The Sunflower Day in the Life issue 2019

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DAY IN THE LIFE

2 | MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019

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THE STAFF EDITORIAL

Editor in Chief Matthew Kelly

ADVISING

Faculty Adviser Amy DeVault

ADVERTISING

Advertising Manager Kylie Cameron

CONTACT THE SUNFLOWER 019 Elliott Hall 1845 N. Fairmount Ave. Campus Box 134 Wichita, KS 67260-0134 ----------

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Senior teaches others —and herself— to find their breath in a busy world

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BY JOHN DARR

s the game clock barrels towards halftime during the Wichita State women’s basketball game against the Eastern Carolina Pirates, everything accelerates.

The ball flies between hands, the fans rock more rapidly back and forth in their seats, and even the concession vendors step up their pace to make a few more sales before the half.

Fine Arts Senior Bryonna Brooke Stacey jogs from the stands into the annals of the stadium to prepare for the Shocker Sound Machine marching band’s halftime show. The buzzer announces the end of the half, and as the dribbling on the court ceases, it’s replaced immediately by the whirring preparation of Stacey and her bandmates. One moment, she’s moving her instrument case, and in the next, she’s shimmying down the sideline to help mark the edges of the band’s performance area.

Soon, the marching band is moving seamlessly through the show’s interlocking formations as they blast the audience with bursts of upbeat brass and drums. As soon as the show’s over, everyone springs back into action. Within minutes, the band is back in the stands, playing tunes to rally the Shockers towards victory.

Looking at Stacey’s poise as she plays through the band’s opening songs on trumpet, you’d never have thought she’d spent the last twenty minutes in a flurry of preparation and marching.

The rapid movement is all too familiar to Stacey. On top

AUSTIN SHAW/THE SUNFLOWER Senior Bryonna Brooke Stacey plays trumpet in the Shocker Sound pep band and the Shocker Sound Machine marching band.

“I’M IN MALE-DOMINATED SECTIONS, AND I’VE LEARNED TO HOLD MY OWN GROWING UP. IT’S TAUGHT ME TO BE LIKE, ‘I’M JUST AS GOOD OF A PLAYER AS YOU.” ­—BRYONNA BROOKE STACEY, SENIOR

of her position in the marching and pep band, she’s a sorority president and a music education major. Nothing seems to faze her — she’d never marched before joining the marching band — and her sorority had only five members when she joined.

Now, she handles routines with ease, and she’s helped grow her sorority to over a dozen members.

Stacey has the sort of track record that marks her instantly as one of WSU’s all-star seniors.

Her deep involvement at WSU comes as no surprise given her background — she was born and

raised in Wichita as a Shocker fan through and through. But she had a special reason for choosing it as her college.

“I found a program — a special education music program — that they don’t really have anywhere else,” Stacey said when I caught her for a post-game interview. “We have really great special ed within Wichita, so I stayed here.”

The music aspect of the program lines up with Stacey’s lifelong interest in the arts. She started playing trumpet because she felt a connection to the instrument that was both personal and social, she said.

“I like how loud it is,” Stacey said. “I’m just typically loud. It has taught me a lot because I’m in male-dominated sections, and I’ve learned to hold my own growing up. It’s taught me to be like, ‘I’m just as good of a player as you.’”

Music runs so deep in Stacey’s life that she sometimes has to remind herself that it’s not only

her work, but her creative outlet and passion, she said.

“Music becomes such a job at some points that we forget to have fun with it,” Stacey said. “To be able to just sit in a practice room and just sing or play piano, and just play my trumpet for fun — I love playing Disney songs — that’s my favorite way to blow off steam.

“You can take a little time for yourself.”

Even a little time can be hard to find, though, when the music program is filled with intense schedules and a high workload.

“We have tons of classes a semester,” Stacey said.

“Each one is only worth one or two credit hours, so I end up with eight or nine or ten classes a semester.”

One of the keys to handling the crazy workload, Stacey said, takes a leap of faith — “not being afraid to reach out to therapy.”

