K A N S A S
S TAT E vol. 126, issue 19 friday, nov. 13, 2020
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BUD GET
As pandemic rages on, K-State grapples with millions of dollars in lost revenues
KAYLIE MCLAUGHLIN
managing editor
Before the pandemic, Kansas State was already strapped for cash. Budgets ran leaner as enrollment fell year after year. When COVID-19 came, it ravaged the university’s finances further. Between refunds issued for spring housing contracts, plans to hold tuition flat, state budgetary concerns and the cost of reopening campus, the university sits in a multimillion-dollar hole. “Certainly, anytime you see a decline in enrollment, there’s going to be a subsequent decline and we’re going to have to right-size our budget,” vice provost for strategic enrollment management Karen Goos said. Additionally, the freshman class size is about 65 percent that of the senior class, the financial impacts of which could linger, Ethan Erickson, chief financial officer and director of budget planning, said. “If you think about the traditional four-year cycle of an undergraduate student coming in, when you have smaller classes, you’re going to feel that throughout the next four-year cycle,” Erickson said. That being said, K-State’s overall enrollment decline — at about four percent — wasn’t nearly as high as was anticipated, Nathan Bothwell, speaker of the student senate and senior in
FUEL UP K-State not backing down despite prediction to finish at bottom of the Big 12
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Volleyball team signs three for 2021-2022 season
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Photo Illustration by Dalton Wainscott | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
As the result of many factors, the university is out several million dollars. political science and communication studies, said. “That [decline] is in line with the previous years,” Bothwell said. “We’ve been between like three and five for the past few years, so the fact that enrollment was only around that, I thought, was very positive news in terms of just the overall budget situation.” Normally, the biggest threat to the university’s budget is the declining en-
rollment or uncertainty with state funding, but the pandemic turned the area of concern to a different part of the university’s budget. “The pandemic has impacted us in a lot of different ways, and it has impacted different revenue streams than we normally would have,” Erickson said. “The pandemic really broadened the revenue streams and greatly impacted some of those areas that
we normally would have just been on the tracks and were chugging along.” The biggest hit came to K-State’s auxiliary revenue. These are monies made through extra revenue streams — Call Hall, the K-State Student Union, McCain Auditorium, on-campus restaurants and more. “The pandemic comes along, and it disrupted so much of the normal business environment that we
have as a university,” Erickson said. All told, K-State lost somewhere around $96 million from declining revenues and increased expenses between the end of fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 so far. The rest of the fiscal year, Erickson projects, could bring about another $15 million hit. see page
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Purple Threads: Members of the LGBTQ+ community reflect on their journeys
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New club takes flight for students interested in avian medicine
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NEWS
Incoming freshmen eligible for test-optional scholarships beginning fall 2021 EMMA WITTER news editor
Kansas State began providing an ACT/SAT test-optional scholarship application this week. According to the announcement in Monday’s K-State Today, these scholarship applications are now available for fall 2021 incoming freshmen from the U.S. Karen Goos, vice provost for enrollment management, led the initiative to provide the test-optional scholarship application. She said the change comes as a response to challenges high school students have faced getting these test scores since the start of the pandemic. “A lot of students were able to take the test back in February, but they weren’t able to retake it like they normally could, and it didn’t feel
like those test scores reflected their academic experience and potential,” Goos said. Some students are unable to take a test at all and would have no scores to submit for scholarship consideration without this option. “We knew we didn’t want that to be a barrier at K-State,” Goos said. “As an institution, we pride ourselves on accessibility and affordability, so we wanted to explore different ways that we could still provide that.” K-State has offered test-optional admission in the past, but accessibility to education doesn’t always become available at admission. Scholarships allow many students the opportunity to take part in college. “I think it will have an impact on students’ ability to access our education,” Goos said. “I’m hoping that when
ACADEMI CS
students don’t feel like that test score is a barrier, they feel comfortable starting to apply. I’m optimistic that this will help increase our overall application.” The test-optional application will evaluate students holistically, Goos said. Students’ academic records, extracurriculars and work experience contribute to the evaluation, but given the turbulent nature of 2020, other factors also hold weight on applications. “We understand that it’s been a strange year,” Goos said. “If students have responsibilities with a sibling or something like that that made them unable to make many other commitments, we ask about that. That’s a strong commitment to family and leadership, so we wanted to take a look at all of that. Those are important pieces of what a student
EDITORIAL BOARD Bailey Britton Editor-in-Chief
Rebecca Vrbas Culture Editor
Sarah Unruh Designer
Kaylie McLaughlin Managing Editor
Madison Daniel Assistant Culture Editor
Cameron Bradley Sports Editor
Julie Freijat Deputy Managing Editor Copy Chief Emma Witter News Editor Sean Schaper Assistant News Editor
friday, november 13, 2020
Anna Schmidt Opinions Editor
Nathan Enserro Assistant Sports Editor
Gabby Farris Design Chief
Dalton Wainscott Multimedia Editor
Blake Hachen Designer
Dylan Connell Deputy Multimedia Editor
brings to the university.” The priority date for test-optional scholarship consideration is Jan. 5, 2021. Eligible incoming freshmen must fill out the supplemental scholarship application for consideration. Students already admitted with a test score can also apply. While Goos said the test-optional application emerged mostly because of the pandemic, however the change could mark a shift away from test scores holding so much weight on university and scholarship applications in the future. “I think it’s important to recognize that it’s new,” Goos said. “We’re going to keep working on and improving our processes. I don’t know if it’s always going to look the way it does now, but we want to take this opportunity and see how it goes.”
File Photo by Evert Nelson | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
The morning light reflects off the limestone of Anderson Hall on Oct. 2, 2015.
ON THE COVER File Photo by Logan Wassall Collegian Media Group Freshman forward Montavious Murphy scans the court for an open play during the men’s basketball game against TCU in Bramlage Coliseum on Jan. 8, 2020. The Wildcats fell to the Horned Frogs in a game that was close until the very end with a final score of 59-57.
