SAB Today Spring 2019

Spring 2019

TODAY

SAB

K-State Student Alumni Board alumni newsletter

Introducing 2019 student ambassadors The 2019 K-State Student Ambassadors, Madelyn Mash and Tel Wittmer, were announced during halftime of the K-State Homecoming football game Oct. 13, 2018, against Oklahoma State University.

The Student Ambassador program was formed in 1977 and has since chosen one male and one female current K-State student to represent the student body during K-State Alumni Association events each year. They will also serve on the Student Alumni Board.

The selection process for Student Ambassadors consists of a preliminary application, first-round interview by a student panel and second-round interview with faculty and alumni from K-State. Final candidates, three males and three females, answer interview questions in front of current students at K-State Homecoming events such as Wildcat Request Live and Pant the Chant. Wittmer and Mash were then selected by the student body through voting held during Homecoming Week.

Maddy Mash, a native of Wichita, Kansas, is a junior majoring in microbiology. In addition to completing pre-medicine prerequisites, she is also completing a minor in Spanish. The decision to attend K-State was easy for Mash after a campus visit. “I loved how personable the faculty, staff and students were when I visited campus. I knew that my time at K-State would not be simply an admissions number, but [a time] of cultivating not only an academic but a life education to fully realize my potential,” she said.

This dedication to K-State is demonstrated though her campus and community involvements. During the last year, Mash has served as a K-State Orientation Leader, New Student Services Ambassador, Pre-Health Ambassador, coordinator for K-State Open House, Member Development Vice President for

2019 Student Ambassadors Tel Wittmer and Madelyn Mash receive their K-State class rings after being announced during halftime of the K-State Homecoming football game against Oklahoma State University on October 13. The Ambassadors were chosen by the student body through voting held during Homecoming Week.

Alpha Xi Delta, and a Big Sister through the national organization Big Brothers Big Sisters.

When asked why she decided to run for a Student Ambassador position, Mash said, “I truly believe anyone can make K-State their home due to the individualistic approach to education and the diverse set of programs and organizations we have to offer. I saw Student Ambassador as an opportunity to give back to the university that has given me so much, through sharing all of the incredible and unique experiences one can have as a K-Stater.”

Tel Wittmer is a sophomore majoring in secondary education from Holton, KS. Wittmer’s decision to attend Kansas State was different than Mash’s because he started by considering University of Kansas.

When asked why he decided to attend K-State, Wittmer said, “I grew up my whole life a KU fan, and it wasn’t until my junior

year of high school that I began to consider K-State. Thanks to some visits I had made with an organization I was involved with at the time, I had been on campus a few times and seen a glimpse of what Manhattan had to offer. As I visited campus more, I began to fall in love with this place and truly visualize myself being a wildcat. Every current K-State student I talked to during that time absolutely loved their experience and I eventually would get to see why.”

During his past two years at K-State, Wittmer has dedicated time to the university in a variety of leadership positions. Wittmer currently serves as a Student Senator for the College of Education in Student Governing Association, a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, a College of Education Ambassador and a member of Student Alumni Board.

Choosing to run for Student Ambassador was a decision Wittmer made after considering the rich history of K-State. He said, “There is without a doubt, a sort of nostalgia that I feel when I am on campus or even think about K-State. K-State has a very rich history and a kind of mythology that comes with being a student here. That mythology is centered around the idea of giving access and opportunity to all people. That was our mission when we opened in 1863 and is still our mission today. I chose to run for Student Ambassador in order to play my part in sharing the history, the mission, and indeed, the opportunities that this university holds for individuals.”

Student Alumni Board would like to extend our congratulations to the 2019 K-State Student Ambassadors and we are so excited to work alongside them this next year. More information about the Ambassadors can be found at www.K-State.com/StudentAmbassadors.

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PRESIDENT’S CORNER [ FROM THE PRESIDENT ] Hallie Lucas

Hello all! It’s been an exciting year of cultivating change and crafting new experiences for Student Alumni Board. We kicked off the year with a road trip to Louisville, Kentucky for the annual CASE ASAP conference.

Our fearless advisor, Marcus Kidd, navigated 600 miles of highway in a 16-passenger van to get us there. The nine of us that went to Louisville were able to bring home so many great ideas for new SAB programming, branding, and operations.

One of the greatest changes SAB has made this past year was to our new member training program, put together by Vice President for Recruitment, Colby Works. Rather than the 7:30 a.m. training sessions

we’ve hosted for our new member classes in the past, SAB’s newest members reached out to campus contacts and leadership on their own to set up one-on-one interviews to gather information and design their own training sessions. It’s probably safe to say no one is missing the early morning wake-up call. In addition to that, SAB also voted to adapt our existing leadership structure to accommodate for three new vice president roles to meet emerging organizational needs. Student Alumni Board is now operating with an executive leadership team of six vice presidents and their corresponding committees: Recruitment, Internal Programming, External Programming, Marketing, Administration, and Development. Our committees will be working to advance our existing programs, such as Just For Juniors and Wildcats Forever, as well as promote

and design new programming.

