding
leadership.
When Dr. Kuester first came to St.
Andrews, he was very impressed with
it, calling it “one of the finest colleges
in the country.” He still feels the same
about it today.
Dr. Kuester says his main goal at
St. Andrews is to “bring the Bums
Rehabiltation Center to the leading
edge of rehabiliration services.’*“He
was quick to try and deal with the
problems he saw with the rehabilita
tion services, such as the qualify of
the staff and the structure of the build
ing. To him the two biggest problems
are having the main switchboard in
„ Highland Hall from 5 p.r^.>to 8:30
a.m;, and the fact that cJitlyTine of the
three vans used to provide van service
for wheelies is operable. His main
concern, though, is the overall im
provement in the quality of the reha
bilitation services at St. Andrews.
Whije Dr. Kuester did acknowl
edge the fact that there were prob
lems, he felt that the rehabilitation
\
services here did meet the student’s
needs in the past. He believes that St.
Andrews is “without a doubt" ca
pable of handling a program like this,
and claims th^t “The fact that we are
fully accessible gives us an advan
tage over 98, percent of the other
schools.”. Dr. Kuester feels that our
pro^am iS; “a popular program with
a n^ional profile and .a long waiting
list of applicants,”
engineering services as an overall
component to St. Andrew’s rehabili
tation services,” and provide avail
able help for wheelies 24 hours a day.
As far as the question of whether
or not more money is needed by the
Burris Center for further improve
ment is concerned. Dr. Kuester says
the answer is yes. He plans to raise it
by simply “identifying the essential
needs and presenting them through
the proper budget channels.” He says
that he might seek outside help in
raising money “eventually,” but that
Further citing some of his major he has (of late) “been too busy doing
^complishrtients as qur new direc- and. learning the job and working 12
tor, Dr. Kuester credits part of his j to H-hour days” to worry about
success to the increased cooperation
between the Burris Center and the -
Ph^^ical plant. He said, “Before 1
came here, if a student wanted some
thing done, he or she would have to
wait forever. 1 just work the process
and.things get done.” He claims to
have improved the quality of the staff
at Highland Hall by encouraging the
attendants to work together more, and
improving staff and student morale.
Dr. Kuester also mentioned the reno
vations made in Highland Hall, such
as removing some of the partitions
from the bathrooms to make them
more accessible for wheelies, has
helped improve the quality of living
conditions there.
He claimed that there are fewer
complaints from Highland Hall stu-
cients about the service tttsteiahmhar
* ~ ^ mnnthc trv t\xjr\ “ac w/t^
there are now “enough resources here
(at Burris) to meet the needs of the
student population that we serve.”
For further improvements. Dr.
Kuester wants to “add rehabilitation
4^ months to two years, “as we iden
tify the need for new and essential
staff programs and funding options.”
In order to find out more about the
changes, and to see what others
thought of them a Burris Center em
I.* c •
r. »■'t n. i
'J % w' rji w
^4 i:' ^-1 % wi
r. n *
(Photo by Raylene Kaufman)
Twirler Adds to
S.A. Diversity .
By Candy Round
Staff Writer , . ,
What exactly does it mean when
St. Andrews advertises the diverse
student population?
Well, freshman Elizabeth Sim
mons is an excellent example of this
student diversity that St. Adrews so
proudly proclaims. Not only is Eliza
beth a regular twirler, she is proficient
with lighted batons, fire batons, hoop
batons, streamers, knives, and three-
batons.
Elizabeth took her first lessons at
the age of three. From that early
beginning, she went on to join the
Junior Varsity twirling team at Wilkes
Academy in Washington, Ga. in the
fourth grade and was co-captain for
five years. During that time the team
went to twirling festivals and received
superior ratings on both team ,and
individual routines. Aside from com
petitions, Elizabeth and the Wilkes^
Academy Raiders twirled at football
games, in parades, and at special
events.
In high school, Elizabeth was a
member of the varsity twirljng squad.
She was the "feature twirler" in her
junior and senior years as well as
being named MVP Twirler last year.
, Other activities which she has
participated in, include talent shows
and teaching a group of first through
third grade twirlers called the "Raid-
erettes."
All of this twirling experiente ha«
many benefits. "1 learned a lot about
teamwork. We spent many hours dri 11-
K: >‘13
Burris’s financial needs.