The Mission of the Collegian Media Group is to use best practices of journalism to cover and document life at Kansas State University from a diverse set of voices to inform and engage the K-State community. The Collegian welcomes your letters. We reserve the right to edit submitted letters for length and style. A letter intended for publication should be no longer than 600 words and must be relevant to the student body of K-State. It must include the author’s first and last name, year in school and major. If you are a graduate of K-State, the letter should include your year(s) of graduation and must include the city and state where you live. For a letter to be considered, it must include a phone number where you can be contacted. The number will not be published. Letters can be sent to letters@kstatecollegian.com or submitted through an online form at kstatecollegian.com. Letters may be rejected if they contain abusive content, lack timeliness, contain vulgarity, profanity or falsehood, promote personal and commercial announcements, repeat comments of letters printed in other issues or contain attachments. The Collegian does not publish open letters, third-party letters or letters that have been sent to other publications or people.
CORRECTIONS
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Steps toward ‘More Inclusive K-State’ remain in early stages EMMA WITTER news editor
As the end of in-person classes for the fall semester approaches, Kansas State is in the beginning phases of planning and implementing its Action Plan for a More Inclusive K-State. The administration launched the plan in response to #BlackAtKState circulating on Twitter over the summer, under which students of color shared their experiences with discrimination and microagressions on campus. Earlier in the semester, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion created a dashboard to track its progress on the action plan. Nine of the eleven steps President Richard Myers
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friday, november 13, 2020
INCLUSION
outlined in a statement to the university in July are listed on the dashboard. Myers serves as the delegator of the project while administrators like Bryan Samuel, chief diversity and inclusion officer, carry out the implementation of the action steps. Samuel said the most quickly realized objective will likely be the creation of a student ombudsperson position to address complaints against the administration. This step is taking longer than initially outlined. “Our goal was to have it ready for consideration by the end of October,” Samuel said. “We didn’t make that, but we’re continuing. The position description is written,
is being vetted and reviewed, and we’ll figure out where that takes us.” Of the three action plan committees Samuel heads, two met for the first time this week. He said other initiatives his division spearheads, like KSUnite and the Campus Climate Survey, have divided his attention until recently. “Once we got a little breathing room from those initiatives, we were able to pull the teams together and begin meeting,” Samuel said. “Even though not all of those teams have met, there has still been some work done.” Each step of the action plan has its own independent timeline, Samuel said. Institution-wide policies, like faculty and staff retention and the
requirement of a multicultural overlay in all colleges, will likely take longer than others. Currently, the College of Arts and Sciences is the only one to require a multicultural overlay. “You have to think about all the degree requirements, accreditation requirements, how to do it in such a way that you don’t increase the number of credit hours for graduation and you don’t relinquish any of the core courses required for a particular major,” Samuel said. “We’re going to have to do some balancing and working to make that happen. It will probably take us at least a year, if not longer.” With everything students take on during the semester, Samuel said it’s sometimes difficult to add involvement in an action plan like this to their
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Around $8.5 million of the extra expenses came from purchasing personal protective equipment, testing materials, cleaning supplies and other resources needed to prevent COVID-19 spread on campus, Michelle Geering, public information officer, wrote in an email. For some units, Erickson said, that could spell uncertainty for the future. “It’s also long term impactful because then units are using their reserves that they might have, in order to continue operations or that’s leading to other budgetary changes,” Erickson said. “I do think there’s going to be longer term consequences and we’ll have to think [about] how to do things differently now.” But it’s not all bad news, Bothwell said. “I don’t think it’s entirely
schedules. He’s grateful that several students found a way to make it work. Stefan Yates, assistant to Samuel and manager of the action plan dashboard, said there are students on the majority of the committees. Ayana Belk, graduate student in landscape architecture, got involved over the summer when she wrote a letter to Myers addressing his proposed eleven action steps. The letter was signed by representatives of 23 multicultural organizations with the motivation to give multicultural students a hand in the administrative process rather than receiving information secondhand. “We wanted [Myers] to know we were watching him, and we still are,” Belk said in an email. “We do not want administrators to continue re-
leasing statements that were never followed up with action. We want to be involved at every stage.” Rather than working on any specific action step committee, Belk works to connect administrators with students to serve as core leadership on those committees. She’s placed eleven students since the summer. Belk said based on the action plan dashboard, the only real progress has been planning, but having multicultural students at the center of the action will ensure that the administration is held accountable. “I know this letter and the work that is happening after it will impact K-State policy and administration-student relations for years to come,” Belk said.
doom and gloom,” Bothwell said. “I do think that there’s been some like pretty positive developments in the long term, that are showing that ... we will be able to recover and get back to something resembling normality.” Erickson agreed. For one thing, he said, the existence of the budget modernization process eased the process of restructuring the budget for the current fiscal year. “It was a way for us to determine ... how to allocate our diminished resources,” Erickson said. Before the implementation of the new budget model, Erickson said, budget cuts likely would have been initiated “across the board” to cut costs. Now, with the modernized process, K-State could target specific areas using a decision-making framework “based on the activity level” of each unit, he said. Despite all the negatives the pandemic brought with it, Erickson said some good came
out of it as well. Specifically, distance education and remote working might become a bigger part of how K-State operates in the future. “We are finding out that there are ways that we can do business that maybe we wouldn’t have considered before,” he said. “We rose to the challenge and were able to see that we can do things in this fashion, so I think it’s been good in some regards.” One thing is for sure, Bothwell said — K-State will come out of this crisis. “In no conversation that I’ve had have I had anyone who’s said that this is the death of the K-State. It just is leading us to make some hard decisions and to really prioritize things a lot more,” Bothwell said. “Budget stuff and enrollment, a lot of it’s very cyclical — it goes up for certain reasons, it goes down for other reasons. I think we’re just still in the downward phase of the cycle, but I do believe they’ll go up at some point.”
