Sports

Read more about the Strawhorns’ nonprofit and its origins at flight1.org. “It seemed so impossible,” he said.

And yet, he did it.

While the kids in Flight1 don’t earn a license, many report a similar sense of accomplishment and freedom.

“Just to be in a plane and be behind the controls and do whatever you want,” Sandy said. “There’s nothing else that can give you that. When you are in the air, there are no stop signs, no stoplights. You are free to go wherever you want.”

Levi’s cancer story began with a cough.

His parents, Teresa and Patrick, were suspicious. It was July in 2017, well past the normal cold and flu season. A week later, he told his parents that he was tired and that things smelled and tasted weird.

Teresa, a nurse, took Levi to his pediatrician, half expecting the doctor to tell her that those symptoms made no sense, that she was crazy, that nothing was wrong. Instead, doctors scanned his chest and found the growth.

The next day, they went to a pediatric oncologist, and lab work showed that threequarters of the boy’s blood was actually cancer cells.

What followed was nine months of intensive chemo at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

“You stand on the sidelines, completely helpless, literally watching your child wasting away,” Teresa said. “I couldn’t even hold him or hug him because his bones and muscles hurt so bad.”

Since 2018, Levi has been in a maintenance phase. It sounds easy, but it’s not. On Fridays he takes 25 pills.

Levi and his sister, Tyra, learned about Flight1 through a summer field trip to the hangar at Vincennes University Aviation Technology Center. Little Red Door, a nonprofit that supports families affected by cancer, sponsored the trip.

When Teresa picked the kids up from that field trip, it was the most excited she had seen Tyra in months. Both said they wanted to give Flight1 a shot.

“I said, ‘How much does that cost?’ because we owe IU Health tens of thousands of dollars,” Teresa recalled.

At first, she didn’t believe her kids when they told her it was free.

Since the first flight on October 25, Tyra has decided she wants to be a commercial pilot and has plans to study aviation through a vocational technology program at her high school. Levi said he wants to fly the plane that pulls a Geico banner around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The kids have two more flights left.

“The Flight1 organization is incredible,” Teresa said. “The kids are completely in control of what is happening, and control is something none of us has right now, especially Levi. To have that kind of experience, and to not have to pay a dime, it’s incredible.” 

A big thanks (and a late apology) from Marcus Strawhorn

Throughout high school and college, Marcus was an introvert.

His dream was to be a scientist so that he could work in a lab, alone.

“I had no people skills,” Marcus recalled.

In order to graduate at Ball State, Marcus had to take an intro to speech course. Most students knock it out in their freshman or sophomore years. But Marcus postponed it until he was a senior. He hated it.

“I remember getting so frustrated at my instructor,” he recalled. “I said, ‘I’m never going to use this. I’m going to be a scientist.’”

The instructor told Marcus that no matter what he did in life, he needed to know how to communicate.

Now, Marcus hosts numerous fundraising events that require him to give speeches and tell the Flight1 story. He has tried to find his old instructor and make amends, but, more than 20 years later, he can’t remember her name.

“I wish I could go back and apologize to her.”

Photo by Steve Fleenor

Photo by Steve Fleenor

(Left) Hooisers Marcus and Sandy Strawhorn, originally from Ossian and Macy, respectively, met at Ball State in the 1990s. After college, Sandy worked as a licensed stockbroker and then an early childhood educator before becoming full-time program director for Flight1. Marcus has worked at Eli Lilly for 21 years, most recently in quality assurance. (Bottom) Tyra Fragodt with her dad, Patrick Schreiber, Indianapolis Regional Airport, October 2019.

Photo courtesy of Caitlyn Placek

Ball State University faculty use research and scholarship to improve lives and inspire change in the world. Here are just a few examples.

By Tim Obermiller and Nick Werner, ’03

Placek collects data on anemia and substance use among adolescents as a Fogarty Fellow in Mysore, India. Dr. Caitlyn Placek cares passionately about making sure women across the world have healthy pregnancies.

No, she’s not an OB-GYN. She’s an assistant professor of anthropology in the College of Sciences and Humanities. The field examines both biological and cultural human evolution, which can touch on a wide range of areas, from behavior and environment to genes and society.

Specifically, Placek studies what causes some expecting women to chew tobacco, use drugs, or eat certain foods.

She is quick to point out that her research is not about assigning shame or blame. On the contrary, Placek hopes that her work can help erase the stigma that these women face and show that their behavior is influenced by their environment, their culture, and even their own evolved biology.

Only by examining the issues through the objective lens of science can we craft solutions, Placek said.

“These are not moral failures, nor do these behaviors exist in a vacuum. They are influenced by a multitude of factors. When we destigmatize these health concerns, we can improve overall health for everyone.”

Placek earned undergraduate degrees in psychology and anthropology from Eastern Kentucky University. She then earned a master’s and doctorate in anthropology from Washington State University and was a postdoctoral Fogarty Fellow with the National Institutes of Health.

