ksu edition

E T A N T S K- ITIO ED 2012

THE MERCURY M A N H A T T A N ,

K A N S A S

B1 CITY

C1 PEOPLE

D1 LIFESTYLE

F1 SPORTS

Guide to local food and farmers markets.

Bruce Weber talks about his new home.

Freefall with the K-State Parachute Club.

New football and basketball facilities.

Wheeling around town

A man rides his bike on the K-State campus.

How to survive and maybe thrive in Manhattan with just a bike to get around Anton Trafimovich Staff writer

T

his past spring Manhattan was included in a list of bike-friendly communities according to the League of American Bicyclists. Beyond the rating, the city is also recognized by the biking community as one where biking can be a good alternative to driving a car.

The biggest changes in biking infrastructure have been made just recently.

The movement was sparked by city engineer Rob Ott’s discovery of an old Manhattan Bicycle Master Plan in 2008. That same year a bicycle advisory committee was with a group of experts and bike advocates collaborating on behalf of adapting city infrastructure to bicyclists’ needs and promoting bike culture among the residents.

“We have the expertise to make sure that what we plan and implement really work,” Peter Clark, civil design engineer, said.

“That’s the key to it.”

In 2008 the city started hosting an annual Bike Week, among other things installing more bike racks.

‘Share Road’ signs and signs pointing the Linear trail were also put up. This April Manhattan became the first city in Kansas with a bike boulevard, Moro Street.

In a certain way all these achievements were possible because Manhattan was predisposed to biking.

Unlike many cities throughout the state, Manhattan doesn’t have enormous highways crossing the city and impeding safe riding on driveways.

“I’d say Manhattan is one of the easiest cities to get around on a bike. Especial-

ly in Kansas,” Clark said.

“Partially because of the way the city was designed.

(It has a) great pattern street design, flattish area.”

The street design is being further used to facilitate the biking infrastructure. If the city will approve funding, next year Manhattan will get a few more bike boulevards and a bike lane on 11th street from Poyntz to Bluemont.

So far the bicycle committee is focusing on smaller projects, but in the future hundreds of thousands of dollars will be needed to build crossings over highways that will connect the whole city with bike paths.

“They don’t want to spend money on anything that they will consider as extra expenses or special interest,” said Joey Lightner, bicycle coordinator intern at City Hall. “[But] it’s not a special interest.”

Indeed, biking is far not special interest. According to Michael Wesch, K-State anthropology professor and Bike Advisory Committee member, 7 out of 10 Americans enjoy bicycling. Being a bike advocate, Wesch tries to change the conversation from being about making Manhattan bike friendly for bikers and instead making the city bike friendly for everybody.

“We need to create a community where 7 out of 10 people can bike and feel comfortable,” Wesch said.

“That has been my thrust.”

From his perspective as an anthropologist, Wesch sees automobiles and cheap gasoline as degrading the sense of community.

Unlike driving, he believes biking creates the sense of connection.

“When I bike to work I often see two or three people that I know, I’ll often

Staff photos by Tommy Theis

Qusai Abu Sneineh, a K-State grain science student from Jordan, rides down Mid-Campus Drive on campus on his bicycle. The campus is a popular place for bikers, especially in the summer, when there is less traffic.

stop and talk to at least one of them,” Wesch said. “You compare that to a car, you don’t see anybody, you don’t talk to anybody. You are just in a case, in this capsule.”

Wesch said he has already noticed changes after Moro Street became a bike boulevard. He said the children have never played in front yards. But after the speed limit on the street was decreased to 20 miles per hour, more children go to play in the front yards.

“And that improves community,” Wesch said.

“Because if you are in the front yard, you actually see other people.”

Businesses in Manhattan are also joining bike movement. Varsity Donuts has been recently recognized as a Bike Friendly Business. The donut shop is not only decorated with bikes, but it has also bike rentals, a bike pump, tools to fix flat tires and even bike delivery. Many of Varsity Donuts’ employees are biking to work, as the employers do.

Jeremy Corn and Diane Meredith, two of six co-owners of the donut shop, often bike.

“We loved donuts and love bikes, let’s somehow combine those,” Corn said. “People love it!”

One year after the shop opened it has become a meeting spot for many cyclists.

Corn even hosted Bike Advisory Committee meetings in his donut shop. The K-State cycling team meets there, too.

Corn finds it crucial to bike more in Manhattan, as the city is already overwhelmed with cars. From his own experience it is possible to get almost everywhere on a bike in less time than it takes to get in a car, drive, park and walk to the store.

“For me it puts me in a good mood,” he said. “I think it makes the city a more civilized place to live.”

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CAMPUS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

The recyclers: How the process works in Manhattan a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

The curbside providers Curbside recycling started in Manhattan five agree that the Manhattan years ago, when Mandy market still hasn’t reached Scholz, a single mom, pon- its full potential.

“I feel that there is room dered ways to make a living from home while helping for growth in Manhattan,” the community at the same Scholz said. “The interest time. She did it by estab- seems to go in stages and lishing Go Green Recy- does reflect the economy at cling. Today three compa- the time.”

Wilson said they also nies provide curbside accept clothes that they recycling in town.

Scholz had just moved bale for shipment to China. back to Manhattan at the Another item they are starting to accept is etime.

“I noticed that my mom waste.

Although there is a lot of was taking all of her own recycling to the recycling glass recycling, Howies center and I saw an oppor- doesn’t pick glass up. Wiltunity for this service,” she son received a $15,000 grant from Riley County to said.

Two years after Scholz, recycle glass that is Justin Dodge, a recent K- brought in; otherwise, he State graduate, launched said, he cannot make profit Carnahan Curbside Recy- on it. The grant also goes cling. He still operates the toward recycling steel cans and plastic. business by himself.

“But basically it’s Dodge, who had just completed MBA program always glass,” Wilson said.

“Glass is in K-State, l o s i n g found the money big business time.” idea worth Recycling rates Dodge trying.

Howies – $8 per month provides “ T h a t ’s (provided only for Howies curbside something trash customers) glass recythat the Carnahan Curbside Recycling. He community cling – $9.99 (biweekly pick said that is needed,” up), $14.99 (weekly pick one of the Dodge said. reasons Both Go up) why some Green and Go Green Curbside Recyp e o p l e Carnahan cling – $10 (biweekly pick choose his Curbside up), $15 (weekly pick up). company.

Recycling “There pick up recyare a lot of clable mateindividuals rial at curbside and drop it off at that want to recycle,” Howies Recycling and Dodge said “But they don’t Trash Services. The area’s have the time; they are busy only recycling , it was start- during the week.”

Although Dodge still ed by Howard, Joann and Greg Wilson in 1984. They operates the entire busibegan with aluminum cans ness by himself, he finds it but expanded their recy- beneficial to stay in it.

“It’s definitely somecling cycles to take in food and beverage glass, plastic thing that you get a lot of jugs bottles, steel cans, satisfaction because you paper/magazines, card- know you are helping the board, and newspaper as community,” he said. “I well. They also accept know I’m doing something scrap metals including right.” transmissions, radiators and car batteries.

For a long time, Howies What can be only accepted drop offs at recycled in their recycling center, but Manhattan they opened their own curbside recycling service •aluminum cans in 2010. They now have 1,500 customers who pay •food and beverage glass for curbside recycling, •plastic jusgs ans bottles although most of their (#1 and #2) material still comes from •steel cans drop offs. Up to 2,000 peo•paper/magazines ple drop their recyclable •newspaper material at Howie’s every •cardboard week.

• clothes “Right now on Saturday Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer

sometimes 550 people come to this door in the morning,” Howard Wilson said.

Wilson said he buys nontrash metals. Although he doesn’t pay for paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, or cans he still recycles them.

Howies operates from 7.30

Scrap metals Aluminum, cooper, brass, stainless steel, transmissions, radiators, car batteries.

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Above: A pile of glass bottles brought in by Manhattan residents is prepared for recycling at Howie’s Recycling and Trash Service. Bottom: Howie’s also has an impressive method to crush aluminum cans. Show here is a woman dumping cans in a conveyer belt. The belt goes up and over with the cans landing inside a crusher that will compress them into a smaller package of aluminum.

Some on campus want a stronger recycling effort Anton Trafimovich Staff writer With 23.8 percent of potential recycling being done on campus, K-State was ranked 173rd of 605 schools participating in a recent national college recycling competition.

Although the result could be considered good, Bill Spiegel, custodial supervisor and general operator of the Recycling Center, looks forward to increased recycling on campus.

“There is always room for improvement,” Spiegel said.

The Recycling Center is right behind Weber Hall on Claflin Road. Seven full time workers operate the center, which accepts newspapers, different types of paper, cardboard, aluminum, plastic bottles, and wooden pallets. Recycled material is picked up from all departments and bins around campus. Also there are eight bins for recycling outside the

center where anyone can drop off material.

The recycling center doesn’t bring in money, but it saves money by diverting trash from the landfill. It costs the university $45 to take one ton of trash to the landfill.

Although recycling is both economically rewarding and ecologically clean, all of the recycling done on campus is voluntary. K-State has no mandatory recycling.

Moreover, it is the only school in the Big 12 conference that doesn’t have a fee for recycling.

Nevertheless Spiegel is optimistic about improvements in recycling. He said in the fall 2013 students living in dorms might start paying for recycling services.

Ashley Bailey, a senior in mass communication, did a study this past semester among students living in the dorm. She found that those students wouldn’t mind paying to fund recycling on cam-

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“We will recycle more,” Spiegel said. “Right now it’s all on a volunteer basis, which we do a great job.”

There is a long way to go before recycling becomes universally accepted on campus. Warren Berg, manager of custodial services and director of recycling services, said lack of awareness about recycling is the main barrier.

“The biggest thing is going to be the education.”

Berg said. “We need to educate people better what can be recycled.”

To spread the message Spiegel attends different fraternity and sorority meetings telling them how they can bring their recyclables to the center.

“It has to be a group effort by everybody,” Berg said.

“The students are what the president needs to hear voices come from. They are going to make a big difference.”

Spiegel is also asking stu-

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dents to collaborate with the recycling center. Installing more recycling containers around campus costs a lot.

The average price of a recycling container that holds four products is roughly $1,200. To reduce expenses on the bins Spiegel is working with landscape architect students who are going to design recycling containers.

At the same time interior architecture students are going to design bins that are supposed to be put inside the buildings.

“I think if you get the students more involved in designing, word of mouth on different projects will spread throughout campus,” Spiegel said.

The Recycling Center has always had strong support from the faculty, as it has today. Many departments ask for extra bins for recycling. Even President Kirk Shultz is helping. “He recycles at his house,” Berg said.

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The Islamic presence Studying foreign cultures in Kansas in Manhattan Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer

Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer The first mosque in Manhattan was built in 1982. But the growing Muslim population — driven by increases in the number of international students — forced construction of the Islamic center of Manhattan in 1993. The center now unites around 200 Muslims here.

Unlike in the 1980s, the Islamic center is not just a place for prayer. Mustaque Hossain, a faculty member in civil engineering, came to Manhattan in 1991. Originally from Bangladesh, he attended an mosque in a regular house purchased from a faculty member. That place didn’t have designated space for females to pray, something that is considered standard in mosques.

Now there is a large prayer hall, a designated area for female prayers, meeting spaces downstairs, and classrooms for the children.

“It is an all-encompassing facility on par with prayer facilities of other denominations in town,” Hossain said.

“It is the heart of the Muslim community in Manhattan and the surrounding area.”

Adnan Alkhiary, a doctoral student in family studies and Islamic Center of Manhattan president, said most of the efforts of the center are devoted to religious education. The center hosts meetings and discussions on religious topics, and maintains a library and an ongoing Girls club.

The Muslim Students Association, a K-State club, co-participates in various activities organized by the center.

Abdulrahman Alkhiary, a sophomore in political science, MSA chair member and Adnan Alkhiary’s son, said both organizations are based on the same people.

“There is not any period between them,” he said.

Although all of the center’s members profess the same religion, they come from different Muslim countries and cultures. There are more than three dozen countries represented in the center.

Sulaiman Alrweih, a freshman in architectural engineering, said he found the Islamic Center very different from the mosques he used to visit in his home country of Kuwait. He appreciates that he can see the variety of Muslim cultures in one place.

“I can talk to other Muslims from other countries, learn about their culture,” Alrweih said.

Prior to coming to Manhattan, Alkhiary’s family spent several years in Columbia, Mo., where the majority of Muslims were local residents. In Manhattan, almost all the Muslims

are affiliated with KSU. Out of 200 members of the center community, only four are local residents.

“Our weakness is that the community is not constant,” Adnan Alkhiary said. “We don’t have as much commitment.”

There are a number of faculty members at the center, but students dominate. That results in an ever-changing staff and activities.

The Islamic Center hosts breakfasts during Ramadan, the holy month, when Muslims are prohibited from eating during daylight hours.

“Many non-married people come because usually they don’t know how to cook,” Abdulrakhman Alkhiary said.

The Islamic Center also helps to adapt and settle new Muslim students coming to Manhattan. They can rely on assistance with finding housing, buying a car or just getting acquainted with the city. Sometimes the center members even go to the airport to pick up a student who just arrived.

Also the center hosts many gatherings and activities designed to unite the community. From time to time local Muslims gather in the center’s backyard to have a picnic, barbeque or play games.

One of the center’s goals is to educate locals about Islamic culture. Everyone is encouraged to attend weekly meeting with speakers in the center.

“Our door is open,” Adnan Alkhiary said.

To reach more people, MSA holds lectures on Islam in the Leadership Studies building each semester.

Adbulrahman Alkhiary speaks there at the Culture Context class. He has done it nine times during the past year.

The Islamic Center is trying to cooperate with different local services for the benefit of both parties. The Red Cross staff came over the center to learn more about Middle Eastern and Muslim culture and to teach Muslim community how to act during tornado and other disasters. The center for its part offered to consider volunteers from the number of Muslim community in case of any disaster.

“We are trying to work out relations,” Adbulrakhman Alkniary said.

In the future they are going to host meeting of this kind with the police and fire department. Adbulrakhman Alkniary said, they are trying to show all the people there is no any distinct between Muslim community.

“It would be win-win for us, for community, for everyone,” Abulrahman Alkhiary said. “We got to take that step.”

After working in the office of International Programs at K-State for 12 years, anthropology professor Barry Michie headed a project to create a South Asian Studies program.

Barry Michie started his international experience in 1963, when he went to Greece for his junior year at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore. International programs were already common for American universities at that time.

“The idea was to give students some international exposure, international experience,” Barry said.

While Barry Michie was studying in Oregon, Aruna Nayyar was studying at Smith College in Massachusetts. When President Kennedy initiated the Peace Corps, an American volunteer program, in 1961, both Barry and Aruna became involved. Barry joined after graduating from Lewis and Clark and went to India in January 1966.

He was posted in the town

of Malpura in Rajastan state. Aruna Nayyar returned from the U.S. and was hired by the Peace Corps in India. The two met and were married in 1968.

While Aruna was used to an international environment, Barry said living abroad changed his attitude toward many things. Experiencing another culture gave him a a way of looking at things that he wouldn’t necessarily have had if he had stayed within his own culture.

“Basically you find yourself in a new reality,” Barry said. “It makes you stop and question all sorts of assumption that you didn’t even know that you had.”

Since he married an Indian, learned Hindi and visited many countries in the region, South Asia has become a second home for Barry. Barry applied for a grant from the Department of Education to involve professional programs at K-State, and he and his wife have worked in that area since 1976. He said the point of the program is to allow students to get exposure

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Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer The international community is growing rapidly at K-State. Around 10 percent of the students are foreigners.

Emilie Guidez, graduate student in chemistry, is among them. Guidez is originally from the town of Annemasse, France.

After living in Kansas for four years, she said she likes everything in the United States and now doesn’t want to go back to France.

Guidez gained her bachelor in chemistry in the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her town is located right on the border with Switzerland what enables her to go to the university by bus every day. Even though the town is a part of the Geneva metropolitan area, the bus ride will usually take around two hours with numerous stops and busy traffic.

Unlike many people who are looking forward to settling in bigger cities, Guidez finds the small town lifestyle more attractive. This is why she is so excited to study in Manhattan.

“It’s not a big city, it’s not too crowded, not too stressful,” Guidez said.

“But it’s big enough to

hang out. It’s just the right size.”

Living in a small town to her mind has more advantages. It is never loud, the air remains clean and fresh. Also nothing tempts her from work in a town like Manhattan.

“Parties and getting drunk all night, I don’t care about that,” Guidez said. “I care about people, making friends. And here I made very good friends.”

The only barrier Guidez had to overcome in the United States has been the food. In 2008 when she was on an exchange trip at K-State Salina and was on the meal plan she had problems with local food that she didn’t like at all. Now, when she lives off campus, she cooks herself.

Sometime she cannot find some ingredients and has to adapt traditional recipes from her mother and grandmother she uses.

What Guidez likes a lot is the American system of education. The university she used to go in Geneva is incomparable with KState, she said. Unlike in the U.S., students in Geneva don’t enroll in classes they would like to take.

Once they are accepted into their program, they get a schedule for the

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A large part of her time at K-State is devoted to non-class activities, participating in different clubs, volunteering. In Geneva students are so busy with their classes that they cannot find any time to do anything out of the classroom. Every day Guidez awoke at 6 in the morning and came back home only by 10 at night.

“It’s just physically impossible,” Guidez said.

Although the societal values are the same in general, some of them are totally different. For

instance the French bring up kids differently. Here, in the U.S. if you hit your kid he can call child services. But in France parents can threaten their kid and no one would think of calling child services.

Another difference between the two societies is the attitude with respect to the church.

While older people still remain religious in France, it is not as common for young people to go church anymore.

There are other things Guidez would rather borrow from American society. One is the absence of a dress code for students.

Here, in the United States she can wear whatever she wants, but back at the University of Geneva she had to dress up every day.

“It’s a social suicide if you come to school in pajamas in France,” Guidez said. “People will throw tomatoes at me.

Here it’s ok.”

Guidez likes travelling and had already visited several countries. By far she considers the U.S. as the best place for living.

Even France, where she was raised, doesn’t seem to be as comfortable as America.

“I feel more comfortable here than there,” she said.

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entire course already set up by the faculty. And no student can either add or drop a class.

Back in Geneva, university policy was strict.

The grade was never comprehensive and was based on the final exam result only.

In case the student failed, he or she had several chances to retake the exam. Repeated failures led to dismissals. In Guidez’ class, for example, 50 students began, but in three years only 15 were left. The rest didn’t pass some of the exams and were kicked out.

“It’s never the teacher’s fault if you fail.

It’s always your fault,” Guidez said. “You cannot complain to your teacher if you fail.”

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As a part of the South Asian studies Sajid Alavi, associate professor of grain science and industry, designed a study abroad class titled “Agriculture and Food Processing in North India”.

During a two-week summer trip in 2010, 10 students in grain science,

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food science and agricultural economics, and three instructors visited farms and other agricultural and food processing facilities in northern India.

Alavi said it’s vital for students who go to work in industry to be globally aware, and such trips are valuable for gaining international experience.

“If they go out and experience those places first hand, it makes them better employees when they work for any multinational company,” he said.

This project is just one part of the South Asian content in Alavi’s classes.

He teaches a food processing class every year and includes various international examples.

Also, in a couple of years a new course on agriculture and food processing in the developing countries with substantial South Asian content should be started.

“In order to understand and interact effectively, college is the time to really get your foot in the door and get some understanding about it,” he said.

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to the region through taking courses related to South Asia, working, researching or taking internship in the region.

Barry Michie believes the region is worth studying closely because India is a major competitor and a major partner of the U.S. “There are Indian companies coming here and investing here in Kansas,” he said.

According to Michie, the South Asia program reaches out to different majors. There are courses in Hindi, history, anthropology, social sciences and humanities, agriculture, engineering and business that contain South Asian perspective.

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Career center puts students on right path

Services at K-State Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer

Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer

There are a number of services at K-State designed to help students catch up or excel in their academics, find appropriate resources for a class, or land a job. Here is a digest on major helping services available to KStaters.

Career and Employment Services The title of this organization gives the idea of its purpose. CES prepares students for the career in real world.

The range of service includes resume critiques and organization of professional fairs. Leah Adeniji, Career Development coordinator, said all of the CES services are connected. She advises students to come to CES as early as in the first year of the college.

“You start to build these [professional] skills as a freshman,” Adeniji said.

Adeniji suggested the following consequence of successful finding a job by the end of the school: resume critique, meeting a career advisor, attending workshops, attending career fairs, and networking with employers.

Adeniji stresses that college students have time and opportunities to improve their professional skills and make themselves more marketable. “When you graduate, you are not going to have people knocking on your door,” Adeniji said.

Meeting an advisor. CES has a dozen specialized advisors assisting students. Anyone can make a 30-minute appointment or walk-in and spend up to 15 minutes with an advisor every Wednesday.

An appointment can be arranged to discuss any topic.

It could be resume critique, internship or job opportunities, or getting prepared for an interview.

The art of the interview.

CES provides mock interviewing sessions to get students prepared for questions both general; and directly

Staff photo by Tommy Theis

Allie Straub and Sadie Daniel, both students and employees at career and employment services, file info on the many feilds in which K-State offers education. related to their major. “Lots of people have trouble with that,” Adeniji said.

Career fairs. One of the most important tasks of CES is hosting a career fair. Each fall and spring several general and specific fairs are hosted at the K-State Student Union.

Employers from neighbor states recruit K-State students either as interns or for full-time jobs. The next career fair will be on August 31. In addition CES organizes part-time job fairs at the beginning of the school year.

Tips to find a job. K-State students have access to a CES account, were employers post their openings. Adeniji also recommended that students upload their resumes as sometimes employers search for available students themselves.

When going to an interview or a career fair, those who don’t have a professional suit can borrow up to five items in CES office.

The best time to start searching for an internship or a job is one semester in advance. For instance those, seeking for internship in the summer should attend a career fair in September, while students searching for a job in the fall are better off

starting in the middle of spring.

“Resume, interviewing, networking opportunities and skills. The top three ways that employers recruit college students are through career fair, internship and networking,” Adeniji said.

Academic Assistance Center The Academic Assistance Center is an umbrella establishment that organizes courses to help students succeed in their academics.

“We want them to know what’s out there, how we can help them, down the road,” Judith Lynch, director of Academic Assistance Center, said.

University Experience course. This is for freshmen only. New students get a detailed orientation to the university, learning about the variety of resources available on campus and other helping organizations they can use. The center invites representatives of different campus organizations to speak on study skills, campus resources and services, academic planning and advising, career exploration, university policies and procedures.

“It specifically designed

to help them figure out how to be a good student,” Lynch said.

Up to 450 freshmen enroll in the University Experience every fall. The course can be two or three credit hours, depending on whether students take an optional guided study session. During these sessions, which are held in smaller groups, freshmen talk about their current classes, and study together for the exams.

PILOTS Program. This program has a similar goal to the University Experience course, which is to help students to make transition from high school and adjust to college life. However, PILOTS is more than just one course.

Those enrolled in the program get their regular classes narrowed. Instead of several hundred people on the lecture on psychology, for example, PILOTS fellows will get the same lecture with the same instructor but the number of students at the lecture will drop to 50. Classes are smaller in order to let students digest all the materials.

“We just make it a little smaller a little more personal. And we monitor them closely, so we know if they have trouble,” Lynch said.

For those students who still haven’t decided on their major or don’t know how to bridge their major to a career, the Academic and Career Information Center provides free consultations. Although targeted primarily at freshmen and sophomores, the center serves students of all years and majors.

“It could be a K-State student, or it could be a student who is not yet a KState student,” said Michelle Haupt, Academic and Career Information Center coordinator.

Most of the center visitors are open option major students, those who still haven’t made a final decision on their major. However, other students who are uncertain in their major and thinking of changing it also visit the center.

Those who are satisfied with their major but cannot find an appropriate application to it in the real world can also make use of it.

Haupt said that the center is very much in demand among students, especially in the fall.

“The fall semester is terribly busy,” Haupt said. “We always have doors open.”

In the spring, summer and fall 2011, ACIC served 1,400 students in a variety of ways, among them: *Career assessment questionnaire. This is a questionnaire about students’ interests, abilities and values. After students answer the survey questions, ACIC staff ties all of the information together and suggests a place to start exploring.

“We help students understand a little bit more about themselves,” Haupt said.

To come up with advice

on fields of possible interest, ACIC uses a career database, web resources and the ACIC library.

Haupt said the questionnaire helps students decide about their next step either in determining a major or choosing a career. *Career planning class. Another helpful tool is the Career Planning class. This is a one credit hour, eight-week long course that covers topics such as choosing a major, exploring careers and defining values. During the course a student will take three career assessments and research majors and careers. By the end of the course, a student will also prepare an initial resume and cover letter, and go through a mock interview.

Haupt said both her office and Career Employment Services are related to careers, but they cover different aspects.

“We are step number one. As a student wants to understand and determine what the path would be, we are the office they can come to,” Haupt said.

