The Sunflower v. 128 i. 4 Fall Sports Issue (Sept. 14, 2023)

A NEW DREAM

Esports team prepares for new season after tryouts

BY AVERY GATHRIGHT averygathright@outlook.com

The Wichita State esports team is hoping for a successful season, after holding tryouts last month. The team wants to climb the ranks of collegiate esports while strengthening the bonds between members.

The team consists of five game teams: “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II,” “Overwatch 2,” “Rocket League,” “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” and “Valorant.” They compete in various online and in-person tournaments against other collegiate players.

Wichita State women’s bowling to move to NCAA

BY MELANIE RIVERA-CORTEZ sports@thesunflower.com

The Wichita State athletic department announced its official 16th team as women’s bowling on Sept. 8. Shocker women’s bowling will continue to compete in intercollegiate tournaments this year before their official move to the NCAA in July 2024.

The women’s bowling team started in 1961. The first national championship was held in 1975 and won by Wichita State. Since then, the program has won nine more national championships and five intercollegiate singles.

“This program has been competitive for over five decades, and we feel like we can be nationally competitive, early in this transition,” Athletic Director Kevin Saal said.

“This portfolio edition helps us align with our Title IX and gender equity goals as well, which is very important as an institution as a student body evolves, we need to evolve as an athletics program as well.”

Holly Harris has been the team’s head coach for four years and will continue in her role moving forward.

“She is an unbelievable caretaker of this program, and she’s got great pride for (it) that came through in the process,” Saal said.

Harris joined Wichita State bowling in 2010 as a student. She played for four years and served as team captain for one year. During her run as a player, her team placed in the top 10 nationally all four years, and she was named a Collegiate All-American twice.

She transitioned to be a student assistant for two years and then an associate coach for Shocker Bowling Camps.

“This has been a dream of mine and many former Shockers for a long, long, long time,” Harris said.

She said the transition to the NCAA will allow the team to match the championship level program with the champion level resources.

“We’re looking forward to continuing the winning tradition of Shocker bowling in this year and many, many years to come,” Harris said.

Wichita State volleyball returns key players to build on last season

BY JACOB UNRUH jacobunruh333@gmail.com

After the team’s first postseason berth since 2017 last year, Wichita State volleyball is looking to compete at an even higher level this season.

Last year, an 18-13 season concluded with a nomination to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship Tournament. The Shockers lost in the first round to Grand Canyon University.

Five of the six players from Wichita State’s usual starting lineup last year have returned for another season. Returning senior hitter Brylee Kelly was voted preseason Conference Co-Player of the Year to start this campaign.

Last year’s team blocks leader, junior blocker Natalie Foster, and digs leader, senior outside hitter Morgan Weber also came back this year. They join junior blocker Morgan Stout and senior hitter Sophia Rohling to form a core that has largely remained stable the past few seasons.

Senior setter Kayce Litzau transferred to the University of Washington in the offseason.

MISSION

In her place, senior Izzi Strand joins the Shockers from UC San Diego.

Strand said she transferred to Wichita State because she wanted better coaching and a team that could win.

“I kind of found the best of both worlds,” Strand said. “I found a team that is very competitive, and we are definitely getting to the top. And then I also found a group of coaches that all have very different styles. If one thing is not working out, I can ask someone else.”

Head Coach Chris Lamb, entering his 24th season with Wichita State, identified junior libero Annalie Heliste as a player in line for more game time this year.

“I think Annalie has come a long way in the serve and pass game for us,” Lamb said. “That’s been a bright spot from last year to this year.”

Sophomore hitter Brooklyn Leggett is another player who has impressed Lamb early in the season.

“Brooklyn can provide some pop,” Lamb said. “The ball moves fast for her. She’s still trying to catch on and play at

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this level, but she’s got the arm talent. She is a physical girl, and it’s nice to see her go out there and find some success.”

Foster, entering her fourth year in the program, says that she has grown and developed into an impact player on the team. “I try to be a leader, not necessarily with my voice sometimes but more in my actions,” Foster said. “I hope that the freshmen coming up can see that and hopefully follow in those footsteps.”

Wichita State was ranked third in the preseason American Athletic Conference West

EDITOR IN CHIEF Mia Hennen editor@thesunflower.com

ADVERTISING/DESIGN MANAGER Thy Vo admanager@thesunflower.com

MANAGING EDITOR Trinity Ramm managing@thesunflower.com

INVESTIGATIVE NEWS EDITOR Courtney Brown newsprojects@thesunflower.com NEWS EDITOR Allison Campbell newsprojects@thesunflower.com

Division coaches’ poll.

