Connection Magazine: Spring 2022

Spring 2022

Connection

ENGAGE

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O UR A G E

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TABLE OF

CONTENTS 3 From the Head of School 4 ENGAGING ENVIRONMENT: Hands-On Research 7 TRADITIONS: Our Community’s Foundation 10 ENCOURAGING COMMUNITY: Growing Gardens, Hearts, & Minds 14 EMPOWERING OPPORTUNITIES: The Spartan Torch 16 SPOTLIGHT ON ALUMNI: Connor Anderson & Alan Ramseyer ’07 19 HOMECOMING WEEK: Save the Date!

Editorial Staff Chris Ashbrook // Director of Advancement Kathy Rukes ’99 // Director of Enrollment Management Katie Gunzelman ’07 // Assistant Director of Development Bethany Phelps // Advancement Services Coordinator Lalo Walsh // Community Relations Coordinator Charlie Ramseyer // Communications Assistant Photography // Ashley Bowers, Amy Cunningham, John Pair ’92, and many more!

On the Cover: Second grader JR reacts to meeting some of 8th grader Bennett’s bug collection. We love when our older students have the opportunity to share their passions with our younger students!

Lifelong Love of

Learning in Every Child Dear Wichita Collegiate School Family,

We are excited to share with you our Spring 2022 Connection magazine. In the following pages, you will have the opportunity to read about several ways the people within our community contribute to our amazing school.

As I walk our hallways and enter classrooms, I am constantly reminded of how exciting it is to be a student at Collegiate. I look back to my own school days and reflect on the fact that the engaging opportunities I see in classrooms that will be highlighted in this magazine were simply not available to me as a student.

Advanced science research in our Upper School, growing a garden in our Lower School, the ability to be a journalist in our Middle School, and the fact that our Early Childhood students enjoy so many treasured traditions are all opportunities that I simply didn’t have. My traditionally structured British schooling did not instill a lifelong love of learning.

My true love of learning came much later in life. As a school we are rightly proud that we strive every day to instill that love of learning much earlier in students’ lives. We want our children running to school every day because they cannot wait to get here and learn. How do we do that? We create an engaging environment, we encourage a sense of community, and we empower all involved to create more opportunities for our students to excel.

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Instilling a

Within this Connection magazine you will read about some specific examples of how we create these opportunities within our school. Examples of inspiring educators are throughout these pages and I am immensely proud of all of our efforts to create a school that leads within our community. Wichita Collegiate is a special place and I hope you get the sense of just how special it is when you enjoy this magazine.

It’s an exciting time for Collegiate. We are grateful for our strong enrollment, we continue to be thankful for the level of philanthropic support of our school, and our students continue to excel in the classroom, on the sports fields, and on the stage. Thank you to our entire community for their hard work in making all of this success possible.

Sincerely,

Nathan Washer, Head of School

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ENGAGING ENVIRONMENT

Hands-On

by Lalo Walsh

Research

“I may be undersized, but don’t underestimate me.

I’m a petite package who packs a punch.”

-Hydrogen describes itself in The Periodic Table-Elements with Style!

If Maricar Harris were an element, she would be hydrogen. Perched at the front of her classroom within the science wing at the east end of our Upper School, she could be mistaken for one of her students. She is tiny and bursting with lively energy. It feels like she is telling you an important secret when she talks about her Advanced Science Research classes. “These kids are going to be phenomenal lab partners in college,” she says with a twinkle in her eye.

She knows this because her graduated Advanced Research students who have gone on to become science majors have told her so. Since 2016 Maricar has taught both AP Chemistry and Advanced Chemistry Research at Collegiate, and she has done

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it with a passion and excitement that is infectious. This year, because she determined there was interest among her students, she added Advanced Biology Research to her course offerings, presenting our students with yet another opportunity to learn from hands-on lab work.

Wichita Collegiate School is the only high school in town to offer these college-level post AP courses on campus, and their impact on our students is tremendous. Chemistry Research students learn to operate a gas chromatograph while those in Biology Research work conduct gel electrophoresis using calibrated micropipettes in order to visualize polymerase chain reactions. Both research classes require that students engage in extensive scientific journal research and collab-

Advanced Chemical Research teacher Maricar Harris prepares for her next lesson.

orate to produce independent research presentations of their own. “I ask them to go find the articles that interest them. They come back to class with their research, and given their varied interests, we decide on an overall topic to explore together.” This year, her Chem Research class struck upon sleep as their area of study with students delving into various aspects of it from lucid dreaming to how it can be influenced by diet and melatonin to how it impacts physical recovery and strength.