According to Haupt around 130 students enroll in the Career Planning class each year. More than 90 percent of the students agree or strongly agree that they are better prepared for making decisions on their major and career after taking the course.

Up to 800 students visit the annual Majors Fair hosted by ACIC. On that day, usually in the fall, all campus departments get together in the Student Union to answer students’ questions concerning their programs.

This year the event is going to be on October 31.

“It’s really an opportunity for students to learn more,” Haupt said.

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Olathe and Salina: The ‘other’ K-State campuses Schulz talks 2025 Plan

Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer Manhattan brings many benefits to students living away from their homes for the first time. The city has a small town feel, but also has a strong college town atmosphere.

It offers many things that appeal to young people, from new shops and restaurants, to the nightlife in Aggieville, to a close-knit campus, where everything is in walking distance.

Manhattan seems to have what a lot of kids in college are looking for in their college experience.

However, there are those who may not want the large college experience, who may just want to be at a school with 700 people, rather than that of 24,000.

There are also those who have had the undergraduate college experience, but now it’s time to buckle down and finish that masters.

Kansas State offers those options to students with its K-State Salina and K-State Olathe campuses.

In April 2011, Kansas State opened its doors to a new campus outside of the Manhattan city limits. It was Kansas State University in Olathe, joining KState Salina as a remote branch of the university.

K-State Olathe gives Kansas State a footprint in an area that from which students had been recruited for a long time, and which has grown to be home to many students.

“The greater Kansas City metro area is by far the largest population center for quite a ways around,” said Kansas State President, Kirk Schulz, “it gives us a permanent physical presence right there in that Kansas City metro area, and in Johnson County, where we get more students than we get from any other place in Kansas.”

Another reason for opening the branch in the Kansas City metro is that

Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer

Staff photos by:Tommy Theis

The view of the entrance to the Kansas Bioscience Park. (Bottom) The view of the K-State Olathe campus as you enter . The park also contains a small pond with many different flowering plants all around. In 2011, K-State Olathe opened its doors students for the first time.

This is the second branched campus K-State has to offer, along with Salina.

many corporations have based their company homes in Kansas City. With the new campus, which will focus a lot on postgraduate studies, those students have access to companies they hope to work for. “(K-State Olathe) is going to bring a research objective, as a major research institution, more fully to the corporations and companies that are located in that Kansas City area,” said Schulz.

K-State Olathe CEO Dan Richardson said the campus really wanted to put an emphasis on the studies of animal health and food safety, which are both accounted for well with the corporations in Kansas City.

“Our first building is the International Animal

Health and Food Safety Institute, so we’re focused on interactions with the industries in animal health and in food. These are core strengths of KState, that we’re trying to take advantage of the strong industry presence in Johnson County and the Kansas City region,” Richardson said.

K-State Olathe specializes its studies in education of animal health and food safety as well. As part of the agreement with Johnson County, K-State Olathe offers a K-12 program, which allows student’s career opportunities to work with the Johnson County school districts.

“We will reach out and work with the schools districts in the community to

help the kids get exposure to career opportunities,” said Richardson.

This program does not only reach out to the Olathe schools, but to all the schools in Johnson County.

“We have strong programs with all of the Johnson County school districts, not just Olathe and have reached out beyond that across the state and even across the border in Missouri,” Richardson said, “to expose kids to career opportunities in animal health, food systems and food safety.”

K-State also offers a type of schooling where you get your K-State education, but with smaller classes and more emphasis on the individual student. That occurs at K-State Salina.

“K-State Salina represents a great opportunity for that student who wants a much smaller, intimate campus environment, that will feel a little bit lost in a 20,000 student kind of campus, that wants more intimate involvement where there’s 800 students at a public university price,” Schulz This would be similar to students who go to small, liberal-arts colleges like Baker or Mid America Nazarene University.

“It’s almost like you’re getting what you might get at a small liberal-arts school, a private school.

But you’re getting it with the kind of tuition and fees that we have to offer in a state university environment” — Kurk Schulz K-State Salina specializes in the fields of aviation, engineering and social work. It’s Schulz’s goal to make Salina an allaround college campus, which will offer students a good second option to that of K-State in Manhattan.

“I want that to be a comprehensive campus that really just gives another option for people who want the K-State degree, the KState brand, but want a little something different than what they’re going to get out of Manhattan,” Schulz said.

In February of 2010, Kansas State University launched a new, long-term initiative to become a top 50 public research university by the year 2025.

The plan was named 2025, and has been President Kirk Schulz’s biggest goal since coming to Manhattan in 2009.

“2025 is our strategic, visionary plan that seeks to move Kansas State University to be recognized as one of the top 50 public research universities in the country,” Schulz explained. “We want to raise the national visibility of K-State.”

Raising the university's national image will add value to K-State’s degree programs, help attract great faculty, retain great faculty and bring more companies to campus to visit with students about jobs, Schulz said.

It’s also Schulz’s hope that 2025 will raise national recognition of K-State graduates in the work force, adding value to a KState student’s degree.

“What it does is add value to degrees, whether it’s a Ph.D., a master's or bachelor’s degree,” he said. “It makes the opportunities for our graduates so much more rich than what they might currently have.”

It was important to Schulz that he get a broad range of people around the university to have input into the plan to make it work. He said that the university’s faculty and staff have to be part of the process to make the plan a success.

“You start getting creative energies of our 1,500 faculty and staff thinking, ‘How can I raise the profile SEE

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How to spend money without going broke Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer With all the responsibilities students face entering college, financial ones are among the most challenging. After being supported by parents, students coming to college for the first time make their own financial decisions. Those decisions begin with buying food and include seeing to their credit card accounts.

To deal with all sorts of financial issues, the Powercat Financial Counseling program was started in 2009. This is a place where any student can get free assistance on any financial concern.

Jodi Kaus, Powercat Financial Counseling director, said the program is aimed to be a financial planner that helps students learn how to build good credit habits and why it is important to have a good credit score. It also helps them understand their loan terms and outcomes they will face after graduation.

About one-third of incoming students are seeking information regarding loans. Another third wants to learn better personal budgeting and

Staff illustration by:Tommy Theis

creating spending plans.

Understanding and managing their credits is the third most common question financial counselors are being asked.

Ronika Ledesma, senior in accounting, said credit is a vital issue. Before starting the program, she had eight credit cards and never realized why her credit score was low.

“There is good credit and bad credit,” Ledesma said. “We help them to see visually how you can boost your credit by the time you

get out of college.”

Roxane Martens, graduate student in personal financial planning, said they try to explain that good credit is important, naming the credit score as the financial GPA and the credit report as the transcript.

“Life is not just about school, but it goes with them for their career,” Martens said.

Both Ledesma and Martens are peer counselors. Kaus said peer-topeer modeling is more effi-

cient than regular assistance provided by staff. It was the first peer finance educational program in Kansas, and was recognized by receipts of the VISA award in 2009.

“That’s more effective,” Kaus said. “More than me, out of generation, preaching to them like another parent.”

According to Kaus, the program gains popularity every year. On the one hand, education is getting more expensive; on the other, the economy still

hasn’t recovered and more families are trying to come up with a better plan for managing their finances.

Graduate and senior students seek assistance more often than students in their junior years. Some come with spouses and get co-counseling. Kaus, however, wants to see more freshmen coming to the office. Instead of students taking loans and then waiting to make a plan and repay, financial counselors want them to come before they even accept the loan and do a budget.

“We are trying to create a culture change,” Kaus said.

Another habit, students should get is being cautious in their spending habits. Kaus said since their budget is limited, they need to have a plan for how they are going to make it work throughout the semester. It is essential not to overspend on unnecessary things.

The Powercat Financial Counseling web site contains several simple tips and tools on how to create a spending plan. It allows students to compare their estimates and actual records. Very often they underestimate their actual

expenditures. Improvement requires behavioral change.

“You need to modify something that you are doing in a way you handle your money to stay on track,” Kaus said.

Martens said that after finding unnecessary expenditures, students can cut those to put toward the bill or saving or the goal that they are trying to reach.

“Maybe they think they are only spending $50 on food but they are actually spending $200,” Martens said. “Maybe going from there realistically they are not going spend $50 but maybe they carry this to $120.”

Besides traditional finance questions, financial counselors deal with such issues as revising job offers and providing information on benefits, health insurance and disability insurance coverage. Also students can find advice on dealing with rent issues if they face some troubles with their landlord.

“We do anything,” Ledesma said “Any question doesn’t have to be financial. But if we can’t answer we help students get to that.”

Yes, you do have financial aid options; check them out Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer As the cost of education increases, KSU’s Office of Student Financial Assistance has developed an array of financial aids that students can utilize to reduce the burden on their family budget.

“Every single student can qualify for some type of financial assistance,” Larry Moeder, director of student financial assistance, said.

Moeder named three main sources of financial aid. Those are loans, scholarships and grants. K-State students get more than $200 million a year through these sources. That’s up from $102 million in 2000 and $45 million in 1990.

According to Moeder most K-Staters use federal student loans. Although there are a lot of private educational loans, the federal loan has a fixed interest rate of 6.8 percent, and is covered

by the government. The student doesn’t have to begin making repayments until after graduation.

There are two types of federal loans. The first is subsidized, and is for students who are able to demonstrate need. The government pays interest on the loan while the student is in school. That interest accrues at 3 percent after the student graduates.

Any student can receive an unsubsidized loan no matter what the family income might be. That loan accrues interest immediately at the time of disbursement at 6.8 percent.

The amount of a student’s loan depends on such factors as need and the student’s year of college. Freshmen can receive a maximum $5 500 in federal loans per year; those amounts increase to $7,500 for seniors and more for graduate students.

If the family needs more than the FSL can provide,

the student can apply for what is known as a PLUS loan (Parent’s loan for Undergraduate Students).

This loan has a higher interest rate of 7.9 percent, but it enables parents to borrow the total price of going to college for the year excepting the student’s other financial aids, such as scholarships and grants.

Up to 30 percent of KState students receive scholarships. Last year KState students received $16 million in scholarship money.

“There are scholarships that vary from a couple of thousand dollars for the academic year up to $20,000,” Moeder said.

Besides strictly academic scholarships, performance scholarships are also available. Those scholarships are based on students’ abilities in areas such as music, speech, theater or athletics.

There is no limit to how much a student can receive in scholarships, Moeder said. The only restriction is if a student also receives federal financial assistance that doesn’t allow a student to receive more than it costs to go to school.

“In other words the student can’t make money from scholarships and (financial aid),” Moeder said.

Moeder said most KState colleges use a unified application form to apply for a scholarship. Students do not decide what kind of scholarship they would

like to apply for. Based on their ACT or SAT scores, grades, and/or high school class rank, the amount of scholarship is determined by the Office of Student Financial Assistance.

For incoming freshmen, the application deadline is November 1 of their senior year at high school. For students already attending KState, the application deadline for the next academic year is due to February 1.

Students may also receive a grant from the federal government or from the State of Kansas.

Grants are need based, but they do not have to be repaid. Applicants are required to submit an application listing family income and other information. About 25 percent of KSU students qualify for federal grants that don’t have to be paid back.

Moeder said often students don’t apply because they think they are not going to qualify.

“My advice to a student is to go through the financial aid application at least one time just to find out where they stand and qualify for aid,” Moeder said

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Staff photo by:Tommy Theis

Students relax in the nice weather outside of Hale Library

K-State’s study spot Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer When it’s time to hit the books and study in solitude, students often gravitate to the numerous coffee shops or the public workspace at the new Flint Hills Discovery Center.

But K-State students who want to stay on campus to study also have an option: Hale Library.

The 550,000 square foot building is open 24 hours, five days a week during the school year. Hours usually run from 1 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Friday night. And it is open during the day on Saturday.

With five floors of study space, Hale Library has almost everything any student could need for studying or even working on big group assignments.

Library officials say Hale Library has the space and services to help any student. It also offers areas for students and faculty to relax. The café and a bagel shop at the library, Einstein Brothers Bagels, is in a central location for people to drop by and get a snack.

In addition, Hale also has three branch libraries that serve the Colleges of Engineering, Veterinary Medicine and Architecture, Planning and Design.

“Hale has become student central on campus,” said Lori Goetsch, dean of K-State Libraries. “We are heavily used by students who come here, obviously to study and work on assignments…also I think it performs a social gathering, function. We are trying to make it accommodate both people who have quiet

Schulz on KSU’s 2025 Plan NO. 1, FROM PAGE A5

A collection of books that shown during the Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War exibit. and individual study needs, as well as group studies.”

Along with the study space, students have access to a lot of technology inside Hale. The library has more than 240 public computers with Internet access and that are hooked up to a printer.

Hale also offers laptop and camera checkout without charge to students. The library even has a sound booth for digital recordings in the Media Development Center, where students also can do video editing and production.

“There’s just a wealth of technology available here in the library for students to have access to,” said Roberta Johnson, senior director of administration and IT Services of K-State Libraries.

The librarians of Hale aren’t just there to check out books or watch students study. They are ready to assist with any study need of any student.

This includes the library's online presence,

www.lib.k-state.edu. The library has a huge online database that is helpful when researching for a project or paper. These databases are Google-type search engines that scan the Web to find the best resources for whatever it is a student is looking for. These databases can be accessed on or off campus.

The librarians also have many freshman classes, such as Expository Writing and Speech, come in for a day and learn about how to use the online databases. “(The databases) get used a lot,” said Marcia Stockham, assistant dean of content management at K-State Libraries. “When I was doing instruction (about the database), it seemed that students were eager to learn, they were happy to know about it, because they didn’t know how to go about finding things (online). I’d say once they know about their existence, students use them affectively for what they need. But there’s always more help they can get from a

librarian.”

The library even has an online feature called “Ask a Librarian,” which is an instant message chat that any student can access on the library’s website.

Many students use this tool when they are confused about how to use the online database, when looking for a book in the library, or for research-related questions.

Students can event text or email their questions.

Library officials said one of the things that sets Hale Library apart from other study areas around Manhattan is the library staff, whose members are dedicated to helping students because they know how hard finding study or research material can be.

“This building is just full of people who want to help…there are people here who can help with the papers and research, and to help take work the next level up,” said Johnson. “The dedication to the students, I’m impressed with it every day.”

of my department?’ ‘How can I have richer experiences for my undergraduate students?’

‘What kind of facilities do we need?’ So now we got people thinking more broadly about ‘what do I need 10 years from now’ to really help us get here,” Schulz said.

During Schulz’s tenure as president, K-State has seen s gains in its fundraising efforts – which Schulz made a priority to improve upon.

“We’ve gone from $82 million, to $92 million, to $107 million, to we’ll be substantially above that this year (in private fundraising),” he said.

Schulz said it's important for K-State to make gains in private donations to help retain current faculty, bring in new faculty and make facility improvements around campus as well.

“It’s great to say, ‘Well, we want all this stuff,' or ‘we need higher salaries,' or 'we need this or we need that.' You got to figure out some way to put resources behind that,” Schulz said. “That goes handin-hand with private fundraising.”

He said people like investing in an organization that appears to be going somewhere. “That’s why we’re seeing some of those resources coming our direction, because the governor likes where we’re going, the legislature likes where we’re going, our major donors like where we’re going,” Schulz said.

Going into its second year, 2025, has already improved upon some of Kansas State’s on campus facilities, such as the expansion of Justin Hall, adding scholarships and pro-

viding more support for faculty and staff.

“We’ve added somewhere around 200 new, endowed scholarships over the last couple of years that have been talked about in the undergraduate experience.

We’ve added some endowed chairs that provide faculty support to allow us to retain a really good faculty,” said Schulz.

But if the university wants to reach its goal of becoming a top 50 public research institution, Schulz said keeping its professors and attracting others from around the country are priorities.

“The place that we’re going to continue to lag is in that K-State has compensated or paid our faculty and staff at a below market amount for 50 years,” Schulz said. “If we’re going to be a top 50 public research university…we’re going to have to find some creative ways to make sure that we’re paying a reasonable and nationally competitive salary,” he said.

Schulz said that students should get involved in the 2025 process. One way they can do this, he said, is by graduating and going out in the work world, and then giving the university advice on how to prepare current students.

“When people graduate, we need them to continue to be involved and engaged with what (K-State) can do better. We want to make sure, though, that we’re checking along the way, that we keep that focus on students – our friendliness, our getting to know our students. If we start losing those things, then we won’t be happy with where we are, even if we are No. 48,” Schulz said.

How to maximize value when you buy textbooks Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer There’s no secret about it. Textbooks are expensive. But they are also necessary for a student’s success.

Many students have become fed up with how expensive textbooks are at area bookstores and have moved to online options.

However, with that comes risks. Varney’s Bookstore in Aggieville can guarantee that the textbook a student will purchase is the exact version that the teacher has posted.

Nowhere else can claim this, at least for Kansas State University.

Varney’s general manager Steve Levin says that when comparing books, there may be several reasons why it appears that online is cheaper. Levin said it can be hard to tell whether the version online is the one the student

needs.

When it comes to the end of the semester, selling the book back may also hit a snag. Varney’s won't buy back some books purchased online.

“There are international and desk additions, which are free copies that publishers give to professors to look at the book and make a decision about which book to use,” he said.

“It’s illegal for us to buy them back. A lot of times we’ll have the real book for $100 and (an online store) will be selling the international addition for $70, but (Varney’s) can’t buy (international addition) back.

Although there are many channels out there for students to find their textbooks, whether it would be an online purchase on Amazon.com or downloading a textbook to an iPad, Varney’s wants students to shop around and get the best possible

deal. But the bookstore also wants students to purchase wisely and to make sure if there is a website that the professor requires students to use along with the textbook, that the code to access the information cannot be previously used.

“We want people to shop around, but we want them to be smart when they’re shopping around,” Jayme Carpenter, Varney’s textbook manager, said. “We try to give (students) the information that we get from the professors and we don’t want you to get burned when you're out there. We make it clear that there’s a code that’s required…so if they’re shopping elsewhere, they need to make sure they’re checking on that stuff.”

Varney’s considers itself an ally to the students and the university when it comes to textbooks.

“We’ve always thought that (Varney’s) is a part of

the academic mission of the university, which is to enhance the students ability to learn,” said Levin.

Course materials are a part of that. “We want to make sure students get the best and most value from the course material and know they’re going to get the right materials they need for their courses at a good price,” he said.

That’s why when a student is looking at Varney’s website for textbooks this fall, they will have almost every option of the right textbook presented to them from online websites, such as Amazon, along with the Varney’s price. Students can then compare price, click the option they wish to purchase and buy it – all through Varney’s website.

“We are working hard to let students know what their options are,” Levin said. “This fall, students will be able to go on our

website and all their books will come up and will show our prices: new, used, rental and digital. And then all the pricing on the Internet, from places like Amazon and Half.com, everywhere that’s available. So you can scroll through and you can actually purchase your books on our website from those websites.

“So students will be able to see what the prices are and be able to decided why (which book is cheaper.)”

What textbook prices tend to boil down to is what textbooks professors of Kansas State University decide to use. Levin says that textbooks are less expensive when teachers reuse the same textbook edition each semester, and that is when the student can get the most money back on the textbook as well. It’s when the professor changes the textbook or moves to a different addi-

tion – to get the most recent information to their students – that it becomes hard for Varney’s to buy some books back. Levin says Varney’s is constantly keeping in touch with teachers to see which book will be used for the upcoming semester.

“Having the professors let us know what is going to be used, keep it on campus as long as possible,” said Levin. “For students, it's the lack of having codes or torn out pages. Those are the things that drive the cost of the book, because students then have to constantly get new books.”

Levin says when it comes to buy-back time at the end of the semester, students will get the best deal by just staying close to home.

“There’s no one who’s going to give a student more money back for a book that’s going to be used here at K-State than Varney's,” Levin said.

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Science plus coffee equals Science Cafe speaker. He noted that a police officer trained in DUI explained the principle behind the alcohol consumption device. Another person talked about his experience in rescue drilling in Chili.

While some Scientific Cafés are hosted in pubs and restaurants, Miller prefers coffee shops because they can be approached by families. Moreover Radina’s doesn’t require any rents or payments.

The idea of the whole Science Café is to engage the non-university public in scientific discussions. Most visitors by far are university-related, but some are high school students.

Michael Herman, K-State associate professor of biology, said they encourage high school students to attend by letting their teachers know the topic to be discussed.

“We would like to see more members of the public attend,” Herman said.

Lowell Bliss said the Science Café is one of the rare opportunities for local residents to reach K-State scientists.

“Even though Manhattan hosts a wonderful science faculty at K-State, people like myself don't necessarily have access to them,” Bliss said. “That is, until Science Cafe "serves them up," which I guess is why it's called a café.”

This is, according to Herman, the main purpose of such a Café: to educate the local community about science.

“The Science Café is important for any community because science is more and more a part of our lives,” Herman said.

Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Once a month Radina’s cosy coffee shop in Agieville turns into a place for discussion of achievements in science and technology. In that informal atmosphere, both domestic and visiting scholars talk to members of the public such subjects as the possibility of a manned mission to Mars, dark energy, or the dispersal of humans in North America.

The idea of uniting scientists and ordinary people, which started in the United Kingdom as Café Scientifique, was adopted by enormous science units all over the globe. Now thousands of scientists are meeting with locals in coffee shops, pubs, bars and teashops in dozens of countries, speaking different languages but carrying the same idea, which is to make science more accessible to the public.

The first Science Café in Kansas was opened in Hays around five years ago. In 2010 Keith Miller, K-State professor of anthropology, threw the first Science Café in Manhattan. After his first lecture on the causes and lessons of the Haitian earthquake, Radina’s hosted lectures on the Hadron Collider, GMO agriculture, zoonotic diseases, fun application of geometry and many others.

“It’s driven by the speakers not by the topic,” Miller said. “We find a speaker and say what do you want to talk on?"

Even though most of lectures are devoted to various aspects of science, the trend to discuss sustainability is obvious. In the first three years, Science Café here has hosted five lectures on climate change and alternative

energy.

“That will definitely be more talks on that,” Miller said. “Those are really important topics.”

Miller said they had to look for speakers for the first cafés. However, college towns provide access to large number of interesting speakers. So it wasn’t a surprise that speakers started asking to participate in the Café themselves.

“We have a lot of expertise in major science issues in Manhattan, and this is a great way to get the word out on that,” Carol Regehr, Science Cafe attendant and adjunct Instructor in math and physics for Barton Community College at Ft. Riley, said.

Miller said, anyone can be a

Staff photos by: Tommy Theis

Above: Two kids look onto a sheet of paper that is being used as a backdrop to project last summer’s transit of Venus during a Science Cafe event. The viewing was supported by the Sigma Xi research scientific society and was designed to get more locals acquainted with science.

Right: A closeup of the projection shows Venus in the top left of the photo; the other dark regions are sun spots.

Got an interest? Join a club to feed it Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Out-of-class activity is as important as the studying process itself. The university’s 23,800 student population is represented 24,000 times in student-run organizations.

What are those clubs?

Gail Spencer, office of student activities and services dean, said there more than 450 cultural, educational, sport, religious and scientific organizations on campus.

“It’s so spread out,” Spencer said.

Although the university’s online directory contains many professional clubs, a significant number are not related to existing majors. One such organization is the Creation Club. It was born after a lecture in a biology class where the topic of intelligent design

was discussed. During the lecture, the professor said that intelligent design cannot be considered science because it dealt with historical matters. Three students continued the discussion out of class and decided to start the Creation Club.

“They wanted to make a place where people could discuss issues of intelligent design versus other viewpoints,” Josh Wilson, junior in communication studies and Creation Club president, said.

Wilson is not the only non-science major in the club. It attracts students of all interests including those studying to become musicians and psychologists.

“I just have an interest in the subject,” Wilson said. “I enjoy being able to see the ways that science can back up.”

618 Fort Riley Blvd. • Manhattan, KS 785-776-9740

Most of the time the club holds its own discussions about topics such as DNA entity and carbon-protein dating. Anyone can bring his or her own topic to the discussion.

At the same time the club has hosted several visiting speakers. One of them, Jorge Freedom, a molecular geneticist, spoke on the genome.

“What many people call evolution is a variation of gene frequency all the time,” Wilson said.

K-State also has an array of sport clubs, both traditional and alternative. One of them is Cheshire Ultimate, a women’s Frisbee club.

Stephanie Rupp, junior in management information systems, joined the club in 2010 at her freshman year. She fell instantly in love with ultimate Frisbee when she began play-

ing it during high school. She became one of two captains last year. She said no special skills to join the team are needed.

“We welcome players of all skill levels,” Rupp said.

“We teach them the things that they need to know during our practices. At the beginning of the year we start out at a good pace for the girls who are new to the sport of ultimate.”

Rupp said she knew KState had a women's team but had never heard much about it. Then, when she was on K-State's campus for the first time, she saw chalk writing advertising the club and telling those who were interested to come to an activity fair.

“I went to check it out and it was the best decision I have ever made!” Rupp said.

Indeed, there are two main student activity fairs hosted by the Office of Stu-

dent Activities and Services.