“My personal goal for this team is to compete at the highest level we can, and my expectation of that is competing for the conference title,” Foster said.

The Shockers have begun the season with a 3-4 record, winning against Houston Christian, Illinois and Illinois State, and dropping games against Notre Dame, Texas Tech, #22 Kansas and Colorado.

The AAC regular season schedule gets underway on Sept. 20, when Wichita State goes on the road to face East Carolina.

More information can be found at goshockers.com.

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Salsabila Attaria arts@thesunflower.com

SPORTS EDITOR Melanie Rivera-Cortez sports@thesunflower.com

OPINION EDITOR Sascha Harvey opinion@thesunflower.com

PHOTO EDITOR Kristy Mace photo@thesunflower.com

PODCAST

According to junior Jason Nguyen, who serves as the captain of the varsity “Valorant’’ team, esports is an activity that requires lots of teamwork. During tryouts, Nguyen said the whole team looks for players with more than gaming skills.

“We just put them in a team environment and saw how they operated with a team and looked at the pluses and minuses of everybody,” Nguyen said. “Yes, skill is a big factor, but what we were ultimately looking for was a good attitude and a nice person overall.”

Similarly, senior Peyton Linn, who serves as the captain of the “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” team, explained it takes more than just talent to make the team.

“First and foremost, obviously, the thing we look at is, ‘How good are they at the game?’” Linn said. “The other really big factors are, ‘Are they a coachable individual? Do we think that there could be a lot of improvement for them? How well do they fit?’”

One person who the team felt fit their criteria well is freshman Xavier Billings, who recently joined the “Super Smash Bros.” team. After participating in tryouts, Billings said he was surprised to learn that he made the team.

“I was pretty excited to meet a bunch of people that like ‘Smash Bros.’ because I didn’t know a ton of people who still really played that game much,” Billings said. “I was just really excited to be quite honest. I was like, ‘Wait, what? This is not happening.’”

Billings hopes to improve his playing skills during his time on the team. The freshman said he admires the team’s dynamic.

“Obviously, I’m new to it, but all the people who have been on the team for a while seem to know each other really well,” Billings said. “We (new members) are trying to catch up in skill level to the varsity team so that we can eventually do the varsity side of it in the upcoming years.”

Nguyen thinks his team has what it takes to succeed.

“Our goals are very big this year,” Nguyen said. “We have a fresh start, especially from last semester, it wasn’t too good, but this semester I have high hopes. We hope to win.”

Nguyen said he hopes to be at least top 10 in the collegiate scene for Valorant.

Anyone can support the esports team this season by streaming their matches. Details for their matches can be found by following @esportswsu on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok.

CONTACT US

019 Elliott Hall

1845 N. Fairmount Ave. Campus Box 134 Wichita, KS 67260-0134

EDITORIAL Mia Hennen: 316-978-6906

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The Wichita State Shockers huddle together before the start of the game on Sept. 7. WSU played against KU in the first game of the Shocker Volleyball Classic. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Holly Harris smiles as she is introduced as the first women’s bowling head coach in their NCAA Division I era. The team will officially transition to the NCAA on July 1, 2024. |

Photo by Trinity Ramm / The Sunflower

HOLLY HARRIS Women’s bowling head coach

This has been a dream of mine and many former Shockers for a long, long, long time.

Junior Caleb Allen practices playing “Valorant” before the day’s match in the Corbin Education Center on Sept. 12. |

Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

New pole vaulting, assistant track coach brings positivity to athletics at WSU

BY LYDIA STEEBY steebylk@gmail.com

Five-time All American and seven-time All Atlantic Coast Conference pole vaulter Aliyah

Welters joined Wichita State’s track and field team as an assistant coach this year.

Welters grew up doing gymnastics but was also exposed to track at a young age.

“My dad was a track coach. He ran track in college and so I knew I wanted to run track,” Welters said.

Following in his footsteps, she combined her knowledge of track and gymnastics when she began pole vaulting.

Originally a student-athlete from Louisville, Welters received a recommendation to coach at Wichita State from Brooke Rasnick, a former Shocker and record holder for Wichita State outdoor pole vault.

“When they were looking for a new coach, she gave me a really big recommendation,” Welters said. “They’re (WSU track coaches) very welcoming, and I feel like it’ll be a good place to start out.”