SEE STACEY PAGE 10

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MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019 |

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After 30 years of service, military spy finds second career as parking services officer

BY MATTHEW KELLY

Parking services officer Brian Smith woke up with a stiff neck in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 8. He didn’t think much of it at first, but when the stiffness persisted, he had his wife drive him to the emergency room.

“They slapped me on a gurney right away and put the EKG on me,” Smith said.

That’s when he realized something was wrong.

“I see this doctor fast-walking down the hallway — I’ve never seen a doctor with a scared look like you see on a child or something, but he had a scared look,” Smith said. “He goes, ‘You’re having a massive heart attack,’ and I go, ‘Oh, really?’”

Not much phases Smith, a retired master sergeant with 30 years of military experience.

“Being in the military, you have to stay lowkey,” Smith said.

“If you saw the look on my wife’s face — how scared she was — you have to let them know that everything’s going to be okay.”

Less than a week later, Smith was back at work, cruising around the parking lots of Wichita State.

He wasn’t looking for a second career when he started as a parking services officer in 2007. Smith had planned to stay in Wichita for a few years before moving to Florida to be closer to his parents, but plans changed when his granddaughter, Ashley, was born.

“We ended up having a little grand princess, and she’s

special needs, so grandma and grandpa — we’re staying here to help out with her,” Smith said.

He gets to campus at 6:30 for his 7 a.m. shift, parking in front of the police station with the yellow parking permit he pays for.

Smith enjoys interacting with students and faculty, he said, and doesn’t take it personally when people lash out at him for giving tickets.

“People are frustrated, and a lot of times, they’re just angry about something else and you’re just the target,” Smith said.

“You’ve got so many students that wave and are all smiley.

They outweigh the — I’ll just use the two percent rule — of the people that are always causing trouble.”

Smith said he give out 40-50 tickets on a normal day.

He was skeptical at first when parking services made the switch a few years back to vehicles with license plate scanners.

He said he liked doing his job on-foot.

“When we first got these scanners, I wasn’t sure I was going to like them, because I wasn’t going to be able to walk the lots and talk to people,” Smith said. “I’m more enclosed in this vehicle here, but I still find my time to be able to talk to guys.”

He prides himself on his quick response time when a student phones dispatch to ask for help starting their car.

“The biggest thing I strive for is when they call for a jumpstart, I try to get to the jumpstart within two minutes,” Smith said.

KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER Brian Smith is a 30-year military veteran. He had a heart attack in January and was back on the job one week later.

“I’VE BEEN AROUND THE WORLD — I WAS IN THE SPY BUSINESS FOR QUITE A WHILE.” ­—BRIAN SMITH, PARKING SERVICES OFFICER

He said he makes judgment calls when enforcing minor violations such as parking over the line of a stall — only ticketing when the situation calls for it.

“I’m not here to just generate money. I’m here for the welfare of the students and faculty,”

Smith said.

Parking Services Supervisor Laura Ryman called Smith “one of a kind.”

“Brian is a hard worker who conducts himself in a professional, courteous, and helpful manner on a daily basis while serving the WSU community,” Ryman wrote in an email.

Service comes naturally for Smith, who held a top-secret security clearance in the military.

“I’ve been around the world — I was in the spy business for quite a while,” Smith said. “With the Blackbird SR-71 for the first 13 year of my military career.”

As a plane crew chief, Smith said he “got to know everything

that was going to go on three weeks before.”

“I was involved with the Iranian Hostage Crisis back in 79 and 80,” Smith said. “I was involved in the situation with [Manuel] Noriega — taking him out. Of course, both Gulf Wars.

“I loved it.”

His work now is less adrenaline-pumping, but Smith said he relishes the human interaction.

“I’ve had people flip me the bird — that’s not positive. That’s negative,” Smith said. “But I have a lot of people waving, and I can tell by the wave that they’re thanking us for doing our jobs so they can park.”