Called Carnival Expo, they are held in August and January. In the fall fair, more than 200 organizations are represented.

“We love to go to the fall and winter activities fairs in the K-State Student Union to promote our team and gain new members,” Rupp said.

Rupp said the club typically gets the interest of around 40 to 50 girls at the fall fair, and many of them come out to practice. They also pass out flyers on campus and throw around the disc in public to gain the interest of other students and members of the community.

Those interested in reviewing a complete menu of organizations can stop by the Office of Student Activities and Services, located at the ground floor of the Student Union.

If someone cannot find an

organization of his or her taste, he or she can easily start a new one. Students are first required to gather at least five members, identify a faculty, staff or administration member to be the group’s advisor, complete some paperwork and prepare a constitution.

Organizations should also be sure to attend a registration meeting once a year.

“When I was president of the team last year I found it very easy to get my paperwork done on time and everything set up for the team through the office of student activities,” Rupp said.

The simplicity of the paperwork allows K-State to increase the number of clubs. According to Spencer, K-State adds about 10 new clubs annually.

“We want to have as many organizations as possible,” Spencer said.

B | CITY

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

Morning at the market Anton Trafimovich Contributing Wriiter Vegetables we buy at the grocery store are mostly shipped into town from other states. The produce spends 1,500 miles in transit on average. To maintain marketable conditions, the vegetables are usually treated with chemicals.

Farmers markets in Manhattan provide alternatives to buying vegetables from stores. The first was begun in 1979 it has experienced tremendous growth recently. Now up to 40 vendors offer their produce every Saturday at the parking lot at the intersection of Humboldt and 5th St. “It has grown both as vendors have grown and customers have grown,” Christine Cady, Farmers Market manager, said. “People want more local, organic.”

Cady said most of the market’s farmers live around Manhattan.

Some of them, however, come from more distant towns such as Blue Rapids, 70 miles away, and Beatrice, Neb. A second such market was opened this July. Elaine Mohr, the owner of Southside Gardens, initiated the idea of a strictly regional market. Unlike traditional farmers markets, where shipped-in produce is allowed, all products and produce must be grown or raised by the vendor who sells it. Moreover, everything must be grown or produced within 100 miles of Manhattan.

Mohr has had a farm near Manhattan since 2000. She sold vegetables at the 5th Street Farmers Market until opening her own. Mohr’s marketarket hosts about a half dozen local vendors every Tuesday from 4 to 6.30 at the east parking lot of the Riley County Senior Service Center.

It is common among farmers to visit several markets in different locations within a week. The Weicke family has a farm in Greenleaf, a town 60 miles to the north of Manhattan. They sell their homegrown produce at several markets throughout the state. But they focus on Manhattan, selling half of their produce here.

Wanda Weicke said they have been in business for 10-12 years and feel the demand for locally grown food. Some people from surrounding towns even come to their farm to buy fresh crops right from the ground.

“People are more aware of fresh produce,” she said. “They want homegrown, without all the pesticides.”

Jay Sleichter comes to Manhattan from Clay Center on Wednesdays, when the Manhattan Farmers Market is at CiCo Park. Sleichter is a teacher of math and science, but each summer he switches to farming. A plot of five acres keeps him busy all vegetatable season.

“This is my summer slash,” Sleichter said. “I enjoy both of them [jobs]. I can’t imagine not doing either one.”

Craig Oman, Manhattan resident, comes to the Farmers Market every other week. He bought a small box of cherry tomatoes from Sleichter.

“These cherry tomatoes got an outstanding flavor,” Oman said.

“Like the old-time tomato you remember.”

Cady said the market doesn’t require farmers to sell organic food only. The reason is that very few small farmers can afford the expensive procedure required to receive organic certificates. But still most of the vendors in Manhattan practice organic growing.

“We try to keep everything as free of pesticide as we can,” Weicke said.

Although the market has existed for more than 30 years, not everyone knows about it. The ever-changing nature of the community, with its college and military population, forces Cady to remind about the market repeatedly. That is why Cady brought to the farmers market last year two festivals. The biggest one is the National Farmers Market Month in August.

“Customers and the community are happy, especially when we have an event,” Cady said.

Staff photo by:Tommy Theis

Above: Timothy Weicke bags producefor some customers attending the Farmers Market in CiCo Park.

“It’s not like going to the grocery store.

It’s almost like going to a little festival.”

—Christie Cady, Manhattan Farmers Market manager

Right: Jay Sleichter had home grown tomatoes in the beginning of June. To grow them so early he puts tomato plants in high tunnels.

Below: A grouping of home-made honey sticks sit ready for sale at the Farmers Market.

B2

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CITY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Manhattan Restaurant Guide Non-fast food sit-down restaurants, locations and price ranges

Staff photos by: Tommy Theis

The entrance to Local, which is located near Rays Apple Market off of Seth Child road in the west part of town.

A restaurant that gives away its profit Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer One of the unique things about Manhattan is that the city has a broad spectrum of restaurants, many with unique features. Local Friends and Food is one of those.

Sure, you may find your burger or pizza, but a lot of things on their menu you may be hard pressed to find elsewhere. But what makes Local really unique is its profit strategy, 100 percent of which goes to a different charity every month. Restaurant operators see it as just their way of giving back to the community.

“Local is a full profit restaurant, that we use as a vehicle to try to raise money for local charities,” general manager, Tommy Sol, said. “That’s where the name, Local, derives from; we spend our money locally on good and worth charities here in Manhattan.”

Local picks a different charity to donate its profit too every month. In July, profits were donated to the Homecare & Hospice.

The month before the

beneficiary was the Flint Hills Breadbasket.

“I believe next month we’re doing Boys and Girls Club,” said Sol. Local Food and Friends has a diverse menu, full of items that you would find at many restaurants.

“We have burgers, wraps, pizzas and salads, for the most part,” he said.

“We always try to have one special every month, kind of geared directly towards our charity.

Pizzas and salads are popular, as is a Philly sandwich. “We call it our ‘Farm House Philly,’ which is a big deal, with jack cheese, red peppers and onions, it’s a really good sandwich,” said Sol. Local also offers some plates that make the restaurant unique, and add a nice touch to the menu. That includes a different take on a fan favorite, Mac-n-cheese.

“Our Mac-n-cheese, we use a jack cheese sauce that we make here and bake it off of Panko bread crumbs,” Sol said. “Our jalapeño beacon and SEE

NO. 1, PAGE B3

A row of cupcakes being sold at Local, Local has a variety of baked goods ready for purchace.

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CITY

B3

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

The breakfast specialists Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer Breakfast is often called the most important meal of the day. Luckily, the residents of Manhattan and the surrounding area have a locally owned restaurant that has established itself as not only the best breakfast restaurant in town but one of the best overall restaurants as well.

For 13 years, David and Marcy Uphoff have been serving breakfast and brunch at Early Edition.

Both quit their jobs to bring Manhattan something that the city didn’t really have at the time: A good breakfast restaurant.

“We saw a need for breakfast in Manhattan,” said David.

Whatever David and Marcy saw missing from Manhattan must have been what residents were craving, because Early Edition is now in its 13th year in the Candlewood shopping center. The Uphoffs have since opened another Early Edition on the east side. They credit their success to the emphasis they put on their customers, and the relationships they’ve built, something you wouldn’t see at the bigger chain restaurants around the country. Early Edition has been voted the Mercury’s best breakfast and friendliest restaurant eight years in a row.

“We develop relationships with our customers and have gotten to know a lot of them through the years,” said David. “We really focus on our customers and really focus on good service and good food.”

Early Edition’s hours are from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Their menu features many popular items that a typical breakfast restaurant may feature. There are also lunch options.

“We’re really customerfocused with our food, we try really hard not to say no to our customers, anything they want to do, we’ll do it,” David said. One popular dish is called The Colonel; it’s a skillet with potatoes, cheese, diced ham and peppers, crispy chicken and egg cooked however you like it.

“Our Chicken Pecan salad is very popular and our chocolate chip muffins are also very popular,” said Marcy.

Early Edition is trying to constantly add new ideas.

They have a few new sandwiches along with wraps and salads.

“The newest item is a

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The Wild Waffle from Early Edition. It is a pair of waffles topped with different fruits, whipped cream, and powdered sugar.

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SIX OF THE TOP TEN REASONS FOR A HEARING TEST crispy chicken sandwich; we have a smoky blue cheese wrap coming out, that’s really fresh and really popular with our employees, so we’re going to put that on our menu,” said David. (Some new salads) raspberry chicken that is incredible and then we have raspberry salmon salad that really good as well.”

“We also expanded our burger recently, we’ve always had a couple (on the menu), but now we have six,” said Marcy, “and they’re very popular.”

Early Edition prides itself on the friendly atmosphere that has been created over the years. People always seem to run into somebody that they know, which adds to the community feel that the restaurant aims for.

“The majority of people who come in here know that they’re going to see somebody they know,” said Marcy.

Although the restaurants are a little bit away from the campus of Kansas State, David and Marcy say that they are amazed how many college students come in.

“Our portion sizes … we have football players that come in, back in the day, John McGraw, came into eat every day,” Marcy said. “Now Collin Klein usually comes in with a few of his buddies, and they leave not hungry.”

How to eat in Manhattan Manhattan has a variety of restaurants that will satisfy most tastes and preferences. On the facing page is a chart of 77 sit-down restaurants in town, excluding fast-food. Included in this chart is the address of the restaurants, a brief explanation of what kind of food you may find and a pricing guide. ($=Cheapest,$$=Moderate, $$$=More expensiveBased on reviews from urbanspoon.com) You will also find a couple of examples of local restaurants making their impact in the community.

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A local couple walk into EarlyEdition in the Candle wood Shopping district near CiCo Park.

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A restaurant that gives away its profit NO. 1 FROM PAGE B2 tomatoes (as well), it’s off the charts.”

Another unique thing about Local is that they emphasize health. They grow their own garden, to ensure that customers get the freshest ingredients.

“We do use our own garden for as much stuff as possible,” said Sol. “We use beets, our cucumber salad is all from the garden, and our potato soup all the ingredients for that are from the garden.

We’ve got a two-acre garden that we’ve tried our best to utilize.”

Local is partnering with Max Fitness, which is right next door, to encourage fitness.

“We try to … offer a couple of discounts to members,” said Sol. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day. Their business hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“We do all the standard breakfast fare from eggs your way to biscuits and gravy,” said Sol. “We do have a couple things that we think are very special in our breakfast sandwiches that are all served on croissants…. we also do our ‘juevos rancheros,’ that’s served in a baked tortilla shell, (which has) potatoes, eggs, meat, cheese sauce and pico. It’s a full blown breakfast, if you’re hungry.”

Sol says everyone at Local is excited for the students to return, and for K-State football games, so they can show off their diverse menu and feed their customers right.

“We’ve got a great menu, with a different flair and different flavor profile, that you wouldn’t find any place in town,” Sol said, “we think our prices are right, we think our portions are good…plus you’re donating to charity as well.”

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1

B4

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CITY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Heavy demand for off-campus space Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Students comprise a significant portion of those seeking an apartment to rent in town. Many apartments are still operated by their owners, although it has become more common for a managing company to take care of finding tenants and performing maintenance.

Jeff Connell, director of Manhattan residential listings for McCullough Development, said more than 50 percent of his company’s clients are students. The vast majority of the property that the company manages is close to the K-State campus and is targeted pri-

marily to students.

The demand for onebedroom apartments and studios outpaces supply, as there is a trend for people wanting to live by themselves.

“The one-bedrooms there are in tight demand,” Connell said.

According to Connell, about 46 percent of student apartments this year were occupied by continuing residents, which means only around half of their apartments was available for new clients. He said the best time to start researching apartments for the next school year is in the winter.

He said McCullough Development managers begin leasing for the June and August time frames on Feb.

15.

“I just recommend starting the search early,” Connell said. “For people not familiar with this market or if they are coming from other cities, it’s eye-opening how much housing is in demand here.”

As with most apartments in town, McCullough offers unfurnished housing. The price varies and depends on the location, the number of bedrooms and condition of the apartment. Studio apartments start at around $500 and go up to $600. One-bedrooms will cost from $550 to $1,000, the average being roughly $650 and $700.

Two-bedrooms usually cost around $700.

The high demand on

housing produced by the college and the military base has caused prices to be above the average in Kansas.

“Some people are surprised by the prices too,” Connell said. “The military presence here certainly has emphasized demand.”

There are several issues residents should keep in mind when choosing to live in an apartment. First is the location. There are many apartments available for rent around Aggieville. Residents who choose to live in Aggieville shouldn’t expect extremely quite nights during the weekend.

Another thing that people often forget is that apartments are multi-fam-

Staff photo by:Tommy Theis

There are many choices in apartment complexes in Manhattan.

Many have been built recently including this one on Bertrand Street. ily housing.

“There are neighbors that you share walls with, you share ceilings with,”

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Connell said. “There potentially will be noise transfer between apartments.”

CITY

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

B5

Dorm space is popular among KSU freshmen Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer

1215 Laramie Evergreen Apartments 510 Humboldt 1119 Kearney 1207 Kearney 1210 Vattier 1206 Vattier 1214 Vattier 1620 Fairchild 1850 Claflin 3019 Anderson Avenue 926 Bluemont 200 Brush Creek 701 Crestwood Drive 1230 Claflin 1852-1856 Anderson 1913-1917 Anderson Various Locations 2401 Himes 1219 Pomeroy 1209 Pomeroy 434 Butterfield Various Locations 1401 College Avenue H101 1401 Monticello Drive 210 N. 4th 3108 Heritage Ct. #45 509 Stone Drive Forrest Creek Townhomes 1114 Fremont 519 Osage 2000 College Heights Pebblebroook Drive Sandstone Drive Cambridge Square Blakewood Townhomes Stone Pointe Apts 1001 Laramie 1131 Bertrand 916 Kearney Various Locations 1420 Beechwood Terrace 1125 Laramie Various Locations Various Locations 1010 North Manhattan Ave. 1415 Anderson Ave. 1001 Bluemont 1015 Bluemont 1524 McCain Lane 411/413/415 N. 17th Street 1119 Laramie 1941 College Heights 3140-42 Lundin 1417-19 Leavenworth 1428 Beechwood Terrace 1620 McCain 703 Northfield 1413 Cambridge 1026 Osage 3105 Lundin Drive #3 1700 N. Manhattan 230 Hunter Place 525 N. Manhattan Ave. 422 N. 11th Street 812 Griffith Street 410-630 N. 4th 1611 Laramie 910 1/2 Gardenway 418 Poyntz 2100 Westchester Drive 1927-1935 College Heights Rd. 1854-1858 Claflin 1803-1807 College Hts 925-927 Denison 1911 Tuttle Creek Blvd.

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ADDRESS

Appliances

PHONE

1. Aggie Village Apartments 320-6300 2. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 3. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 4. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 5. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 6. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 7. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 8. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 9. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 10. AMC Tiao Associate 537-7810 11. BCL Properties 341-2627 12. Bluemont Apartments 320-6300 13. Brush Creek Townhomes 539-9339 14. Crestwood Apartments 776-3345 15. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 16. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 17. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 18. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 19. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 20. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 21. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 22. Emerald Property Management 587-9000 23. Fourwinds Village Townhomes 776-2222 24. Founders Hill 539-4600 25. Georgetown Apartment Homes 776-8080 26. Hartford 776-3804 27. Heritage Ridge Apts 539-7961 28. Highland Ridge Apartment Homes 539-9597 29. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 30. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 31. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 32. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 33. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 34. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 35. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 36. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 37. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 38. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 39. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 40. Hill Investment & Rentals 537-9064 41. Jerry Istas 313-4693 42. Landmark Apartments 341-4024 43. Laramie Plaza 320-6300 44. Manhattan Area Housing Partnership 587-0613 45. Manhattan Area Housing Partnership 537-3422 46. Manhattan Avenue Apartments 537-9686 47. Manhattan Christian College 539-3571 48. McCullough Development, Inc. 320-6300 49. McCullough Development, Inc. 320-6300 50. McCullough Development, Inc. 776-3804 51. McCullough Development, Inc. 776-3804 52. McCullough Development, Inc. 320-6300 53. McCullough Development, Inc. 776-3804 54. McCullough Development, Inc. 539-9339 55. McCullough Development, Inc. 320-6300 56. McCullough Development, Inc. 776-4222 57. McCullough Development, Inc. 776-3804 58. Northfield Townhomes 776-3804 59. Park Place Apartments 539-2951 60. Park View Apartments 320-6300 61. Plaza West Apartments 539-2649 62. Royal Towers 776-3804 63. Scenic Woods 776-3804 64. Schrum Rentals 537-5112 65. Schrum Rentals 537-5112 66. Schrum Rentals 537-5112 67. Strasser Landing 776-3804 68. Tatarrax Apartments 320-6300 69. University Gardens 776-4222 70. Wareham Apartments 776-3804 71. Westchester Park Apartments 776-1118 72. Westside Apartments 537-9686 73. Wildcat Inn 776-3804 74. Wildcat Inn 776-3804 75. Wildcat Inn 776-3804 76. Wildcate Vilage Apartments 341-5694

# Baths

AMENITIES CHECKLIST

PROPERTY & CORRESPONDING PROPERTY LOCATOR #

# Bedrooms

said. “Our staff is going to have a variety of things to help Growing demand enhance the students’ for housing is resultacademic experiing in a construction ence.” boom all around The price for the town, along with a dorm depends on decision by K-State to amenities students build a new residence get in their rooms. The hall. The result is an main factors are the expanding number of number of roommates options for where stuand the number of dents can live. meals per week. The Up to 25 percent of cheapest option K-State students are would be living in a accommodated on double/triple/quad campus. According to room with 10 meals Nick Lander, assisper week. That will tant director for resicost a student $3,268 dence life, although in fall semester. A sinK-State has no gle suite with a separequirement for rate bathroom and 20 freshmen to live on meals costs $4,406 in campus, most living at fall semester. The the residence halls price for spring are first-year stusemester for most dents. rooms is $400 more.

“I think they like Jardine apartthe convenience of ments are also availJardine Apartments are owned by K-State like the other dorms, but Jardine gives their residents more of living on campus,” able for K-State stuan apartment feel. They have a little more room, their own kitchen as well as a s cenic pond with fountains.

Lander said. “And we dents. Prices on those are able to maintain a apartments also vary. level of affordability A two-bedroom furwireless internet. The only academically if they live on ence students have access that allows the students to thing students might pay campus for the first year. to various resources and nished traditional apartchoose to live with us.” for is cable. There is a cable Being surrounded by other trained staff that will assist ment, for instance, costs Lander said having an already installed in every students who are going them in organizing their $475. The same conditions on-campus living space room, so if some students through the same process study process in the resi- for renovated apartments makes it easy to meet new want they can subscribe for also pushes individuals to dence halls. There are resi- cost $550. There are also people, creates a shorter the cable individually. For study more. dence assistants and full- highly renovated apartdistance to classes, and an extra payment, they can “There is a bit of shared time graduate level staff comes with a meal plan. also have a landline tele- experience within that available 24 hour a day, Electricity and trash ser- phone in their room. community that I call a pos- seven days a week. vice are included. All resi“We really try to focus Lander said national itive peer influence,” Landential areas are also pro- research indicates that der said. our programming on stuvided with free wired and students tend to do better Besides the peer influ- dents’ success,” Lander

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ments (preference is given to families) and new construction apartments with higher rates.

Scholarship houses, fraternity and sororities are an alternative to traditional on-campus housing.

Most fraternities and sororities are operated independently, so students wanting to try this option should contact those houses.

To apply for spring semester rooms in the residence hall or Jardine apartment, students are asked to apply in late fall semester.

Lander mentioned that one advantage of on-campus housing is flexibility in dealing with the contract.

If students have to leave their room before the semester is over and they have an excuse for it, the lease can be cancelled. If the documentation of an internship or student teaching is provided, the university will not charge the student a cancellation fee.

“It’s a lot easier for them to cancel a contract with us then cancel a lease off campus,” Lander said.

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B6

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CITY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

From a shack to a thriving business Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer In the 1970s it was a tiny shack on the edge of Manhattan. Today Terry Olson’s East Side and West Side Markets are well-organized businesses on opposite sides of town. But the idea that drives Terry Olson hasn’t changed. She strives to provide the most tasty produce available on the market at the moment.

Olson has roots in truck farming. Her parents lived in Manhattan, but also owned a garden out of town.

Her dad sold produce door to door and his nine children helped. “Our St. Bernard monster’s dog pulled our cart full of vegetables,” Olson recalled.

When she was in a middle school, her parents purchased a tiny greenhouse that became a bedding plants business. Again the siblings were the work force, learning the bedding plants business.

Knowing the hardship of the farming business from her childhood, Olson was determined to go to college.

“I watched my parents worry so much whether the weather would be good for selling plants, whether the weather would freeze their crop,” she explained.

She studied pre-medicine at KU , but by her own admission was not a good student. “I wasn’t really interested in saving people’s lives or taking care of sick people,” Olson said. “I loved plants and produce. And even when I was at school in Lawrence, I was visiting nurseries and trying to convince them to sell my parents’ plants.”

Once she realized she wasn’t really interested

Danny Fang talks to a customer at Asian Market.

Asian grocery options increasing in town Staff photos by:Tommy Theis

A look at the variety of peaches that the Eastside Market offers. being a doctor she came back to Manhattan and enrolled in the horticulture program at K-State. However she didn’t finish her degree as the opportunity be a fruit marketer came along and overtook all her other interests.

Beginning as a part-time employee at the Eastside Market, Olson bought it in 1976. Five years later she opened Westside Market.

After the redevelopment of the downtown in the mid 1980s, she rebuilt Eastside market, and the former shack became a heated and air-conditioned grocery operated year-round.

She gets the produce from various suppliers, both local and shipped from other states. There just two conditions she considers: taste and the value. That’s why in July she ships peaches from Missouri and California, in

August from Colorado and later in the fall from Idaho.

Along with the idea of selling tasty produce, she found other niches. In the spring she specializes in bedding plants that she takes from her parents’ greenhouse at Kaw Valley. In the fall she is mostly busy with presents for Christmas.

Her favorite part of the job is still working one on one with customers. Like a beginning gardener, she is fascinated helping them to find vegetable plants that are recommended for this area, then hearing from them tell what success they had.

“It’s a rewarding experience sharing my hobbies with customers,” she said.

Lennis Holle, Marysville, came with his wife, Janice, to shop at the Eastside market for the first time. “I think it’s

wonderful,” Holle said.

“The selection is fantastic.”

Sometimes Olson has to stop selling certain items of produce due to competition from large retail chains. But she has her niche, which is tasty produce.

“You back out of the things that you can’t compete well,” Olson said “You give it and say I can’t do that, but what I can do and what I’ve always have done well is deliver great tasting produce.”

Olson doesn’t think consumers should shop at her store just because it’s local.

“I don’t want them to do it because they feel guilty because I’m a little guy,” she said. “I want them to do it because I’ve got what they want, what they want to pay and I deliver it with the great service.”

Students can grow their own foods Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Michelle Obama recently released a book designed to get Americans to pay more attention to the food they eat.

That is what the K-State Farm Club has been doing since 2007 at the Willow Lake Student Farm. Using sustainable methods of planting crops, the Farm Club provides a place to learn farming and promotes organic agriculture.

Rhonda Janke, associate professor of horticulture, co-founded the Student Farm in 2007 with Lani Meyers, a senior in horticulture at the time.

Meyers researched 60 student farms over the country and found that only 20 of them were at agricultural schools; the others were at liberal arts colleges.

“Here we are at an ag school. It’s better to have one,” Janke said.

Students obtained a two-acre plot where paid interns and the club members practice sustainable and organic methods. They use compost instead of fertilizers, weed by hand and mulch to control weeds.

Watering is by a drip system rather than overhead irrigation.

All products harvested at the farm are sold at the

Farmers’ Market or to local groceries and ventures.

One example: Little Apple brewery buys garlic from the farm. Janke said that over 10 years consumer demand for organically produced products has increased more than 20 percent a year.

In spite of the demand for the farm produce, Janke had to change the business model. Prior this year the farm had five paid interns who were mainly taking care of crops, doing records and monitoring farm expenses. But the money spent on interns’ salaries could never be paid off by selling vegetables.

This year, therefore, Janke decided to sell plots at $30 each. Owners get to keep the profit from the products produced on their plots. Janke said a student can make $50 to $300 from one plot.

“That’s more like reallife farming,” she said.

The farm remains an educational place. Janke, who teaches vegetable crops and food crops classes, spends several class periods at the farm. She also tries to get students in her fall organic agriculture class to come to the farm.

“A lot of what happens at

the farm or principles in the science behind organic farming tie into a lot of things that I learn in my classes,” Joseph Hong, senior at horticulture, said.

There are a lot of volunteers, mainly among the Farm Club. Club members do not necessarily major in agriculture or horticulture.

The club even has even regular community members.

Hong, who is also the president of the Farm Club, said everyone is welcome.