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STUDENT LIFE ‘ There’s that lack of clarity’: First-gen students, instructors discuss issues in online engagement SEAN SCHAPER assistant news editor
The Office of First-Generation Students continued celebrations of National First-generation Week with "Engaging and Supporting First-generation Students" Zoom discussion on Wednesday. Moderators for the professional development session were Greg Eiselein, English professor; Kiley Moody, academic student services manager and Rebeca Paz, assistant director for the office of first-generation students. The moderators divided the session into three discussion points circulating around three different questions.
1. WHAT ARE YOU SEEING AMONG YOUR STUDENTS THIS YEAR? ALL OF YOUR STUDENTS? AMONG THOSE WHO ARE FIRST-GENERATION?
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Melissa Wanklyn, English instructor, said the biggest difference she sees in her class is the division of social skills. "There are some [students] who are connected and some who aren't," Wanklyn said. "I think that a good number of my students already lack confidence in making new friends, and the pandemic situation magnifies this exponentially." Hannah Rollison, graduate student in English, said as a grad student, she struggles with knowing when and how to reach out and build relationships with professors. "Luckily, there have been many helpful people in my department," Rollison said. "I have also seen this struggle with my expository writing students, but this could be an overall problem rather than a first-gen issue."
Archive Photo by Dylan Connell | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
2. WHAT HAS NOT WORKED THIS YEAR? WHAT ARE YOU STILL STRUGGLING WITH, ESPECIALLY IN YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS?
The recurring answer was engagement. Christina Chadwick, graduate teaching assistant in political science, said motivating her students this semester has gotten harder. "It seems like everyone stayed on top of things at the beginning but as the semester progresses, less assignments are submitted on time," she said. Jenifer Hartt, non-degree graduate student, said it is the lack of clarity from her instructors that make this semester especially hard. "As a grad student, those online instructors who try to use all the features of canvas only create confusion," Hartt said. "Those faculty who have streamlined Canvas has helped." Another common problem first-generation students and other students face is the transition to all online classes. Wankyln said there are many options instructors can use to keep students engaged online. "If I have a student with internet connectivity issues and we're doing a Zoom, I've called them and set my phone by my
computer so they can at least hear the discussion," Wanklyn said. "Or I record the Zoom for them to view later."
3. WHAT HAS WORKED?
"Texting students instead of — or in addition to — emailing them," Wanklyn said in the chat. "I usually text students and ask when a good time is for me to call them — or them to call me. They're often more comfortable with texting, so this adds a level of comfort." Other forms of communication besides the traditional email that some instructors have used are "GroupMe" and "Remind101." Alongside communicational positivities, Tucker Jones, graduate teaching assistant in AP institutional effectiveness, said his students appreciate the selfcare, extra credit assignments he builds into the curriculum. "After midterms, I challenged my students to engage in some form of self-care and also gave them some TED Talks on the subject," Jones said. "I, then, have them write up a brief summary of what they did and how it impacted them." The Office of First-Generation Students' webpage offers a glossary for first-generation students to better understand common terms used around the university.
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Mo v i n g f o r wa r d : Fo o t b a l l t e a m d e a l s w i t h COV I D-1 9 o u t b r e a k d u r i ng b y e w e e k NATHAN ENSERRO assistant sports editor
Dalton Wainscott | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Freshman quarterback Will Howard runs past a Texas Tech defender. The Wildcats beat the Red Raiders 31-21 on Ft. Riley Day at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. down for a touchdown scoring drive,” Klieman said. “He continues to improve, but we have to take care of the football. He knows that.” The Wildcats, who struggle on offense since senior quarterback Skylar Thompson's injury, found a way to move the ball on the ground with their new quarterback in the option last week. “A lot of them were read plays and they were keying on Deuce [Vaughn] a lot. They were flying one of their linebackers out of the box, so we were just reading them,” Howard said. “It happened that I was taking the ball a lot and our offensive line made some really good holes.” Howard ran the ball 14 times for 125 yards and one touchdown. His average of 8.9 yards per rush is the most by a runner for either team in the game. “I have found that the run game might be a little more in my game now. It wasn’t as much in high school, but I feel
like I’ve gotten a little faster and feel more comfortable with it here,” Howard said. “It’s definitely a big part of this offense.” K-State needs to find more
ways to move the ball effectively before their trip to play Iowa State, who sits atop the Big 12 at 5-1 in conference play.