DAY IN THE LIFE

4 | MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019

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JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER Basketball manager Connor Shank speaks to guard Jacob Cherrs before the game against Southern Methodist Jan. 30 at Charles Koch Arena.

Basketball manager’s role is about ‘knowing where to be and when to be’

BY MARSHALL SUNNER

Connor Shank’s role with the Wichita State men’s basketball team is a lot like that of an on-call doctor.

Shank, a sophomore, is in his second year assisting the basketball program as a team manager. His calendar is full with basketball, school, and work as the assistant recruitment chairman for Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Yet, when a player calls, Shank is ready.

Staring at a full calendar on his iPhone, Shank simply remarks, “It’s about knowing where to be and when to be.”

“You always have to have your phone ready and be there for whatever is needed,” he said.

That includes surprise visits from ex-NBA pro Ron Baker, who occasionally returns to Koch Arena for workouts. Shank keeps stats during some games, and can also be found coding film for future matchups.

Other days, he’s running drills in practices and working out players who need special attention.

“Most people think we do all the dirty work or that we are the players’ nanny,” Shank said. “It’s not like that.

There’s a lot more stuff that goes on behind the scenes.”

Shank got involved with the program through connections to Head Coach Gregg Marshall.

Shank originally planned to attend the University of Arizona,

but Marshall turned his mind to basketball and sold him on WSU. “He (Marshall) told me I’d have a spot on the team and get into one of the best schools in the nation,” Shank said.

“I weighed my options and figured out I wanted to stay here and do this.”

And Shank hasn’t taken the job lightly.

“I WANT TO BE IN THE SPORTS WORLD. I GREW UP PLAYING SPORTS, AND I WANT TO STICK AROUND THEM.” — CONNOR SHANK, SOPHOMORE

“This comes before my fraternity,” he said. “It goes school, working for the team, then the fraternity.”

Shank has plans to pursue a career as a sports agent. He said he believes the connections he makes will pay dividends.

“I want to be in the sports world,” Shank said. “I grew up playing sports, and I want to stick around them. I want to get close with professional athletes and show them how to run their lives in a way of money, decisions, and contracts.”

Shank plans to leave Wichita for a larger market post-graduation.

JOSEPH BARRINGHAUS/THE SUNFLOWER Connor Shank helps players warm up before the game against SMU.

DAY IN THE LIFE

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MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019 |

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COURTESY OF CATHY LE A shot from Cathy Le’s “OZ” concert video. The video, along with Le’s other work, can be found on her website, moonlitvisuals.com.

Videographer sees her future through a lens

BY RYAN CREWS

When junior Cathy Le isn’t busy with her graphic design major, she finds pleasure in documenting the special moments of life as a videographer. Whether those golden moments are of the elated smiles of a freshly married couple, the raucousness of a dance festival crowd, or her interpersonal relationships flourishing, Le captures them in their pure form for her production company, Moonlit Visuals.

“I aim for my viewers to have a deep connection when they see my videos,” Le said. “I feel like I’m an emotional person. I used to not be, but now I am, so I want that emotion to show through my videos.”

Le’s days start with 8 a.m. labs that end around noon. From there, she wraps up graphic design projects so she can get to work on her true passion. She spends most of her free time filming, editing, and learning new techniques for video editing.

Her videos are full of a modern flashiness. While she has adapted to the trendy editing techniques she’s learned from Youtube tutorials, she spends much of her time creating a

KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER Cathy Le is a junior in the graphic design program. Le’s passion for videography led her to start her own business, Moonlit Visuals.

style of her own using hyper-lapses and motion graphics.

It’s a craft she became attached to at a young age.

Le’s father is an engineer at Honeywell Aerospace, but he sidelines as a professional photographer in his spare time. He photographed a lot of weddings and became popular by doing gigs within Wichita’s Vietnamese community.