Welters decided to pursue coaching to bring her own enjoyment of athletics to students.

“I’ve had such a great experience in my college athletic career, I wanted to be able to help new studentathletes be able to have that same experience Welters said.

She hopes this new opportunity at Wichita State will give her the ability to grow as an athlete and coach.

“I’m young in coaching and just being able to just understand all the different operations and all the different pieces that go into coaching,” Welters said. “You pour into the athletes, but they pour into you just as much and building those relationships is super important.”

She also wants to help students see the long-term benefits behind participating in athletics.

“It can be stressful and even helping them just see life beyond college and helping them grow and just be in a better position for their future.”

With competitions coming up later this year, the pole vaulting coach is more than ready to start her coaching career.

“I’m looking forward to it and glad that we’re out here starting to get practices in and be able to get things rolling so that you can see all the hard work that’s put in the fall come to fruition during competitions.”

‘DIE TOGETHER’

Track athlete high jumps into leadership

BY MELANIE RIVERA-CORTEZ sports@thesunflower.com

Building off the momentum of past seasons, high jumper Brady Palen is ready to continue his track career — now as a junior.

In his sophomore indoor season, Palen high jumped in eight meets, placing top two in six meets and winning three. Then, he qualified and scored a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

“I kind of went into that with not a lot of expectations,” Palen said. “I just wanted to go and compete and ended up jumping a pretty good bar and kind of set some standards for the outdoor meet.”

Palen said the biggest thing he focused on from his freshman to sophomore year is being more comfortable around the team.

Women’s and men’s cross country teams share goals after successful first meet

BY MIA HENNEN editor@thesunflower.com

After sweeping the competition at their first meet of the season, the Wichita State cross country teams have their eyes set on bigger and better wins for the new season.

At the JK Gold Classic, the women’s team secured a perfect score of 15, while the men’s team grabbed 16.

Redshirt junior Miranda Dick said the team’s initial success is “exciting.”

“At JK Gold, we’re all kind of passing each other, helping each other out, and it’s really cool to see that we know each other’s weaknesses; we know each other’s strengths,” Dick said.

She said the first meet helped showcase how the runners support each other.

“Toward the end, like the last mile, I started to struggle really bad,” Dick said. “(Lubna Aldulaimi) sprinted up toward me and helped me, and we talked it out, so that was nice. We push each other.”

Dick said the women’s team “die together.”

“I don’t know how else to explain it,” Dick said. “(We) just have so much in common with everybody; everybody works really well together.”

Redshirt junior Trey Rios echoed

similar feelings for the men’s team following their first meet.

Rios said the first cross country meet tends to be a wake-up call or a way to showcase talent for the team; this year, he said, it was the latter.

“It was a great way to show the strength and the depth we have coming in this year, and it makes me even more excited for the cross country season coming up,” Rios said.

Now entering his 14th year at Wichita State, head coach Kirk Hunter said the teams’ first meeting gave him and the runners more information to work with.

“Even though you get to see them run in practice, it’s really good when you actually see them run in a race,” Hunter said. “You can see how they work together, and if they’re able to stay with each other.”

Both Rios and Dick said the teams have big goals for the season. Dick said the women’s team is focusing on strengthening the returning runners’ skills.

“Last year, we had a lot of inexperienced runners,” Dick said. “This year, we’re on a whole ‘nother level because we’re way more focused. We all have the same goals.”

The Kansas City, Missouri, native said last year she was two spots away from making all-conference, a goal she wants to achieve this year.

Rios said that the men’s team has hopes of winning the conference championship based on how eligibility is working out for other teams in the American Athletic Conference. Rios noted that the University of Tulsa lost several strong seniors last year.

“(Tulsa’s) a little bit on the weaker side compared to what they typically are this year,” Rios said. “With all these sorts of moving pieces … we really think this is a year we could have a shot at the conference championship.”

Rios also said the team has hopes to make it to NCAA nationals.

“Over the past few years, we’ve learned … exactly what we need and what it’s going to take to get there,” Rios said. “(It’ll take) making sure when we get to the NCAA regional meet (that) we’re ready to go and ready to shock some teams out there.”

Hunter said cross country always wants to be a conference champion and more.

“The guys obviously … want to go the NCAAs,” Hunter said. “Hopefully, (we’ll) get a girl or two to the NCAA championships, you never know. All those things are goals that we always have.”

The cross country teams’ next meet will be on Sept. 16 at the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska.