“I’ve seen architecture students, sociology students, people from all over different departments,” he said.

The student farm is also an open space for other departments. Thus, a history professor took her class to the farm to teach American agricultural history.

“She just wanted them to see what farming is like,”

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Janke said.

Another time the art students came over. Their interest was to make art materials from farm products.

They used some of the soil, and also soil collected from a road-cut near the dam to make water color paints.

They used that and some biochar that was made at the farm for their figure drawing class Janke emphasized that even though the Student Farm is supposed to be a competitor to the Farmers’ Market, local farmers act favorably toward students and don’t treat them as competitors. Some of them became informal mentors and visit the student farm to evaluate students’ work and give advice.

“It’s kind of a partnership, a way for K-State to be seen as a part of the food community,” Janke said.

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Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Many Manhattan residents know Danny Fang’s Bamboo buffet on Fort Riley Boulevard.

Although this business was successful, in October 2010 Fang also opened Asian Market, one of six ethnic groceries operating here. The demand for international food has grown as the number of foreign students at K-State has increased.

Three of the ethnic groceries are Asian and three are Hispanic. That reflects the composition of the minority presence.

According to Census Bureau, Hispanics (5.8 percent) and Asians (5.1 percent) are the main minorities in the city’s approximately 52,000 residents.

Fang initially decided to target the Asian population, most of whom were Chinese, exclusively. But he found customers coming to him from other Asian countries. He wasn’t aware that many ingredients in Chinese cuisine are similar to those in Korean and Japanese.

“The thing is everybody eats the same thing,” Fang said “I didn’t know it.”

When non-Chinese shoppers started to ask whether Fang could bring in foods they couldn’t find anywhere else, he expanded the number of commodities he carried.

That expanded the nature of the market.

“You can see the sign; it says international. We added it later,” Fang said.

“We bring more and more people.”

Today the Asian market sells foods from all over the world. You can find Middle Eastern grape leaves, Jamaican beef patties and oyster mushrooms. The variety makes the grocery unique in the region. The closest international grocery of

the same type and size is in Kansas City, which is why a good number of customers are residents of other towns. Fang estimates that as much as 30 per cent of all shoppers come from Junction City.

“Because of the military…the military is a mixture of everybody,” Fang said. “I can’t wait when the (roadwork between Manhattan and Junction City) is done. It will help.”

Students make up only around 20 per cent of Asian Market customers. One of the reasons is its location on Fort Riley Boulevard some distance from campus. An Asian grocery in Aggieville serves predominantly students. It is run by Dongchen Hao. Hao opened the Chinese Grocery Store three years ago at the intersection of 12th and Moro St. targeting Chinese students. Many of the foods are frozen dumplings and wontons that can be easily boiled.

“Some students don’t know how to cook. Their parents cooked for them in China,” Hao explained.

“Some students know how to cook, but they are too busy; they have to study every day. They do not have enough time.”

Both groceries’ owners note that Americans shop in their groceries as well as internationals. Hao is realizing he need to go beyond Chinese food.

“Local residents prefer to cook Japanese or Korean food,” Hao said.

“Sometimes I think they don’t know too much about Chinese food because it’s a little bit complex to cook it.”

Starting from August, Hao is going to sell Indian, Korean and Japanese food. Although his tiny grocery in Aggieville cannot fit new stores, he is going to sell new commodities online.

“I think it’s hard to do it but I want to try,” Hao said. “In the future I think every business will do that.”

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CITY

B7

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Fixed route system debuts in the city Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer After a more than 50 year absence, public transportation in Manhattan features a fixed route system. Prior to this past spring, the city was the only one of its size in Kansas that didn’t have fixed bus routes. Now there are two routes connecting different parts of the city.

The Flint Hills Area Transportation Agency (ATA) is the public transportation provider. To expand the city coverage the company needs better funding, sai d Anne Smith, ATA bus director.

“We’ve had numerous requests to add stops to the routes,” she said. “We can’t grow quicker than we have money to fund it.”

Within the past five years the amount of ridership has grown tremendously.

According to Smith, in 2007 ATA transported 21,512 rides. Last year, the comparable figure was 72,139 rides.

ATA hopes to come close to 100,000 rides this year.

“ATA is trying to run a good system,” Karen Davis, community development director, said. “They seem to be successful.”

ATA provides three main services in the city . Demand response service used to be the most popular. It is similar to a taxi service except that the rider needs to call 24 hours in advance to arrange the time the shuttle will pick him or her up. Also the rider should wait for the shuttle at the curb.

The new fixed route service has become popular.

Two routes link up the eastern and western parts of the city, passing downtown, KState and shopping areas.

The schedule of both routes is available online.

The problem ATA is tackling now is non-visibility of the public system in the streets. Even though the operation was started months ago, the bus stops are still not identified because the City Commission has not allowed the installation of marking signs “Hopefully we’ll be able to work with the city and they’ll give us permission eventually,” Smith said.

Davis said the problem is that the City Commission wants a better-developed plan for the signs.

The hope is to install both signs and benches.

Smith said ATA has gotten funding for that. Also there are some businesses willing to have bus stops in front of their buildings.

The demand response ride costs $2, and a fixed

route ticket is $1. Monthly tickets costing $30 (fixed routes only) are available, as are 50 percent discounts for seniors, disabled and low income.

Fees cover roughly 13 percent of the cost of the fare, but ATA is not going to raise the cost of the ride.

“We are pretty much at the top of what we charge among providers of our size,” Smith said. “A lot of providers don’t charge anything.”

Another ATA service is free of charge for K-State students. This is Safe Ride shuttles, which operate from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday between Aggieville and several districts of the city.

The purpose of the Safe Ride is to prevent students from driving while intoxicated.

ATA started another program with K-State this past winter. The Jardine shuttle takes K-State ID holders for free from Jardine throughout campus.

Another route is University Crossing. It runs back and forth from Manhattan Area Technical College, to University Crossing Apartments and the K-State Student Union.

There is also a free shopping shuttle for K-State students. Targeted at international students, a van takes them to Wal-Mart on Wednesday night. The first Saturday of the month the van takes students to the downtown, Target and the Asian Market. The schedule is available on the web site.

There are designated spots for picking up students on campus at Moore Hall, Jardine and the Student Union. On the way back the driver will drop off everyone at the curb of his or her apartment.

“Not just to the bus stop but to the actual residence,” Maria Beebe, International Student and Scholar Services assistant director, said. “So they don’t have to carry all those packages.”

Manhattan had a developed public transit system in the first half of the 20th century. In the 1920s there were street cars circulating between campus and up to Poyntz Avenue. Its supporters see the return of fixed route service as an indication that a new era for public transportation is starting.

“We are excited about the opportunities that are in front of us,” Smith said. “It’s a good time to be looking for public transportation in Manhattan. We we hope that folks will be interested in trying it out.”

ATA buses have become a familiar sight around town.

Staff photo by:Tommy Theis

A huge dump track returns to get re-filled as part of the construction on K-18. The highway is down to two lanes of traffic due to this construction, but will be opened up back to four lanes during winter construction.

K-18 work ties up western access Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer A stretch of K-18 highway leading out of Manhattan will be under construction for at least the next two years. The work is part of a three-phase construction process, turning K-18 into a full four-lane freeway, from Manhattan to Ogden.

The first phase was completed in 2011. It included a new exit, K-114, to Ogden, 56th Avenue interchange and drainage improvements around the highway.

The current work is phase two of the project. It means that Scenic Drive cannot be accessed from K18 due to the redesign of the Scenic and K-18 intersection, which will now include an interchange.

Parts of Manhattan are being affected as well. The Miller Parkway and Davis Drive interchange is being constructed, limiting access to both roads, from K-18. Construction on Skyway Drive and Eureka Drive will also impact driving in 2012.

This project is expected to wrap up by the end of 2013. K-18 will remain a one-lane highway until that time, and will be impacting commuters for a eight-mile stretch.

Kim Qualls, public affairs representative for the Kansas Department of Transportation, says commuters on K-18 will face many changes to the rout in the upcoming months, due to the construction process.

“Drivers have traffic changes to deal with, new crossovers put in, interchanges opening,” said Qualls. “There is a lot of updating to keep informed on, what impacts are taking place, so that drivers know there’s roadways that have been closed at times.”

The Riley County Police Department has been watching this stretch of roadway closely, due to the construction.

Officer Emmitt Smith says there have been a number of crashes due to inattentive driving.

“I’ve noticed a lot of accidents have occurred because of following too

Jackhammers, large scoops, and dumptracks are just a few pieces of heavy equipment being used to move the massive amounts of earth needed to finish the K-18 construction.

closely,” Smith said. “ A lot of the accidents that I’ve seen out there are useroperated error.”

The RCPD has put an extra emphasis into looking for cars that are not keeping safe distances. “(We’re looking for) following too closely, cell phone (usage), and inattentive driving, things like that. We want to make sure the vehicles are following at a safe distance, at a safe distance to where (vehicles) can stop before they collide with another vehicle.”

Qualls says the most important thing for motorists to do is to just stay informed about the information coming out of KDOT and potential changes in what construction may do to the route.

“I would highly suggest that (motorists) check on KDOT’s website for traffic updates, or we can also add them to our list to stay informed on traffic updates.” Qualls said.

Qualls noted that traffic

“Drivers have traffic changes to deal with, new crossovers put in, interchanges opening ...There is a lot of updating to keep informed on, what impacts are taking place, so that drivers know there’s roadways that have been closed at times.”

—Kim Qualls, KDOT Public Affairs switches can occur. “Just because you go one day (doesn’t mean the route won’t change the next),” Qualls said. “There are traffic changes that occur throughout construction projects.”

Qualls credits the city of Manhattan and media outlets for doing a good job in helping to keep drivers safe and informed.

“The city and the Mercury are great partners in helping to keep drivers informed and updated.”

Qualls said.

Whether it’s the con-

struction workers, motorist or anyone else accessing the highway, Qualls says that they just want everyone to be safe and obey the laws.

Officer Smith says drivers need to be more cautious and always be alert.

“Just drive like you normally would as far as obeying the speed limit,” he said. “Always allow yourself enough room between you and the driver in front of you, so that in case the drive in front of you has to stop, you can stop safely without colliding with that other vehicle.”

K-18 will be under construction for much of the first semester of school.

However, motorists will get a little bit of a break during what KDOT calls “Winter Shutdown.” That is when crews will do any work off or surrounding the roadway, returning the roadway back to two lanes, each direction, from Thanksgiving weekend to March or April, depending on how the winter goes.

B8

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CITY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Airport makes traveling easier Jeremy Bohn Staff writer For years, Manhattan area residents made the two-hour journey down I70 to the Kansas City International Airport in order to fly into major hubs for travel, business and other events.

However, in 2009, a new deal was struck between American Airlines’ “American Eagle” flights and the City of Manhattan.

The deal meant that Manhattanites could fly to Dallas/Ft. Worth out of the comfort of their hometown airport, the Manhattan Regional Airport.

In 2010, another deal allowed people to fly from to Chicago. That was big, because O’Hare International Airport has routes that go around the world.

Today the Manhattan Regional Airport has two flights a day to Chicago O’Hare and three to Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport.

For decades, the airport was just known for its flights to Kansas City.

Peter Van Kuren, Manhattan Regional Airport director, says that the new flights came to Manhattan because of the growth and expansion to the city over the past decade.

“It was a combination of things (bringing the flights here), first and foremost it’s the market…our number one goal was to show them that the surrounding region has had significant growth and the population is such that it could support service.” Said Van Kuren Van Kuren also credits growth to Ft. Riley, Kansas State University and the coming of NBAF to bringing the flights to Manhattan. But other factors sealed the deal.

“What put (American Airlines) over the edge, was working with the state of Kansas and the community of Manhattan were able to offer the airline a revenue guaran-

Staff photo by:Tommy Theis

A plane takes off from Manhattan Airport during a small rain.

tee.” Van Kuren said.

Basically, the revenue guarantee meant that the city and the state were willing to share the risk of bringing the flights to, at the time, an unproven market.

This presented Manhattan and the surrounding area with a tremendous advantage, says Van Kuren.

“I think the main advantage is just the convenience to many people, not just in Manhattan, but Junction City and other surrounding communities,” Van Kuren said.

“We have quite a few people west of here using our airport instead of other airports.”

Van Kuren points to a report done by the Kansas Department of Transportation in 2008, done before the air services were offered, showing that the airport has a nearly $23 million impact on the region around Manhattan.

Van Kuren said that the airport being as small as it is presents another advantage to that of the bigger alternatives in Wichita and Kansas City.

Manhattan is able to offer smaller lines and less of a crowd, which can make the experience much easier.

He said they receive

many compliments on the security and TSA personnel as well, in what he considers another advantage.

“Our security folks are our neighbors, these are people who live in our community…we’ve received a lot of good compliments because of them.”

The service can be utilized well by students of Kansas State, especially those who are out of state, or those looking to go on a trip or even looking to stay in Manhattan after graduation, job hunting.

“For the students that are enrolled, from states further away, flying directly into Manhattan, or having family members fly directly into Manhattan, is a huge convenience for them,” VanKuren said. “We see quite a bit of students here.

“When a student graduates (and is looking for a job), now there maybe an opportunity to remain here locally, stay in the community and get a really good job,” Van Kuren said, because of the airport.

However, Van Kuren does say that the airport needs improvements in order to continue to succeed. He said an expansion is in the mix for the 13,000 square foot termi-

nal building. Including a new terminal space and many more parking spaces. Van Kuren says the master plan calls to triple the size of the terminal building by 2015.

In the end, the residents in and around Manhattan do seem to be very happy with the airport’s services. Van Kuren says he has gotten a lot of feedback from customers. “(We’ve had) overwhelmingly positive feedback right from the get-go,” says Van Kuren.

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C | PEOPLE

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

Get to know Bruce Weber

Staff photo by:Tommy Theis

Bruce Webber as he takes his first public questions as the new Kansas State basketball coach in the Vanier Complex.

K-State’s new basketball coach enjoys long walks on the beach — and purple suits Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer

O

n March 31, Bruce Weber was introduced as the 24th men’s basketball coach in Kansas State’s history. Weber will lead a team that returns all but one scholarship player this coming season. Here’s a Q&A with Coach Weber to help K-State fans get to know the new head man of Wildcat basketball.

Q: What are your thoughts of Manhattan so far?

Weber: “I think it’s a good Midwestern town, people are very, very friendly.

Obviously they love K-State, there’s purple everywhere and it’s just a good place to live. If you’re a student seems like a fun place to go to school.”

Q: Is there anything about Manhattan that makes it unique from Champaign and Carbondale, Ill.?

Weber: “I’ve been very fortunate to be in a lot of college towns…as a dad and for having a family, I think it’s a great place to grow up, (it’s) great for family and to be around the university, there’s usually a lot of opportunities for your family. I think for me, Manhattan sets itself apart. The friendliness of the people — it’s been amazing how warm the welcome has been for myself, my family and staff. It makes you feel good, it makes you feel wanted and feel good about being at a place.”

Q: What is the most common question K-State fans have asked you, so far?

Weber: “I think the biggest one currently was, ‘Are all the players going to come back?’ That was the question being at most places. I think we’re going to be OK. I think we’re very fortunate to have a good group, an experienced group, a talented group, but I’m hoping that (the players) are all there and ready to go. If things go right, we should be one of the top 25 teams in the country, now you got to go prove it.”

Q: How is the construction process going on the Basketball Training Facility?

Weber: “It should be done by the time school gets going and we should be in there. The goal right now is late summer, late July, early August. I would say by the time we get back from our Brazil trip, August 18th, and when school starts that next week, we should be in there full go.

(The facility) is a great selling tool for our basketball program, it’s going to be a

great recruiting tool, (it has) all the bells and whistles you need for when the kids and parents come on campus. But just as importantly, it’s going to be great for our current players, both the men’s and women’s teams. It’s just a great opportunity for practice, to get in and workout and train. The players are excited, and we’re excited as a staff to have another thing to sell to potential recruits.”

Q: Have you and your team set a goal for the upcoming season?

Weber: “We’ve talked about taking some steps further than they did a year ago, that’s the biggest goal. In life, you’re always trying to get better and I think that’s the biggest thing. Are far as just setting goals right now, it’s going to wait to see how the summer goes. We have that trip to Brazil, which will be a great opportunity in late August, (we’ll) have 10 days a practice, get to know the guys, some games over there. I think when they come back; I’ll have a little better feel of what the goal should be as a team.

But right now it’s taking what they did, a taking it a step further than what they did a year ago.”

Q: In the limited time you’ve been with the team, do you see a ceiling on what they can do? Is it sky’s the limit?

Weber: “I don’t know about “sky’s the limit,” but I think we have chance to be very good. To have a successful team in college, to me, you got to have experience, and we do have experience. We have four seniors that have all played, some of them major, major minutes. You got to look at Jordan (Henriquez) as one of the better big men in Big 12, and maybe in the country. And then Rodney (McGruder) of course, one the better swing players, big guards (in the country). He could be a preseason All-Big 12 Player of the Year possibly. But you also win in college basketball with guard play. You got Angel (Rodriguez) who has a year under his belt, you got Will Spradling who is one of the better shooters, and he’s also a good ball handler.

Martavious (Irving) is an experienced senior. I think the big thing would be developing some depth. Whether it’s at the big guys with Thomas Gipson and Adrian Diaz, and then at the guards, who is going to be that fifth or sixth guard or swingman that can help us be successful.”

Q: What different coaching styles will we see between you and Frank Martin?

Weber: “First, Frank did a great job here, coach Huggins got it going, he

reenergized the program, he got some talented players. He brought in a culture of toughness, defense and rebounding, we hope to continue that. We’ve always taken pride in our teams being very good defensive teams. When I was an assistant at Purdue, under coach Keady, he was one of the great defensive coaches. I learned a lot from him; my Southern Illinois teams were some of the better defensive teams, along with my Illinois teams. I also feel like, if you look for a difference, I hope offensively, we’re a little more uptempo. We do have some experience; we do have some guard play, so maybe push the ball a little bit more and use our defense to create some offense.”

in the sun, and no one bothers me. People think it’s crazy, but I tell them I enjoy that.”

Q: What’s your favorite Wildcat Tradition you’ve learned?

Weber: “I just know the crowds are great, the cheers, the students being (right next to the court), the cheers that they have. I also really appreciate the relationship with Ft. Riley and the soldiers. I had a chance to go to Ft. Riley and saw the changing of the command. I hope to stay involved with them as a basketball pro— Bruce Weber gram and I think they appreciate it, to have the soldiers at the games, that’s great. (K-State) has great fans, the student following, we hope we can continue them cheering for the Wildcats.”

“One of my favorite things to do is to cut the grass. I don’t get outside that much. I can get out and sweat a little bit, be out in the sun, and no one bothers me.”

Q: From what you’ve seen, what are some of the major differences in Big 12 play to Big Ten play?

Weber: “I think there’s probably a little better athletes in the Big 12, not that the Big Ten doesn’t have good players, but I think you get a little better athlete, and I’m not sure why that is, whether it’s Texas influenced, a lot of (Big 12) teams have gone out east to get some of the prep schools. I think it’s a little more uptempo in the Big 12, a lot of it is because of the coaches that have been in there a long time. (The Big Ten) very much a possession and defensive league. You have some of that in the Big 12, but it’s a little more athletic, a little more up-tempo.”

Q: In the limited relaxation time that you find, what do you like to do?

Weber: “One, I want to be around my family, as a coach you don’t get that opportunity much, you’re gone so much, your days are long and that free time is very valuable, you hope that you can really have quality time when you get those free days. But (my family) love the beach; I like the water, I like the beach and the walk, to just swim and to just relax. That’s my favorite thing whether it’s Florida or the beach in South Carolina, just get bikes and ride. Just kind of relax and enjoy each other. Ironically, people think I’m nuts, one of my favorite, relaxing things is to cut the grass. I don’t get to be outside much. I can get out and cut the grass and sweat a little bit, be out

Q: How excited are you that the Big 12 Basketball Tournament will remain in Kansas City, at the Sprint Center?

Weber: “Well, it’s a great advantage for us. We played Alabama there last year, we got Florida there this year, we hope to continue to have a game there over the holidays there every year. It’s a great advantage for our fans to be there and it’s a great venue. Kansas City is a great city, the Plaza, the arena, there’s a lot of things there for Big 12 Basketball, and especially for K-State.”

Q: Last question, will fans see a purple suit this season?

Weber: “Yeah, there’s no doubt. I was presented one at my press conference.

Whether it’s that one or I find another one. I’ll pull it out for a big game, and then continue that tradition of wearing that periodically throughout the season, once or twice a year. I think it’s important, there’s a lot of pride, there’s purple everywhere. I’m just amazed how much purple there is; I went to one of my first events at an auction. I called my wife, I said ‘there’s purple dresses, scarf’s, skirts, anything you can think of.’

I didn’t know there was so much purple.

We want to keep that pride and the school colors, and we’ll definitely support it.”

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

PEOPLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Ten K-Staters to know in the Twitterverse Top 10 People Of K-State to Follow On Twitter 1. President, Kirk Schulz @kstate_pres: Stay up-to-date on everything going on with K-State. President Schulz is very good about posting updates from every aspect of Kansas State University.

2. Athletic Director, John Currie @John_Currie: Everything you will need to know about K-State sports via John Currie 3.

K-State News @KState: Kansas State University’s official news outlet for everything involving K-State.

4. K-State Athletics @kstatesports: All latest news and results regarding Wildcat athletics.

Staff photos by:Tommy Theis

A student places her newly made solar cell into a machine that will simulate the sun’s power in order to asssist researchers in controlling tests of the efficiency of cells.

Making solar power cheaper, more practical Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Kansas summers such as this most recent one, with daily temperatures around 100 degrees, are rough. But they do have advantages.

Solar energy researchers say the very hot and sunny conditions give them more opportunities to study ways of obtaining energy from the sun.

This past spring Ayomi Perera was selected to present her research on protein-based solar cells at the Kansas Capitol. A doctoral student in chemistry who works with Prof. Stephan Bossmann, their research focuses on solar technology that doesn’t require an expensive silicon panel.

Bossmann said in the future proteins for solar cell applications wil be grown in algaes, which can convert waste water. The protein the scientists use in their research is unusually stable and is able to remain below 120 degrees, a temperature that would destroy most known proteins.

“It has a potential,” Bossmann said. “The concept is definitely revolutionary. It’s just a matter of realizing it and commercializing it.”

The simple conditions make this technology available in any state. Because Bossmann chose to publish his discovery before obtaining a patent, the technology will also be available in poor countries.

“Sometimes you have to give something to the world community,” Bossmann explained.

He hopes poor countries will be able to build their own cells not be dependent on expensive technologies.

The technology doesn’t require cooling, as classic solar cells do. To cool conventional solar cells, water is needed. Water can be a rare and valuable com-

modity in hot, dry places.

“This seems so much more heat resistant, which means you could put them there [in deserts],” Bossmann said.

The technology hasn’t become commercial yet, however. Perera said they are investigating different surfaces to accommodate the protein complex. If they receive sufficient funding, they can push the model toward commercial production.

“Basically, when you have a working system it’s a matter of funding to scale it up, optimize it; that’s why it’s crucial that we have more funding,” Perera said. “Right now we are limited. We have to do everything in nanoscale.”

Perera’s presentation to the House resulted in many calls for interviews. She and Bossmann emphasized that Kansas can be an appropriate place to commercialize this idea.

Bossmann believes production of this type of cell would stimulate the Kansas economy since it requires a lot of mid-pay jobs.

Nanotechnologies Chemistry professor Jun Li is building solar cell panels, utilizing nanotechnologies.

Li said that most of today’ solar cells are made of silicon. They are highly efficient but are too expensive for wide usage.

To decrease the price of the solar cells, Li is exploring chemical methods combined with nanomaterials.

“Chemists and biologists know how to make solar cells cheaper by learning from the natural photosynthesis,” he said.

Unlike the traditional approach, Li puts dye molecules onto a vertically aligned brush-shaped material so that they can capture more sunlight and thus generate more elec-

5. Bruce Weber @coachbruceweber: Head Men’s Basketball coach, in his first season at K-State.

6.

Gopowercat.com @GoPowercat: For all latest news, results and rumors regarding K-State

Plumbing • Heating • Air Conditioning

7. The Big 12 Conference @big12conference: Follow all latest news, results and information about KState’s home conference, the Big 12.

8. Bill Snyder @coachbillsnyder: while coach Snyder may not be always posting, he will put some inspirational notes up from time-to-time.

9. Doug Powell @barfblog: K-State professor of food safety. Has a pretty entertaining twitter page, with lots of good information and pictures. Beware; most of his posts have to do with food recalls.

10. Eric Stonestreet @ericstonestreet: Actor from ABC’s “Modern Family.” Stonestreet is a K-State alum, and avid Wildcat fan.

His twitter page will keep you laughing as he posts multiple times a day.

About the writers Contents of this special KSU edition of The Mercury were prepared by three KSU students.