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This week is a bye week for the football team before they head to Ames, Iowa, to take on the Iowa State Cyclones. Today, head coach Chris Klieman confirmed the team has another outbreak of COVID-19. “We had a big COVID outbreak last week with our younger guys, so the numbers keep going up in that respect,” Klieman said. “We’re down upwards of 20 guys right now.” Coming off of back-toback losses to West Virginia and Oklahoma State, the Wildcats plan to take the week to prepare and get back on track. “It’s strange to have an open week in the middle of November,” Klieman said. “We have that so we’re going to try to get some work done as best we can with some of our younger guys.” In the past, Klieman’s teams used bye weeks to develop younger players and work more on details, doing what he calls K-State on K-State. He said the majority of this week is focused on Iowa State. “We’ll practice some Iowa State stuff with our older guys, but we’re going to have to go against each other to do that because we don’t have any scouts this week due to COVID,” Klieman said. Klieman said sophomore tight end Sammy Wheeler will miss the rest of the year because of an injury. It is too soon to tell if senior tight end Briley Moore will be ready in time for Iowa State, leaving the Wildcats thin at the position. He said he is happy with his football team’s growth, but they need to find a way to win games like the Oklahoma State game where they lost 20-18. Klieman is impressed with freshman quarterback Will Howard. “I like the fact that he ran the ball exceptionally well. I like the fact that after the turnover that resulted in a touchdown, he came back and led us
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K-State not backing down despite prediction to finish at bottom of the Big 12 Conference
friday, november 13, 2020
‘Our own little bubble’: Women’s basketball prepares for frantic schedule
CODY FRIESEN
NATHAN ENSERRO
staff writer
assistant sports editor
It feels like a lifetime since the Kansas State Wildcats last walked off the floor following a victory over TCU on the opening night of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. A lot changed since March, including almost the entire K-State roster. The Wildcats made it known on Thursday's media day they are not backing down from the challenge after being written off in the preseason predictions. K-State appears to focus on rebuilding the team with only six returners from last season and the addition of five freshmen. Many experts predict the young Wildcats to finish in the basement of the stacked Big 12 conference. "We all see it, it's not going to faze us. They can pick whoever," sophomore forward Montavious Murphy said. "We are going to come in and compete every day." The Wildcats, now two years removed from a remarkable Big 12 title season, aim to develop the young talent and play spoiler in a highly competitive conference. "We are expected to be last, so it just pushes us to go harder every day," freshman guard Nijel Pack said. "The days that we don't want to practice, the days
The women’s basketball team has just under two weeks before their Nov. 25 season-opening exhibition against Fort Hays State in Hays, Kansas. The threat of COVID-19 taking away games and changing the schedule looms large for the Wildcats. “We haven’t had a lot of cases, the contact tracing is generally the problem,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “I think that’s what you’re seeing with other programs. If we had a game today, fortunately we’d play it.” The Wildcats — who haven’t played a game since senior day on March 8 due to the pandemic wiping out the Big 12 Conference Tournament and all the postseason tournaments — are dealing with other injury issues too. “These players did not play any full court from March 10 on, so we’ve had the plantar fasciitis, we’ve had the strained Achilles, we’ve had a strained quad. We’ve had things that have taken players out for nine to 10 days of practice,” Mittie said. The schedule does not pan out well for a team to get the injury bug. Kansas State
File photo by Logan Wassall | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Then-freshman forward Montavious Murphy scans the court for an open play during the men’s basketball game against TCU in Bramlage Coliseum on Jan. 8, 2020. that we don't want to lift weights, it just gives us that extra fuel and motivation to go harder at it," Pack drew a lot of attention out of the most recent recruiting class. Head coach Bruce Weber compared him to former Wildcat Kamau Stokes, but he must be productive for the Wildcats to succeed. Senior guard Mike McGuirl provides some key leadership for K-State headed into the season. “He’s doing what a fourthyear guy should be doing,” Weber said. "Now he has to do it on the court, in a live situation, and do it consistently.” All college athletics face uncertainty about the upcoming season, and with several college
football games canceled this week, the hope of a smooth basketball season is in jeopardy. “I hope we can get things under control and get through a season,” Weber said. “It’s not going to be a perfect season by any means. I think that we all have to anticipate cancelations, changes, and just make the best of it.” The Wildcats are already scrambled following the announcement that South Dakota State dropped out of the Little Apple Classic, which begins in two weeks. K-State plans to open with Drake on Wednesday, Nov. 25, as part of the inaugural Little Apple Classic, but uncertainty is growing as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
jammed eight games into the month of December and will play six games between a date with Kentucky on the third and home tilt with Kansas City on the Dec. 14. “As the campus kind of gets empty [for Thanksgiving], that’s the hope for basketball is that we can create our own little bubble here in Manhattan,” Mittie said. “If something happens COVIDwise in the first of December we’re in trouble because we have six games in 13 days.” On the court, the Wildcats said goodbye to Peyton Williams, one of the best players in the Big 12 at the end of last season. The two-time First Team All-Big 12 forward averaged 15.4 points and 11 rebounds per game her senior year. “We lost a great rebounder in Williams, she averaged 11 per game,” Mittie said. “We’re not going to replace that player.” Mittie indicated two or three players would have to step up to fill William’s minutes — 35.5. per game — and rebound numbers this season. The Wildcats return the player who held down the other side of the block from Williams last season: sophomore center Ayoka Lee. Last season, Lee was Big 12 Freshman of
the Year after averaging 15.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per year and securing 12 Freshman of the Week awards. Lee’s role in the Wildcat offense will grow this season. She was mostly utilized in the post last season, but will be asked to score more from mid-range and do some facilitating. “We’d like to see her be able to read that double team coming. She didn’t have a lot of assists last year,” Mittie said. “We don’t want her to pass it out a lot, but when she does pass it out we want it to be a scoring pass.” K-State also returns redshirt junior guard Rachel Ranke, who missed a lot of last season with an injury. The three-point-shooting guard only made eight appearances for the Wildcats last year. “I’m super excited to get [Ranke] back on the court,” junior guard Christinna Carr said. “From being a threepoint shooter, it’s always nice having another three point threat on the court with me. I feel like it’s harder to guard.” K-State travels to Hays, Kansas, to take on the Fort Hays State Tigers, including Mittie’s daughter Madison, in an exhibition game on Nov. 25. Their home opener is against Southern on Nov. 29.
Women’s basketball team signs three in November signing period MARSHALL SUNNER staff writer
Three high school seniors signed their National Letter of Intent on Wednesday, announcing their pledge to the Kansas State women's basketball team. The additions to the Wildcats 2021-22 roster include twin sisters Brylee Glenn and Jaelyn Glenn from Raymore, Missouri, as well as Serena Sundell from Maryville, Missouri. "We went into this class want-
ing to continue to improve our guard depth as well as improve our threepoint attack," head coach Jeff Mittie said to K-State Athletics. "All three players complement each other's skills, as well as the skills of the players currently on our roster." Brylee Glenn comes into her senior high school season as the No. 75 ranked player in the country by ProspectsNation.com. She's also the No. 7 player in Missouri by Prep Girls Hoops. Last season, Brylee Glenn averaged 23.4 points, six rebounds, and four assists a game.