This February we were excited to present the Distinguished Young Alumni Award to Dr. Charley Cull and Kale Monk, PhD, two wonderful K-State graduates who have made exceptional impacts in their respective fields. Student Alumni Board also hosted selections to welcome another new member class in February. We received applications from a number of diverse and passionate students, and I am so looking forward to having them join our team!

I am so grateful for my time in SAB and the opportunity I’ve had to work alongside such motivated and outstanding students in partnership with the Alumni Association. This has been a remarkable experience that has made me even more proud to be a part of the Wildcat community. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the semester holds for SAB. Go ‘Cats!

New executive board structure provides more leadership opportunities Overall, as an organization, Student Alumni Board strives to be well-informed and available to prospective students, current classmates and alumni regarding K-State opportunities. The executive team elected in May of 2018 has taken great initiative in making sure SAB is organized to accomplish this goal.

This has led to the addition of new positions and reorganization of previously occurring events. In order to improve media presence in an increasingly technologybased campus, SAB has created a new Vice President for Marketing position. This has allowed for better internal communication within the organization, more visible advertisements for events, and an increased knowledge about SAB as an organization on campus.

Another position was also created following the decision to develop a K-State Traditions app in collaboration with the Alumni Association. This position is Vice President External Programming, which will manage and organize all external events, and resulted in the change from [2]

2018-2019 K-State Student Alumni Board – Organization Chart

Advisers

President

Marcus Kidd Jessica Elmore

Hallie Lucas

VP-Recruitment

Colby Works

Recruitment Committee

VP-Internal Programming

Taylor Beashore

Internal Programming Committee

VP-External Programming

Keaton Petite

External Programming Committee

VP-Development

Carrie Mulder

Valeria Rubio

VP-Administration

Alexandra Troike

Development Committee

Grad Bash/Grad Breakfast Co-Chairs

one VP Programming position to both VP Internal and VP External positions.

All members of SAB hold responsibilities within the organization through a committee position. The rearrangement of executive positions allowed for the placement of these four committees under similar Vice Presidents.

VP-Marketing

For Sophomores Only Co-Chairs

In summary, the changes brainstormed by all members, developed by the executive team and voted on by all of SAB provides more opportunities for leadership and involvement within the organization, clear committee leaders to approach regarding concerns or ideas and more efficient use of committee time during monthly meetings.

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Thank you to 2018 ambassadors!

The 2018 K-State Student Ambassadors concluded their year of representing K-State at prospective student and alumni events with the election of 2019 Ambassadors on October 13. Student Alumni Board would like to thank Darrell Reese and Michelle Anderson for dedicating their time to our organization and the University as Student Ambassadors this past year.

Darrell Reese, a senior in Human Resource Management from Dallas, Texas, recalled the aspects of serving as a Student Ambassador that he enjoyed the most by saying, “I loved traveling to all of the different cities in Kansas and Missouri, and interacting with our alumni and prospective students. I really had the opportunity to see first-hand how deep people loved K-State and the Family.”

This position as an Ambassador also impacted the way that Reese views K-State and its students and alumni. “K-State is really more than a campus, and even more than a University. K-State, and even the Manhattan community, bleeds purple and bleeds family. The relationships you build at K-State are deep and long lasting relationships. People truly care about your overall well-being and your success as a student, faculty member, or just a member of the Manhattan community. My view of K-State has changed because I see that this family is truly made up of genuine and authentic people, and it’s a privilege to be surrounded by such great people every day,” Reese said.

Both Reese and Anderson collaborated and served K-State together over the past year. Therefore, these ambassadors formed a strong connection with each other while networking across Kansas and Missouri.

Regarding Anderson, Reese said, “Let me be the first to tell you that Michelle is amazing! She was truly a joy to work with!

She is hardworking, fun, caring, and she absolutely loves K-State and bleeds purple!

She loved talking to prospective students and alumni, and it was a blast being her partner last year!”

When asked about their Ambassadorship, Anderson said, “It was great to get to know Darrell! He is so charismatic and such a dynamic speaker.

I loved sharing this experience with him

2018 Student Ambassador Michelle Anderson, President Richard B. Myers, Alumni Association President and CEO Amy Button-Renz, 2019 Student Ambassador Madelyn Mash, Alumni Association Board Chair Sylvia Robinson, 2019 Student Ambassador Tel Wittmer and 2018 Student Ambassador Darrell Reese pose for a photograph following the announcement of the 2019 Student Ambassadors at halftime of the K-State Homecoming football game against Oklahoma State University on Oct.13, 2018.

and learning from him. He really took the time to get to know the alumni and students he spoke with.”