A close look at one of the students’ solar cells. The cell in the back has a tube that allows the student to inject gases of various types into it. tricity.

“This nanostructure makes the solar cells more similar to the photosynthesis systems of green plants,” Li said.

Similar nanomaterial was also used to make more efficient Li-ion batteries, which can store more energy, last longer, and operate at higher rates.

Photosynthesis Professor Ryszard Jankowiak looks on the solar energy from the perspective of physics and biology. Using the principle of photosynthesis, he explores how scientists can learn from nature to design efficient artificial photosystems for solar cells.

Jankowiak said of particular interest to his research group is understanding how solar photons are absorbed by photosynthetic antennas and delivered to the reaction center for charge separation.

The goal research is to better understand energy transfer and charge separation pathways in natural and artificial photosystems. This may enable scientists to produce future solar cells with an improved quantum effi-

ciency.

“The challenge is how to integrate proteins into optoelectronic circuits at the nanoscale,” Jankowiak said.

One way might be coupling photosystems to carbon nanotubes

Workshops To enhance society’s awareness of renewable energy technologies, KState also organizes many workshops for middle and high schools students.

This summer K-State hosted the EXCITE workshop for high school girls and the GROW workshop for middle school girls. The students were able to get hands-on experience with solar cells and other electronic components to learn how energy was transformed among light, electricity, wind, and sound. In another experiment, students used the electricity from batteries or solar cells to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen.

These gases were then feed into a fuel cell to drive a motor car.

“These new technologies work together to provide sustainable solutions for utilizing the energy from renewable sources,” Li said.

Jeremy Bohn is a senior in digital journalism and mass communication. He is from Manhattan, and is a 2009 graduate of Manhattan High School.

Since hegrew up in Manhattan, Bohn is familiar with the important issues about the community; however, he said he had to change his perspective in order to direct some of his stories to people who might not know very much about Manhattan and the surrounding area. Bohn notes that he grew up playing sports, and wants to cover sports after graduation.

His dream job is to do playby-play college football and basketball some day.

Anton Trafimovich is an international student from Belarus who has just completed a one-year program in journalism and communica-

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tion at K-State. Even though he’s already worked for the Kansas State Collegian in the spring, he says he has found working for a city newspaper to be very different.

Along with the journalism experience he acquired, Trafimovich says he really enjoyed getting to know the local community during his internship. He said that interviewing residents who have been lived here their entire lives and those who just settled after graduating from K-State helped him to better understand this town’s soul, something that was hard to do on campus.

Tommy Theis is a senior in computer science at Kansas State University.

Theis says he has always been attracted to photography, and always carries a camera with him. “There are just too many things in life that simply get lost in time if not recorded,” he said. He hopes to be able to make a career in photography while using the tools he has learned in computer science to help him excel in making new and exciting content.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

C3

The 24-7-365 life of President Kirk Schullz Jeremy Bohn Contributing Wriiter Kirk Schulz is always on duty. As president of Kansas State University, he will be recognized just about anywhere he goes around Manhattan. Students, alumni or the citizens of the city will stop and start a conversation with him, which is something he’s prepared for.

“You’re on all the time (as president),” Schulz said, “whether you’re walking through Home Depot buying lumber or you’re out speaking in front of an alumni group — if you’re in Manhattan, you’re on.”

Schulz knew that would be part of the gig when he took the job four years ago.

Although he and his family had to get used to it, it’s one of the many aspects of his job that he enjoys.

“That’s all a part of it. To me, that’s part of the fun of being a college president,” said Schulz.

Longtime Kansas State President Jon Wefald retired in 2009 after 23 years on the job. The Kansas Board of Regents then hired Schulz, who came from Mississippi State University.

Schulz said when he came to K-State, he found the university lacking in several areas, including the recognition of faculty

Staff photos by Tommy Theis

KSU President Kirk Schulz: “If you’re in Manhattan you’re on.” and students for their successes and achievements.

“One of the things I really wanted to do (when I got here) was make sure that we were recognizing our faculty for the kinds of things that they are doing in terms of their successes,” Schulz said. “I don’t think that we had done a really good job of that (in the past). We’d have a facul-

ty member win an award…and I would go to Topeka and nobody knew anything about it.”

Schulz said he really wanted to work on branding and marketing student and faculty successes to the world.

“One of the things I’m very proud of is that we now have a Division of Communications and Marketing

and we have increased our ability to publicize, in an effective way, the things that our faculty, our students, our staff are doing.

(We’re) doing so much better than we have before,” said Schulz.

Schulz also saw the need for improvement of facilities around campus. Along with the athletic facility improvements, K-State is

expanding Justin Hall.

Renovations are also planned to the Seaton Hall complex and a new residence hall is in the mix.

Schulz’s No. 1 goal when he arrived was to put in a place a long-term plan that would move the university's national image forward. He came up with the 2025 plan, which is KState’s goal to become a top 50 public research institution by the year 2025. “(The goal was) to put in a place a long-term visionary plan…and I think we’re almost there,” Schulz said, “The colleges are working on their plans, departments are starting to work on their plans, and the idea at the end of our planning processes is every person, faculty, staff or student at K-State has got some plan that relates to him or her every day.”

Schulz said there are many things about K-State that he enjoys. Whether it be its proximity to Aggieville, the Kansas limestone buildings around campus, to even the weather, Schulz said has no problem boasting about the university and what it does for people.

But Schulz says the people and the pride they show are what make K-State great.

“I love the people associated with the university, the passion. You walk through campus any day of the week,

and just think about how many people are wearing purple…. You go to a lot of other universities across the nation, you won’t see that (as much). I think the pride people have with the institution is really the thing I like the most about Kansas State,” Schulz said.

It’s that pride that Schulz hopes new students to Kansas State will display. It is his hope that they get involved with some aspect of the university. From Greek life to a club, he wants every student to find something to do.

“I tell our students always to be involved on campus,” Schultz said. “I want our students to be active in our clubs …because I think that makes it a richer experience.”

He enjoys meeting students and their families and hearing about their experiences.

“I hope that I come across as pretty approachable,” he said. “I try to interact with people on social media, Facebook and Twitter. But I like that fact that I’ll be sitting at a restaurant and a student or two will come up and introduce themselves or introduce their parents who are with them. I want to be a pretty approachable president, one that people will come up and have a conversation with, even if they’ve never met me before.”

Athletic department is a fast-changing entity Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer Entering his fourth year at Kansas State University, Athletic Director John Currie has seen a lot of change while leading Wildcat athletics.

He's had hectic summers of conference realignment that resulted in four schools — Colorado, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Missouri — leaving the Big 12. And he's been through the process of gaining new conference members — TCU and West Virginia.

On his arrival at the university, K-State athletic facilities were well behind other schools in the Big 12.

Now, K-State athletics has two new multimillion-dollar projects under construction that will put the school on par with the rest of the conference.

Currie has seen success on the playing field as well.

Just this past season, that success included a trip to the Cotton Bowl for the football team, another trip to the NCAA tournament for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs, a Sweet 16 volley-

Athletic director John Currie ball team appearance, and Erik Kynard winning his second consecutive high jump national championship. Currie has also seen the departure of basketball coach Frank Martin and led the hiring process of Martin's replacement, Bruce Weber.

“This has been an exciting year and a year of great progress," Currie said.

"From this time last year, we were still in the process of determining the contractor plan for the West Stadium project, we had just broken ground on the Basketball Training Facility and we launched K-State HD.TV. We were one of only five schools in the country to have a football team in the bowl game and have our volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball teams win games in the NCAA tournament. It’s been a very exciting year."

It’s been a lot of hard work for Currie and his staff since he joined K-State. In 2009, Kansas State was given a huge black eye when it was revealed that former athletic director Bob Krause and former football coach Ron Prince had a secret agreement that would pay Prince more than $3 million in a three-year time span following Prince's firing in November 2008.

The university eventu-

ally settled out of court with Prince. The damage, however, had been done, as the new administration under President Kirk Schulz and Currie had huge debts to deal with and not much to offer in the way of an athletic budget.

“The budget (Schulz and I) were handed when we walked in the door for athletics showed a $10 million deficit for the coming year. We were able to over come that. We had some other issues with past contracts and lawsuits that we inherited that we worked through,” Currie said.

“We’ve really tried to look forward and be very transparent with our finances so our fans and contributors know what they’re investing in when they send K-State a few dollars,” Currie said.

“Whether it’s $50 or $50,000, we want folks to know how the money gets spent.”

It’s the fan support that Currie points to that has made a big impact on the university's national image. Currie says that what really tells the story of

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K-State, more than anything, is seeing the student section packed at football or basketball games. This shows the country just how important the university is to its students, and it can only lead to more exposure for K-State.

“Our students have a huge, huge role in distinguishing K-State,” Currie said. “When that television camera comes on and when that student section is completely packed, that sends an unbelievable message across the country about what our university is all about…that tells more of a story, nationally, than almost anything else we can do.”

K-State soon will have two brand new facilities in the Basketball Training Facility and the West Stadium Center that will help the fan experience, student-athlete experience, and help recruiting in almost all sports, Currie said.

K-State has also seen a lot of success financially on Currie’s watch. He credits the generous donations K-State fans

have given to the studentathlete experience, as well as the net surplus of money the athletic department has built to sustain K-State athletics.

“We’re one of only 22 programs in America that operates at a net surplus,” Currie said.

But Currie is not satisfied; it’s his goal, along with the rest of the athletic department, to become national leader in the student-athlete and fan experience for college athletics. It’s a goal that Currie says K-State has not reached yet, but is on the way to achieving.

“We want to be the school when people around the country are talking about who does it the right way, and that means winning, that means graduating, that means service to the community and being a great university unit that we want people to use as an example of a model program,” Currie said.

“It is also a goal that you never stop working on,” Currie said. “You’ll always have to be focused on that goal.”

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Noted food professor’s advice: Be original, work hard Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Even as a graduate student in the 1960s, Daniel Y.C. Fung was an innovator in food safety. As a widely known professor of food science at Kansas State University, he has won numerous awards and titles, while enhancing KSU’s reputation as one of the foremost schools in food safety and microbiology detection methods.

Fung believes the key to success is to appreciate your job and work hard.

That’s what he has tried to do. Born in Hong Kong, he received a scholarship to study at International Christian University in Tokyo. His first year there was devoted to learning Japanese. Five days a week foreign students spent at least 18 hours a day at studying the new language.

Fung said several students quit because they couldn’t handle so much information. He recalled one student who graduated from a top university in the U.S. but literally cried at having to study so hard.

As a student in Japan, Fung hoped to continue his graduate education in the U.S. , something he was able to do when he pursued his master of science in public health degree at the University of North Carolina.

Staff photos by Tommy Theis

Daniel Fung: Internationally known KSU foods professor as he shows off his inovative solution to test for bacteria in food products.

There he focused on efforts to miniaturize the entire microbiological procedure. As a doctoral student at Iowa State, he developed what is known as the rapid method, enabling him to study hundreds of bacteria isolates at a time.

“I said it’s stupid to study

300 unknown organisms using the conventional methods,” Fung said.

One day while shopping in Ames, Iowa, Fung had his Aha! moment. He noticed ice cube trays with about 100 compartments.

Suddenly he thought of growing microorganisms in similar small compart-

ments instead of using conventional Petri dishes. The innovation enabled Fung to miniaturize everything he was working on and to squeeze his projected five years of research into one year.

“We bought the ice cube tray for $2,” Fung said.

“Those two containers we have at home in our museum.”

In a similar way, Fung adapted a plate widely used in immunological testing to hold many more test organisms at once. He also developed a device that could transfer 96 different bacteria onto the surface of a single large agar plate rather than multiple plates. This enabled the study of hundreds of bacteria more efficiently.

Fung said his wife encouraged him. Having her own degree in counseling and being curious by nature, she was supportive for Fung’s scientific innovation.

“She is very intelligent, very innovative in thinking about all kinds of ideas,” Fung said.

The invention of rapid methods was a decisive point in their lives. After publishing papers on his discovery, Fung was invited to many universities and conferences in the U.S. and abroad to present and discuss rapid methods.

“I was completely crazy

Daniel Fung sits with his wife, Catherine holding the very same ice cube tray that inspired Fung on creatuon of the rapid mothod in the 1970’s. at that time in terms of work”, he said. ”I knew it will revolutionize microbiology. And it actually did.”

After completing his doctorate at Iowa State, he went to Penn State. In 1978 he got a job offer from KState. He said the decision to come here was important. K-State gave him the opportunity and facilities to develop his teaching and research program efficiently. In 1985 he became a full professor of food science and animal sciences and industry.

“K-State is absolutely the right type of university,” he said.

In Manhattan Fung was able to continue his research, publish papers and work with students. He has been a major professor to 34 doctoral and 84 master’s graduates, and has been on more than 100 MS

and PhD committees of other professors’ graduate students.

Fung believes that to be successful in academia, one needs to be unique. He works a lot with students and wants them to come up with their own ideas.

“You just have to do something that is unusual and creative,” he said. “I tell my students don’t just follow somebody, create something new.”

Also he admonishes his students not be afraid of failures. If you fail, he said, you might get a new perspective on the trivial things. Observing what went wrong can take students to something undiscovered.

“By understanding what didn’t work one can pave the way for the most imortant developments,” he said.

Bosco pushes agenda for an ever-improving K-State Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer Pat Bosco has been involved with K-State for the better part of four decades. He has seen the Wildcat football team go from a laughing stock to one of the best in the Big 12, and has seen the university’s enrollment jump from 17,000 to 24,000 students.

Bosco, who enrolled as an undergraduate in education in 1969 and who has been vice president for student life for about 25 years, has also seen a change in the students as well. Students are more concerned financially, than what they have been in the past.

“The students, today, are concerned about finances, so affordability (of college) is a huge concern for our students,” said Bosco. “The other is jobs, the opportunity to have choices after graduation is a big deal for our students.”

Bosco says that those two issues were also important 20-30 years ago, and they continue to be “paramount, in they eyes of the students.”

In dealing with those and other issues, Kansas

State and Bosco have been working to do whatever they can that will aid the students of K-State. Bosco points to improvements to the student union, recreation facilities and the Jardine housing development.

He says there are still many projects in the works.

“We’re raising money for a new facility, called a welcome center, to house our Career and Employment Service area, which will be in Memorial Stadium.” Bosco said. “We have a drive underway right now for scholarships, which has always been our number one priority.”

Bosco said the university would also like to move its recruiting efforts to the Welcome Center once it is complete.

He also calls for more improvements to the Student Union and rec complex.

“I would like to add an addition on to our Student Union, I would like to add a fourth addition on to our recreation complex, a natatorium,” he said.

Bosco said the hope is to seek student approval of a referendum that would

Pat Bosco stands next to his purple car just outside of his office in Anderson Hall. replace the current natatorium. No date, however, has been set for such a student vote, and he dscribed it as “years away.”.

If you think Bosco’s life has been dedicated to KState, you would be right.

He graduated in 1971. As an undergrad, he was elected

student body president.

His two children also attended and graduated from K-State, where he says both distinguished themselves as student leaders, like their father.

Still, Bosco works seven days a week.

Whether it’s a purple tie

he wears every day, to his purple car he drives, Bosco tries to build a relationship with students and their parents.

“We embrace the philosophy of putting students first. We work very hard to build relationships with not only students, but their families,” said Bosco, “I’m proud of the relationship I’ve enjoyed with thousands of K-State students and their families, over generations.”

Bosco takes a great deal of pride in what the university has done for students. He is most proud of continuing the legacy of involving students at all levels, the cornerstone of all he has tried to accomplish at KState. He’s also proud of the overall pride, the students take in their school.

“That ownership has translated into projects like the renovations of the residence halls, like the recreation complex or our student union renovation,” he said. “Without the continued interest and ownership in our students, the involvement, in a genuine way, in the plan-

ning and the execution of every thing we do within the university, we wouldn’t have that kind of ownership. Our students wouldn’t be wearing purple everyday.”

Students showing pride in their school colors is what makes Bosco the most proud, because of the sense of spirit and “ownership”, the students have in their school.

He finds it important for the new students to get involved as well. He has been welcoming incoming new students for more than 40 years, and the advice he gives them is to find someone to connect with or someone to look up too, to make it worth the stay.

“The most important advice, I would hope that every single one of them would find somebody who knows (the new students) are here,” he said. “The instant connection might be resident assistant, upperclassmen, advisor or club sponsor from one of our 475 student organizations. There ought to be some kind of connectivity.”

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PEOPLE

C5

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Cliff Hight: K-State’s keeper of the records Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer What some people call recycled paper, archivists view as significant research material. That is why you can find the position of archivist at public and private entities.

Cliff Hight is the archivist for Kansas State University. He first considered becoming a history professor, but the market situation changed his mind.

“My undergraduate adviser warned me that there were a lot of unemployed people that had PhDs in history... I realized probably I should be looking for something a little bit more employable,” he said. “That’s why I went to archives.”

Archivists still have very strong ties with the history field. Hight said he also became an archivist because it’s connecting the past and the present.

“When I think about why I decided to become an archivist, I recognized that history is a great connector,” he said. “It helps to connect me to what’s happened in the past.”

Being an archivist can involve working with local history museums and universities, individuals or giant corporations.

“Historic items will help them to make decisions about future directions or products,” Hight said.

His first real job in the field was at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. He worked on the project of describing the records of August “Garry” Herrmann, president of the Cincinnati Reds and chairman of the National Commission, in the early 1900s. In the latter positi0on, Herrmann was perhaps the most important figure in baseball between 1903 and 1919.

Hight’s job was to make those rare old notes available for researchers. To do so, Hight first appraises the material and determines its research value. Then each record goes into a specific box according to the type of information and the time period. Finally, the record should have an available format and online location so more people can find it.

“That’s part of the idea, and a recent trend in the field is to make as much of

Staff photo by Tommy Theis

This is just a small section of the KSU archives, the archives hold everything from finacial records, records, to even photographs from over 100 years ago.

Photos by Tommy Theis

Cliff Hight: In charge of access to valued research material. He is seen here looking at one of the first ever deplomas that was given to a student at Kansas State University.

what we have in our holdings available to anybody who has web access,” Hight said.

To be able to work with specific computer software, archivists are required to have either a master’s in library or information science. Their undergraduate degree, however, can be in any major.

After one and a half years at the Hall of Fame, Hight moved to Cañon City, Colo. to manage a regional history museum. Staying in a small town, he had the opportunity to be involved in many different aspects

of the job.

“That really helped to flesh out some of the skills that I have,” Hight said.

Four and a half years later, Hight found an opening at K-State’s Hale Library. He was very skeptical about Manhattan, as he still had a memory of driving through western Kansas where there is less variation in the geography.

“How am I going to live in Kansas?” Hight thought.

“It’s flat.”

He changed his mind as he saw the Flint Hills terrain. Also the interview itself promised him a growth opportunity at K-

State. One year after moving to Manhattan, he said his family really likes this town.

“We have been here over a year and we really like it,” he said. “It has got more to offer, such as cultural opportunities and flexible

recreational activities. It’s nice.”

At Hale Library, Hight is in charge of the university’s historically important records. His job is to ensure that the archives staff is effectively maintaining records, and to figure out how to capture the records and make them accessible via electronic media.

Many documents are required to be kept just a couple of years. However, if archivists think something is worth keeping forever, they do it. The same type of activity occurs with documents that some graduates or faculty bring to the library.

“If it helps describe the student or academic experience of the university, we will keep that,” he said.

In many ways, an archive is like a museum. The difference is that they accept only documents, and very few objects. For example, if someone offers a professor’s desk, the archives

would take only the documents it might contain.

Right now Hight is busy with administrative work and special projects and has less time to work with records. While he likes both parts of his job, he strives to carve out time to work on the collections.

Working on them, he can observe the epiphanies that occasionally take place among researchers when they find exactly what they are looking.

“That‘s one of the most fulfilling experiences.

Then I know I’ve done my job.”

Hight said being an archivist and working with the past helps him to understand how to better apply lessons in the future.

“If people have tried to handle these patterns in the past unsuccessfully and we are still dealing with them unsuccessfully today, what can we learn from them to try and make it different for future,” he said. “Or conversely how

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

PEOPLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Video gone viral a plug for farmers and also for K-State Jeremy Bohn jbohn@themercury.com Greg Peterson doesn’t get to work on his farm as much as he would want these days. Much of his time is spent elsewhere.

“I’ve been talking on the phone and answering emails, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to get much work done,” Peterson said. “I’ve lost productivity, and probably lost some money.”

It’s part of the sacrifice the senior in Ag Communications and Journalism has had to make since posting his Youtube hit, “I’m Farming and I Grow It,” a parody of the LMFAO song, “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” The video features Peterson and his younger brothers, Nathan, 18, and Kendal, 15, showing what their typical day on their farm is like through the song. It starts with them walking through a field of grass, the rising sun in the background. At a few points in the video, Peterson can be seen wearing different K-State shirts.

The Peterson brothers have been farming all their lives with their father on their family farm, which might be viewed as the stereotypical Kansas farm, near Assaria.

“We’re primarily, beef, cattle,” said Peterson, “we have all the typical Kansas crops; wheat, corn, soybeans, alfalfa, all that.”

The spoof idea started as a

Associated Press

Greg Peterson and his brothers in a screen grab from their viral YouTube hit, “I’m Farming and I grow It.” joke. Greg and his friends were at a Sonic in Manhattan when the LMFAO song came on, and Greg started singing his own version to the song, just off the top of his head. His friends thought it was so hilarious that they told him to film it.

“I finally got around to it in the summer, with my brothers,” he said.

“It started off as a joke…but

once it started to come together, we realized it had potential, so then we put more of a agriculture focus on it. So when I posted the video, it was to promote agriculture,” Peterson said.

Since Peterson posted the video, it has enjoyed a whirlwind of popularity. Major media outlets, among them the Associated Press, FOX,

NBC and CBS, all had some sort of story about the video, and its popularity.

“Pretty much all the biggest ones have posted an article from somebody. I’ve spoken to the Associated Press quiet a bit,” said Peterson, who noted that USA Today and the New York Daily News have done things as well.

All this attention, from

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across the country, is new to Peterson, and something hasn’t gotten used to yet.

“It’s been crazy, that’s pretty much the only word I can come up with,” Peterson said, “it’s been harder than I expected, but it’s been fun at the same time.

“It’s weird (being a celebrity), you go places and people stare at you,” he added. “I don’t understand why that happens, we’re just normal people.”

Peterson thinks that the video became so popular because many people could relate to it, whether through farming, agriculture or just the small town feel of the video.

“You know there’s all sorts of lines in there, that can make a connection with people, and I think that’s why they like it,” he said.

Peterson did the video to show that farmers are one of the most important assets to the America. He also wanted to show what a day in the life of a farmer is like to those unfamiliar with farming and agriculture.

Peterson posted the video so farmers can get the kind of credit that they work so hard for, every day.

“Farmers are normal, hard working people, like everybody else,” he said. “If you’re eating food every day, then you need to thank a farmer, you need to realize that farmers made that happen.”

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D | LIFESTYLE

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

■ KSU PARACHUTE CLUB

UP in the

AIR

One of the members of the sky diving club as they slowly drift toward sthe landing zone .

Staff photo by Tommy Theis

Skydiving club member says he was hooked after the first jump Anton Trafimovich Contributing writer

T

he first time Skylar January jumped with a parachute was in 2010. But even before that, he already knew he would keep skydiving.

In the two intervening years he has jumped 134 times and become president of the K-State Parachute Club.

“As soon as I got into my first jump, I wanted to go up again,” January said.

Skydiving was a family matter for January. His brother, sister and uncle all skydive. As soon as he went to KState he decided to join skydiving club.

Most, although not all, club members are K-State students. Some helicopter pilots from Fort Riley train with the K-State club as well.

The club goes to Abilene Municipal Airport, the closest place for skydiving, to jump every weekend. Another reachable spot is in Osage south of Topeka.

The K-State club is a non-profit organization so it charges only the fare that covers organizational expenses. For newcomers the first static line jump will cost $170. The price includes a

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A plane loaded with 4 jumpers takes off from the runway in Abiline. four-hour class on Friday night and Saturday morning ground training.

A jump with the instructor cost $185.

But the more a person jumps, the cheaper it becomes. After 25 jumps everyone gets a license and pays $15 to $20 per jump.

“Once you’ll understand how to control your canopy and land properly and pool your parachute on time, we start taking you higher and higher, until you are jumping at 10,000 feet by yourself,” January said.

Unlike jumping with a static line, those who choose to jump in tandem with an instructor go to 10,500 feet and

free fall for about 30-40 seconds.

January said all newcomers are intimidated when they see an open door. But after watching others jump, it gets easier.

Paul Visser, junior in business and tandem instructor at the K-State Parachute club, said which type of jump Is best depends on the person.

“I think people are going to be scared with either method just because it’s not done,” he said.

As an instructor, Visser assists firsttime jumpers, who are attached to him all the way.