SEE LE PAGE 7

WHERE TO WATCH Watch Le’s videos at moonlitvisuals.com or on her Instagram @moonlitvisuals

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DAY IN THE LIFE

6 | MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019

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When lightning strikes a tree Senior printmaking student hones his craft

ELLA DOMINGUEZ/THE SUNFLOWER This creature was sketched out onto a board and then carved out, piece by piece, by Bryan Raymundo, a senior in Wichita State’s printmaking program.

RELIEF PRINT MAKING Relief printing is the most ancient form of printmaking, and the most accessible, even for those without a press. In this process, the raised part of the surface catches the ink while the depressions do not catch pigment. With this process, paper is pressed against the inked block or plate to transfer the image. Artists can use a wide range of tools to transfer the image onto the paper, including a barens, a wooden spoon, a doorknob, or even the side of one’s fist. Linoleum and wood are the most common surfaces used with this technique. source: artistsnetwork.com

MADELINE DEABLER/THE SUNFLOWER

BY ELLA DOMINGUEZ

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table built for ten occupied by one, accompanied only by the array of prints he’s created in the past year. A senior in Wichit State’s printmaking program, Bryan Raymundo sits humbly among his expansive hive of intricate carvings.

Acid, needles, knives, gauges, linoleum, copper, wood — Raymundo’s tools of choice. Not to be confused with screen printing, an entirely different realm of printmaking, Raymundo works primarily with wood and copper prints. In the year since he began, he has already created over 30 different pieces.

His studio is dusty and covered in splotches of random inks and paints — typical of a classroom in McKnight. Two large boards, separately adorned with two delicate women, lean casually against a wall. They are Raymundo’s grandmothers, brought vividly to life against the timber.

ELLA DOMINGUEZ/THE SUNFLOWER Bryan Raymundo carefully carves into his latest print project.

Another print is titled “La Frontera,” or “the border” in English. “La Frontera,” just like the majority of Raymundo’s prints, is in black and white.

“I don’t like using color,” he says, “I hate color. It’s a waste of time.”

Gravestones against a desert horizon. The estimated number of immigrants murdered at the border by border patrol agents each

year marks each gravestone. Three hundred and sixty, 375, 485, 475, 355, 321, 398, 415. An agent stands tall in the foreground as corpses lie rotting in the background. It’s a powerful piece.

Raymundo’s prints have earned him recognition. The second print he ever made won an exhibition art competition in the Cadman last year.

SEE RAYMUNDO PAGE 7

DAY IN THE LIFE

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RAYMUNDO

FROM PAGE 6 “I hate this one” he says, pointing to an elaborately carved sugar skull maiden, adorned with geen, red, and ocean blue accents. The print is beautiful, colorful, lively.

“It’s too happy,” Raymundo says, as he points to a small gravestone engraved behind the dead woman, “I had to put a gravestone — my gravestone. I couldn’t let it be too happy.”

Black ink on a white table. The squeak of a rolling wheel. Furrowed brows. A pair of gloves — blue, almost medical. A mask, white — definitely surgical. A Folgers coffee tin full of gooey ink. A white apron stained black. Raymundo begins preparing the ink.

“I consider myself a struggling Catholic,” he says, pointing out the repetition of threes in his art. Threes are a big theme in Catholic symbolism — The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

The print, the ink, the press. The piece he’s inking up is a humanoid figure, seemingly melting into the cage it’s trapped in. The character’s mouth is agape, almost as if it’s trying to scream, but no sound comes out.

The piece has no name.

LE

FROM PAGE 5 When the hectic nature of those gigs became too much for him to handle on his own, Le stepped in.

In high school, she started to work on her own creative projects and videos, utilizing social media for marketing purposes. She started by documenting her everyday life, and whenever she went on a trip, she would make a vlog out of it.

Now that her father spends less time on photography, Le has filled his shoes as the art-centric member of her family.

When Le started at WSU, she was a pre-med student, following along the path of many of her family members. But it wasn’t the path for her.