For her career, Brylee Glenn averages over 17 points, four rebounds and two assists per game at The Barstow School. "We love the way Brylee defends, competes, and attacks the basket with aggression," Mittie said. Twin sister Jaelyn Glenn also made national waves as she moved into the Top 60 of the ESPNW Hoopgurlz national rankings this summer. The rankings have her as the No. 54 player in the country – the 21st ranked guard in her class. She's tabbed the top prospect in the state of Missouri,
according to Prep Girls Hoops. Jaelyn Glenn holds The Barstow School records for points in a game with 58, rebounds with 22, and three-point field goals made with eight. In her career, she averages 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists per game. "Jaelyn can play 1-4 and can impact the team with her passing and scoring ability from all areas of the floor," Mittie said. Sundell, a four-star prospect from Prospect Hoops, averaged 24 points, six rebounds and three assists
per game last season for Maryville High School. She was last season's Missouri 3A Player of the Year. "Serena is a very talented player with excellent three-point range and the ability to play away from the ball," Mittie said. K-State kicks off the 2020-21 season on Nov. 25 with an exhibition game against Fort Hays State in Hays, Kansas. Regular season play begins with a seven-game homestand, starting with the Wildcats home opener against Southern at 1 p.m. on Nov. 29 in Bramlage Coliseum.
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Women’s golf adds three, men’s golf adds one on fall signing day NATHAN ENSERRO assistant sports editor
On fall signing day, the women’s golf team added three new members while the men's team nabbed one for the 202122 season. The women’s golf team picked up Remington Isaac from Montgomery, Texas, Lilly Whitley from Edmond, Oklahoma, and Manon DoncheGay, a French-born community college transfer from Daytona State in Florida. Remington Isaac is the younger sister of senior Reid Isaac. Last year, Remington Isaac qualified for the 2019 USGA Women's Amateur among other achievements. In Whitley's two seasons— her junior year was wiped out due to COVID-19— she won 10 high school tournaments.
She also won three Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour events and was a qualifier for the Junior PGA Championship. Donche-Gay was part of a powerhouse program at Viera High School in Florida. She was a part of a run of 10 straight district championships for the Hawks. While Donche-Gay attended Daytona College, she was named the Most Improved Player. In May 2019, DoncheGay was a part of Team Valescure that won Trophee Division I at Golf De Fontainebleau and was named French Team National Champions. The three newcomers replace three golfers who are scheduled to depart from the eight-woman squad — Reid Isaac, Niamh McSherry and Brooke Nolte. The men stayed close to
home when recruiting Nicklaus Mason from Mill Valley High School in Shawnee, Kansas. In 2019, he finished second in the KSHSAA State Championship and won backto-back Konza Prairie Amateur Championships. The men's team — which now has four Kansas natives on the roster — made a commitment to keep homegrown talent in the state. "We always have had an inside out recruiting approach," men's golf head coach Grant Robbins said to K-State Athletics. "To get the most talented players to stay home, it's difficult with all the competition out there. We prioritized the top player in the state, but what you've seen over the past couple years are the improvement of our facilities and the commitment that Gene Taylor and the
Soccer team adds six women to 2021 class on signing day ADAM MEYER staff writer
CAMERON BRADLEY sports editor
The soccer team added six new members to its team on Wednesday for November’s signing period. Two of the athletes signed on Wednesday are from Kansas, including defender Kenzi Gillispie from Newton, and forward Brooke Sullivan from Wichita. Gillispie played at both Newton and Circle High School in her career, named to the 2018 All-AVCTL Second Team, as well as named a 2018 All-State Honorable Mention in Kansas. Sullivan competed in the Kansas Olympic Development Program in her past two seasons. Before that, she played for Goddard High School where she was an All-AVCTL Division II First Team selection in just her freshman year. The other four are a diverse group, as midfielder Adah
Anderson hails from Kansas City, Missouri, midfielder Katy Coffin comes from Grand Junction, Colorado, defender Juliann Kidd is from Houston, Texas, and midfielder Joey Lujan comes from Gilbert, Arizona. “Our 2021 class brings good balance and depth to our current returning roster,” head coach Mike Dibbini said to K-State Athletics. “Having lost so many key players to graduation, this is a great group to come in and compete with an experienced returning roster. This class brings versatility in all positions. We are looking forward to their growth in our program.” Anderson scored fourteen goals and had 36 assists in her time at Park Hill High School. The three-year letter winner was a two-time All-Suburban Red Conference First Team pick, two-time All-District 15 selection as well as a 2019 Class 4 Region 4 First Team pick. Coffin was selected to the All-Southwestern League twice
in her career at Grand Junction High School, scoring 12 goals and racking up 23 assists in her two seasons with the Tigers. Coffin has playing time for the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club and also played in Region 4 of the Olympic Development Program in Colorado. Kidd played for three seasons at Memorial High School and helped lead her team to a UIL 6A state title in 2017-2018. During her time in high school, Kidd received a first-team All-District honor in 2019-2020 and received a second-team All-District honor in 2018-2019. Wrapping up the 2021 class is Lujan who scored 26 goals and had 36 assists in her 60 matches at Perry High School. She was the AZ Central 2019 Player of the Year and was also a member of the TopDrawerSoccer.com All-State team after the 2019-2020 season. The class comes in to fill crucial spots vacated by seven graduating Wildcats at the end of this season.
Archive Photo by Nathan Jones | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Soccer flags wave on the sidelines before the game against Central Arkansas on Sept. 8, 2017, in the K-State Soccer Stadium. administration is making to our program. I can't stress enough how important it is to show in-state players that we are committed to competing at the highest level."
Both the men’s and women’s teams recently finished their fall seasons and look toward the spring. The men's team starts their spring season off at the Hammock Creek
Collegiate in Palm City, Florida, on Feb. 21, while the women's team starts their spring season off at the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, Texas, on Feb. 1.
