THE WWW.THESUNFLOWER.COM
SUNFLOWER WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT-RUN NEWS SOURCE
MONDAY • SEPTEMBER 29, 2014
VOLUME 119, ISSUE 27
News: “The Spitfire Grill” Page 3 | Sports: Fred VanVleet speaks at Coleman Middle School Page 4
Photo by Sarah Carlson
Students and community members spent time learning how to make clay bowls at the Build-a-Bowl event on Friday at Henrion Hall.
Build-a-Bowl events to raise money for Kansas Food Bank By Sarah Carlson STAFF REPORTER @sunflowernews
Wichita State students, staff and community members threw clay bowls in Henrion Hall Friday. Rather, they made them using pottery wheels — otherwise known as ‘throwing.’ Hand-building techniques were taught during Build-a-Bowl, an event put on by the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries at WSU. Members of the WSU Ceramics Guild demonstrated the techniques and had even first-time learners throwing bowls in no time.
Brenda Lichman, ceramics lecturer and creator of the event, said she was thrilled with the turnout. “Today has been amazing,” Lichman said. “Before it started, we had people coming and making bowls. Today we made over 50 bowls within the first half-hour. So people are excited. It’s been fabulous.” Build-a-Bowl is made of two parts, Lichman said. People came Friday to make bowls, and can come again this Friday to make more. The bowls will be fired in a kiln later, and on Oct. 18, will be sold at the Empty Bowls Chili Cook-off, a fundraiser. “You can come, purchase a bowl for $20, and you get to
pick from over 500 handmade, one-of-a-kind bowls,” Lichman said of the cook-off. Lichman said alumni, as well as nationally known ceramicists, have been invited to send bowls. She said 100 percent of the proceeds from the cook-off will be donated to the Kansas Food Bank. “Our goal is to make $10,000 in this first event,” Lichman said. “And hopefully, if we keep this up, in five years, I’d love to make $100,000 for the Kansas Food Bank.” More than 70 people attended Friday’s Build-a-Bowl event. Students Emily Brown and Kayla Deines said they enjoyed their time spent learning about pottery.
New faces to make up Shocker Sound By Kevin Brown STAFF REPORTER @krbrownjr
At each Wichita State basketball game, it is hard not to notice the loud noises coming from every direction at Charles Koch Arena. Some of that noise is more sonically tuned than others, however. Shocker Sound, the men’s and women’s basketball band, held auditions last week to find new musicians for the upcoming 2014-15 basketball season. Made up of 50 to 60 members, Shocker Sound is open to any student who has a love for music and wishes to play in a pep-band setting. It is a no-credit extracurricular activity. Members of Shocker Sound are also compensated for their time and skills. According to the Shocker Sound website, students in the band receive a $30 dollar stipend for each game they perform at. With an open-audition nature and diverse composition, recent Shocker Sound auditions invited students from all backgrounds to try out and see if their own sound was harmonious with the group. “I’m just going to see what happens,” said Alex Miller, a freshman studying pre-med. “I heard about Shocker Sound from Shocker Blast, and then my mom told me [about the auditions], as well.” The group that comprises
“We started over at the wheel, throwing,” Deines said. “That was really fun, because we’ve never done that before.” Brown said it was exciting knowing the proceeds from their bowls were going to the Kansas Food Bank. “We’re making something for a good cause,” she said. October is Hunger Awareness Month, so the Build-a-Bowl and Empty Bowls Chili Cookoff were scheduled to coincide with that, Lichman said. The events are sponsored by the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries and the WSU Hunger Awareness Initiative, a campus group dedicated to researching hunger.
Wichita and WSU police offer tips on safer living By Kevin Brown STAFF REPORTER @krbrownjr
Photo by Kevin Brown
WSU freshman Alex Miller talks with Shocker Sound auditioners on Thursday.
Shocker Sound plays at each men’s and women’s basketball game throughout the entire basketball season, including winter break. For some students, the recent auditions were not the first experiences to be had with Shocker Sound. “This is going to be my third year being in the band, and I started as a freshman,” Christian Burgess said. Burgess, a music education student, said being a part of Shocker Sound has provided him with an opportunity to upgrade his skill set while being a part of WSU basketball. “I believe I have benefited as a musician,” Burgess said. “[Shocker Sound] definitely gets you to use
your air.” For another member of Shocker Sound, one benefit that has been found is something that those outside of the band might not be able to notice. “It is more like a sense of community — a lot of my friends are in band, in spite of my major,” said Kaely Regier, a pre-nursing student. “I have definitely benefited from the community.” Even though Shocker Sound promises access to many WSU basketball games, tournaments and opportunities to improve musical capabilities, for Miller, those reasons are backed up by one main idea: “I just miss playing music.”
In addition, Lichman said it all collaborates with “Conscious Clay,” an exhibit at the Ulrich Museum of Art. “It’s all about clay, community and conversation, and I feel like it’s happening, and I’m really excited about that,” Lichman said. The next Build-a-Bowl event will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, in 110 Henrion Hall. It is free and open to the public. The Empty Bowls Chili Cook-off will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 18 in Henrion Hall. Lichman said University president John Bardo and Tanya Tandoc, owner of Tanya’s Soup Kitchen in downtown Wichita, will be on hand to judge chili entries.
Recently, there has been some unrest in the neighborhood just south of Wichita State. On Thursday evening, the Wichita Police Department teamed up with the WSU Police Department to host an informational meeting, or IMPACT meeting. It was held at Fairmount Park in regards to a shooting that happened near WSU two weekends ago. According to WPD officer Chad Burnett, a man was shot while sleeping in his car near 16th and Vassar around 4 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20. “The [suspects] were gang members not from the area,” Burnett said in the announcement Thursday evening. The shooting was rare for the neighborhood just south of WSU. It still has some WSU students feeling a little uneasy. “Sometimes, we do feel afraid to come outside into
the street at night,” said Uday Byreddy, a resident near 16th Street and Yale. Byreddy said when an event happens like this, it leaves a lasting impression. “It stays on our minds when something happens like this,” he said. As a precautionary measure, both WSU police and WPD officers gave the neighborhood residents at the meeting a few tips on staying safe in light of an event like a shooting. “If you are walking through campus [at night] and you are coming home, you tend to have tunnel vision,” said university police officer Mario Smith. “Be aware of your surroundings at all times.” Smith also said that although the severity of the situation cannot be avoided, students should not worry if they live in the area. He said an incident like this is usually out of the ordinary. “This is isolated,” he said. “You do have little things that pop up here and there, but for the most part, this is not a bad area.”