For our science loving kids, having the opportunity to progress beyond the traditional high school curriculum opens not just their minds but also doors. “I think being a high school senior that already had research experience helped me stand out

as an applicant to college,” says Isabella Do, now a sophomore studying Bioengineering at MIT, adding that, “being able to say we presented our work at the KU Forum was particularly significant.” The Student Research Forum that Isabella refers to is held every April and provides a public stage for the presentation, assessment, and discussion of college and graduate school level scientific investigations. Year after year, Collegiate’s Advanced Research students are the only high schoolers presenting; this opportunity shines bright on their transcripts.

However, this competitive advantage is not really at the heart of what drives students to Mrs. Harris’s classroom. “You can choose whatever topic you want; it is 95% self-directed, and whenever you want help, you can get it.

Personally, I found the complex systems in the auto-immune responses of COVID-19 very intriguing, and this class let me fully explore that curiosity,” says Chris Henry, now a senior in Advanced Biology Research. Ryder Walsh chimes in, “The only lecturers are your peers. As a student, I have to be one of those prepared to explore, investigate, and present exciting scientific concepts to my classmates. I feel the thrill of scientific discovery when I share what I dig up.”

It is this same sense of adventure that continues to motivate Mrs. Harris to keep her classes cutting edge and constantly evolving. “Every summer, I’m doing something that I bring back to the classroom,” she effuses when asked how she prepares for these classes. Through grants or financial support Collegiate provides by way of our Annual Fund, she has been able to attend numerous workshops and obtain lab equipment that would otherwise be unaffordable. Currently on the cusp of earning her master’s in chemistry education, she says it is her students and their interests that spur her development as an educator. “It’s what they want to learn about that dictates the direction we go in,” Mrs. Harris says when asked how

she sets her classes’ syllabuses.

“If they aren’t interested in what I am already prepared for, then I say, ‘OK! Let me go out and find something else for us to do.’”

In this way, our Advanced Science Research classes exemplify what makes all of Collegiate so special: the virtuous circle of inspiration and encouragement that exists between students and teachers.

Ours is an academic environment that engages everyone involved in a shared sense of growth and mission. Looking ahead, Mrs. Harris sees the rapport she builds with her students as she supports them through their research as crucial to preparing them for college. “They appreciate the independence of it all. I am more of a mentor and facilitator than a teacher. I really like

Seniors Chris and Ryder examine an unknown substance during their Advanced Biology Research class.

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Seniors Malak and Allie participate in a lab involving new equipment.

that for them,” she says, believing that having established such relationships with teachers in high school, students will feel more comfortable engaging with their professors in college.

And this is when Maricar Harris shares another secret about her Advanced Research classes. What she demonstrates in this classroom model, and what she is really teaching, is bravery. Bravery and honesty. She recounts one of her favorite classroom memories: “The lab results didn’t prove what the kids set out to prove. They felt they were presenting failure. But then it dawned on them: there is value in getting the unexpected.

Your path is worth something no matter what. Sharing that is valuable to others. In life, we face this challenge in so many ways, so many times over.”

Our Advanced Science Research classes exemplify what makes all of Collegiate so special: the virtuous circle of inspiration and encouragement that exists between students and teachers. Ours is an academic environment that engages everyone involved in a shared sense of growth and mission.

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She hopes learning this lesson early, while still in high school, will help her students hit the ground running in college: “I want them to go away to college and to not be afraid to do research. When someone hands them a hard article, it’s not going to scare them.

I want them to know they are capable of doing the hard work.

And when things don’t work out like they planned, that’s OK. They will know Mrs. Harris will always be cheering for them from here.”

Traditions:

Our Community’s Foundation

by Charlie Ramseyer

When you ask our students to reflect on their time at Wichita Collegiate, after they finish gushing about our teachers, they often dive right into memories of their favorite school traditions.

