Winter 2016-17
TODAY
SAB
K-State Student Alumni Board alumni newsletter
SAB learn, network at CASE ASAP conference By Summer Smith, SAB member n August, seven members of Student Alumni Board flew south to attend the CASE ASAP Network Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. The annual event, hosted by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in partnership with Georgia State University and Appalachian State University, included more than 70 sessions led by students and advisers. These sessions were aimed at allowing student advancement groups to share some of their most successful programs and learn from fellow student leaders. Chelsi Medved ’10, ’12, programs coordinator for the K-State Alumni Association and adviser for Student Alumni Board, was joined by SAB members Sierra Lekie, Hunter Post, Summer Smith, Kevin Kellerman, Tori Thomas, Cooper McGuire and President Taylor Fry at the 2016 event. During the convention, SAB members learned about programs offered by advancement organizations from other universities. Members gained new insight and fresh ideas through 70 sessions covering professionalism, school spirit and philanthropic programs. The conference, attended by more than 800 student leaders and advisers from across North America, provided incredible opportunities for networking, reflection and growth. SAB members were also given the opportunity to connect with K-State Alumni while in Atlanta. Members were given a tour of the Georgia Dome by Ryan Barefoot ’02 and later joined Allan Sicat ’03 for a dinner at The Sundial. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn from fellow K-Staters about their career journeys while also hearing about their K-State experience. The 2017 event will take place in Columbus, Ohio.
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PRESIDENT’S CORNER [ FROM THE PRESIDENT ] By Taylor Fry, president
Happy 2017! Another year has flown by, and it doesn’t seem possible that SAB is already planning for the spring semester. A lot of great things have been happening in the SAB world, along with many new things as well! This upcoming semester will be an exciting one, and I can’t wait to get started! At the start of the school year, SAB took a trip to Atlanta, Georgia, for the national CASE ASAP conference. Seven SAB members and one of our newer advisers, Chelsi Medved ’10, ’12, explored Atlanta and attended the conference, where we learned about a lot of unique programs that other schools are doing and possible things for us to implement at K-State. We would also like to thank past Board of
Directors member, Allan Sicat ’03 and his wife Leigh, for hosting us for dinner at The Sundial where we enjoyed a beautiful rotating view of the Atlanta skyline. This semester has been filled with multiple new things including a new program called BrandingU and a new adviser, Marcus Kidd ’14, ’16! In efforts to assist students in writing strong applications, BrandingU was created to help students with involvement, scholarship and internship applications. We partnered with the K-State Writing Center and Jim Hohenbary, director of Nationally Competitive Scholarships, to provide a writing workshop filled with tips and tricks to strengthen students’ writing skills. With this new effort, we hope to see strong applications for Student Alumni Board during this year’s recruiting season. SAB was also excited to welcome Marcus, our new adviser, into the SAB family! Marcus has so much positive energy, which is extremely
contagious, so we are very excited to continue working with him this next semester and in future years. A lot is going on in these upcoming weeks as we search for the next class of SAB members, dance the night away at the Wabash CannonBall, and welcome back two outstanding K-State alumni for our Distinguished Young Alumni Awards. We are excited to host Dalton Henry ’10 and Jorge Mendoza ’10 this February and learn about their impact on K-State and in their lives after college. It is always inspiring to hear from these amazing individuals that were once in our shoes at K-State! With all of these upcoming events, I am positive that this semester will be over in the blink of an eye. But as always, it is an honor to serve as president alongside inspirational K-Staters. This semester will be filled with a lot of great memories and I can’t wait to see what is in store for the 2017 spring semester.