“It was kind of scary because nobody in my family had ever done that before,” Le said of her decision

The press. This will make or break the print. Raymundo mentions a former print that shattered under the pressure of the industrial beast. That was not a good day.

The wheel. He lets me turn it. The machine begins to move, pressure builds. It’s a dance — the spin, the push, the pressure, the release. The print makes it through to the other side, still in one piece.

The art is complete.

A delicate peel of paper, the Japanese kind. From a classroom down the hall, printmaking professor Marco Hernandez hollers to Raymundo, asking how the print came out.

“It’s salty,” Raymundo yells back.

Salty, speckled, grainy. Not enough ink, Raymundo explains.

Each carving can take anywhere from five hours to a whole month to finish, but the mirror image has been forged onto paper in a matter of seconds.

Notches. Dozens. Hundreds.

Thousands. Each notch is a raindrop, weathering the wood. Raymundo acts as a bolt of lightning striking a tree, completely transforming the physical structure. Ink, roll, print. An art of negative space. The act of taking away allows the space for creation to form.

not to stay in pre-med. “Everybody either went to the medical field or engineering, but I was just like, ‘I’m not doing this for anybody else. I’m just going to do what I want — I hate chemistry.’”

Her first gig for Moonlit Visuals ended up being a recruitment video for her Alphi Phi sorority. Since then, she’s branched off into various types of videos, showcasing her creative growth. Le’s videos range from travel montages and EDM music festivals to wedding ceremonies and events for Downtown Wichita.

While she loves living in the moment at these events, Le said she enjoys capturing it for others just as much. It’s where she finds the art to her craft.

Le sees her future through a lens.

That future is in videography, and we can all watch through the screen as she makes her way by moonlight.

MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019 |

SWAP Social Students Who Are Parents Opportunity for meaningful conversations with fellow Students Who Are Parents at Wichita State.

Light refreshments will be served.

Tuesday, Feb. 12 5:30 – 7 p.m.

Pike Room (RSC 266) Questions? Contact Anthony Ho at 316-978-6122 or anthony.ho@wichita.edu

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DAY IN THE LIFE

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Bond makes the most of education and experience

BY EASTON THOMPSON

SELENA FAVELA/THE SUNFLOWER Student Body President Kenon Brinkley speaks during a Student Senate meeting alongside Student Body Vice President Shelby Rowell.

A day in the life of your student body president

BY DRAKE ROBINSON

H

anging in Student Body President Kenon Brinkley’s office is a photo of Nelson Mandela.

There’s also “Black Panther” memorabilia, and even a Wii U. Brinkley said he wants students to feel comfortable in his office when they share their views and ask questions about what’s happening on. While doing so, they can also relax and play some video games.

Brinkley’s daily responsibilities include responding to emails, attending committee meetings, and most importantly, as Brinkley put it, “representing the will of students” as best he can.

Answering questions for students and letting them know

what’s going on around campus is a major part of Brinkley’s job. He said most students want to know about the university budget and where certain funding will go.

Budget hearings are important to many Wichita State students, and allocating student fees is one of Student Government’s most important jobs. Brinkley said he tries to bring other students’ input to budget committee hearings so they have a voice in the process.

Brinkley has been vocal about the upcoming referendum asking students to increase their infrastructure student fees by $6 a credit hour.

He’s on the record as saying the university will “push it through one way or another,” even if the vote fails in March.

Brinkley said it would be in

the favor of the university to follow the will of the student body on whatever they decide with the fees vote.

Brinkley describes being student body president as a mostly “thankless job,” even though the work is important. He said fulfilling his duties as president comes first and foremost, but he also finds time to be involved in other groups and activities.

Brinkley is vice president of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, volunteers for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and plays music in his spare time. As a musician, he sings and plays both the piano and the saxophone.

After his term as president ends, Brinkley said he hopes to have more time to focus on his music.

Stephanie Bond believes in using clear communication — whether visual or auditory — to find balance in one’s life, relationships, and community.