As both a biocultural and medical anthropologist, Placek has examined communities in India and here in Indiana. She uses interviews and biological data to test hypotheses about what influences dietary patterns and drug use in pregnant women.

In India, her research has focused on a variety of consumption-related topics in pregnancy such as tobacco use, food cravings and aversions, cultural food taboos, and fasting. She has been working on this line of research in

Both abroad and in Indiana, Caitlyn Placek studies human behaviors and conducts research with the goal to provide science-based solutions that ensure healthier pregnancies for women with drug habits and addictions.

Learn more about our faculty and how they are achieving academic excellence at bsu.edu/faculty. South India since 2011 and to date has published her findings in leading anthropology journals such as Evolution and Human Behavior, Human Nature, and American Journal of Human Biology.

Placek also conducts research in the realm of global health. She has collaborated on research projects focusing on anemia, HIV and HIV stigma, and the use of a free medical mobile clinic for prenatal care.

“Tobacco use is a rising global health concern for women in developing nations, and we don’t really know the factors that lead them to using tobacco,” she said. “Most of the research has been conducted with men because men have traditionally been the heaviest users of tobacco products, and cultural norms often prohibit women from reporting their use.”

Closer to home, Placek co-taught a collaborative immersive learning course for students at Ball State with Drs. Jean Marie Place and Jennifer Wies. The three collaborators were awarded a provost grant for their project, “Healthy Moms, Healthy Communities: Understanding Perceptions & Evaluating Maternal Opioid Treatment in Muncie.”

“We interviewed a variety of health care professionals, law enforcement, and some women who are experiencing the addiction firsthand. These one-on-one interviews helped us come to our main findings.”

The rate of pregnant women being addicted to opioids at delivery quadrupled from 1999 to 2014, says a study published on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s site. It went from about 1.5 women per 1,000 births to about 6.5 — up 333%.

“This nationwide epidemic hits Muncie in a unique way,” said Placek, “including the struggle for pregnant, addicted women.

“One main finding was that some women discontinue treatment due to the strain it can put on family members or their children. Another barrier for seeking treatment is the cost for treatment and some women not being able to afford it.”

The Ball State group found that treatment facilities in the area are few and far between, especially for addicted pregnant women in Muncie. Their findings showed that although there is more collaboration between facilities in Muncie, more efforts are needed to keep women in treatment.

In interviewing women, Placek and her team of student research assistants also discovered that shame and embarrassment are common factors that prevent women from seeking substance abuse treatment.

“Members of the local community fail to realize (the stigma) is not who we are,” one local addicted mother told Placek’s group. “That’s not what we want in life; that’s what the drugs have done to us. Being sober-minded, not anybody in their right mind would want to live that life.”

The students learned a key lesson for future anthropologists: how to conduct science with sensitivity.

“Students who work with me learn how to conduct both qualitative and quantitative interviews and how to analyze some of the data I collect,” said Placek. “Through these tasks, they gain a better understanding of the challenges in conducting this type of research.

“As researchers, we are strangers and outsiders to those women. So, one of the challenges is building positive relationships and gaining trust. Only then can we share their story and increase awareness around these issues.”

Another valuable lesson her students learned: “Community support has potential to help its members make change for the better in their lives.”

Seeing the world through other people’s eyes

Dr. Gabriel Tait fell in love with photography as a sixth-grade student at Allegheny Middle School in Pittsburgh.

He was invited to an after-school program as an effort to guide inner city youth to the arts. Tait said it was a life-changing moment. Sure, Tait enjoyed the intellectual pursuit of mastering an immensely technical craft. But there was more to it than that. He saw how a camera’s viewfinder could serve as a window into someone’s soul. The experience, he said, helped his worldview and gave him a better understanding of humanity. “I was now seeing — metaphorically — through other people’s eyes.” The professor’s basic message to his students is this: It takes heart to be a great journalist. “I have the privilege to teach, I want our students to leave this University understanding humanity better and caring about their neighbor.”

Tait is an assistant professor of diversity and media in the Department of Journalism in the College of Communication, Information, and Media. He teaches students how to fairly and accurately represent cultural identities, especially those that aren’t their own.

Tait holds a doctoral degree in intercultural studies with an emphasis in visual anthropology

and leadership, as well as a master’s in intercultural studies with an emphasis in visual communication, both from Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Tait has created a new research approach to culturally sensitive photography that he calls “Sight Beyond My Sight” (SBMS) and has employed it in Liberia and throughout the U.S. With SBMS, a researcher trains participants The camera gave in photography, then analyzes ethnographic photographer and war photos they create of the community to learn correspondent Gabriel about their cultural language as well as Tait a window to the world. Now, at Ball State, experiences that have helped shape their identity and worldview. His method is used in photojournalism research, mission studies, and he’s shaping best visual anthropology. practices valuable for any He has published articles and book chapters professional who carries covering subjects such as visual communication, a camera into a cross- journalism ethics, and intercultural missions work. cultural experience. Before joining academia, Tait spent 25 years as a photojournalist and war correspondent. He has photographed presidential inaugurations and the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup. But it’s his work documenting the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances — war refugees, ragtag soldiers, and grieving parents in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia — that earned him a Pulitzer nomination. Tait’s empathetic eye is obvious in his professional portfolio. Image after image pulls at your emotions and forces you to see the humanity in people who look different from you.