Immediately you hear about the usual suspects, events like Picnic Day, the Mother Goose Parade, or Read Across America week. As you continue to chat, the students start sharing funny memories and reflecting on more of their day-to-day experiences: the routine schedules and cross-campus collaborations; their favorite class projects; the Spartan chants they learned in PE class; or what they were doing during last Friday’s big game. And that is where you start to realize how special this place really is.

It is often said that traditions serve to keep us rooted. Starting with our littlest Spartans, we celebrate special traditions to reinforce to them what we as a school value most … a strong sense of community.

When current Early Childhood parents first tour the Lower School, it is common for them to be surprised as they hear about the beloved traditions and impressive capstone projects taking place beyond the halls of the Early Childhood building. And while that may be something our marketing department needs to look into, more than anything it shows how fully immersed our families are in the traditions and experiences their kids are living at that moment. In Early Childhood it is easy to get swept up in the excitement of Kansas Day or Read and Romp. Everyone looks forward to the Mother Goose Parade, a favorite tradition that was started by legendary Early Childhood Librarian Jenny Paulseen and has stood the test of time. In fact, this tradition has been around for over thirty years and now it isn’t uncommon for

Current kindergartners in Mrs. Zarei’s class gather on the playground as they celebrate Kansas Day.

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alumni to talk about what THEY wore to the Mother Goose Parade as they watch their own little Humpty Dumptys and Miss Muffets walk around the Bunny Hill Quad. It is easy to feel like that building is where all the magic happens. Luckily for the kids, it doesn’t stop there.

Members of the Class of 2028 enjoy the Dr. Seuss breakfast when they were in 1st Grade.

Members of the Class of 2024 perform their 4th Grade Musical Peter Pan Jr.

Members of the Class of 2025 stand at the ready for their 3rd Grade Wax Museum.

The students finish their time in Early Childhood and walk across the sidewalk to the Lower School, where they find themselves completely floored by their first Dr. Seuss Breakfast. The palpable excitement of the Thing Ones and Things Twos that take over the building make you wonder who opened the door and let in The Cat in the Hat. The first grade parent picnic and first grade plays help prepare the students for the second grade Salute to America. The kids don’t see this as work, though. To them, it is simply a rite of passage. The students look up to the kids in front of them as much as they look forward to the experiences they see coming. Ask most of our 1st or 2nd graders and they will already be able to tell you who they hope to be in the 3rd grade Wax Museum or what musical they want their 4th grade class to perform. The anticipation of these traditions is almost as fun as the traditions themselves.

The traditions continue throughout Middle School and Upper School. The space missions, musicals, and the USO Dance. The Friday night game themes, Mentor Day, and the Good Life paper. For students who become Spartans after Lower School, these events are thrilling. Active, engaged learning is a breath of fresh air. For students that have been here for years, this is simply a continuation of all they have ever known. It is often said that comfort can be found in the familiar. Traditions are the best kind of familiar, and something that Wichita Collegiate offers in abundance.

From the youngest Spartans to the oldest Spartans, we celebrate each tradition as its own milestone.

Oftentimes traditions help to mark the passing of

Upper School Madgrigals get into the Turkey Tango at our annual Thanksgiving Concert.

time, but for so many Spartans, the shared traditions keep them young. You will see 2 year olds and 12 year olds both doing the Turkey Tango with fervor. A high school picnic buddy will happily do the cupcake walk ten times, and not just because it is what the preschool buddy wants to do. Our students spend years creating memories and sharing traditions with people both ahead of and behind them in

Collegiate’s greatest tradition isn’t any one particular event. Instead it is the consistent desire our faculty has to help each of our students become a meaningful part of a larger community.

school. However, despite everything just mentioned, Collegiate’s greatest tradition isn’t any one particular event. Instead it is the consistent desire our faculty has to help each of our students become a meaningful part of a larger community. At the end of the day, when you ask our students about their favorite traditions, it is the memories they made together and the relationships that came from them that truly stand the test of time.

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ENCOURAGING COMMUNITY

Growing Gardens, Hearts, and

by Kathy Rukes ’99

Enter any elementary school cafeteria and you are bound to see much of the same picture: Students lined up waiting to fill their tray chatting with the servers who over the years have learned not only their name but whether they do or do not like peas. You might observe friends laughing with one another as they plan what they will do at recess or spy kids leaning over their shoulder to chat to the classmate at the table behind them.