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friday, november 13, 2020
Volleyball team signs three for 2021-2022 season MARSHALL SUNNER staff writer
The volleyball team and head coach Suzie Fritz announced the signings of three players for the upcoming 2021-2022 season on Wednesday. Josie Halbleib, Molly Ramsey and Jaden Ravnsborg all pledged to the Wildcats on the first day of the nation’s fall signing period. “Each one of these student athletes has experienced a high level of success in their high school and club careers,” Fritz said to K-State Athletics. “They are a competitive and high-character group of young women. Our current student-athletes have done an excellent job of developing and establishing a thriving team culture that values the contributions of all. This class will complement our current team and fit in extremely well.”
Halbleib is a setter from Howards Grove, Wisconsin, who helped lead her team to a 21-1 record and a state title this season. In the state championship, she would go on to record a double-double with 13 kills and 16 assists. In 2020 alone, Halbleib totaled 153 assists, 75 kills, 42 digs and 20 aces. “Josie has the physical characteristics and potential to be a high-level setter,” Fritz said. “A lefty, she can provide kill production at the net, in addition to her setting responsibilities. We believe she is just beginning to realize her potential as a player, and we look forward to what she is capable of doing for us as she continues to develop and improve.” Ramsey, from Roca, Nebraska, is a defensive specialist and libero. Over her high school career, Ramsey tallied over 1,700 digs, setting the
Norris High School record. This last season alone, she recorded 465 digs — good enough for 4.9 digs per set. “We love the way she goes about it,” Fritz said of Ramsey. “She has a tremendous work ethic and a selfless, team-first demeanor. She impressed us with her speed, power and athleticism. Lastly, she’s an impressive multi-sport athlete who has achieved a high level of academic and athletic success during her prep career.” Kansas State’s final signee, Ravnsborg, comes from Mill Valley High School in Shawnee, Kansas. Also a libero, Ravnsborg was named a Top 150 recruit by PrepVolleyball.com and totaled 363 digs as a senior. She is the fourth Kansas player on the roster next season, joining Loren Hinkle, Abigail Archibong and Faith Hammontree. Archibong also played high
Sophie Osborn | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
K-State huddles during a timeout during their match against Iowa State earlier this year. school volleyball at Mill Valley. “Jaden plays with a passion and energy that [motivates] all those around her,” Fritz said. “She’s fast, fearless
and possesses all of the intangible qualities that we look for in back-row players. Additionally, she is an excellent student and a highly motivat-
ed student-athlete.” The three newcomers will join K-State’s No. 23 ranked recruiting class from a season ago.
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CULTURE
friday, november 13, 2020
VIRTUAL COMEDY:
America's Got Talent runner-up provides comedic relief for students JARED SHUFF staff writer
Politics is one of many topics brought up in comedian Drew Lynch's comedy routine Wednesday evening. The Union Program Council hosted the live-stream event with funds provided by the Campus Entertainment Fund. The Season 10 "America's Got Talent" runner up started his stand-up comedy career after a concussion left him with a stutter. Since then, Lynch has appeared on various talk shows and earned millions of subscribers thanks to his YouTube channel featuring his service dog Stella. Before the event, CEF Co-Chair Ryan Urban, graduate student in mass communications, explained the booking process for acts like Lynch. “We usually try to do a
little bit of … student-interest research beforehand and that’s usually at the end of the semester,” Urban said. “We see who’s popular, who’s in our price range. That’s kind of the determining factor for who students want.” Actor and comedian Vladimir Caamaño opened for Lynch. Caamaño has performed roles in shows like “Brooklyn-99” and “Superstore,” and stars in the Netflix original movie “Vampires vs. the Bronx.” In his segment, he talked about the horrors of shaking hands “raw” during a pandemic, beard dandruff and the student demand for better toilet paper on campus. “These are tough times, and [students] want the Charmin toilet paper with the CBD oil,” Caamaño said. Caamaño opened up about his experiences during the pandemic, including his bidet purchase during the toi-
let paper shortage. He also brought up the time his father used the bidet, a toilet attachment designed for cleaning certain unsanitary areas, to wash his hands and face. Caamaño decided against revealing the purpose of the bidet to his father. "My father was an alcoholic growing up, so I let him go ahead," Caamaño said. "This is payback for all the times you neglected me." Lynch opened his segment piggy-backing off Caamaño’s bidet jokes, arguing over who can get the cleanest a**, and playfully bagging on Kansas. “I’ve driven through Kansas once. I think I made it out,” Lynch said. “I kid and I joke a lot about Kansas and how the Earth is flat, but it is good to be here. Not on the planet, but here with you.” Lynch also poked fun at his stutter, assuring the audience their internet wasn’t act-
ing up and that it was a personal issue or “some kind of 5G malfunction.” Given the state of the country, it was only a matter of time before politics came into play. Although claiming he wasn’t a political person, Lynch had his fair share of opinions. “Let’s address the donkey in the room,” Lynch said. “I was gonna say elephant but I guess it went the other way.” He revealed that he voted for Biden, strictly because of Biden’s stutter. That’s where the “Lynch 2048” campaign starts to form. “When I become of age and of height, I will be the president because [Joe Biden] has made it possible for me,” Lynch said. Despite a few technical difficulties, Lynch moved forward. He proceeded to spin jokes about the first instance of road rage, the subjectivity
of craziness and which hand sanitizers are the worst. Urban and his co-chair Ivy Bogle moderated the event, monitoring the chat throughout and opening up the Zoom for a quick Q&A at the end. While one person asked about feeling stuck and unsuccessful in life, another asked if a hotdog is a sandwich. Lynch had answers for both. “You have to find what it is that you’re best at, where it is that you can make a difference for this life after you leave it,” Lynch said. “It’s up to you to prove others wrong and prove yourself right.” The hotdog question received conflicting responses from Lynch and his girlfriend, who was also in the room during the live stream. “Is a hot dog a sandwich? Absolutely not. What? My girlfriend is saying yes and she is not booked to do the show so she doesn’t count,” Lynch said.