“If a person doesn’t want to carry as much responsibility or if somebody doesn’t want to be doing it all on their own, a tandem would probably be less scary for them.”

Visser also added that first-time jumpers are anxious until they jump off the plane. Once they are outside, they feel more confident.

“They don’t know what it’s going to be like, what it’s going to feel like but when their feet get outside the airplane they forget about that all,” he said.

January said there are no reasons to

worry about equipment safety. In the last decade, skydiving has become very safe. If for some reason a skydiver forgets to open a parachute, at the height of 750 feet the computer will automatically canopy the parachute. The only injury skydiver might get is from landing inappropriately.

“It is not as dangerous as it seems,” January said.

Sometimes jumping can be delayed or canceled because of the weather.

Jumping is prohibited when clouds are too low or when it is windy or rainy. Students don’t jump when the wind speed is 15 miles per hour, and licensed jumpers stop jumping with the wind speed is 25 miles per hour.

January said he is still intimidated by every jump. Now he is working on perfecting the free fall. He explained, that while skydiving the ground does not seem to get any closer until about 4,000 feet. Before that moment a jumper presenting his legs to the wind and further extending them can do a forward drive.

“Since it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer, you get a sensation of flying,” he said.

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D2

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

LIFESTYLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Linear Park trail serves a variety of interests Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer The main bike trail in Manhattan was started in 1987 when the flood protection levees along the Blue and the Kansas rivers were adjusted for recreational needs and turned into what now is known as the Linear Park trail. Since then the trail has been extended to nine miles connecting the northeast and western parts of the city.

The Linear Park trail remains the most accessible and the most popular bike trail in the city. It is a multipurpose, partially paved trail. Dogs are also allowed there. The portion of the trail to the west from Manhattan Avenue goes through a forested part of the city, through several bridges across Wildcat Creek and eventually leads to Anneberg Park on the edge of the city.

There is an exit from the Linear Park trail under the U.S. 24 bridge leading to forest. This is where the River trail starts. The trail has been known among bikers since 1990s. Before that time people used it to access fishing spots on the bank of the Blue River.

In 2008 Clint McAllister and Aaron Apel, mechanics from Big Poppi’s bike shop, started Manhattan Trail Works, the volunteer organization for local trail creation and maintenance.

Together with a group of volunteers they started extending the trail.

Equipped with such hand tools as shovels, axes, machetes, loppers, and

Staff photo by Tommy Theis

Stephen Mossberg, a KSU student in milling science, jogs in the mid-day sun on Linear Trail near Aldi’s.

hand saws, volunteers threaded through the debris of the riverside to create the path. The trail has grown from 1.5 miles to 6.

“It has become extremely popular.” McAllister said. “Almost every time I go out to ride the Manhattan River Trail, I see someone else out there either biking or hiking.”

Another project Manhattan Trail Works has done was the extension of the Fancy Creek Trail crossing the Fancy Creek Park to the north from Manhattan. Unlike the River trail, this one is not accessible to an ordinary cyclist.

Rocks on the way and steep hills and intense climbs make it approachable just by advanced bikers. But

like any other trail in the area, the Fancy Creek trail serves hikers’ needs.

“It’s good for hiking,” McAllister said. “It’s a very worthwhile trail to go explore.”

There are also several trails within the city where wide sidewalks are adapted for bikers and hikers.

Hudson trail runs west of CiCo Park. The Meadow

Park trail goes along Kimball Avenue and North Manhattan Avenue.

Anneberg, Marlatt, Warner, North East parks and Colbert Hills also have multipurpose trails.

“And you’ll find that most trails in the city are dual purpose. Bikers and hikers can use them at the same time,” McAllister said.

More trails will appear soon. Apel said they have started developing a trail in Sunset Zoo Park. The only issue in their way is the paperwork. As the park belongs to the city, volunteers need to get permission to work there. Once, that’s done, 2.5 miles of the trail in the middle of Manhattan will be completed.

Another project McAllister and Apel are involved in is a trail at Fort Riley.

The military approached Manhattan Trail Works to assume an advisory role in creating the 25-mile trail system on the base. Because of the trail length, it will most likely take up to five years to create an entire trail system there.

A paved trail between Manhattan and Wamego is also expected to be built.

That is an expensive project, and fund-raising has been underway for a decade. The initiative is designed to connect two cities via the 20-mile paved trail.

McAllister has explored many other parts of the state to ride mountain bike trails and has found that Kansas has some very nice trail systems. He believes Manhattan has very good potential as a trail community.

“I have to say that our trails are very nice when compared to others around the state,” McAllister said.

“If we continue to work as we have been, we will have more trail systems to offer, more diversity in the Manhattan community in the next five years.”

Out on the water: The varied life of a kayaker vinced many of his friends to try kayaking. Lake has organized several group Since they are virtually trips down the Kansas surrounded by reservoirs River, at Tuttle Creek Lake, and rivers, Manhattan res- and at Milford Lake. idents have opportunities Although most of his for kayaking. Scott Lake is friends have their own one local resident who has kayaks, there are several taken advantage of his facilities around Manhattan where they can be rentopportunity.

Lake, an accountant at ed.

The rental prices, Lake Sink, Gordon & Associates LLP, became a fan of kayak- said, are pretty reasoning after trying it in Bran- able. It costs $5 an hour at son, Mo. in 2003. He bought Tuttle Creek, $10 per day at his own kayak so he can use K-State Rec Service and $15 for 4 hours at Milford’s it any time.

“I just found kayaks Acorn Resort.

“There are places to get were a lot of fun because you can really move on the them but they are not quite as available,” Lake said. water,” Lake said.

Since then Lake has “You need to reserve them been kayaking several in advance.”

A few years after buying times a season in lakes and rivers. Ponds, he said, are his first kayak, Lake bought a second so easier as they that he can go don’t require with a friend preparation. and not have to “It’s easy go rent one. to the lake “I think anyone who “You’ll be even in the hasn’t done it before spending a few evening after should give it a try.It’s hundred to work,” he said. easy, it’s fun and if buy it,” Lake Kayaking you got your life jacksaid. ”For me down a river, et it’s safe.” it’s a lot cheapaccording to —Scott Lake, er than a lot of Lake, is more kayaker other outdoor fun but usualequipment.” ly takes more Lake has no planning. special advice Since you for kayaking kayak just in other than direction, one needs a vehicle waiting at using sunblock all the time, as there a lot more sun on the other end.

Another problem kayak- the water. It also would be ers might expect is the good to take a bottle of water level, which water and a snack.

Besides reservoirs and depends on rainfall. For instance, this year Kansas rivers around Kansas, didn’t have melted water Lake has kayaked in other and then experienced a states. He has been to the lack of rain in the spring. Niobrara River in NebrasThat is why the Kansas ka. It is a national scenic River this year is very shal- river, narrow but fast flowlow, making it more diffi- ing. He also kayaked in Missouri, and in the swamp in cult to kayak.

“It’s difficult not to get North Carolina, sailing stuck and have to drag your through trees debris and kayak for a while,” Lake seeing some snakes.

“I just can’t describe said.

He said anyone can do how different it is from kayaking. People don’t Kansas,” Lake said. “It need special skills for ped- really fascinated me that aling, and the kayak itself is there is no sediment in the water. It is clear, but it is pretty stable on the water.

“I think anyone who has- dark.”

Still Lake appreciates n’t done it before should give it a try. It’s easy, it’s fun the opportunities for and if you got your life jack- kayaking Kansas has. His favorite part is when he can et it’s safe,” Lake said.

He said he doesn’t know jump in the water somemany people kayaking in where in the middle of the Manhattan. He thought the pond. To do so, however, lack of activity has to do one needs the type of kayak with a stereotype that lakes where a person sits on the and rivers are places for top of it, not inside.

“It is one of the reasons I fishing and waterskiing.

“It’s amazing how many like my type of kayak where people I’ve met who said you sit on top,” Lake said. they’d like to try it but they “You can’t bring as much never ever kayaked stuff with you but you can jump into the water to cool before,” he said.

At the same time he con- off.”

Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer

Photo courtesy Doug Walter

Kayakers make thieir way down the Kansas River during an event organized last November by Scott Lake. Kayakers started at sunrise from the Blue River and kayaked to Wamego.

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

LIFESTYLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

D3

Wednesday games are no trivial pursuit Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Aggieville can be a place to demonstrate your intelligence. For almost a decade, several local bars have hosted trivia nights, allowing attendees to combine a glass of beer with a quiz.

Auntie Mae’s Parlor is known as the grandmother of live trivia games in Manhattan. Nine years ago Jeffrey Denney, the bar owner, hosted the first one. Denney’s friend from Lawrence, where bar trivia was already popular, helped to establish the game at Auntie Mae’s.

At Auntie Mae’s, teams have to show up early since there are only 12 tables.

“I have fun with it,” said Jeffrey Kreuser, who has hosted the trivia nights at Auntie Mae’s for the past eight years. “I have pretty good ideas pop in my head for categories.”

Kreuser spends two to four hours preparing for each game. He said he comes up with all questions by himself, finding them though Google, Wikipedia and some specific websites to make sure that different topics are covered.

“I just try to keep a variety,” Kreuser said. “Surprisingly I haven’t run out of ideas yet.”

Questions can be on any topic, so regular teams try to have players with various interests. As Kreuser said, the teams usually have a movie person, a science person, and a geography person.

“Our teams are very intelligent,” he said.

Some teams have been playing trivia for several years. Jason Roberts, a content developer at CivicPlus, said his team, “Apology is policy” has been playing for two or three years already. Every week they try to read up on the news, to know about big events like the Academy Awards or major sport events.

“They usually ask about that,” Roberts said. ”Otherwise you just come and know what you know.”

Jason gives Kreuser credit for keeping questions at on a good level.

Kreuser said tries to combine easy, medium, and difficult questions.

“You want to try to find the whole range for everybody.” Kreuser said.

Kreuser said many people knows each other only because they met at trivia nights, which has become a meeting place for students and residents. He said the regulars inspire him to work on his questions.

“The teams that play every week is what helps motivate me every week to keep doing it,” he said.

Electronic aids such as cell phones are strictly prohibited. “Just your brains and a marker,” Kreuser said.

Other than competition, trivia is just a place to spend time. Hosting the game in the bar creates light and fun atmosphere.

Sarah Waugh is not con-

The flavor of salsa in Manhattan Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer

Staff photos by Tommy Theis

Above: A view from behind the question master during trivia night at Auntie Mae’s.

The basement was filled with participants ready to show their intelligence in a variety of topics.

Middle: Members of team “One does not simply Wakka Wakka” discuss the answer to their trivia question on a recent Wednesday evening. cerned a lot about competition, but enjoys the game as a way to spend spare time.

“It’s a fun thing to do,” she said.

The participation fee is $5, the money being backed out to winners. Teams that get first and second places share 67 and 23 percent of

the pot and a third place team shares a $25 gift card from the bar.

Trivia are hosted on Wednesday nights, a day Denney never reserves for other events. “It’s a wonderful break in a week,” Kreuser said.

Bottom: Jeffrey Kreuser asks questions to the various teams at trivia night.

Salsa has become one of the most popular dances in town. People of different ages and occupations come to weekly salsa nights held in local bars.

Isaac Falcon, senior in family studies, moved to Manhattan from Kansas City, Mo. In 2010. Originally from Mexico, Falcon danced salsa for a decade before coming here. In Manhattan, he helped organize salsa lessons.

“I like to teach what I love to do, which is dancing,” Falcon said.

After changing several locations, salsa nights are now a feature at Cat Tracks.

Every Saturday Falcon teaches salsa, the lessons followed by a regular salsa night.

“We always have new students coming,” Falcon said.

Every week up to 90 dancers fill an open floor to dance salsa and some other Latin American dances. Most are women.

“Ladies like to dance a lot,” Falcon said. “I always have a lack of guys.”

He believes it takes newcomers eight lessons to learn salsa. But he believes everyone can learn the dance.

“It’s simple,” he said. “It’s just like walking.”

To motivate students who think they can’t dance, Falcon shows a YouTube video of a guy dancing salsa on crutches.

Falcon also teaches salsa at K-State Swing and Salsa

Club dances on Tuesday at Salsarita’s in the K-State Student Union. At K-State he can see people from everywhere willing to learn salsa.

Nervalis Medina, a senior in wildlife management from the University of Puerto Rico Humacao, came to K-State for a summer program. She said she found salsa in America much different. People are more distanced while dancing here than in the Caribbean, where people dance closer to one another.

“It’s full of flavor in Puerto-Rico,” she said. “We have more spice.”

Nevertheless, she has met many in the U.S. she said danced salsa perfectly. In Boston, she was impressed with how well some nonLatins were at Latin American dances.

“I danced with a Russian guy and he was dancing really good,” Median said.

“There was a Chinese guy and he was incredible.”

Medina also said most salsa dancers in Puerto Rico are in their 30s and 40s. She guessed that’s because singles of that age find salsa nights a good place to meet people.

Falcon said salsa is a very passionate dance that Based on how a dancer moves, steps and turns can help to view a dancer’s personality.

Falcon said he is going to keep teaching. As busy as he is with classes and starting his graduate program this fall, he finds salsa relaxing.

“For me it’s charging my batteries after a week,” he said.

Welcome Students!

Fall 2012 Aggieville Calendar of Events August 18: Aggieville Band Night & Wildcat Welcome Weekend -catch The Pride of Wildcat Land, The 2012-2013 KSU Marching Band at dusk in their debut performances!

-spend the weekend enjoying the festivities while getting acquainted with your new favorite hang-out!

September 1: 1st Touchdown Weekend!

-catch the FREE Game Day Shuttle to/from the stadium/coliseum EVERY Home Football Game!

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November 30: Mayor’s Spirit Of The Holidays Lighted Parade & Tree Lighting Ceremony -pretty lights! Santa, choir, goodies & Tree Lighting in Triangle Park

December 31: Little Apple New Year’s Eve & Ball Drop -ring in 2013, Aggieville-style!

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LIFESTYLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

The varied opportunities of Tuttle Creek Lake Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer About three miles north of the city of Manhattan, is the second largest lake in Kansas: Tuttle Creek.

For 50 years now, the reservoir has been in place on the Riley-Pottawatomie county line, on the Big Blue River, for flood control.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer-owned dam and lake also houses one of the most unique state parks in Kansas, with a plethora of activities for almost any age group.

The majority of Tuttle Creek State Park sits below the south side of the dam, and is where you can find activities ranging from fishing to a four-day country music concert.

Tuttle Creek State Park director Todd Lovin says what sets Tuttle Creek apart from the other state parks around the state is the wide variety of activities it offers.

“Here, we have a diversity of things,” Lovin said.

“You name it, we’ve got it.”

Tuttle Creek Reservoir has about 100 miles of shoreline, covering most of the eastern border of Riley County. The state park covers a pretty large area as well — more than 1,200 acres.

Tuttle Creek offers water activities, hiking and horseback riding trails, fishing and other wildlife activities, disc golf, canoe/kayak rentals and much more. It also has four outlet parks, surrounding different points along the lake, all of which offer a variety of activities.

A lot of wildlife lives around Tuttle Creek.

Whether you’re looking for a place to hunt or watch birds, the state park has a tremendous group of animals to come and see.

“River Pond is just a mecca of bird life, yearround," Lovin said. "In that same area we have a couple of bald eagle nests…. and then you go around and you have all the typical animals you would see around the Flint Hills.”

Lovin says that Tuttle Creek has worked to attract

Staff photo by Tommy Theis

Boaters blaze through the water while towing a skier. Tuttle Creek Park hosts a plethora of activities — hiking, tubing, fishing, birdwatching and camping, to name a few — for those wanting outdoor time. a college-age crowd. The park hosts several mud volleyball tournaments at the beginning of every school year and it has a beach and even an indoor archery range, which is new to the park.

“We’ve spent time and dedication on our beaches, we have mud volleyball…the canoes and paddles boats are popular, disc golf is usually a younger item," he said.

“Our archery is actually really popular… As students, if you live in a dorm or have a place in town, you probably can’t shoot there, so it’s a great way to get out.”

The park even has a dog park that is very popular.

Lovin says many students who have dogs use the park often so their dogs can play without being on a leash.

Lovin says that Tuttle Creek also hosts several events every year that many people don’t know about, and that all of them are a good way to have fun and meet new people.

“We offer a lot of athletic events for people in that range that’s usually a younger group,” said Lovin, “So far this year, we’ve had two or three 5K and 10K runs.

“We can tailor programs and events to specific groups…over two days we had 192 4H kids with some outdoor events and stations. That’s one thing we can do. People looking to do something, but not sure what, sometime we can tailor a project,” said Lovin.

With all Tuttle Creek has to offer, Lovin says they are always looking to improve the amenities.

Although there are no major projects planned as of now, there are always improvements needed, so certain amenities or facilities can operate the way Tuttle Creek users expect them too.

“If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward,” Lovin said.

“Generally (there aren’t) a lot of major programs or

projects going on right now – just a lot of smaller individual-type of items to make the park just a little bit nicer. (We’re) taking what we have and fixing it up a little bit.”

Lovin says Tuttle Creek offers young people memories that will live with them for the rest of their lives by way of exploring the great outdoors and getting in touch with everything the surrounding area has to offer. “(There are) great outdoor activities, and it will carry through with you for a lifetime. If you’re coming to the area, or new to the area for the first time, we have a lot of offer…. there’s a lot to see, a lot to do,” Lovin said. “There’s great fishing, great hunting, great places to camp.

“It’s a great way, if you are a student, to get out for awhile, get away from campus or the dorms and go camping for a weekend. We’ve got a lot of different things you can do while you’re out here.”

Tuttle Creek Lake also offers a variety of fish. Seen here is a gar that was caught in the Rocky Ford fishing area. Gars are a predator fish equipped with a large snout with teeth; most of those caught by fishermen are just killed.

New bike rental program starting on campus Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer To get more students biking on campus, a new bike rental program is starting this August.

Wildcat Cycle, a nonprofit student start-up, together with the K-State club Bike State Collective is going to offer students and community members rentals and opportunities to fix up bicycles.

Kaleb Anderson, senior in electrical engineering and Wildcat Cycle president and CEO, said the terms of renting will be either semester/yearly, and also some couple day rentals as well.

“It really depends on the demand,” Anderson

776-5577

said.

Rental rates are still being determined. For now Wildcat Cycle is going to ask $40 for the semester so this price can cover the shop support, some parts, and paying wages to a staffed repairman. Also making repairs when the bikes are returned as needed.

As a non-profit project, Wildcat Cycle relies on sponsors help. They have just a few so far and are expecting to get more of the community be involved. They are also looking for monetary donations, in which individual and business name could be put on t-shirts, the bikes, around the garage and campus.

“Anything and every-

thing will help to get us started!” Anderson said.

“If you have a bike that is just sitting outside or in your garage that doesn't get used, we would appreciate any donations!”

By late August they are looking to acquire around

40 donated or auctioned bikes, and fixing them up to great working condition. In the future, however, Wildcat Cycle would like to obtain higher quality, standardized bikes that would be more appealing to the renter.

Rental center to close until spring The recreation complex’s outdoor rental center will be closed until next spring, according to information posted on the rec complex’s website.

John Wondra, Recreational Service programs associate director, said the center will be closed due to an upcoming tennis court renovation/construction project. The

tennis and basketball courts that are right next to the rental center will be demolished.

Wondra said the plan is to update some of the facility’s inventory of kayaks and canoes with new models by the reopening next spring. As an alternative, he recommended Tuttle Creek State Park facilities.

Biking is becoming a very strong hobby in town with more and more bike racks being seen around local businesses.

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

LIFESTYLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

D5

Plenty of places to park yourself Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer Parks are very much a part of the lives of residents of the city as well as students at Kansas State University.

The city has 16 parks and other facilities open to the public, with three of the busier parks being CiCo, City and Anneberg parks.

CiCo and Anneberg parks are on the west side of town, away from the Kansas State campus. However, City Park is right next to Aggieville, and very short walk for most K-State students. This makes City Park one of the most used parks in Manhattan.

The use is especially heavy by students, many of whom live in areas close to both the campus and park.That fact as well as the existence of a fund to promote improvements designed to benefit university students ttranslates to the prospect of more improvements at City Park.

“Thanks to the City/University fund, we’re going to be adding pedestrianscaled lighting around that (walking/running) trail to light up the exterior of the park,” Curt Loupe, director of Manhattan Parks and Rec, said.

The goal of the project being to make students feel safer while using the trail at nighttime.

“Safety for students is a concern of ours…not that we’ve had tremendous problems,” Loupe said. “But having a place where the police can drive around the outside and see students, it’s really going to be a great addition.”

Another example of the city and K-State partnering to improve parks is what has been done with Triangle Park in Aggieville, which is actually K-State property that the city controls.

The city and university partnered to do some much needed improvements to

the park.

“We had a leadership group come in and we set a project where they came in with new trees and stained the benches,” Loupe said.

“They cleaned up the park nicely.”

In the past the two have also partnered for other good causes. The past few falls have seen the Cystic Fibrosis Club at K-State use Bluemont Hill or “Manhattan Hill,” to showcase its message.

“It’s a fundraiser, where they cover the letters in purple to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis research,” said Loupe “I think that’s a great fundraiser, completely student driven and it doesn’t do anything permanent to the rocks.”

Loupe said some parks that don’t see as much traffic as the three largest ones may be seeing more in the very near future, especially from the student population. He said Warner Park is already a popular place for some KState students because of its disc golf course.

“It’s a nine hole course, more challenging than (the other ones around town),” said Loupe, “the word’s getting out, a lot of people are playing it.”

Another park that could see more action from the college crowd is Douglass Park, near downtown Manhattan, because of the improvements that will be going to its outdoor basketball court.

“There’s an outdoor basketball area that’s going to be getting lighting, so that will be a great area to use for nighttime (play),” Loupe said.

Loupe hopes the city and Kansas State University continue their good relationship in regard to parks.

“I really appreciate the leadership from the university to work with the city,” Loupe said. “Things that blend the university and the student life together with the community are really positive things.”

Staff photo by Tommy Theis

Josh Smith, a KSU graduate student in kinesiology as he takes his afternoon jog in City Park. One loop around City Park is roughly one mile so it serves as a good way to keep track of your distance.

Manhattan Hill, pictured, has been used by the Cystic Fibrosis Club at K-State. The organization annually covers the letters of “Manhattan” to show progress toward their fund-raising goal.

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

LIFESTYLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Discovery Center: A Flint Hills learning spot Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer The first thing to know about the Flint Hills Discovery Center is that it's not a museum.

“We consider ourselves a learning institution …we’re not a museum, we’re a discovery center,” said Jaclyn Collins, the facility’s public affairs director. “Museums house and grow their own collections, and we do not. We’re considered a science and technology center.”

It’s been a common misconception of those around the area. But the Flint Hills Discovery Center, which opened April 14, is an educational facility that has seen more than 10,000 visitors in less than two months.

Labeling aside, the Association of Science and Technology-approved center seems to be making quite a buzz not just in Manhattan, but all of the Flint Hills. In fact, in its first few days of existence, the center saw everyone from the local Boys and Girls Club, to Gov. Sam Brownback.

And the response has been positive.

“We’ve been getting such wonderful feedback…we’ve had over 60 school groups visit us in the previous couple of months,” said Collins.

"They've loved it.”

The Discovery Center was built not just to attract those around the Little Apple and Flint Hills, but from all around the country. That is why the city of Manhattan spent more than $24 million on the center as a part of the downtown redevelopment project.

The 35,000 square-foot building houses everything from a gift shop to 10,000 square feet of exhibits, as well as an outdoor terrace open to the public. There is Wi-Fi throughout the building, including the public terrace. That way anyone from business people to students can come, as a place to relax or study, while getting a special view of the Little Apple, from all of downtown Manhattan to “Manhattan Hill” and “KS Hill.”

The Discovery Center also houses a theater and an underground forest, both for educating all of those who come through.

Although much of the Discovery Center is aimed toward youth, particularly elementary age, Collins said much of the facility can be used by those college age and above.

It also has been a collaborative place for the state's three largest universities.

On the second story of the building is an exhibit called the “Traveling

Exhibit Space,” created with Kansas State University, Wichita State University and the University of Kansas.

This exhibit shows the science and technology involved with agricultural practices found around the state. It is also in partnership with the National Science Foundation, Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. The hope is to obtain a grant from the NSF that will enable the state to obtain research funding. It's an educational exhibit to attract high school and college students, with professors from the three universities involved.

Along with the public terrace and traveling exhibit space, the Discovery Center also has two multipurpose media spaces that could be used for weddings, banquets, meetings and more.

It is Collins’ hope that these rooms will be used for fraternity and sorority or club functions as well.

“Those (rooms) are really designed for meetings, but I think they could be used for birthday parties,” Collins said. “I think the 'Immersive Experience' is great, where we do own our own triple high definition camera, which would be good for a watch party.”

The “Immersive Experience” is projected on a 67foot wide screen and available for rent.

“We hope that people want to hang out here,” Collins said, “It’s a community space.”