In these ways Wichita Collegiate’s lunchroom is like many. But it might begin to look a bit different as our students clear their trays and start to meticulously pick out the items that belong in the compost bucket. You might then spot the rotating green team named the Global Guardians collecting the bucket and adding the discarded food to the compost pile built by our students. How did these nineyear-olds learn so much about composting? In science, of course.

Lower School Science teacher Mrs. Jena Simms started the year determined to teach our students

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about food scarcity in an impactful way: “The goal this year was to tie together a series of projects centered in science so that the Lower School students could understand beginning to end how to help fill a gap in our community, and in doing so, help those that are food insecure in small but meaningful ways.”

The result has been that students in grades 1-4 learn all about food – where food comes from, the waste food can create, how to grow food, and the communities that grapple with food scarcity – all while engaging with their own food supply through hands-on design projects.

PHASE I: LEARNING ABOUT COMMUNITY Throughout campus, Wichita Collegiate School is fortunate to host several Aeroponics Tower Gardens, vertical gardens that are growing kale, basil, arugula, and so many other leafy greens. Though we have had these towers on our campus for a few years, each year our teachers have determined new ways for our students to better engage with them. This year the towers became a tool for Mrs. Simms to teach students about food scarcity.

With the mission of our Institute for Community Impact in mind – to inspire every student to be the best version of themselves and empower them to lead lives of impact in their community and their world – Mrs. Simms didn’t just want to grow food; she wanted to teach our students where that food could go once harvested. Students learned about communities within the Wichita area that were food insecure and discussed what that might indicate globally. Conversations on what role they could play in helping these communities took place. The result? A year-long commitment by Lower School students to planting, nurturing, harvesting, and delivering nutrient-dense food from the Aeroponics Tower Gardens to food-insecure community members served by organizations like the Union Rescue Mission.

PHASE II: CONNECTING TO SCIENCE Being a science teacher, Mrs. Simms knew there was even more to discover on the topic of food and the role it plays in our lives.

And when learning about food in school, where is the most logical place to begin? The lunchroom, of

Minds course. Mrs. Simms began discussions with students about the food thrown away as students cleared their trays at lunch prompting the question of where that waste went. As students began learning about landfills, they also learned about the negative effects waste could have on the environment. Inspired to do better, Mrs. Simms along with 4th graders designed and built a compost pile on campus. Of course, learning about composting introduced a whole new facet of science – the biological role of decomposition, bugs, and microscopic organisms. To make sure the compost pile was a healthy addition to campus, first graders constructed bug hotels, placing them near the compost pile to attract diverse microorganisms that would help decompose the waste pile. As students constructed these small hotels made of wood and other natural materials, they learned about the carbon and nitrogen cycles that take place as food decomposes.

Third grader Kenzie harvests greens from an Aeroponics Tower Garden.

“I am surprised daily by the curiosity of our students. They want to know more, learn more, study more ... I have several students who always go above and beyond. This is what WCS is all about: creating an environment where students can thrive and become their best selves.”

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First grader Maya selects food from her tray to compost.

Mr. Gehrer teaches first grader Daniella how to use a power drill.

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Now, as Lower School students clear their trays, they know fruits and vegetables that would have otherwise been thrown away can actually be added to the compost pile, which in turn will be used to help nurture and grow future gardens. The environmental impact these students have made can already be seen. At the beginning of the year, we were producing 50 pounds of trash each week in the lunchroom; we are now down to 30 pounds of waste each week. Circling back to the lessons centered on food insecurity, Mrs. Simms hopes that students not only take an active role in reducing food waste in their own lives but also think creatively about how they might grow, harvest, and deliver food to agencies in our local community that are in need.

PHASE III: BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE Beginning in our own lunchroom was a great first step in helping our students understand how food impacts our world, but Mrs. Simms was interested in taking the lesson further. She hoped to create numerous opportunities for students to engage in hands-on design projects. Having given our first graders the opportunity to build bug hotels to support our compost site, she decided to present our older students with a chance to build towards increased biodiversity on our campus as well.