“I tried not worrying about a lot of the stuff that freshmen worry about, like social status and all of that, just kind of focusing on my workouts when I’m at track practice,” Palen said. “When you’re comfortable around the team, it’s a lot easier to do that.”

By the time the outdoor season his freshman year came, he high jumped in nine collegiate meets and won four competitions. He also had a second place finish at the AAC Outdoor Championships and placed 18th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a jump of 6-foot, 11-inches.

“That didn’t quite end up the way I wanted to, but I know that my best jumps have been coming in the indoor season, so I think I just need to get ready for indoor season, and then I’ll be more conditioned for the outdoor season this year,” Palen said.

The Beloit, Kansas, native said he was on a high after his sophomore indoor season. In the outdoor season, he said training was a little bit different and the season was beginning to feel longer.

Palen said he “tweaked his knee” before making it to outdoor nationals the year prior.

“I had a few practices that were kind of a struggle both mentally and physically with my knee, but I went out there and gave it my all,” Palen said.

With the fall season training underway, Palen said he’s grown into his leadership role and has been working on motivating his team.

“I think last year’s success is definitely helping out,” Palen said.

Palen said the track and field team has a lot of motivated players.

“I promise (teammates) the results will come if you just stay focused and keep putting in the work,” Palen said.

Farrah Miller runs across the finish line, behind Lea Jerkovic. Miller ran unattached for Wichita State at the JK Gold classic on Sept. 2. | Photos by Cheyanne Tull / The Sunflower

Director of Operations Roger Shurtz watches the men’s cross country runners finish out the meet at the JK Gold Classic on Sept. 2.

The top three finishers Lucy Ndungu, Sarah Bertry and Lubna Aldulaimi stand for a photo at the JK Gold Classic race. Both cross country teams finished first at the meet.

Brady Palen warms up on the track as practice begins on Sept. 12. |

Photo by Lee Frank / The Sunflower

City roller derby team makes postpandemic return

BY AINSLEY SMYTH ainsley.smyth3@gmail.com

When Delaney Smith was 18-years-old, a roller derby game played by ICT Roller Derby, now called Wicked City Roller Derby, was advertised in her home town of El Dorado. This was her first introduction to the Wichita team.

Smith, who now lives and owns a roller skating shop in Wichita, later took an introductory class held by the team.

“The newbie class is an eight-week course,” she said. “The team comes in and teaches you the basics of roller skating and then the basics of roller derby.”

Roller derby is played on a round track with a five-person team. Each team has four players called blockers and one jammer.

The jammer scores points for their team by passing the other team’s blockers and they try to stop this from happening.

Smith plays primarily as a jammer but has experience with both roles. This reliance on teammates creates a comradery among the team.

“I just feel like a better person,” Smith said. “I feel like I’m more level-headed. I feel like I’m more confident, and I’m happier having this big group of people that I can trust.”

While Smith has gained a lot from the sport, it has presented its challenges. COVID19 stopped the team from playing and nearly emptied their roster.

“When we were really going strong as a team, we were going all over the United States. Before COVID, we probably had 20 people and then post-COVID it was myself and one other person, so we’ve had to completely rebuild the team from scratch,” she said.

The pandemic held one unexpected advantage for the team, however.

“COVID, because of TikTok, exploded roller skating in general,” Smith said. “We’ve tried to use that to our advantage to grow the team.”

Wicked City played their first game in three years on July 15 against the Kansas City Roller Warriors. Their next game will be Nov. 18.

They also continue to run the beginner classes that brought Smith into the sport, including an upcoming class that starts on Oct. 1.

Table tennis team embraces competition, community

BY COURTNEY BROWN newsprojects@thesunflower.com

If visitors made their way from the gravely parking lot into the Sunset Banquet Hall, they would be greeted by the sound of tennis balls pinging against paddles. The spacious building has several table tennis tables set up, which were all filled with students and community members on Tuesday evening.

As a freshman, Carter Murdock joined the Wichita State table tennis team on a whim — two years later, he’s now the team president.

“What made me stay with the team really was the sport itself,” Murdock said. “It’s a very fun sport, very fast-paced. It requires a lot of attention, dedication.”

The table tennis team consists of six players this year: three returning members and three newcomers. While Murdock said last year didn’t go as planned — the team failed to compete in regionals as hoped — he said this will be a “rebuild year” after other experienced players graduated.

Murdock said it involves building a sense of community among the team and helping new players develop a more serious level of practice.