What makes the Discovery Center unique, Collins added, is its content.

“When people first heard about the Discovery Center, they were expecting a museum with up-andcoming science exhibits, and what’s different about ours is we’re about the community around us,” Collins said. “You cannot find a discovery center like this anywhere else in the world.”

“We are the only discovery center about the Flint Hills,” she said.

That's why the Flint Hills Discovery Center’s goal is not just to educate visitors about the Manhattan area, but also to open up the door to all of the rest of the Flint Hills, which stretches from Manhattan southward past the Oklahoma border.

“We’re telling a story that is hundreds of thousands of years old, that ranchers, farmers and community members have been dying to tell for years,” Collins said.

Another one of the Discovery Center’s goals is to make the experience one people will want to repeat.

“We really want to

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E | CULTURE

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

A day at the Beach Director wants art museum to be a place for students to spend time Anton Trafimovich Contributing writer

T

he number of visitors to the Beach Museum of Art grew to 32,000 last year. Linda Duke, the museum’s director, said she is thrilled to find that Kansans have such an interest in art. To meet the demand for the art and art education, the Beach Museum will continue to display its perma- The museum is nent collection, open Tuesdays bring outstand- through ing exhibitions Saturdays from in from all over 10 a.m. to 5 the country, and p.m. and host programs Sundays from for the public. noon to 5 p.m.

Duke said the Beach museum has several main activities. The first is exhibiting. Along with the permanent collection the museum has several galleries for temporary exhibitions. This fall and next spring those galleries will be occupied by Goodnight Moon: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Patrick Duegaw’s Inadvertent Arson, The Museum of Wonder and the kinetic sculpture Konza.

Besides exhibitions, educational and public programs are an important part of the Beach Museum’s offerings.

Over the last year the museum has invited well-known artists to present their books, movies, and ideas. To attend and enjoy those events one doesn’t need to be knowledgeable about art.

“We try to put together programs that will be of interest of anyone who is intellectually curious,” Duke said.

“People don’t have to know a lot about art. They can simply be curious.”

Eames Demetrios is a good example of an artist/speaker many will find interesting. As an artist, he has created a fictional history and geography of the world. All over the globe Demetrios installs historical markers and even small museums related to this history. For an upcoming project he hopes to build an undersea labyrinth. Putting together all of his alternative history sites, he has published a guidebook that allows tourists to find and visit them.

The College of Architecture, Planning, and Design is a partner in inviting Demetrios. The current director of Eames Office in Santa Monica, Calif., he will talk on the legacy of his grandparents, iconic 20th century designers Charles and Ray Eames.

Later in the year, a similar partnership between the College and the Beach Museum will bring Mahesh Daas, an architect who applies design ideas to all kinds of other enterprises, including business models.

Duke said other than coming to the museum to see and learn about art, it is also a great place to study. The upper floor is supplied with chairs, tables and wireless internet. Students can drink coffee as long as they do not bring it into the galleries.

“We would like to be the living room of the city,” Duke said. “You don’t have to be dressed up, you don’t have to have some special reason.”

To reinforce this message of friendliness and comfort, the Beach Museum plans to serve free refreshments during the home game days this fall. Coffee, bagels, cookies, or other snacks will be offered all day.

Duke pointed out that the Beach Museum is the only museum of this type in the area with a collecting focus on art by regional artists. Duke pointed out that Kansas has a long history of collecting and valuing art. For instance, many public school districts even in very small towns and rural areas were already collecting art in the early years of the 20th century so that students could be exposed to it.

“I am really impressed by how enthusiastically people in Kansas pursue the arts,” Duke said. “I think it’s a very art-interested state.”

Mercury file photo

The arch of the Beach Museum of Art at K-State welcomes visitors to its galleries and to campus. Some 32,000 people came to the museum last year, Director Linda Duke said, to view exhibitions, to participate in educational programs and to study.

Konza

Toygantic

Inadvertent Arson

July 13 - Summer 2013

Permanent collection

Oct. 5 – Jan. 13

The Beach Museum of Art commissioned this kinetic work by John Powers. Titled Konza, it reflects the artist’s fascination with the Konza Prairie and the movement of the prairie grasses. Surprisingly, it is made of metal and powered by electricity.

“The Konza sculpture by artist John Powers is interesting to me because there is nothing about it that is natural,” Linda Duke, Beach Museum director, said. “And yet the inspiration and the thoughts that it tends to bring to our minds are all about the natural prairie landscape and the grasses that grow on the prairie.”

Toygantic is work by Wichita artist Randy Regier. Although it looks like a rusted toy from the 1950s, Toygantic is a contemporary piece. There is also a box underneath that makes one believe that the “toy” is real and may have belonged to a child in the 1950s.

“He is an artist who uses our cultural memories, our nostalgia,” Duke said of Regier. “The 1950s was a time period when products could make boasts about their performance that wouldn’t be allowed nowadays. And sometimes when we look back at toys from 1950s, they don’t even seem very safe.”

Artist Patrick Duegaw is a K-State alumnus and a founding member of Wichita’s Fisch Haus artists’ cooperative. This installation is the latest in a series the artist has called “The Painted Theater Project.” Duegaw incorporates painted portraits, props, and sets as surrogates for living actors, three-dimensional objects, and a stage.

Inspired by myths and iconic stories in various cultures, Duegaw’s characters have tragic flaws that cause them to undermine themselves. This “play” is all about actions that are intentional and accidental at the same time.

The Museum of Wonder Feb. 12 - Oct. 13 The idea of the Museum of Wonder is rooted in the 16th century Cabinets of Curiosity.

In Renaissance Europe science, art and technology were not as separated as they are today. Collection displays of that time often contained things people would not likely put together today.

For K-State’s 150th anniversary, the Beach Museum plans to create a modern take on this visual feast.

“We are borrowing all those fantastic things from departments all over the university,” Duke said.

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CULTURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

How K-State has changed over the decades Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer When Larry Erickson came to K-State in the late 1950s, there were just three telephone lines per fraternity or sorority, with students sometimes standing in a line to place a call. Only a few students drove their cars to campus, while some faculty members rode a city bus to work. It was common to smoke in the offices on campus, and some faculty might smoke even during class.

Those are among the more noticeable changes since Erickson, now a professor of chemical engineering in his 56th year at KSU, arrived as a 19 year old from Wahoo, Neb., to study in that department. His brother was already studying veterinary medicine here.

“I decided that it was a good place for me to come,” Erickson said.

Erickson’s father was a farmer and his mother was a housewife. They had some educational background and encouraged both children to go to college.

The out-of-state tuition cost was $199 per semester.

Engineering students paid an additional $100 on textbooks. In those days gasoline cost about 19 cents per gallon, and a meal in a cafe was about $2. For working on the farm, Erickson was paid $1 per hour.

“We could get 5 hamburgers for a dollar,” he said.

But even at what sound like low rates, tuition was a burden for his family, so Erickson applied for the National Defense Education Act loan program.

Getting good grades was as tough as finding money for school, maybe tougher.

Erickson’s recollection is that professors graded more strictly. He recalls one semester when a classmate complained about the B grade he got. As it turned out, Erickson had received the only A, there was just one other B, while six students received Cs, and six others in his class got Ds. He said C was an average grade for that

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Below left. Students sitting near the clock next to Eisenhower hall on campus.

Below right. A group of K-State students walk toward Anderson Hall.

time, while today a lot of students receive A and B grades.

“In general we were good students and took our education seriously and worked at it,” Erickson said. “I think we certainly worked a little bit harder.”

The educational process didn’t differ a lot from the one in place today, Erickson said. Typical undergraduate loads were 15 to 17 credit hours. Out-of-class activities and more full development of the person were also encouraged. Erickson, along with most of his peers, was active in student activities.

He lived in Beta Sigma Psi fraternity and typically had some activity there as well as at engineering organizations and at the Lutheran Student Association religious group.

Erickson recalls with frustration the limited number of available telephone lines in a day long before the arrival of cell phones.

“And you went to call a girl at the sorority and a typical thing was that the line was busy and you get a busy signal,” Erickson said.

Another opportunity to communicate was writing letters and mailing. Erick-

son. An average student wrote and mailed one letter every other week.

“I’d say there was more direct conversation within your living group plus conversation outside,” he said.

“We certainly did not surf on the Internet.”

In their spare time students played intramural athletics, bridge and other card games. The Student Union provided social activities such as dancing in the ballroom. There were concerts, theater and movies.

They also had TV in the fraternity, “but it was not a place where we spent much

time,” Erickson said.

When Erickson came to college the K-State Student Union was just one year old.

Now it is a common meeting place, but in the late 1950s the library was the place where most of people met.

“In my fraternity we would often have a place in the library where we could find one another,” he said.

“If we had an hour between classes, we would go to that area and study, say hello to people.”

The food, Erickson said, hasn’t changed a lot. Most of it was inexpensive in a sense that students didn’t have

things like steak and expensive cuts of meat. They had more hamburgers, chicken, and soup.

“The cuisine hasn’t changed very much,” Erickson said. “The taste is the same.”

Unlike cuisine, the attitude toward smoking and smokers has changed dramatically. Now it would be unacceptable, but back in the 1950s many faculty smoked in their offices, and others smoked even during class.

Erickson thought around 20 percent of students had cars, predominantly the male students. The car was needed to get home, while on campus most students walked. He and his brother shared a green Plymouth. To get around the city many used the bus. Even some faculty would catch a bus to get to work at that time.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Erickson earned his PhD at K-State.

He had a chance to continue his career at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he worked as a research fellow in 1967-1968.

He got an offer to stay at Penn, but Erickson chose to come back to Manhattan.

One of the reasons was his feeling more comfortable with K-Staters, many of whom were from rural areas compared to the people of Philadelphia and New York.

“I felt I had more rapport with the students at KState,” he said.

Erickson believes that engineering education has become more oriented toward scientific aspects. In his undergraduate years it was targeted on technology.

Industrial application was important and greater emphasis was placed on doing something practical to advance commercial activities.

“There’ve been a lot of positive developments in KState during this period that I’ve been here,” Erickson said. “The university has grown and I think it’s improved in its ability to serve the needs of students.”

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CULTURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

E3

McCain’s Broadway feel Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer

Staff photo by Tommy Theis

A view of the front entrance of the K-State gardens from Denison Steet.

The free attractions of KSU Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer One of the perks of being light on cash is if it prompts you to look at free attractions.

The KSU Gardens is definitely one place to look. The gardens are free to the public, day or night, rain, snow or shine.

The gardens, on the west side of the K-State campus on Denison Avenue, are a collection of plants, flowers, insects and water fixtures that offer a beautiful scene, great relaxation or even a quiet place to study, on a nice day.

The gardens bring relaxation in an educational manner, according to Scott McElwain.

Director of the KSU Gardens for 15 years, McElwain says they are more than exhibits on the outside. Their educational purposes make the gardens a high-traffic area, as many of K-State’s departments — architecture, horticulture, forestry and recreation resources to name a few – utilize the facility.

“We do have a lot of instructors that will use the garden for educational purposes, like horticulture on the teaching side,” McElwain said.

“Entomology, they bring students out for identifying insects and butterflies. We will also have folks from the art depart-

ment and architecture come through. There are a lot of other colleges at KState that come through and utilize the facility.”

For the general public, it is mainly the plant exhibits that will be looked at. McElwain says there are many popular plants that people will come by to check out at different points in the year.

“When the collection gardens are in bloom, they’re pretty popular,” he said. “We finished up with the iris, which is typically around Mother’s Day when its peak is.

We’re at the tail end of our peak bloom for the day lilies. The roses will come back when temperatures cool down and the plants start growing again…they’ll grab a lot of attention as well."

KSU Gardens don’t just showcase the typical plants. There is also an adaptive, native garden, which shows people plants that grow well around the Manhattan area. People can then go to their local nursery to get the plants and use them in their own landscapes.

“That’s what we’re trying to do is show plants that are a little easier to find in this region,” McElwain said.

The gardens stretch from the plants and sciences headquarters, Throckmorton Hall, at the

corner of Claflin Road and Denison Avenue, north to just south of the corner of Jardine Drive and Denison Avenue. The current space of the gardens is about five acres.

There is development planned, however. The plans call for expansion across Jardine Drive to the area south of the veterinary complex, which will bring the gardens' size to 19 acres.

McElwain said the plan will turn the campus creek by the vet complex into two larger lakes and waterfalls, with landscaping and other features surrounding the bodies of water. These lakes will have a rock, quarry feel and some features that are similar to that of Pillsbury Crossing, where people can walk across a shallow point in the water. This is planned to be finished sometime within the next 10 to 12 years.

“From getting from one side of the lakes to the others and the design concept, we had a lot of our KState alumni helping us do that design work,” said McElwain. “They wanted to create a Pillsbury Crossing feel. So we’ll have a limestone shelf so you can walk across (the lake).”

Also being planned are a children’s garden and an amphitheater that can c

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NO. 1, PAGE F4

Broadway might not be so far away after all. Who needs the bright lights of New York? Manhattan has its very own arena that has brought in popular acts from the band, Kansas, to famous stand-up comedians, right in the middle of the Kansas State University campus.

McCain Auditorium has been serving Kansas State and the city of Manhattan since 1970. The auditorium has more than 1,700 seats, and is a spot for cultural and artistic engagement that you might not find at this size, anywhere else in the Flint Hills.

Todd Holmberg is in his fifth year as executive director of McCain Auditorium.

He was previously held the same position, with the Corpus Christi, Tex. Symphony Orchestra. Holmberg has brought a wide variety of events to the venue, including acts similar to ones that you could find on Broadway.

“We have a huge variety of events,” Holmberg said, “all the way from the best in Broadway, popular music, innovative theatre performances, dance, ballet, classical music, you name it.”

McCain Auditorium has hosted some big names in the past. In fact, in early 2011, the band, Kansas, performed at the auditorium for the 150th anniversary of the state’s birthday.

“They were also backed up by the K-State Orchestra and that was just an unbelievable concert,” said Holmberg, who described it as “one of my favorite acts.”

Some other famous acts to come to McCain Auditorium include, Bill Cosby, Lily Tomlin and Lucas Nelson, the son of Willie Nelson. All of them, Holmberg says, put on phenomenal performances.

The McCain Performance Series is jam-packed with big names for the 2012-2013 season. McCain will welcome acts such as, Lyle Lovett, Bill Engvall, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek The Musical and Rock of Ages.

Holmberg expects that show, which recently was in movie theaters across the country, to have special appeal for the younger, college-aged students. “That’s really timely, because of the recent movie starring Tom Cruise,” he said. “What’s really cool about ‘Rock of

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Holmberg brought up KState students because he wanted to make it very clear that K-State student’s tickets are 50 percent off from normal general admission tickets, for all McCain Performance Series shows. That can be a great deal, considering that if you went to New York, you might be spending more than $100 for just one ticket. “A student can see that for as low as $22.50 (at McCain),” Holmberg said.

Holmberg said ticket prices will vary from showto-show, but “Rock of Ages,” will be one of the more expensive shows. There will be some performances where students will be paying less than $15 for a ticket.

The director has put out many brochures featuring the schedule of McCain Series performances (including one in this Edition.) But the most up-to-date information comes through social media.

“The best way for students to keep track of what we’re doing here at McCain is become of friend of McCain Auditorium on Facebook or Twitter; that is where they can get the most up-to-date information,” Holmberg said.

McCain is the only venue of its size between Topeka and Salina that can host big name performances. That means it not only attracts people from the Flint Hills, but some performances attract people from all over the region.

“We get people from Wichita, we get people from Oklahoma,” Holmberg said.

He said a group a couple of years ago, Los Lonely Boys, drew people all the way from Texas. “If there’s an artist that has a certain fan-base, they’ll travel great distances to see some of these artist,” he said. “For Kansas, we had people fly in from all over the country.”

McCain features many student performances, including the K-State band, orchestra, and jazz group.

But Holmberg was really excited to point toward one show featuring K-State students and their talents on Feb. 10, 2013. That’s the McCain Student Showcase.

“It features the best of KState theatre, dance and music,” Holmberg said.

“The reason I say it showcases the best is because they either have to audition to get on that concert or go through a process and get approval by the directors of those departments. “(The students featured are) part of a world class series. I think it’s something that is a great learning tool for those students, and something they can put on their resumes,” Holmberg said.

It’s no surprise that with all these big name performers, McCain Auditorium, consistently sees its shows sell-out, and they are starting to create some buzz around town.

“I’m doing more Broadway musicals, I’m bringing in more shows with a little bit more name recognition,” said Holmberg. That said, he added, the number one priority is to maintain artistic integrity.

“There are some name artists that have been featured the last few years, and I think that has generated more excitement in the community,” Holmberg said.

“But I’m not doing that at the sacrifice of artistic integrity.

That’s always been our constant goal.”

His top goal is to spark interest and inspire those around campus and the community. He hopes that sparked inspiration is what will bring people back to more and more shows at McCain.

“I would hate for a college student go for four years, graduate and never realize that they have a tremendous opportunity to be exposed to some incredible artists and be inspired…That’s a part of the mission of McCain Auditorium,” Holmberg said.

McCain opens the 2012 school year on Aug. 26, with Lyle Lovett and His Large Band at 7:30 p.m.

E4

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

CULTURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Arts Center promotes cultivation of local talent Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Opened in 1996 and maintained since then by volunteers and donations, the Manhattan Art Center gives residents the opportunity to reveal their own talents while contributing to the community’s varied cultural life.

The MAC, at the west end of Poyntz Avenue about six blocks south of the Kansas State University campus, is run largely by volunteers.

Other than three staff members and several paid instructors, the vast majority of people involved in all kind of activities work for free. Penny Senften, MAC executive director, said the goal is to let people laearn and excel in arts. Professional artists hold workshops for beginners and supervise them in their projects.

“Our aim is to make it accessible both for professionals and amateurs,” Senften said.

The focus of the center’s live performances and art exhibits is strictly local.

All of the actors are Manhattan residents. Each time when a new play is to be directed, the board announces auditions and potential cast members go through the selection process. Senften said there are plenty of examples when people with no acting experience acted very professionally.

“We’ve had some really good people who have not been on the stage before,” she said.

Locals can also try to direct a play. To become a director, however, previous theater experience is required. But once a person shows an ability to deal

MAC’s 2012-13 season One Act Play Festival August 17 and18 at 7.30 All My Sons

By Arthur Miller Sept 28-30 & Oct 4-7 Directed by Jordan Foote

Cabaret April 26-28 & May 2-5, 2013 Directed by Penny Cullers.

Becky’s New Car

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Staff photo by Tommy Theis

Sorin Peterson draws during a summer drawing and painting class at the Manhattan Arts Center. with the theater through participating in readings or assisting a director, he or she can apply for a director position. All directors are provided with a small stipend.

“We want to make sure we are putting on a good product,” Senften said.

MAC’s theater season usually consists of three plays and one musical.

They are based either on local scripts or compositions by famous authors.

Along with the main stage theater, MAC has a studio theater where readings are staged. Those are more experimental, with contemporary plays being read. The studio theater allows the presentation of newer plays that may have language unsuitable for a regular stage season.

Another important MAC activity is hosting exhibitions. Anyone can apply for exhibiting his or her art at the MAC gallery.

The MAC committee will consider the application.

If approved, original paintings, photography, pottery, sculpture or any other medium will be put on exhibit for two months.

Most of the items shown at the MAC are made available for sale. But the biggest sale is held in November and December. It’s called “Wrap it up,” and it usually invoklves 70 to 80 artists working in different media offering their crafts before the holiday season. “With “Wrap it up” you buy it and we wrap it up for you,” Senften said.

Residents can not only

Theatre, dance has full lineup set Kansas State University Theatre and Dance will present a variety of music, comedy, drama and dance productions for the 20122013 season.

The season begins with Time Stands Still. Performances will be October 1113 at 7:30 p.m. and 18-20 at 7:30 p.m. in Nichols Theatre, with a matinee on October 21 at 2:30 p.m..

Dwight Tolar will direct.

The classic Broadway musical, The Music Man will follow as the second show of the season. The Music Man will take place in McCain Auditorium, November 8-10 at 7:30 p.m. and November 11 at 2:30 p.m. with direction by Jennifer Vellenga, vocal direction by Amy Rosine and the K-State Orchestra led by Paul Hunt.

WinterDance 2012 is a showcase of many talented K-State students in areas

The House of Blue Leaves

By John Guare Feb 22-24, 28 & Mar 1-3, 2013 Directed by Brent Sigman

such as jazz, tap, modern and ballet. WinterDance 2012 will perform at Nichols Theatre November 29 and 30 and December 1 at 7:30 p.m, with a matinee also on December 1 at 2:30 p.m.

In February, the K-State Theatre presents Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo in Nichols Theatre. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is performing at Nichols Theatre on February 7-9 and 14-16 at 7:30 p.m, with a matinee on February 17 at 2:30 p.m. Dillon Artzer will direct.

In March, the KSU Opera program presents Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in McCain Auditorium. Reginald Pittman will direct with performances March 7-9 at 7:30 p.m.

SpringDance 2013 offers an evening of tap and jazz, ballet, and modern dance pieces performed by tal-

ented KSU students. It is April 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m.

The last production is, The Heiress based on the Henry James novel Washington Square. Charlotte MacFarland will direct.

Performances are April 2527 and May 2-4, all at 7:30 p.m., as well as a matinee on May 5 at 2:30 p.m. in Nichols Theatre.

Tickets for all performances are available at the McCain box office from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays or at the K-State Student Union Little Theatre box office Wednesday-Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Tickets are also available by calling the McCain Box Office at 532-6428 Monday through Friday during box office hours. Tickets range in price from $8 to $16, which includes discounts for students, seniors and military families.

buy art, but learn how to do it themselves. There are several classes taught by local artist at MAC. Kids and adults can attend drawing, painting, water color and clay classes.

Local artists are ready to reveal anyone’s talents.

Linda Rae is a local painter and sculptor. She teaches kids and adults how to paint and draw. Her favorite part is to work with kids.

“You see their unique approaches and their creativity,” Rae said.

Senften said they always need more volunteers and anyone can find involve-

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ment at MAC. “Then we try match up their interests to see if someone is interested in doing something with theater, or doing something with the galleries,” she said.

Senften started with the MAC as a volunteer.

When she moved to Manhattan in 1989, she joined a local theater that would later become a part of the Arts Center. After a time as an interim staff member, she has been executive director for 10 years.

“People come here because they want to be involved in art,” she said.

“It’s really a people place.”

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The free attractions of K-State NO. 1, FROM PAGE F3 host events.

McElwain says the KSU Gardens is already a special place, not only to him, but to many people in the community as well. He says that there aren’t many days that you won’t see people walking around the gardens and checking out what they have to showcase.

“There are so many people who talk about (the gardens) being a ‘hidden gem’ here in Manhattan,” McElwain said, “The Manhattan Convention and Visitors Bureau, when they give tours (for visitors to the city), we’re one of the most requested tourist spots for people coming into Manhattan.

So we host a lot of folks that come in from all over the country.

“There are also a lot of folks here in the community that visit on regular basis, because there is something (different) to see every time they come here. It’s a great place to come in and relax and enjoy,” said McElwain.

F | SPORTS

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

Building boom Stadium expansion is only one of several projects now under way or just completed Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer When President Kirk Schulz and Athletics Director John Currie came to Manhattan three years ago, Kansas State University was in need of a face-lift on its athletic facilities. Under the leadership of Schulz and Currie, as well as fan support, K-State will open two new athletic facilities in the next two years, starting with the Basketball Training Facility that is expected to open late this summer.

As that facility nears completion, a $75 million construction project on the west side of Bill Snyder Family Stadium – known as the West Stadium Center – is beginning. Both facilities bring opportunities to student-athletes and fans alike, along with the potential to help recruiting in all K-State sports.

“The (new) facilities certainly make a statement about our commitment at Kansas State to intercollegiate athletics at the highest level,” Currie said.

“The actual physical presence of outstanding facilities shows the commitment. From a recruiting standpoint, that’s a huge factor,” Currie said.

K-State was in dire need of extra space, particularly for the basketball teams. In fact, the university is the last in the Big 12 to build a basketball practice facility.

Now K-State can show off a facility that is comparable to other schools in the Big 12 and across the country. It is also a boost to the men's and women's basketball teams when it comes to practice. No longer will they have to share Bramlage Coliseum for practice time, as the new facility has two full-sized courts that can be used year-round, along with other strength and training features.

“It is a very legitimate, daily need for practice, skill development, etc., for both our programs,” Currie said. “We’re fortunate we are one of handful of schools in the country where both the men’s and the women’s teams have played in the NCAA tournament in the last couple of years…to continue that, we've got to continue to provide great facilities for our teams."

Currie says that with the completion of the new Basketball Training Facility, the K-State basketball programs, both men’s and women’s, will be set in a good place in the Big 12 and nationally.

“Overall, K-State, with this facility completed, will look pretty good,” said Currie. “We have a tremendous arena, a great homecourt advantage…when you couple that with the sold-out arena and the proximity to the Basketball Training Facility…we’re going to look pretty good.”