Thus, our second graders began construction of pollinators, habitats that butterflies could use across campus. These pollinators

were built in the Lammers Innovation Lab using all of the tools and resources that facility offers, allowing our students to build the skills that space promotes. Teams of second graders hunched over their blueprints detailing how to construct the pollinators, innovating while asking each other e, “Do you think I could put the boards on like this?” or “I wonder if we could use another type of material?”

Getting to use the power tools was especially exciting for these students. Second grader Davis Moeller smiles remembering his contribution, “As we worked together on the bee houses, we took turns using the drill. It was really fun!” As the teams collaborated with one another, their confidence in themselves and each other grew.

With their pollinator habitats built, the second graders presented to our pre-kindergartners about their project and how the pollinator habitats will be used across campus.

Our Upper School Environmental Science class, led by Mr. David Trombold, are currently working on identifying the best location for the pollinators to be installed.

A similar methodology will be used this semester as third graders build birdhouses and fourth graders build habitats for bats.

This year-long pollinator project is a stepping stone as Mrs. Simms looks towards the next phase in this program: building even more gardens across campus which in turn will produce more food to help more local community members in need.

Second graders Davis and Haley report to pre-kindergartner Oliver about their pollinator habitat project.

These projects, when layered together, have opened up our students’ minds to the possibility that they can change our campus, our community, and ultimately our world. Mrs. Simms attributes much of the success of the program thus far to both our students, who thrive when challenged, and the educational environment Wichita Collegiate cultivates. Teachers are given the opportunity to go beyond the curriculum, and in doing so, encourage students to also think big. Our students, encouraged to take responsibility for their own food choices, have been inspired to grow the kind of food that will best support their community. Enthusi-

asm for these projects extends beyond our student body. Mrs. Simms loves to hear parents describe family dinner table conversations prompted by what their children have learned in science, and then see the excitement on those same children’s faces when they skip into her classroom the next morning ready to share an idea for a new project that could better help their community.

When asked if there have been any surprises on this educational journey, Mrs. Simms shares, “I am surprised daily by the curiosity of our students. They want to know more, learn more, study more ... I

have several students who always go above and beyond. This is what WCS is all about: creating an environment where students can thrive and become their best selves. The students I teach don’t quite know who they are yet, but they are learning what they like and what they are most interested in. My job is to help lead them down this educational journey that will one day lead them to a career. I hope that I am in a small way helping my students be better Global Guardians and caretakers of our Earth, showing them there are new and exciting ways to think and learn.”

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EMPOWERING OPPORTUNITIES

The Spartan Torch

by Katie Gunzelman ’07

The five core principles of journalism are accuracy, independence, impartiality, humanity, and accountability. These principles ideally guide every journalist in his or her quest to provide citizens of the world the information needed to make the best possible decisions for themselves and society.

When we consider our role as an educational institution, it’s not much of a stretch to say the above principles are mirrored in Wichita Collegiate’s principles, too. Our Portrait of a Spartan shows that we value resilience, creativity, exploration, experimentation, chal-

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lenge, compassion, and inclusivity, all of which lend themselves well to the drive for an impartial truth and accountability to our fellow man.

We hope that each child leaves Collegiate seeking higher truth and knowledge and working tirelessly to better our world.

Juxtapose that deep philosophy with Middle School life, and it might be hard to stifle a smile or a laugh.

Most of us likely couldn’t be bothered in Middle School with existential questions; or maybe everything felt existential. We were more concerned with shifting hormones, changing voices, and issues of popularity, than with our purpose or calling. And while that’s likely

true of Wichita Collegiate’s Middle School, it’s also true that we are empowering our Middle Schoolers to tackle big questions and big issues, thanks in no small part to 6th Grade English Teacher and Spartan Torch sponsor Ashley Bowers.

Mrs. Bowers is in her fourth year teaching English at Collegiate, but brings a wealth of journalism education experience, too. She taught Intro to Journalism and Newspaper at two high schools previously, and has a degree in English and Journalism Secondary Education. She even has experience in portrait photography, having operated a small business out of her home when her kids were younger.