Michelle Anderson is a junior from Topeka, KS, majoring in accounting and finance with a leadership studies minor.

When asked how this position changed how she viewed K-State or its students and alumni, Anderson said, “This was one of the best opportunities to really experience the K-State family. We got to meet K-Staters that have been going to these events for decades. These people absolutely bleed purple, and they were so welcoming. They wanted to know all about my family, my hometown, my passions, etc., and it was so special to see the K-State family in action like that.”

While serving at approximately 12-14 alumni and student events during their year as Ambassadors, Anderson explained that her favorite part was interacting with prospective students.

“They tend to ask us the questions they don’t want to ask anyone else about the residence halls, classes, getting involved, etc. It is so rewarding to get to put their minds at ease. This fall I ran into some of the freshmen I met over the summer and it was so awesome to catch up with them and see how they were adjusting to K-State,” Anderson said.

The successes of Anderson and Reese were largely influenced by the support system they had at K-State. “I’m extremely blessed, thankful, and grateful for Amy Button-Renz, Alan Fankhauser, Dr. Jessica Elmore, Brandon Clark, and the rest of the Alumni Association for making my time as Ambassador so incredible and memorable,” said Reese.

Anderson expressed her gratitude and said, “Gavin Hargrave mentored us from the beginning of our term and he helped us get the ball rolling before Alan Fankhauser took over the position. It was great to get to know them both and they helped us at every stop along the way.

The previous ambassadors, Mario and Paige, also gave us some awesome advice when we were developing the message we wanted to share at events. Amy ButtonRenz is always great to work with and so encouraging. Also, I want to thank Marcus, Andrea, Katie, Jessica, Rachel and the rest of the Alumni Association for their help along the way. We loved working with everyone!”

The 2018 Ambassadors also extend their well-wishes and congratulations to the new 2019 Student Ambassadors Madelyn Mash and Tel Wittmer. “This is such a unique experience and I know they are going to do great!” Anderson said.

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New member training gets renovation The SAB New-Member Training Program was restructured during the summer of 2018 by the new Vice President of Membership, Colby Works, in order to provide new members of Student Alumni Board with the education necessary to recruit new K-Staters and be ambassadors for the K-State Alumni Center to the best of their ability.

This renovation occurred due to internal member reflection and surveying in an effort for us to be more strategic with the time usage of university staff and SAB new members. This program was first implemented this fall with the 2018 new member class. Training days were held three times during the fall semester and consisted of new members sharing about their campus contact in an interactive way, featured guest lecturers and provided a space for new members to develop connections with each other.

The New Member Training Program was created with the objective to prepare SAB new member classes with the information necessary to be informed about current events and opportunities on campus when speaking with prospective students, current classmates, or alumni.

Student Alumni Board’s primary purpose is to promote K-State, and this program allows SAB to do that more effectively while creating meaningful relationships with other campus leaders and professionals in a variety of colleges on campus.

To accomplish these goals, each new member within the 2018 class was assigned to a “campus contact,” or professional on campus, to conduct an in-person interview with. The SAB new members presented their gathered information using the quiz program “Kahoot.”

During the three meetings where students presented information, additional

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SAB President Hallie Lucas, new members Sophie Craig, Valeria Rubio, Andrew Nagle and Advisor Marcus Kidd attend K-State Kickoff in Olathe where they mingled and ate Call Hall ice cream with high school seniors from the area. These new members applied the K-State knowledge learned during New Member Trainings at this event to answer questions from prospective students.

campus contacts were invited to speak with the class. This included one of the Associate Vice President for Student Life, newly-hired Provost and newly-appointed K-State Union Executive Director.

Information collected from postabout:blank training surveys showed 88% of campus contacts preferred this new method of information collection in contrast to the previous weekly new member trainings.

Previous trainings were conducted every Wednesday and required the campus contacts to present information to the new member class at 7:30 a.m.

Additionally, 100% of SAB new members preferred this method over the previous years and 100% found the information that they learned valuable and worthwhile.

As a new member class, these students

have now applied the knowledge learned during training at a variety of recruitment and alumni events including Just for Juniors, which are programs presented in communities around Kansas for juniors in high school, Networking Night, where K-State alumni were welcomed on campus to advise current students about postgraduation careers, and Wildcats Forever, where members work promotion and giveaways for one of the largest student groups on K-State’s campus.

Due to the improved preparation acquired during these trainings to interact with prospective, current and former K-State students, Student Alumni Board found this program to align with our mission to “promote K-State” and will implement it again the fall of 2019 with the next new member class.

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