Earlier this year, K-State broke ground on another project benefiting student-athletes: the West Stadium Center. This project will also lead to an improved fan experience, which has always been a goal at K-State under Schulz and Currie.

“The West Stadium Center has something for every fan…200 percent more restrooms and concession facilities than the existing facility. On the main level, the Hall of Champions will reflect the history of all of our programs and the history of the university.

From a revenue generation standpoint, there’s premium seating in the building that has the potential to generate significant annual revenue to sustain our program,” Currie said.

Going along with the fan experience, Currie says that the West Stadium Center will also serve as a landmark to the university – or the fan’s first look at the university – as well as be representative of the university's history.

Mass amounts of dirt are being moved to make room for the renovations at Bill Snyder Family Stadium “The West Stadium Center is not just an athletics’ facility; it is indeed the new, northwest gateway to our beautiful campus,” Currie said. “The exterior of the facility is built to reflect the beauty of our historic campus at K-State with all that state of Kansas limestone. As people come around the corner, come up Kimball (Avenue) from the west, or down College (Heights) from the north, it is intended to give people that first impression that they see and feel when they see Anderson Hall or the library on campus.”

Currie emphasized that not a single cent of student tuition or state funds is being used for either project. Both are completely financed by the revenue generated by the athletics department and private donations from K-State fans.

Currie said it has been his goal from day one to build a worldclass experience for K-State’s student-athletes. He said that they are very excited and very grateful to have some space dedicated to just them.

“K-State student-athletes love the support they receive from the K-State community and love being apart of the community.

They’re very excited about both facilities,” Currie said.

Staff photos by Tommy Theis

Materials planned for use in the construc tion of the basketball training facility (in background) are stacked outside Bramlage Coliseum.

Rec complex expects to open reconstructed space soon Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer It’s been awhile. In fact, Kansas State University's class of 2013 hasn’t been to the rec complex without any construction going on since 2010.

But the center, located just east of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, will soon start to open space that hasn’t been used since the project's $23 million renovation project started in fall 2010.

“During this school year, we’re going to slowly start opening up in phases,” said Jason Brungardt, assistant director of the facility known on campus as the Rec. The problem for Brungardt and the rest of the staff at the Rec is that the construction

process takes time – more time than anticipated when the project was announced.

“We’re getting there…with construction there’s always delays,” Brungardt said.

“We’re not going to shut down the Rec so no patrons or students can use the Rec…that causes things to be a little bit slower with construction.”

The original completion date was May 2012, but work remains to be done. However, the Rec has just opened up a new locker room and expects to open the entire south side, including an additional entrance, weight room and combatives room, sometime this school year.

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F2

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

SPORTS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Conference welcomes two to membership Good-bye, to the Huskers and Buffaloes.

So long, to the Aggies and Tigers.

Hello, Horned Frogs and Mountaineers.

College realignment has been going on for the past three years. In the summer of 2010, Nebraska and Colorado both left the Big 12 conference for the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively.

The Big 12 remained at 10 members for the 2011 season, when Texas A&M and Missouri both announced their departures for the Southeastern.

That’s four members in a little more than a year to leave the Big 12 conference, home to the Kansas State Wildcats.

However, the Big 12 reacted by welcoming two schools with proud BCS football histories. Both will be members beginning in 2012. The conference first added Texas Christian University out of Fort Worth, Tex. The “Horned Frogs,” had become a dominating force in the Mountain West. Led by K-State grad Garry Patterson, TCU went to two straight BCS bowls. After dropping the 2010 Fiesta Bowl to Boise State, TCU came back and won the 2011 Rose Bowl over Wisconsin, 21-19.

The Big 12 then looked eastward, and added the West Virginia Mountaineers, via the Big East Conference. Hailing from Morgantown, WV, the Mountaineers have had three BCS bowl appearances in their history. The first came in 2006, at the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, a game that saw West Virginia stun the Bull-

A brief sketch of the Big 12’s two newest members, West Virginia and Texas Christian. dogs, 38-35.

West Virginia then slammed Oklahoma in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl, winning, 48-28 over the Sooners. The Mountaineers were also in the BCS in 2012, after winning the Big East. West Virginia destroyed Clemson, 70-33, in the latest renewal of the Orange Bowl.

The additions to the conference have a combined five BCS bowl appearances with four combined BCS wins. That’s more appearances than Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and Missouri combined.

Along with the football success, West Virginia has been a constant in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, including a Final Four appearance in 2010. And TCU has been a constant as well in the NCAA Baseball tournament, including an appearance in the College World Series at Omaha, in 2010.

West Virginia University * Enrollment: 29,616 (22,711 Undergrad) * School Status: Public, Land-grant * Location: Morgantown, WV (Pop. 29,660) * Mascot: Mountaineers * Colors: Old Gold & Blue * President: James P. Clements (4th year) * Athletic Director: Oliver Luck (3rd year) * Varsity Sports: 16 (7 men’s, 9 women’s) * Football Venue: Milan Puskar Stadium (1980) (Capacity: 60,000) Basketball Venue: WVU Coliseum (1970) (Capacity: 14,000).

Texas Christian University (TCU) * Enrollment: 9,518 (8,229 Undergrad) * School Status: Private * Location: Ft. Worth, TX (Pop. 741,206) * Mascot: Horned Frogs * Colors: Purple & White * Chancellor: Dr. Victor J. Boschini, Jr. (10th year) *Athletic Director: Chris Del Conte (4th year) * Varsity Sports: 18 (8 men’s, 10 women’s) * Football Venue: Amon G. Carter Stadium (2012) (Capacity: 45,000) * Basketball Venue: Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (1961) (Capacity: 8,500)

Photo from Wikicommons

A picture of West Virginia’s Football stadium, Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium . West Virginia fans are known for their passion on all things Mountaineers. West Virginia plays its first season in the Big 12 Conference, joining TCU.

Tennis coach making a continental impact Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer K-State tennis may not be well known throughout the country, or even on campus.

However, the 2011-2012 tennis season saw the Wildcats with an 8-14 overall record and finishing in the top 70 in the country.

This was coming off one of K-State tennis’ best seasons in 2010-2011, when the team finished at 16-7 overall.

In 2012, a Wildcat reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998. Petra Niedermayerova upset the No. 16 ranked player in the country, from Baylor, to advance to that level earlier this spring.

Much of the credit goes to tennis head coach Steve Bietau, who is entering his 29th year as the head of the Wildcats. Bietau has built this program into a respectable one that is consistently challenging for the top half of the Big 12 confer-

ence.

Bietau's assistant coach also brings many advantages to the K-State tennis program.

Olga Shaw grew up in Brno, Czech Republic, and is entering her fifth year as assistant coach of the Wildcats. Shaw came to the United States to play tennis for KState in 2004 and has been a Wildcat ever since.

In the Czech Republic, tennis is one of the most popular sports in the country, along with volleyball and track and field, especially with women.

“A lot of young players decide to play tennis, especially on the women’s side, because for men it’s mostly soccer or ice hockey," Shaw said. "For women, it’s volleyball, tennis and track and field. We have a wide base of young players playing.”

Shaw has always been athletic. She started playing tennis competitively when she was 10, and still hasn’t put the racket down.

Rec complex to open reconstructed space NO. 1, FROM PAGE F1 and expansion comes anticipation.

“I go to the Rec about four times a week,” said Jared Hagadorn, a senior in architecture. “I play racquetball and basketball the most (when I go). I am probably most excited to play on the new basketball court since there’s sometimes long waits to play basketball."

Like Hagadorn, Brungardt and the Rec staff are excited to see some of the new equipment in use.

Brungardt said that the new weight room will be a point of focus, as the Rec complex will now have some very good technology.

“A lot (of the exercise equipment) will be hooked up to a television, so this way you could watch on-demand movies on your treadmill. We will also have Wi-Fi, which will be very useful for students,” Brungardt said.

Along with the new space and new equipment will be a new parking lot in the south side of the complex, which Brungardt says should add more than 100 spots.

Although students are paying for this renovation, Brungardt said use fees are low compared to other schools.

“If you put it in comparison to other Big 12 schools, we are toward the bottom in the amount that goes toward the Rec,” Brungardt said. “I know that Missouri just left the Big 12, but their students are paying $375 a semester (in Rec expenses) – we’re not even at $100 yet.”

Brungardt said he and the staff are excited to get to be done with construction sometime this coming year and show off the newly renovated Rec. “I am really excited for when it all opens up, so the students can really utilize the facility to the fullest,” he said.

Kansas State tennis coaches, Olga Shaw and head coach Steve Bietua, talk strategy during a tennis match this past season.

"I’ve been playing sports pretty much my whole life,” she said.

Shaw is heavily involved with recruiting players, especially out of the Czech Republic. Eight of the nine players on the 2012 K-State tennis roster are from Europe, and three are from the Czech Republic.

“Obviously, both Steve and I recruit, but it’s a little bit easier for me to recruit in the Czech Republic because I speak the language and I know the Czech system,” Shaw said. “I can go on the Czech website and find where the tournaments are, so it’s a little bit more convenient for me.”

Bietau and Shaw have

had success in recruiting the players out of Europe by telling them about the history of the K-State tennis program and the values that KState instills in its students.

“First we need to make sure that they are a good fit for K-State, because if they are not, then it’s just not going to work out,” said Shaw. “You just talk to them about the school and we do…and if they buy into what we do, then they usually decide to come to K-State.

The recruiting process combines tennis and the academic side. “As far as tennis, we have a record of improving our players; they tend to get better and that’s a big selling point,” Shaw

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ing,” she said.

She sees recruiting as the biggest coaching challenge. “For me, the most difficult part about recruiting is picking someone who you like, and then they tell you that they don’t want to come to K-State,” she said.

“That’s always a disappointment in any sport you coach.”

Shaw and Bietau expect a lot out of their players, including transitioning from high school or European school and performing in the classroom. They also always expect their players to compete at the highest level.

Most tennis players who come through K-State are most likely not going to go pro. Most of the out-ofcountry players will have to find a job here after college or go back to Europe once their tennis-playing career is over.

“Most players, after college, go home or they stay in the States and work…it’s easier than trying to make it in the pros for three years and then fail,” Shaw said.

The K-State tennis team will open up the 2012-2013 season in Lawrence at the KU Tournament on Sept. 21.

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said. She also talks to recruits about the history of the program.

The NCAA tennis season is a little bit different than what you may find in football or basketball season.

Tennis season lasts yearround, and the team plays in one to two tournaments a month in the fall, starting in September. Team members take off December for finals. They come back in January, playing single team matches mainly against other Big 12 teams.

The Big 12 and NCAA tournaments are in May. Shaw says that the length of the season can grind on young players.

“Obviously it is difficult,” she said. “They have to stay focused during the fall and spring midterms.

But you can see at the end of spring season that they’re getting tired. At the same time, if you go to the NCAA (tournament), all the other tennis players are there, too.”

Shaw has seen her fair share of challenges during her time with K-State. She was injured her freshman year. “I tore my ACL when I was a freshman and had to rehab in order to keep play-

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THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

SPORTS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

F3

Chambers a key to women’s hoops Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer The Kansas State Wildcats women’s basketball team is entering ita 17th season under head coach Deb Patterson. The Wildcats are coming off their second consecutive NCAA appearance, and will now look to senior Brittany Chambers to carry the load.

Chambers, a 5-foot-8-inch guard, was second on the team in scoring a season ago, averaging 14 points per game. She was named firstteam All-Big 12 and has played major minutes all three years of her Wildcat career.

Chambers is from a small town in Big Ten country, Jordan, Minn. The town has only 5,000 people. “(Jordan) is in the middle of a farming area, right outside the cities,” Chambers said. “It’s a really small-town atmosphere; everybody knows everybody.”

Sports are a big deal to the Chambers family. Her father, Lance, was a prospect in the Twins minor league system, while her mother, Colleen, played junior college basketball and coached Brittany’s high school volleyball team. Coming from that athletic family, Brittany grew up playing a wide variety of sports.

“I tried everything growing up small,” said Chambers. “I tried soccer, Little League and gymnastics for awhile.”

However, Chambers stuck to three sports in high school.

“My three main sports in high school were track, volleyball and basketball,” she said.

Although she grew up not too far from the University of Minnesota, Chambers felt at home during her visits to Kansas State and really liked Patterson and her coaching staff. She chose Kansas State over a couple of Big Ten and Big 12 schools.

“Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa State and Iowa (were talking to me), kind of a lot of Big Ten schools,” Chambers said. “I came here for a visit and I really enjoyed the campus and the school, but most of all was the coaching staff. I really clicked well with them and a lot of their morals and values, and the way they like to coach were things that I was looking for.”

An adjustment was needed when she first came to

Staff photos by Tommy Theis

Brittany Chambers puts in a layup against Texas last season.

Kansas State in 2009, because she was coming to a bigger school of more than 20,000 students and into a bigger community than what she was used to.

“Coming from (Jordan) to (K-State) was like night and day, feeling like you’re a big fish in small pound, to a minnow in a huge ocean,” Chambers said.

She seems to have adjusted well to being a studentathlete at a Big 12 university.

She says that staying on top of school work is the key to allow her to focus on basketball games – usually two per week during the season.

“It hasn’t been quite as hard as I envisioned (being a student-athlete). I kind of envisioned the worst (coming in), but we get a lot of help with tutors and academic advisers,” Chambers said.

“It can be tough during the season when you’re traveling and missing class…it can be hard to do homework in your hotel room (before games). As long as we can keep on top of things, it’s not as tough.”

Chambers, a life sciences major, is planning on graduating in four and half years.

She could graduate in four,

but she decided to really put a lot of her efforts into her final year of eligibility in college basketball. After graduation, she plans to continue the dream of playing basketball professionally. “I’ll enter the draft here and try out (for the WNBA), and if that doesn’t happen I’ll go overseas,” she said.

Chambers though does have a backup plan in case basketball doesn’t work out for her after college. “If the basketball thing doesn’t happen, I would go to med school for dermatology,” she said.

The Wildcats, who went 20-14 overall and posted a 9-9 Big 12 mark last year, will have to replace the scoring production of key graduates Jalana Childs and Branshea Brown with some younger players.

“We’re going to be very young this next year. We have a brand-new team,” Chambers said. “We lost three of our starters, one of which is a first team, All-Big 12 selection in Jalana. So we’re definitely a much smaller, younger team, but I’m excited to try something new and a new style of basketball.”

Although K-State will be

young, Chambers and her teammates are still expecting to make the NCAA tournament, which is always the team goal.

“We always strive to be atop of the Big 12 and make it into the NCAA tournament. I think it’s something that we can do,” Chambers said.

“We’re going to need to buckle down and have younger players step up.”

The coaches and older players are helping the new players learn the system. “(Summer workouts) have been going well. We’ve been playing lots of pickup, running a lot and trying to get the mental part of basketball incorporated into our younger kids and keeping it with our older kids, and also making sure the toughness stays and we don’t relax during the summer,” said Chambers.

Chambers will have to be the leader of this team. She has already played a school record 1,247 minutes in 2012 – something she will probably have to do again if the Wildcats expect to make a run at the NCAA tournament.

“It’s definitely a lot of weight…this year we’re trying to get players to help me and step into a role where they can be leaders,” Chambers said.

Last season the K-State women’s team played in front of some big crowds at Bramlage Coliseum, including a sell-out crowd against national champion Baylor.

Chambers and her teammates are happy to receive the support that they do from the students around campus, and the faculty and staff as well. It adds to the family feel that is always the goal of K-State athletics.

“Everybody talking to you and congratulating you…it’s something that makes you feel good,” she said. “When things aren’t going as well, they always have your back, even if you lose, they’re always there. So it’s definitely a support system and almost like a family atmosphere.”

Seeing Bramlage Coliseum packed with purple is something that always makes her feel special.

“It’s not that small of a school, but it almost feels small because people are so supportive,” Chambers said. “Even if people don’t know you, they’ll take the time to congratulate you…they’re just so friendly and so nice.”

A racket and shuttlecock used to play badminton.

Badminton is big among KSU’s Asians Anton Trafimovich Contributing Writer Up to 90 percent of the KState Badminton club members are students from Asia. Jing Han, doctoral student at human nutrition department and club president, thought the reason Americans are reluctant to play might be in underestimating the intense energy required to play badminton. Han said the game gives one enough exercises to keep in shape.

According to Han, most of people in China know how to play badminton. It’s a top-4 game along with basketball, soccer and table tennis. The Chinese are famous for winning all kinds of international tournaments.

Han started playing badminton in 2007, after she went to college. Han explained that even though it’s a national game, no student in high school can afford to take the time to play it.

“Chinese education is very stressful and we don’t have free time, especially in high school,” she said.

But once a student enters college he or she will most likely have some time to play badminton.

“College is paradise for us. We can do whatever we want,” Han said.

As in the United States there are many sport clubs in colleges in China. But not only college students play badminton. Han said people of any age know the basics. Her parents, for instance, as many other adults, play badminton for fun.

“Most people know how to play,” she said.

While some people play it at a very a slow pace and cautiously, others will run several miles during a set.

It requires many skills.

The K-State badminton club was created in 2008, and Han was elected president this past April. There are 40 members, each of whom pays $20 annually.

Every Wednesday and Friday from 8 to 11 p.m. and on Sunday from 3 to 6. the Badminton Club has six courts available at the KState Rec Center.

Han said players do not need any previous background. The club has advanced players who volunteer to teach beginners.

They start with showing how to hold the racket.

Thomas Lin, dentist and badminton player, will also advise on equipment choices.

Lin explained that the badminton equipment at the Rec center is geared toward recreational players, not for individuals who want to excel in their skills.

All the well-made racquets are composed of carbon or graphite material that makes them lighter and stronger than regular steel or aluminum.

“All the players want the extra edge to their play, and these materials do give them that extra advantage,” Lin said. “The combination of players' skill and advanced materials, powerful shots, quickness in defense, and precision drives are all possible.”

Even though the club welcomes everyone, most of the players are from Asia. The best-represented countries are China, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. There are some Europeans and Americans as well.

Besides training, Han said the badminton club is also a great place for meeting friends.

“It’s over my expectations,” she said of the relationships she has made.

F4

THE MANHATTAN MERCURY

FOCUS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012

Football can make another run in 2012 Jeremy Bohn Contributing Writer What an unbelievable run the 2011 Kansas State football team had: A goalline stand; heart-stopping, last-second victories; a four-overtime thriller. It all added up to a second place Big 12 finish, 10 wins and a Cotton Bowl berth.

The 2012 college football season arrives with high hopes for K-State fans, many of whom expect the Wildcats to be a top 10 team, contend for the Big 12 and perhaps a BCS bowl berth. High expectations, but Wildcat fans have good reason to be excited.

The Wildcats return 16 starters from their 2011 campaign, including quarterback Collin Klein, linebacker Arthur Brown, cornerback Nigel Malone and wide receiver Tyler Lockett. All of them have been frequently mentioned on award watch lists. The 2012 K-State team has set a school record for 14 total candidates for major college football awards. Oh, and Bill Snyder is returning for his 21st season as head man for the Wildcats, the fifth since he came out of retirement.

On the offensive side of the ball, Klein will be looking to carry the load again in his senior season. Last season, Klein was the heart and soul of the team, willing them to victory and throwing for 1,918 yards, while rushing for 1,141. He was, no doubt, the most valuable player.

However, Klein did find help, most notably running back John Hubert. Hubert was under the radar coming into 2011, as many fans and media expected Bryce Brown to be the starter in the backfield.

Hubert quickly turned that thought around, eventually falling just short of 1,000 yards rushing.

Along with Hubert, expect to see more action out of running backs Angelo Pease and Robert Rose, and fullback Braden Wilson.

K-State will return wide receivers Lockett, Tramaine Thompson, Chris Harper and Curry Sexton, and tight ends Travis Tannahill and Andre McDonald. Lockett was one of K-State’s most explosive players a year ago, as he also had a couple of kick returns. However, he sat out the last part of the season due to a kidney injury.

Harper was Klein’s goto receiver at times a year ago with 40 receptions for 547 yards and five touchdowns. But Thompson, Tannahill and McDonald all had productive seasons as well, and look to add to the passing attack in 2012.

What Klein meant to Kansas State offensively is about the same as what Brown means to the Wildcats defensively. There’s no doubt that he was the most important Wildcat defensive player a year ago.

The senior recorded 101 total tackles in 2011, and used his speed to make big plays to spark KState’s defense, including an interception of Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III in the fourth quarter against

Staff photos by Tommy Theis

Football coach Bill Snyder shakes hands with Collin Klein just before the K-State Wildcats take the field for this year’s spring game.

plete clutch passes in 2011 as well.

Sept. 1 Missouri State 6p.m.

Klein completed long Sept. 8 Miami (FL) 11a.m. touchdown passes to Sept. 15 North Texas 6p.m. Harper in the final minutes of both the Eastern Sept. 22 @Oklahoma TBA Kentucky and Texas A&M Oct. 6 KU TBA games. Klein also had Oct. 13 @Iowa State TBA clutch throws in the BayOct. 20 @West Virginia TBA lor and Missouri games, Oct. 27 Texas Tech TBA which if he hadn't completed could have meant Nov. 3 Oklahoma State TBA defeat for the Wildcats.

Nov. 10 @TCU TBA Other question marks Nov. 17 @Baylor TBA this year are both their Dec. 1 Texas TBA offensive and defense lines. K-State returns Baylor. This led to K- center B.J. Finney, offenState’s game-winning sive guard Nick Puetz, defensive ends Meshak field goal.

Malone led the Big 12 Williams and Adam with seven interceptions. Davis, and defensive Also returning are defen- tackle Vai Lutui.

However, the Wildcats sive backs Allen Chapman and Ty Zimmerman. will have to replace The defense will have to Clyde Aufner, Zach Hanget used to a new defen- son and Colten Freeze on sive coordinator as Tom the offensive line, along Hayes replaces Chris with Jordan Voelker, Cosh, who left for South Raphael Guidry and Ray Kibble on the defensive Florida.

There is still plenty of line.

Replacing the offenspeculation circulating around the 2012 team. sive linemen will be key Although the 2011 team for the 2012 Wildcats, as did win 10 games, it lost they will need to keep the Cotton Bowl to Klein up right and lead Arkansas, 29-16. The Wild- the way for the K-State cats also won eight games running attack. Running the ball is part of Kby a touchdown or less.

This has sparked some State's way of controlling to label the Wildcats as the ball and the game.

The Big 12 is full of “fool’s gold” for the 2012 season predictions. The potent passing attacks.

Wildcats were picked Therefore, the defensive sixth in the Big 12 pre-sea- line must put pressure on son media poll; they were the quarterback. No matter how good of secondary picked eighth in 2011.

Some doubt Klein’s a team has, the quarterthrowing ability, ques- backs in the league will tioning whether he can take the beating he took a year ago running the ball.

Although it took place against the second string defensive unit, Klein completed 47 of 56 passes for 480 yards and six touchdowns in Kansas State’s spring game. Klein also showed that he could com-

2012 KSU schedule

Coaching Information Head Coach — Bill Snyder (159-83) 21st Season.

Co-Offensive CoordinatorDel Miller.

Co-Offensive CoordinatorDana Dimel.

Defensive CoordinatorTom Hayes.

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pick apart defenses if there is no pressure applied. That was part of the problems K-State faced a year ago. In losses to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Arkansas, the opposing teams' quarterbacks had way too much time in the pocket and were able to pick apart KState’s secondary.

The Wildcats will also face a gauntlet of a schedule. TCU and West Virginia replaced Missouri and Texas A&M. Both have rich football history and a combined five BCS bowl appearances. The Wildcats will be on the road for both games.

There's no question about the toughest game on K-State’s schedule.

The Big 12 runs through Norman, Okla., which it usually does every year.

The Wildcats will have to travel to Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners, who return quarterback Landry Jones, in K-State’s first conference game on Sept. 22.

This game is likely to be a nationally televised contest and could spark what could be a Big 12 title run. K-State has to be looking for revenge for the Cats’ worst loss from a year ago, as Oklahoma won 58-17.

On Oct. 20, K-State will travel to West Virginia,and play in front of one of the rowdiest fan bases in the country. West Virginia will rely on quar-

Collin Klein, K-State quarterback, makes a handoff during the spring game.

terback Geno Smith and wide receiver Tavon Austin.

The Mountaineers plan to be contending for the Big 12.

K-State will also have tough conference home games with Oklahoma State, which returns running back Joseph Randle, and Texas, which will most likely have the best defense in the Big 12. That defense shut down KState one year ago.

K-State will play Texas on Dec. 1, and that could be a game to decide the

Big 12, as both teams are expected to have good years.

K-State has a chance to contend and perhaps win the Big 12 this year, with all the talent returning from a 10-3 team. However, K-State’s defense has to find a way to improve and bring more pressure to the quarterback if the Cats want to bring home the trophy.

K-State kicks off the 2012 season with Missouri State on Sept.1. Game time is at 6 p.m.