Bond, a GTA studying communication at Wichita State, has two sons and a daughter — all of whom are also in college.

Bond said she believes that being a student at the same time as her children has made it easier for her to relate to their struggles.

“I continually remind my children that school should be their first priority,” Bond said. “However, I also realize that is easier said than done. I understand when they say, ‘the struggle is real.’”

Bond is currently teaching a section of Public Speaking and assisting with a section of Intro to Human Communication. On top of taking taking three graduate classes, she serves as a member of the Fairmount College Student Advisory Council.

Bond began her college career with associate studies in office technology. She changed her major twice at the undergraduate level before landing on communication.

Through a form of dialectic trial and error, Bond found her passion for both social and technological study in electronic media as an undergraduate at the Elliot School of Communication.

Bond has been married for nearly 25 years. Both she and her husband finished their undergraduate degrees together last May. She said it was one of the most gratifying days of their lives. They worked hard to get there, and their journey together is far from over.

“I believe being understanding and supportive of each other’s goals and ambitions has helped us to be better in both life and school,” Bond said. “I cannot imagine my life without him.”

Some years ago, in Missouri,

COURTESY OF STEPHANIE BOND Stepanie Bond and her husband pose for a photo with WuShock after completing their undergraduate degrees last May.

Bond helped the Department of the Army personnel and family readiness groups by creating basic combat training and advanced individual training graduation videos. She had to develop, possess, and implement the use of many communication skills during the eight years she owned and operated her video production company.

“From interacting with military personnel to determine what type of product was desired to speaking publicly in front of hundreds each week, communication played a vital role in my company’s success,” Bond said. “While having life experience is irreplaceable, having correlating education makes you a more diverse job candidate.”

This experience helped lead Bond to eventually seek her graduate degree in communication. Through her experience and past studies, she decided to pursue teaching in the field of communication.

“I enjoy interacting with students and watching them grow throughout the semester,” Bond said. “The students I interact with on the first day of class are extremely different than the students I interact with on the last day of class, and I like to think I play a part in the growth I observe.”

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EASTON THOMPSON/THE SUNFLOWER Senior Angela Rangel, president of the Wichita State Ceramics Guild, handbuilds and smooths new coils on a large sculpture piece in her studio.

Sculptural ceramicist uses hands-on approach to explore the human experience

BY TIFFANY TREJO

Senior Angela Rangel can often be found firing up the kiln late into the night.

Rangel is a sculptural ceramacist whose work is based on human experience — both the good and the bad, she said.

“It’s about how us as humans are resilient and overcome adverse obstacles,” Rangel said.

This theme manifests in her work in interesting ways.

“A lot of the surfaces are deteriorated, weathered, and aged looking”. Rangel explained. “I will use different glazes to represent worn surfaces.”

Rangel mixes and tests her own glazes before using them. She also makes her own clay and uses the manual kiln to fire her pieces.

She uses hand building as her primary sculpting method

“A LOT OF THE SURFACES ARE DETERIORATED, WEATHERED, AND AGED LOOKING. I WILL USE DIFFERENT GLAZES TO REPRESENT WORN SURFACES.” ­—ANGELA RANGEL, SENIOR

— pinching, coiling, slab building, and using an extruder. Various printmaking techniques provide different textures in her pieces.

Rangel said she was drawn to ceramics because there’s always something new to learn.

“You will never stop learning,” Rangel said. “There are so many different things you can mess up. It forces you to always

be learning.”

As president of the WSU Ceramics Guild, Rangel handles day-to-day activities and coordinates sales and the organization’s annual fundraiser — Empty Bowls. Empty Bowls, held in collaboration with the Ulrich Museum of Art and the Kansas Food Bank every fall, is an effort to combat hunger in the community.

Money raised from Empty Bowls is donated to the Kansas Food Bank. Last year, the event raised more than $50,000.

Rangel said she hopes to hold a solo show for her senior project in late April or early May, along with showing a few pieces in a group exhibition.

