Washburn University
INSIDE: News
Volume 145, Issue 26
April 29, 2015
washburnreview.org
‘Bods pay it forward at The Big Event Grace Foiles
WASHBURN REVIEW
Page 3: Nepali students react to Nepal’s devastating earthquake. International House planning vigil, fundraiser.
Sports
Page 9: Washburn to add track and crosscountry to athletics program.
Arts & Entertainment
Students gathered at Yaeger Stadium on the morning of Saturday, April 25 to get ready for a day of service around the community. The Washburn Student Government Association, in collaboration with Learning in the Community and the Bonner Leader Program, hosted the fifth annual Big Event at Washburn. This was the third time the WSGA had partnered with LinC and the Bonner Program to put on the event. Students signed up for service sites and volunteered their time helping at sites doing mostly cleaning and beautification efforts. “First and foremost I just want to get as many people out to help today just doing whatever community service we can to help out Topeka after that I would love if like ten people could find a site that they could volunteer at regularly throughout the year. Obviously I want more than ten but that’s the minimal goal,” said Dalton Hane, service director for the WSGA. There were several service sites around Topeka that students were bussed to, including Shunga Nature Trail, the Topeka Zoo and Harvesters.
Photo by Brian Cervantez
Teams of Ichabods traveled to different locations around the Topeka community on Saturday to lend a helping hand. One group visited VIDA Ministry, 3168 SE 6th Ave., for some on-site TLC. While there, students repaired VIDA’s WiFi connection, put a fresh coat of paint on the nursery and installed a tractor tire on the site’s playground. “We have Hope and Healing Academy which works with, I believe, horses which is really cool and they’re going to be doing some beautification up there. We have a lot of Keep America Beautiful sites this year, which are working around the community just brightening up the place and we also have several different organizations that
work with empowerment like the YWCA, we have the Kansas Youth Empowerment Association, just a lot of different really cool projects to work on,” Hane said. There were 335 students preregistered for the event and several others who registered that day. “We’ve become much more efficient this year than it has been in
Faculty and students alike share the excitement for McHenry’s newly appointed role as well. Assistant professor Vanessa Steinroetter says she was delighted to hear the news. “Professor McHenry is not only a very talented poet, but also a beloved and engaging teacher. I am happy to know that, in addition to his students and colleagues at Washburn, other readers and writers across the state will benefit from his talents as he travels to readings, workshops, and other engagements,” Steinroetter said. Senior English major Märtha Custis states that her interactions with McHenry were among her most positive and influential experiences as an undergraduate student at Washburn. “He never acknowledged
his own superior expertise and knowledge in writing, but rather was incredibly humble. I learned more in his classes than I had ever imagined possible. I am indebted to him forever,” Custis said. “The currency of writing is ideas, and Eric has ideas. He practices what he preaches. He is precise with language, while not all poets are, and I respect that,” said Associate Professor Corey Zwikstra. “Good writing has to be about language, not just feelings and emotions. People forget that. Eric does not. He is mindful of language and form.” Peter S. Rocha, senior English major, agrees that McHenry is exceptional in his craft, and in conveying that craft to his students.
the past, the Bonner Leaders have done their part very well in getting the sites and number of placements and the WSGA has done a really good job of rounding up students,” said Richard Ellis, the LinC director. The LinC and Bonner Programs are programs at Washburn University focused on human services and volunteerism in Topeka. “Hopefully some of these students will get excited about volunteering,” Ellis said. While there were some difficulties in the execution of the Big Event, including miscommunications over busses and other issues, students had the opportunity to help out the community. Students wishing to find a site to volunteer at can visit the LinC or Bonner webpages at washburnengage.com. There are service opportunities in the arts, environment, healthcare outreach, political involvement and more. “There are 60 - 70 partners who have signed up on the site, looking for volunteers,” Ellis said.
Grace Foiles, grace.foiles@ washburn.edu, is a freshman theater major
WU professor named Poet Laureate of Kansas Daniel Haws
WASHBURN REVIEW
The spring semester of 2015 is proving to be an eventful and Page 12: Henderson to host Godzilla movie rewarding season for recentmarathon this weekend. ly tenured Associate Professor Eric McHenry. The Kansas Humanities Council has announced McHenry will ascend to the poCampus Life sition of Poet Laureate of Kansas. One of the many duties that will be required of McHenry includes fostering the development and sustention of the humanities and poetry across the great state of Kansas. “I have an enthusiasm for poetry, which I try and share in the classroom. I want to take that enthusiasm and infect peoPage 6: After hours with the Washburn ple across the state with it,” Review Editorial Board McHenry said.
“Everyone who enters class is treated as a fellow poet. He finds the gold that hides in every poem. He is an expert in his field, but still makes every person who walks through his door feel like part of the world of poetry,” Rocha said. “It is that type of enthusiasm that inspires good poetry.” While the achievement is an exciting benchmark in McHenry’s career, he says that he won’t be resting on his laurels. Instead, he feels invigorated in his future ambitions as Poet Laureate. “This isn’t a time to relax, and cease being productive. I feel more like, okay, GO!” McHenry said. Daniel Haws, daniel.haws@ washburn.edu, is a senior English major