So it made perfect sense for Mrs. Bowers to launch a Middle School Newspaper program at Collegiate. “A school publication is a great channel for students to express their creative ideas and unique perspectives, learning to balance the fun with the serious and engage with one another as well as their greater community,” Bowers said. The two editions so far have been met with “a great sense of excitement. The reporters like seeing their names in print, and students like seeing themselves and their friends on the pages.”

Even more exciting for us fellow staff and parents, though, is seeing the content covered in each paper. Elements of fun, like cartoons, letters to the editor, movie and book reviews, and astrology reports exist. But there are also write-ups on current events and favorite traditions, a call to action on climate change, and an argument for extending the Student Council into the Middle School. Seventh grader Campbell Arneson wrote that a Middle School StuCo “would help with so many things, including leadership, responsibility, and running a campaign for peers to vote. Student council also helps develop positive attitudes, strengthen relationships between students and faculty, and plan special events.” What a perfect illustration of our principles hard at work – students striving to learn more, better their communities, explore new ideas, and challenge one another to be better.

While it’s still early in the life of The Spartan Torch, Mrs. Bowers has big plans for a bright future for both the paper and its writers. “At this age, the students still need a lot of direction and editing. I’m hoping, as the program grows, it will become more natural for them. It was fun to watch them mature even over the course of the first semester as they began to make better decisions about what should and should not be published without me stepping in.”

people will listen to it, is helpful,” Upper School Spartan Voice sponsor Julianne London says. “That confidence will help them not just on the academic front, but also to advocate for causes they care about outside of school. That practice is going to make them better writers by the time they get to the Upper School, but I consider that secondary to what they gain personally from this experience.”

Through journalism, our Middle Schoolers are learning the importance of truth, independence, fairness, humanity, and accountability. They are challenging one another to be their best selves in order to change and impact the world around us. And, through Ashley Bowers and fellow faculty and staff, they are empowered to experiment, fail, and try again; to think critically and creatively; and to care about our community. For that, Mrs. Bowers says, “The students who helped create the Torch should be very proud!”

“I can see the program someday including a broadcast element, perhaps with students giving daily or weekly announcements via a ‘news’ show.

I would also like to better align with the high school program and begin competing in contests. It was fulfilling in the past to transform struggling journalism programs into contest-winning ones.”

And while Collegiate loves a good contest, we love empowering our students with opportunities to learn and grow most of all. “I think students learning from an early age that they each have a unique voice, and that Seventh graders Dalton and Gianni read the latest edition of the Spartan Torch.

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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: CONNOR ANDERSON & ALAN RAMSEYER, CLASS OF 2007

Best Friends in Business for Man’s Best Friends

by Chris Ashbrook

If I were to go back to Wichita Collegiate School graduation day in 2007, I might have asked graduates Connor Anderson and Alan Ramseyer if their future held a joint business venture, and they most likely would have said, “Yes.” Had I asked them if the business would have had something to do with taking care of dogs, they would have likely said, “It’s a possibility.”

Recently I spoke with both Connor and Alan. “We’ve always thought it would be a good idea to start a business together,” Connor told me. Both men have loved dogs since childhood. Alan helped foster service dogs that walked the halls of the Wichita Collegiate Lower School and had several of his own dogs as pets.

“I’ve always had a passion for

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dogs and considered being a vet or vet tech growing up.” Connor also loves dogs, but growing up, his exposure to them was mostly through hanging out at Alan’s house. Today, if you asked the two co-owners of Kansas City’s Collar Club, a new doggy day care/grooming/training/boarding facility in Waldo Kansas City, if the path to starting a business together went just as they had always thought it would, the answer would be a resounding, “No.”

While Connor left Collegiate and headed to the University of Tulsa to pursue a degree in business finance, Alan went to play baseball at Mid-American Nazarene. After a couple of years of playing, Connor encouraged Alan to try Tulsa, and Alan, having given baseball his best shot, decided this was a solid plan.