After she graduates in May, Rangel will be spending her summer at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, where she will teach children’s clay camps.

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Monika’s Life-Size Dollhouse

BY TIFFANY TREJO

Monika Maddux, a second-year graduate student in the Masters of Fine Arts program, is turning a 3275square foot house in Riverside into a real-life dollhouse for her MFA thesis exhibition.

Maddux’s work is centered around a traumatic event, her miscarriage — more specifically, the blood from the miscarriage.

“The more goodness I add, the lighter the pink will become, but it will never be without a twinge, a reminder, of that blood,” Maddux said.” The pink is me — my life, my loss, my experience.”

Maddux wears pink every day and documents it on her Instagram @pink_every_day_monika, promoting her art and the meaning behind it.

Maddux’s fixation on not being able to conceive and deliver a baby girl is also a major theme in her work.

Maddux’s work is larger than life.

“This work is a progression that

STACEY

FROM PAGE 2 Aside from expressing herself through music, Stacey uses tactics such as meditation that she’s learned from therapy to refocus during periods of high stress. By using these strategies, she’s managed to keep her head above water while relentlessly pursuing her passion.

Stacey’s major, special music education, taps into another passion of hers — teaching those who have a few extra obstacles to overcome.

That passion, Stacey said, came from somewhere a bit different.

Stacey’s been teaching swim lessons for about seven years.

During that time, she’s had nearly 10

creates an environment where the viewer is confronted with passion and compulsion sparked by loss” Maddux wrote.

She said she is passionate about creating art that is accessible to everyone.

“I feel like there is a disconnect between the art world and everybody else,” Maddux said.

“Everybody else either thinks that art and artists are untouchable and can’t be part of that world because it’s not accessible.

Accessibility is one reason she chose an 1891 Queen Anne home in Riverside for her thesis exhibition instead of showing her work in a more traditional setting.

“I feel like this place, it’s not in a gallery. It’s not on Commerce street, but in the house,” Maddux said. “I feel like it is breaking that barrier.”

Maddux is working in her soonto-be dollhouse until her thesis exhibition in late March. She’s still accepting donations and recently held a fundraiser in order to help fund her exhibition.

SELENA FAVELA/THE SUNFLOWER Graduate student Monika Maddux sews in a handmade book that she uses as a sketchbook for her thoughts and ideas.

There’s a lot of new, amazing technology and facilities I have access to as an engineering student. Students before me helped pay for that and it’s my turn to give future students access to new and amazing facilities as well.”

MONIKAHOUSE March 29, 2019 1121 N Bitting, Wichita, Kansas Doors open at 5 p.m.

Exhibition begins at 7 p.m.

Performance at 10:30 p.m.

kaelee

Biomedical Engineering Junior

LEARN MORE BY ATTENDING A TOWN HALL: Monday, Feb. 11 • All Students Town Hall - 1 p.m.

students with some sort of physical or mental disability that required extra care during their lessons.

Through swimming lessons, Stacey was able to teach students — from those with Asperger’s Syndrome to those who are legally blind — to find new life in the water.

“I really enjoyed seeing them find success in something besides the mainstream,” Stacey said.

Teaching those students led her to the music education program. Her education classes not only help her hone her skills in the music classroom, but also reinforce her skills in the pool. Sometimes, the tie is direct. For example, both playing an instrument and swimming require students to develop breath control.

More often than not, the tie is a bit more conceptual. If a swimmer is struggling in a certain way, Stacey said, she’ll find a new, different, and fun way for the student to approach swimming. It’s just like the classroom — different learning styles require different teaching methods.

Expanding the methods requires creativity and effort, but for Stacey, the rewards are more than worth it, she said. It all comes down to providing a place where students can find their strengths.

“I find that swimming and doing athletic things is also somewhere they can find growth — especially swimming,” Stacey said. “Anyone who has a physical disability — they’re free in the water.”

Rhatigan Student Center, Beggs Ballroom

Wednesday, Feb. 13 • Honors College Town Hall - 5 p.m.