One thing that is also wonh noting
about Dr. Kuester is his work phi
losophy. He likes to “accentuate the
positive, and downplay (but not ig
nore) the negative.” He wants to cre
ate a positive environment for both
staff and students “because if the staff
and students succeed, then St. An
drews and I succeed.”He attributes
part of his success at this new job to
this philosophy.
Overall, Dr. Kuester enjoys his
new job here, and feels quite im
pressed with it. He says “I feel that my
30 years of experience has really
prepared me well for my services
here at St. Andrews Presbyterian
College. I feel that I could really build
on that.” Dr. Kuester thinks he could
ployee and two students were inter
viewed.
Charles “Michael”^ Purdie, a.k.a.
Mike, is an employee at the Burris
Center. He feels that the rehabilita
tion program hasn’t changed much,
but says that he and other attendants
“are working together more than
before.” He calls Dr. Kuester “a great
man” and is very impressed with his
performance. _
Kim Biglin is a student living in
Highland Hall and is also the hall
president. She thinks that living con
ditions have improved, and that “He
(Kuester) is working hard to see that
the attendants are here and to keep
everything in working order.” She
also sees improvement in the pro-
^gram itself, saying that Dr. Kuester ,
"Ras gotten the attendants to c'oOper- ^
ate with, each other more and. work
together as a group.” She believes
that this “helps them help the students
better.”
Dawn Smith is a sophomore now
(Photo by Jane Karpenske)
living in an ADL unit in Granville.
However, she sometimes sleeps in
Highland Hall because she doesn’t
have a roommate to assist her, some
thing that is causing her a lot of prob
lems. Having lived in Highland Hall
last year, she considers the overall
program to have improved, but says
that “there is still a lot of work to be
done.” She recommends some fur
ther renovations to Highland Hall,
such as making the exit doors that are
still manual into automatic doors. She
says that the attendants are very help
ful, but that the Center is still way
understaffed, a problem she blames
on the College itself and not on Dr.
Kuester.
Commenting on Dr. Kuester,
Dawn says, “I’ v^ rece^iv^ more help
from Ken ^in^e' he’s bqen .here than I
had most of last year.” She calls him
open-minded and “willing to listen
and to meet the student’s needs,” and
that he “tries immediately to solve
problems.”
Local Shelters
Aid the Abused
, r ^ /
-’' Mig rqf^nes -and different’twirling
i, tricks. Ourrourines always turned out
, successful because of our hard work."
This close work made the team like a
^"big family/' They learned to help
each other and knew the strengths and
weaknesses of everyone.
After graduation from St. Andrews,
Elizabeth plans to attend the Univer
sity pf Georgiaand attain her Master's
degree. "Hopefully, I will become a
'Georgettt?' - the twirling and dance
team that 'does their thing'at football
games. I want to be a 'feature soloist'
twirler for them."
In the mean time, Elizabeth wants
to twirl here at St. Andrews, "I thought
it might be fun,to twirl here since
thexe were no twirlers or a team."
By Raylene Kaufman
Staff Writer
The month of October is Domestic
Violence Awareness month. This is a
time when crisis centers take the
..opportunity to create public aware
ness of domestic violence and what
can be done to help stop it.
Domestic violence is a growing
problem in our country. In the U.S.
alone, a Voman is battered every fif
teen seconds. Children who see vio
lence in their homes either grow up to
be victims or batterers. Alcohol and
drug abuse are many times present in
homes of abuse.
What can be done to help solve
this pn>blem?' There are shelters in
our area ready to offer their services.
One shelter which serves Scotland
County is the. Southeastem Family
ViolenceCenterwhich focusesmainly
on the needs of the battered woman
and her children. “They are protected;
they have a safe home here,” says
Janet Crumpler, the community edu
cation coordinator of the shelter.
It is here that the women and chil
dren receive a variety of services such
as crisis counseling, advocacy, and
individual counseling. However, it is
the woman herself who is encouraged
to help, herself. “If they need guid
ance, we do that, but they make the
choices,” Crumpler explains.
Children brought to the shelter also
receive individual counseling and are
enrolled in a school nearby.
They do this by offering various
support groups and providing a shel
ter which accomodates up to thirty
women and children.
See Pg. 12
DIUISION OF SHEPCO
Sdles-Wiring-Repair-
"We'll install jacks for $25 .
We have a variety of different phones and
we'll order any type you need.”
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