Did the business take off once the two joined each other in Tulsa? Not quite. Connor graduated from Tulsa and went to work as a financial analyst at Gregory W. Group, while Alan, who graduated with a Communications and Advertising degree, went to work as a Video Production Director for the double A ball club the Tulsa Drillers. After a few years Connor left Tulsa to work for Cerner, headquartered in Kansas City, and focused on health information and EHR technologies. Plans for starting a business together were still of interest to both, but “life” kept the dream at bay. Then, while walking on the Trolley Trail in Kansas City with his wife Lindsay, Connor spotted a building that just seemed like the perfect place to start a business. He discussed the building with Alan, and soon the two were putting

Alan and Connor pose with their pups outside the Collar Club in Kansas City.

plans into motion. Alan moved to Kansas City with his girlfriend and now wife Elyse, and the Collar Club was born. For almost a year, walls of the Ramseyer’s home were covered in sticky notes full of ideas, questions, problems, and designs. When the two closed on the building in October of 2019, the sticky notes had been whittled down to their best ideas, answers, and solutions.

Both men would say their time at Collegiate helped them to think through problems to find solutions, and both credit various Collegiate coaches for nurturing strong work ethics instilled by their families and providing them with a never-give-up attitude. Living by these

Alan and Connor personify what Collegiate students are taught: follow your path, form strong relationships, think for yourself but work well with others, work hard, solve problems, find solutions, and treat others respectfully. In short, prove yourself worthy.

principles, the wall of sticky notes transformed into 10,500 square feet of doggy heaven on March 30th of 2020. The transformed office building features both indoor and outdoor play areas, individualized glass fronted boarding spaces (no chain link at the Collar Club), an open reception area as guests arrive, space for a trainer to work with their pupils, and grooming stations. While the construction was visualized with dogs’ best interest in mind, they also wanted to make the experience easier for dog owners. Unique to the Collar Club is a 24-hour room where you can pick up your boarded dog whenever you return home, even outside of business hours. As someone who has had to wait to pick up their dogs for almost 36 hours after arriving home on a Sunday morning, I thought this was a nice touch.

Connor and Alan focus on transparency as the key to customer satisfaction. They want their clients to know that their dogs are being well cared for, and glass throughout the building allows anyone to see what the caregivers at the Collar Club are up to at

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any given time. The two consider their staff to be a key component to their success. They both stated that they “work hard to find the right people who really care about the animals and their owners. We (all of Collar Club’s employees) treat our clients well, we help them out, we always take care of the client.” Both dogs and humans agree, as their Google reviewers give them 4.9 out of 5 stars, although I’m not sure how many dog reviews are included in that number.

These two men always thought going into business together would be a possibility. Their paths diverged, converged, veered again, but ultimately met to form a successful business that the two hope will expand both in Kansas City as well as in places

where their roots were planted before, like Tulsa and Wichita.

Alan and Connor personify what Collegiate students are taught: follow your path, form strong relationships, think for yourself but work well with others, work hard, solve problems, find solutions, and treat others respectfully. In short, prove yourself worthy.

While interviewing Alan and Connor, it was apparent that their friendship, even more than their obvious business savvy, was the key to success at the Collar Club. It also struck me how many lifelong friendships like these are formed in our Collegiate community. Are the lessons learned while at Collegiate responsible for the success of these two men?

To give WCS sole responsibility would be ludicrous, but it is clear

Alumni Class Notes

Alan wrangles several of his customers.

to me that, just as our mission statement espouses our desire to help students be the best versions of themselves, Alan and Connor have certainly embodied this sentiment since graduating and will continue to do their best work moving forward.

We have already begun work on our annual Impact Report. Featured in this summer’s Impact Report will be our annual Class Notes section highlighting the milestones and accomplishments of our alumni. Alumni, if you would like your news to be shared in this year’s Impact Report, please scan the QR code to complete the form May 15!

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Homecoming 2022 Save the Date!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

9-2:30 // WCS Golf Classic at Crestview Country Club Details to come

5:00 // Alumni Tent BBQ

A long-standing tradition

7:00 // WCS vs Clearwater Home Football Game Come spectate and socialize!

9:00 // Spartan Social on Chester’s Patio

Alumni, alumni and current parents, and faculty welcome!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 8:00-3 // WCS Women’s Tennis Tournament of Champions Come spectate and socialize!

11:00-12 // Campus Tours available

TBD // Class Organized Alumni Dinners

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 10:00-2 // On Campus Pickleball Tournament

Alumni, alumni and current parents, and faculty

10:00-2 // Campus Tours available

We look forward to celebrating together the school we love so much!

Please contact Lalo Walsh (lwalsh@wcsks.com) with any questions.

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