Booking Lynch was a fairly straightforward process, Urban said, the process itself hasn’t been hindered much by the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s ultimately cheaper for us to host virtually, and furthermore it’s easier for us as well,” Urban said. “We don’t have to provide a location, we don’t have to provide hospitality." That’s not to say there aren’t any issues. Budget cuts made it harder to book high-profile acts, and many students aren’t as interested in attending these virtual events. “Our budget has been cut 100 percent this year, so we’re operating entirely on rollover,” Urban said. Lynch is still an up-andcoming comedian, but Urban has high hopes for his future. “While John Mulaney is still number one right now, I think [Lynch] will probably be there very soon,” Urban said.
Hospitality students experience event planning during a pandemic CHAVELA MARTINEZ staff writer
A few months back, Brooke Colglazier, senior in hospitality management, and two other students came up with the idea to hold a Beer Mile in downtown Manhattan. Participants would run a mile, stopping every quarter to chug a beer. The city of Manhattan told Colglazier’s group they would need special licensing for their proposed event, so they changed their course. To make things easier, the
group landed on a new idea: Paint and Pint Tuesday. Instructors from Uncorked Inspiration in Aggieville were scheduled to instruct the paint night while Colglazier’s group handled marketing, budget and capacity for the event. Colglazier said marketing was the most difficult component of the project because she wasn’t as familiar with it. The trio relied primarily on social media to spread the word about Paint and Pint Tuesday. Ensuring safety was the most difficult part for Ivy Bogle,
senior in hospitality management. She and her team organized a different event called Pumpkins and Pints where participants could paint pumpkins and enjoy a free beer at Manhattan Brewing Company. Between providing tickets, rationing paint and art supplies and making room for those visiting the brewery on their own time, Bogle said there was a lot to keep track of. Despite the stress leading up to it, Bogle said Pumpkins and Pints went smoothly and sold out.
Bogle said working with Manhattan Brewing Company gave her valuable experience during a difficult time. “It’s been cool to have a company in Manhattan that has been able to help us still have ... some sense of normalcy,” Bogle said. “Trying to keep people safe was their top priority.” Both Bogle and Colglazier said working in a traditionally face-to-face industry during the pandemic is a learning curve. “I think the most challenging thing is trying to find the balance of keeping people safe
and giving people an experience outside of their house where they can be with other people,” Colglazier said. A recent focus for the hospitality management program has been building the skills to navigate events virtually through platforms like Zoom. “I think the industry is changing, and I think in a way it’s nice to be in college while the industry is changing before we get out into the world,” Colglazier said. “Event planning is now trying to get smaller groups together
and making an event more meaningful in different ways.” Both Bogle and Colglazier said they’ve learned a lot while trying to plan an in-person event in 2020. “The biggest thing I learned is that things don’t always go as planned, and that’s okay,” Colglazier said. “I think you always have to be ready for anything that comes your way.” Bogle said she’s excited to see how the hospitality industry will continue to evolve with safety and accessibility at the forefront.
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CULTURE
friday, november 13, 2020
PURPLE THREADS JULIE FREIJAT
copy chief
Editor’s note: This story is part of the Purple Threads series, which aims to tell the stories of Kansas State students who, despite their different experiences, are all connected in some way through K-State.
DISCOVERING OURSELVES
She recalled her younger years, when she kissed a boy and began to develop what she thought were crushes on her male peers. But looking back, Anna Casner realized that she was doing what she thought she was supposed to be doing. "I was way too into Nikki Blonsky from Hairspray as a middle schooler — I know that much," she said. Casner, a senior in social work, identifies as a lesbian. "I usually just say I'm gay, but I think part of that is because I think I associate lesbian as a strange and dirty word from my upbringing, but I'm trying to get more comfortable with the label, but I'm predominantly attracted to women," Casner said. She grew up in a religious household, where being a woman attracted to women wasn't an option for her — and homosexuality was spoken of in a negative and rigid tone. She decided to deal with her feelings internally in order to be accepted in her community and family. Through high school, she didn't feel like she could pursue anything with women because she went to a Christian school. It wasn't until she graduated and was headed off to college that she experienced a relationship with another woman. "The summer before my freshman year, I had a relationship with a girl, and it was really affirming, for me personally because I was like 'This is what actual attraction feels like — it's what loving someone feels like,'" she said. "Not that I don't love
Photo courtesy of Gennifer Riley
Gennifer Riley (right) and her wife Olivia smile together. (Photo courtesy of Gennifer Riley) male members of my family or female members of my family — love is different, but this is what romantic love feels like." Casner first told her younger sister, who responded by saying she didn't want to talk about it. "She was again having that internalized, 'I don't know if that's okay,' that I was having on an internal level too," she said. She then went on to come out to her older siblings, both of whom responded well. Casner came out to her mother the night before Christmas Eve and her father later. Her father supported her financially, and she braced for the worst when she told him. "He was extremely supportive for what I was expecting like, 'I still love you, this doesn't change how I feel about you, you're still my daughter,' and I was really fortunate to have that experience," she said. "That's something that I know a lot of people don't have the have the opportunity to have a supportive family." Like Casner, Gennifer Riley, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, said she experienced turbulence between her upbringing and her identity. Riley is transgender and bisexual.