SAB to host 2017 Distinguished Young Alumni this month who they are today and contribute to their By Sierra Lekie, SAB member 2017 successes both personally and professionally. We n Feb. 28, Student Alumni Board will honor encourage everyone to join us for the keynote the 2017 Distinguished Young Alumni Award young alumni presentations, which are sure to be inspiring to recipients Dalton Henry ’10 and Jorge Mendoza current students but also to alumni, faculty, staff ’10. and community.” The Student Alumni Board and the K-State Tuesday, Feb. 28 Alumni Association Board of Directors agreed Henry, a native of Randolph, Kansas, is the 4:30 p.m. — Jorge upon the selection of Henry and Mendoza after legislative director for Congressman Roger Mendoza presentation carefully reviewing the nominations of more Marshall and former director of policy for U.S. 5:30 p.m. — Dalton Henry than 30 exceptionally qualified individuals. The Wheat Associates. While at K-State, Henry was presentation award is in its fifth year and recognizes two a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, 6:30 p.m. — DYA dinner K-State graduates under the age of 35 who are Blue Key Honor Society, College of Agriculture Ambassadors, Ag Communicators of Tomorrow using the scholarship, leadership and service and Ag Economics Club. Henry also served as experience they acquired at K-State to excel in K-State student body president during the 2009-10 school year. their professions and contribute to their communities. He graduated from K-State in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Henry and Mendoza will return to campus from Feb. 27 agricultural communications and journalism. to March 1 to visit with student groups and university classes. Mendoza, a native of Garden City, Kansas, is the STEM The K-State community is invited to attend their keynote Exploration Program Manager at The Ohio State University. presentations on Feb. 28 in the Town Hall in the Staley School While at K-State, Mendoza was a member of Developing of Leadership Studies. Mendoza’s presentation will begin at 4:30 p.m. A casual reception will take place from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Scholars Program, McNair Scholars Program, Research outside Town Hall, followed by Henry’s presentation at 5:30 p.m. Experience for Undergraduates, Hispanic American Leadership Organization, Bridges to the Future and served as president of “This year’s Distinguished Young Alumni recipients are great the Multicultural Honor Society. He graduated from K-State in examples of K-Staters who learned how to be leaders through 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. their college experiences,” said Marcus Kidd ’14, ’16, assistant For more information on the Distinguished Young Alumni director of student programs for the Alumni Association and program, please visit www.K-State.com/DYA. Student Alumni Board adviser. “Those experiences molded
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A YEAR IN REVIEW: 2016 STUDENT AMBASSADORS
By Mandy Marchesini, 2016 K-State Student Ambassador t’s difficult to wrap up such an exciting year for both Hunter and I. This was the perfect way to give back to a special place that has given us the college experience of a lifetime. I grew up a fourth generation K-Stater all the way in Albany, New York, and it was these strong Wildcat ties on my mom’s side of the family that led me to K-State. Hunter on the other hand, grew up in Beloit, just an hour and a half west of Manhattan. I was able to bring an out-of-state perspective to the events and speak with students who were worried about moving away from their hometowns. Hunter was able to bring a small-town perspective whenever he spoke with students and alumni. With both of us hailing from such different places, we were able to portray the ability of our campus to spark friendships between students from The 2016 K-State Student Ambassadors, Hunter Post and Mandy Marchesini, were all smiles after anywhere in the country, while sharing every their names were announced during halftime of K-State’s Homecoming football game Oct. 17 in bit of their K-State experience alongside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. each other. Hunter and I’s K-State journeys first crossed paths during spring of our To the 2017 Student Ambassadors, Mario Garcia III and Paige freshman year when we were paired together as co-counselors Engle, this is such an honor to hand down the position to the both for Wildcat Warm-Up. Little did we know back then that in two of you. We have no doubt that you will continue to raise the bar short years, we would be elected to serve K-State in this capacity. during your term. We have known you both were very special As Ambassadors, one of our main tasks was to create and since the beginning of your K-State journey, and we can’t wait to present two different kinds of presentations that we would give see how much you will enjoy the next year meeting Wildcats from at events around the state. One presentation would be given at around the state. K-State recruitment events, and the other was for Alumni/Student Lastly, on behalf of Hunter and I, we want to extend a huge events. For our Alumni/Student presentation, Hunter and I chose to thanks to all of the students, alumni and friends who attended all make it a friendly competition and play the K-State Family Feud. of our events throughout the year. We are so incredibly honored The gameshow matchup between the alumni versus the students and proud to have been your 2016 Student Ambassadors, and at each event was an extremely fun way to relate generations, could not have had such an amazing year without our K-State all while getting to share the exciting things that are happening Family. We could not be more thankful to have been raised on campus. The Family Feud proved to be very popular, and we drinking the purple Kool-Aid. In those years we could’ve never loved getting to play it throughout the year! dreamed to have the opportunity to represent the color purple Narrowing down this year to a few of our favorite memories is and witness the impact that it has had on many generations across not easy, but we can’t forget the delicious potluck dinner at Paola, our state, country and beyond. We cannot wait to support this flying to Medicine Lodge with the always funny Dr. Frank Tracz, university as alumni, and to watch the continued impact it will have building a strong friendship with the one and only, Mrs. Amy Button for generations to come. Renz ’76, ’86, and last but not least, spending time on the road Always proud to be Wildcats, with our adviser, Gavin Hargrave ’08, ’10. Mandy Marchesini and Hunter Post
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SAB welcomes new adviser By Drew Bormann, SAB member he Student Alumni Board is very excited to welcome Marcus Kidd as a new adviser to the organization. Marcus will be serving the Alumni Association
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as the new assistant director of student programs. After receiving both his bachelor’s in psychology (2014) and master’s in college student development (2016) from K-State, we know his K-State roots
and passion make him more than qualified to help advise SAB. We’re excited to have Marcus as part of out team and look forward to all of the progress we can achieve with his help! [3]
David Mayes ’96, K-State Alumni Association
‘It has been an honor’ serving as Student Ambassadors