Discovering innovative ways to improve cities

As an assistant professor of urban planning in the R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning, Dr. Sanglim Yoo strives to make cities better for the environment and more enjoyable for their residents. Yoo has studied urban heat islands (UHIs). These are areas where temperatures are higher than in the surrounding countryside — the result of asphalt, concrete, and other materials absorbing sunlight instead of reflecting it. The phenomenon can make city residents especially vulnerable to heat-related health problems. Heat islands have long been seen as major urban environmental problem but have only recently gained attention in the field of urban planning, said Yoo. She focused on Indianapolis, which is among the U.S. cities where UHIs have grown in large numbers in recent years. For her analysis, Yoo used complex imaging data to identify important variables in the formation of UHIs.

“If you have open spaces such as parks and water bodies near your home, it tends to be cooler,” Yoo said of her findings. “If we can quantify how much these open spaces add to the economy in terms of heat mitigation, it could help persuade our decision-makers and builders to take a more comprehensive approach.”

Receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Seoul National University, in South Korea, Yoo then earned her doctorate at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Sanglim Yoo studies how At Ball State, Yoo has taught several undergraduate immersive learning courses that to use green spaces to focus on urban planning issues. In one, students reflect heat, reduce energy researched the potential to develop abandoned consumption and keep us industrial sites in the area into large solar farms. all cool and comfortable. Just by itself, the former Borg-Warner factory site Her work is improving lives in Indy and Muncie. in Muncie could generate enough electricity to support 7,000 typical Indiana homes, she said. “What I enjoy most is seeing students growing. At first, they may come with no idea what urban planning really means. By the end of the course, I want them to have cuttingedge, computer-based, planning decisionsupporting skills.” This past academic year, Yoo launched an immersive learning course in which students search for ways to improve sustainability efforts in economically vulnerable areas in Muncie. Students used urban planning strategies and tools such as socioeconomic and demographic data, the geographic information system (GIS) mapping tool, and other design software. “I hope my students walk away from Ball State eager to serve their communities and with a dedication to making them more sustainable.” We need more stress, according to Lenny Kaminsky. Not emotional but physical stress. Kaminsky is recognized as a worldwide authority on how cardiorespiratory fitness can prevent and treat chronic disease and studies how the body responds positively to the demands of exercise.

Better living through stress (the exercise kind)

Dr. Lenny Kaminsky thinks we could all use a little more stress in our lives.

Not mental or emotional stress. But physical stress, the kind that comes with walking, running, swimming, cycling, and dancing. “People have a negative connotation with stress,” he said. “But stress can be a positive for the body. When stress is applied as exercise, it can cause the body to adapt and improve.” At the College of Health’s Fisher Institute for Health and Well-Being, Kaminsky is the John and Janice Fisher Distinguished Professor of Wellness. The professor of clinical exercise physiology in the School of Kinesiology has been part of a program that’s grown into one of the best of its kind in the world. Since the school began in 1965, its exemplary faculty and facilities have attracted top-notch students, according to Kaminsky.

“What we try to do with our students is encourage them to take the next step to be leaders in the field,” he said. “The most gratifying part of my career is to see all the great work that our former students are doing.”

Kaminsky is recognized as a worldwide authority on how cardiorespiratory fitness can prevent and treat chronic disease. Contributing over 100 research articles to peer-reviewed journals, Kaminsky presents regularly at health symposiums and serves in a leadership role for several health-related professional organizations’ committees and boards.

He is also leader of the College of Health’s Healthy Lifestyle Center, a community-based site run by Ball State faculty and students as well as IU School of Medicine-Muncie medical students.

Opening its door in April 2018, the free resource empowers Muncie and Delaware County residents to live healthy, happier lives through simple, realistic lifestyle changes tailored to each person’s specific needs.

Promoting exercise is a major component of the Healthy Lifestyle Center’s mission and dovetails perfectly with Kaminsky’s expertise in clinical exercise physiology.

Kaminsky grew up an athlete but said he didn’t appreciate exercising as a form of medical treatment until he took a class in exercise physiology as a master’s student at Southern Methodist University. At Southern Illinois University, he earned a doctorate in exercise physiology.

“Exercise physiology is a relatively new field, about 100 years old or so,” Kaminsky said.

“So, there are a lot of things we haven’t learned yet. And that makes it an attractive area to study and learn.”