By the end of his seven-year career at the University, Malakai Edison had become something of a campus celebrity.

He wore colorful clothing. He rode a yellow bike everywhere he went. He appeared on Department of Student Housing posters around campus. Edison, 2008 graduate, may not be at the University anymore, but he is still visible around Lawrence.

“I do feel like I get recognized all the time,” Edison said. “My friends make fun of me when people approach me to tell me that they see me everywhere. I just tend to stick out at KU. I have never been interested in looking like others and I tend to be outspoken.”

Edison enrolled at the University in August 2001 and graduated in May 2008.

In his seven years as a student, Edison completed two bachelor’s degrees and a minor, studied abroad in Cuba and Mexico, studied two languages and took as many art and film classes as he could. Despite the University’s efforts to encourage students to graduate in four years, some, such as Edison, tend to linger on campus.

Tammara Durham, director of the University Advising Center, said it made sense for some students to stay at the University longer. She said that if students wanted to study abroad, work on a year-long political campaign or participate in a co-curricular activity that would enhance their college experience, they should be allowed to do that.

“We can’t force anyone to graduate; we can only provide resources,” Durham said. “But we can help people find themselves and move along. We want them to get through their college experience in a reasonable amount of time.”

Durham said she would rather see students take longer to graduate with a degree they were passionate about than have them suffer through classes they didn’t enjoy to complete degree requirements.

“I don’t like to see students give up on their passions,” Durham said.

Chris Dellasega, Pittsburg sophomore, originally thought his passion was graphic design. His father was in the graphic design business, and he enrolled at Pittsburg State University in August 2004, first as a history major and then as a graphic design major.

“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do as a younger guy,” Dellasega said. “I’ve always been interested in art, and that’s why I decided to go that route after a long time of just not being really sure.”

After his best friend committed suicide, Dellasega stopped going to his classes and went to work in the graphic design industry. He realized that he wanted to finish his degree and did so, putting himself through school while still working as an entry-level graphics manager. He graduated from PSU in May 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design but soon realized that his passion was weightlifting and figuring out how the body works. He began contemplating the idea of seeking a second bachelor’s degree.

“It’s always interested me, and I decided since KU had an exercise science degree, and since I’m not married and I don’t have any kids, I should do it,” Dellasega said. “It is my passion and it’s what I live for — everything about exercise physiology and sports performance training.”

Dellasega said that about a year before he completed his graphic design degree, he knew that something wasn’t quite right.

“It’s kind of searching yourself and realizing what it is that you really, really are passionate about,” Dellasega said. “You can have so many interests and want to be as knowledgeable as possible in all of them. You really need to find that out. The quicker you find out what it is you want to do, it will lead to everything else.”

Even if that means taking the long way around.

“It’s not what you do but how you do it that defines you,” Dellasega said.

Dellasega, who entered the University in July 2007, said he hoped to complete his degree by December 2011.

Edison said that he would always miss Hashinger Hall, where he lived for five years, and that he still visited campus. Edison works as an AmeriCorps VISTA and at Van Go Mobile Arts in Lawrence. Although he has no plans to return to the University, he does want to further his education.

“I won’t ever be back to KU,” Edison said. “I plan on pursuing my MFA from another university in the future. I need something new — new faculty, new campus, new demographic, new city.”

— — Edited by Realle Roth and Carly Halvorson