Hubbard Hall, Room 209

Monday, Feb. 18 • Greek Life Town Hall - 5:30 p.m.

Hubbard Hall, Room 211

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www.thesunflower.com

DAY IN THE LIFE

MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019 |

11

Graduate student has her sights set on NASA

BY AUDREY KORTE

P

KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER Paige Feikert is a mechanical engineering graduate student. Feikert has spent much of the last six years using her communication minor as a TV news producer for KWCH Channel 12 News.

aige Feikert wants to work for NASA. “I do want to be an astronaut at some point,” Feikert said.

“That sounds crazy, but I really do.”

Feikert is pursuing a graduate degree in material science, but she has another side that’s somewhat unusual for a science major. Feikert has spent much of the last six years using her communication minor, working as a TV news producer at KWCH Channel 12 News.

Feikert graduated from Wichita State with a degree in bioengineering and a minor in broadcast journalism in 2013. She likes surprising people in the science world with the work she does as a news producer, she said. And vice versa. People in broadcast journalism are often surprised to hear of the work she does outside of the newsroom.

Feikert, a single mom, got her start in TV news here at WSU, through the help of some faculty in the Elliott School of Communication.

She wound up at Channel 12 when some unforeseen circumstances made her think about producing professionally.

“The money maker is engineering, so I should be an engineer, right?” Feikert said.

“Well. then I had my daughter right after I graduated. I got fired and I was like, what am I going to do?”

She applied for a producer’s job at KWCH and got the

position. She was there for three years, then left, and has worked there off and on since.

Earlier this month, she once again said goodbye to KWCH to give her full attention to her graduate studies.

“I’ve never worked with better people than I have here (at KWCH), so it’s definitely really hard to leave,” Feikert said. “But I have to dedicate my time to school.

“I’m not trying to be a student forever. I already spent six years on an undergrad.

Hopefully, I’m done in a year and a half.”

Feikert is a TA and now works in a lab on campus, as her academic advisor recommended.

Feikert said she struggles to put as much time into creative aspects of her life as she does her engineering graduate work.

“There are ways to be creative in engineering — there are,” Feikert said. “But a lot of stuff that you do is kind of by the book. You have to problem solve and I really enjoy that. My brain is very creative, but it’s also very practical and technical.

“But I never really felt like I had the opportunity to be creative, minus you know, presentations and stuff.”

Feikert is considering getting her PhD next, she said.

“After I graduate, I’ll either do that or I will, maybe try to get on with one of the aircraft companies. I mean materials is huge for aircrafts and aviation,” Feikert said.

“All of those airplanes are made out of materials that

need specific properties.”

Though Feikert isn’t an airplane aficionado, she said she sees the practicality of working for an aviation company.

“There’s a lot of connections between here and NASA as well,” Feikert said.

“So it’s not super unheard of.

Hopefully, I’ll end up there.”

The hardest thing for Feikert is finding time to dedicate to her five-year-old daughter Aaliyah, she said.

“She will tell me sometimes, ‘I don’t ever get to see you anymore,’ and I’m just like, ‘I know,’” Feikert said.

“It breaks my heart. But at the same time, I have an end goal. This is for the best for both of us. I’m doing this because I feel like I have to do this. I have to get a career that I want that’s going to benefit us both.”

At the same time, Feikert is lying the groundwork for her daughter’s future success.

“My daughter thinks it’s so cool that I go to school,” Feikert said. “I took her to Ablah when I was studying for finals, and she told her teacher about it. She wanted to check out books and walk all over campus. She loves it here.”

Feikert isn’t letting anything get in the way of her end goal — working on space exploration projects.

“I even looked up the requirements to be an astronaut,” Feikert said. “I just find space to be so fascinating, so anything I can do to contribute to that, I think, would be extremely rewarding. The dream is to work at NASA.”

12 | MONDAY, FEB. 11, 2019

DAY IN THE LIFE

www.thesunflower.com

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