Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street from Jayhawk Boulevard? Celebrating its 40th birthday, the show that is still considered one of the most influential children’s programs on television actually has several ties to the University. In honor of the milestone, Sesame Street will be brought to you today by the letters K and U.

P is for Puppet

Aloysius Snuffleupagus, the wooly-mammoth-type muppet more commonly known as Mr. Snuffleupagus or Snuffy, made a lasting impression on Lawrence senior, Spencer Lott.

“I always loved Snuffleupagus,” Lott said. “I was impressed by the sheer size of him and how he was manipulated when I was a child, and he is just as exciting in person.”

In 2006 Lott was invited to join the muppets and their masters on Sesame Street to participate in a weeklong puppeteer-training workshop in New York. Only fifty puppeteers from the U.S. and Canada were invited. During his week at Sesame Street, Lott recognized the things he needed to improve on as a performer, like auditioning and improvisation.

“I had to miss the first full week of classes,” Lott said. “Some of my professors were excited for me and some of them were convinced that I was a nut. One professor even wanted some official Sesame stationery to justify my absence — I got a signed postcard from Big Bird.”

Lott said he wants to become a professional puppeteer, but until then, he is majoring in theatre and performing puppet shows on campus. Lott said he was first drawn to puppets after watching Sesame Street “way too much” as a kid.

“I started out enjoying it just like every other preschooler, but as I grew older, I became intrigued with the puppets themselves,” Lott said. “I was fascinated by it. I looked for sewing seams to see how they had been made. I looked for arm rods and even the top of puppeteers heads.”

Lott said the KU theatre department has provided him with an excellent opportunity to develop the skills he needs to reach his dream. Along with designing and building puppets, Lott said the faculty and staff of the theatre department have helped connect him with potential contacts and resources.

A is for Alumna

Rosemarie Truglio received her Ph.D. in developmental and child psychology from the University in 1990. Truglio is in her 12th year at Sesame Workshop and is currently the vice president of education and research. Her background in child psychology from the University has allowed Truglio to better understand how to help children grow. “Sesame Street provides a fun, inviting context that helps nurture preschool children’s social development in areas like cooperation and diversity,” Truglio said.

The Sesame Workshop is a nonprofit educational organization that develops effective ways to reach children, parents and educators. Originally known as Children’s Television Workshop, it began 38 years ago and identified the need to help children from low-income families become better prepared for school. Its goal was to use television as a tool to help children learn, and Sesame Street was the product.

Truglio is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which Sesame Street is based, which is the teaching of more than one subject. She also conducted research to better facilitate the production of Sesame Street, by enhancing both the entertaining and educational components of the program. Truglio also develops and reviews the content of Sesame Street.

“Sesame Street is an ongoing experiment,” Truglio said. “We’re always trying to harness the power of television to prepare children not only for school but for life’s lessons.”

In 2001 Truglio co-edited “G is for Growing: 30 Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street,” which shows the significant role Sesame Street plays in the education and socialization of children. Her research along with the foundation provided by the University’s child psychology program is what Truglio said helps her develop the Sesame Street message for children.

S is for Sharing

“Everyone grew up watching Sesame Street,” Ali Terkel, Broken Arrow, Okla., senior, said. “If not, they should have. It was good, wholesome fun.”

Terkel is one of millions of children who tuned in to watch Sesame Street on a regular basis and represents a generation of viewers that began watching the program when it was twenty decades into existence.

Terkel said she remembered dancing to the songs in her living room and specifically episode of the field trip to the Crayola factory to see how crayons were made. Some of the important lessons Terkel said she remembered learning from the show were how things were made along with learning how to share and count.

“It is great to know that a show that made such an impact on my life is still running,” Terkel said. “I don’t know if it’s possible but if Sesame Street stops running I will be sure to teach my kids the same values I learned from the show.”

Kalani Makanui, Eugene, Ore., graduate student in child psychology, said Sesame Street helped foster enjoyment in learning and engaged children in a way that promoted intellectual growth.

“Children are becoming increasingly media-savvy and continue to be influenced to some extent by what they watch on television,” Makanui said. “Sesame Street, if I interpreted its intent correctly, existed both to transmit knowledge as well as to impart values of unity and social cohesion.”

Makanui said he believed what he has learned while studying child psychology at the University connects with the message of Sesame Street.

“The education and well-being of our nation’s children are a top priority,” Makanui said. “The garden of humanity depends on the blossoming of new generations of creative and educated minds.”

— Edited by Sarah Kelly