"I grew up in a very conservative, Christian community [and] family and there just wasn't really much talk about the idea that anyone who's not cisgender could exist — cisgender being you identify with the gender that you were assigned as — at first there just really wasn't much talk about it," she said. "And when you did hear anything about it, it was a 'Oh those are bad people,' or that kind of thing. So growing up, I only had the vaguest notion that this was even a possibility." She feels more attached to the LGBT community via being transgender than she does from being bisexual, she said — she's never felt the same trials for her sexuality that she did for her gender. Riley said she didn't begin to realize that her feelings meant something until her late teens or early 20s —when she realized she wasn't alone. Riley started researching, but struggled to move past the framework she had grown up in. "And something that somewhat made this a little more complicated was that by the day that I was really ready to admit that 'I think I'm transgender,' was about a month before I was supposed to get married," Riley said. "So, that was a really
difficult moment. And I did tell my fiancée, who I am married to now ... that night that I really came to that realization." Riley said she and her fiancée — now wife — came to the conclusion that she was not going to transition socially or medically. Within a year, Riley realized this arrangement was not going to work. She began suffering from severe depression and thoughts of self harm. "So I eventually started seeing a therapist who specialized in helping transgender people, and that was really what helped me get past sort of the really transphobic attitudes I've been raised with and come to accept myself when I started to begin my social and and personal transition," she said. "After that, I think that was several years ago — I don't remember
Members of the LGBTQ+ community reflect on their journeys
exactly how many years ago — but I've never been happier." Riley noted that strange things happened during the transition that she didn't expect. "And probably one of the really weird ones for me that I just find absolutely delightful is that I now understand why people will just dance when they're happy," Riley said. "I realize now, I've never actually just felt that safe in my own body that I could just do something like that." Riley said she eventually decided to start hormone replacement therapy. It wasn't until after Riley transitioned that she began to realize she might be bisexual. She said she felt some guilt in the process of discovering this because she feels that she put her spouse through a lot. "The bisexuality doesn't
doesn't really affect things as much as I was afraid it would, you know, I still love her, she still loves me," she said. "It's doesn't really change that. It's just kind of something that it was is kind of a weird realization that I finally put together." Her wife went through a process of determining whether the transition would be a deal breaker for her, but came to the conclusion that she loved Riley for who she was rather than for her gender. Afterwards, they began to consider telling other people.
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CULTURE
friday, november 13, 2020
New club takes flight for students interested in avian medicine ALEXIS LETTERMAN staff writer
Archive Photo by George Walker | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Students in the College of Veterinary Medicine founded the Avian Medicine Club for students with an interest in birds.
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Though the College of Veterinary Medicine provides some instruction on treating birds within its curriculum, it recently adopted a student organization specifically for students interested in avian medicine. Bairon Madrigal and Jayden McCall, both in their second years of the veterinary medicine program, founded the Avian Medicine Club. The club is a resource
both for those wanting to specialize in avian medicine and for mixed veterinarians who could see poultry in their practice. Madrigal, president of AMC, said students in all veterinary specializations are welcome, as it’s likely they’ll interact with birds at some point in their careers. “There has been a recent explosion in backyard poultry, even within cities,” James Carpenter, professor of zoological medicine and club advisor, said.
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AMC hosted three meetings so far, including guest speakers within the field and collaboration with other clubs within the College of Veterinary Medicine. McCall and Madrigal hope to continue these collaborations and introduce field trips. Plans to visit a zoo may get off the ground in the future, McCall said. Such a trip would be useful for hands-on experience, but scheduling field trips is difficult because of COVID-19 regulations and the novelty of AMC. It remains to be seen when AMC will be able to make a zoo visit happen. About 40 students currently participate in AMC, and Madrigal said the club is always welcoming new members. The College of Veterinary Medicine is full of opportunities for students to get involved, he said. “For those undergrad students, I know K-State has a pre-veterinary club,” Magrigal said. “Even just students with this (avian) interest ... they are more than welcome to reach out to us and to be a part of the club.” Social distancing guidelines limit the number of members who can attend each AMC meeting. Madrigal said interested students should reach out to him before coming to a meeting for more information and to ensure there’s enough space to attend safely.
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12
OPINION
OPI NI ON ANNA SCHMIDT
opinions editor
In the 1840s, the Christmas card was invented. Ever since, we’ve seen a slow and steady increase in the commercialization of the holiday. Some of that, of course, was for the better. Every year I get excited for fun ornaments, gingerbread houses, shopping centers lined with garland and lights, gifts, holiday movies on every channel and much, much more. However, with the commercialization of Christmas came the bane of my existence — Christmas carols. I’m only kidding, of course, but I am one of the rare scrooges who is not a fan of Christmas music, particu-
larly before Thanksgiving. I have a few reasons for my grinch-like attitude toward Christmas music. The first is there is seldom a new holiday song. Each year, department stores play Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” and the traditional rendition of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” on loop. Sure, every few years a new song gets popular, but usually they remain the same and it’s tiresome listening to the same songs on repeat. In the car, in the store, in restaurants, at family gatherings, the school hallway and then in your head all day long. To this same point, when you listen to any song
No-Christmascarol November
over and over, it loses just a little bit of it’s magic each time, until it finally becomes a numb, meaningless background sound. Christmas is one of my favorite seasons, especially the three to four days leading up to Christmas. They are filled with so much excitement and preparation and possibility. I love saving Christmas music for those days, so the songs really feel special and fresh, and I’m excited to listen to them. Another reason to hold off a bit on the carols? Thanksgiving is a pretty amazing holiday and I like fully soaking it in. It is the only holiday we’ve got that reminds us to reflect on our lives. Thanksgiving is
wholesome and humble and provides us with an opportunity to feel festive in a different way. I try to embrace the magic of it, carol free, before hurrying into Christmas. My last explanation for this anti-carol mentality — sometimes rushing into Christmas can be stressful. The sooner we turn on the holiday tunes, the sooner we’re reminded of malls echoing with the same songs while bustling with anxious shoppers. Many department stores and shopping centers play Christmas music early for this reason. Then, we’re driven to buy things early we may not truly need. If we hold off on playing Christmas music, we let the season come to us and we’re
friday, november 13, 2020
not forcing gift buying or getting overpriced and unnecessary decorations. Life, especially this year, drives us all to look for some semblance of hope or positive feeling to get excited for. For me, that thing is definitely Christmas. Maybe your way of finding some light is turning on that Michael Bublé Christmas Spotify playlist ASAP. If so, you’re probably less of a miser than I am. But I’ll be saving my playlists for right at Christmas time, savoring each lyric, treating each song like it’s brand new, because it will be. Anna Schmidt is the Collegian opinions editor and a junior in mass communications.The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Collegian. Please send comments to opinion@ kstatecollegian.com.