Monday, April 23, 2007
Scholarship hall students and housing department faculty gathered in anticipation Saturday for the dedication of the Wilna Crawford Community Center, 1346 Louisiana St. Once a run-down house, the center now provides a refuge for scholarship hall students to relax and study.
“It’s wonderful, we’ve already used it,” Niki Thiessen, Topeka sophomore, said. “I’m really excited about the lawn with the weather getting nice.”
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In my mom’s memory and to carry on her traditions of hospitality, we hope the students of the scholarship hall community will make this house their home.
-Nancy Calderwood
The house was refurbished to include a living and office area for the scholarship hall complex director, kitchen, conference room and an event room. It is the first permanent office space available to the All Scholarship Hall Council.
The lawn was landscaped with white and purple pansies and shrubs and had a stone patio and fountain on the front lawn. Diana Robertson, interim director of housing, said the transformation took a lot of work, but was successful.
“We ran into a few unexpected challenges along the way,” Robertson said. “One important thing we tried to do was honor the history of the house and yet update it.”
The lawn was dedicated to Juanita and Reginald Strait, who donated the house to the Kansas University Endowment Association. Reginald was a professor of physical education at the University of Kansas, and Juanita served as a surrogate mother for some KU students. At the dedication, Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Juanita Strait hoped the house could be used to continue helping students in their absence.
Janette and Tom Rudkin, KU alumni, donated $300,000 to have the house restored for the University’s use. The house was dedicated in memory of Janette Rudkin’s mother, Wilna Crawford.
Rudkin reminisced with her sister, Nancy Calderwood, about their mother’s kindness and creativity to explain why they wanted the house be dedicated to her.
“In my mom’s memory and to carry on her traditions of hospitality, we hope the students of the scholarship hall community will make this house their home,” Calderwood said.
Tom Rudkin, a former resident of Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, said scholarship hall living was important for the University’s students and environment. Rudkin said that while helping his daughter search for a college to attend, they didn’t come across another university with residence life like the University of Kansas.
“I would have to say that it is a very great pleasure to continue to support what I think is the greatest living arrangement on this or any campus in the country,” Rudkin said.
Kansan staff writer Katy Blair can be contacted at kblair@kansan.com.
— Edited by Carissa Pedigo
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