“We do bring a serious mentality to how we practice to prepare us for the individual tournaments,” Murdock said. “(Our coach) does a great job of helping us train correctly, not just coming here and

wasting time, (but) actually coming here with a plan, with a mission to get better.”

Wichita State table tennis coach

P. J. Alexander, who played on the team as a WSU student, said that they didn’t get a lot of support back when starting in the 2007-2008 school year, but after making it to the national championship that year, WSU provided more funding.

Alexander, who has coached for 15 years, said he is grateful for the team’s relationship with the Wichita Table Tennis Club and the ability to practice in a large venue.

“Table tennis is a lifelong sport,” Alexander said. “Like, you can play it from an early age, and you can continue playing it until you’re much older, and it’s fun.”

Peter Burns, a first-year player, had grown up playing table tennis with his father and hoped to improve his skills by joining the team. He said he has liked his experience so far and getting to know his teammates.

“(It’s) just a real competitive environment, which is something I enjoy,” Burns said.

The table tennis team attends sanctioned tournaments all year, but their performance at the two divisional tournaments help determine whether they qualify for regionals in the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association.

Murdock said the first divisional tournament in November

will serve as a “learning experience” for new members, with the experienced players helping to guide them.

At the second tournament in February, Murdock expects the team will do very well and hopes they will qualify for regionals.

Chris Prout, a second-year player, echoed the desire to win.

“I like competition,” Prout said. “I feel (that table tennis) requires a lot of coordination, and … it’s very satisfying to just hit the ball hard.”

Both players expressed a love for competing in the tournaments. Prout said his favorite part was the camaraderie.

“I’ve loved when we go traveling somewhere, and we’re all together and we all go hang out,” Prout said.

Having attended all the divisional tournaments for the past two years, Murdock said the “team environment” makes the experience great.

“The whole team is there supporting you. Usually you have friends and family who come out to support you as well,” Murdock said. “It’s a very high stakes environment, so (it’s) a lot of stress but a very exciting, very exciting atmosphere. It gets very serious and challenging. “ Murdock said he was also excited to have proved himself last year, defeating a skilled opponent at the second divisional tournament.

“It was a pretty even rated

Men’s

record-setting year

BY SASCHA HARVEY opinion@thesunflower.com

Wichita State men’s golf hasn’t made it to the national championship since 2005, during head coach Judd Easterling’s senior year. Other than the loss of Braeburn Golf Course in 2014, not much has changed for the sport at Wichita State. The key to the championship, Easterling said, is to backtrack.

“You have to play well (in the) first event, second event, all nine events,” he said. “Obviously, have a good showing in conference –that would get us into regionals. Hopefully, (we’ll) finish top five in regionals (and) get back to the national championship. That’s goal number one.”

The team has a good lineup this year, with six returners and three newcomers. Seniors Blake Lorenz and Aston Castillo alongside juniors Michael Winslow, Tate Herrenbruck, Lucas Schuefler and Adam Balatka are returning to the team this season.

The newcomers feature two true freshmen, Ty Adkins and Conner Geist, and one transfer

student, Zach Sokolosky, who’s in his senior year.

Easterling hopes the team can recognize their talent and live up to their potential this season, with Cole Elmore backing as assistant coach for his first season at Wichita State.

“We qualified really well the last couple weeks (with) some scores that I’ve never seen since I’ve become head coach here,” Easterling said. “The guys are playing well at a high level.

“Everyone’s getting along, the vibes are really, really good. They understand how much better we are this year, and I think when they see that, start to understand that as student athletes it makes Cole’s and I’s job really easy.”

With such a small team, Easterling strives to ensure that all the players are on board.

“It’s not as hard when you have a transfer that’s 23, 24 years old,” he said. “(Sokolosky) knows what college golf is all about. And then with two freshmen, they’re already up to speed with what we’re trying to do. It’s gonna be a really easy transition to get these

guys going.”

Although Easterling left the course 18 years ago, the community support for men’s golf in Wichita has remained, and is stronger than ever.

“The golf courses we have access to are probably top 10 in the country, if not top five. Our guys are members at two golf courses, which is unheard of,” Easterling said. “A lot of people are still here from when I played.

We’re just very fortunate.”

For Easterling, returning to Wichita State to coach has been a “dream come true.” He was able to coach with the coach he played for, Grier Jones, before taking over.

“When I started coaching 10, 11 years ago, this is where I wanted to end up,” Easterling said. “It’s just honestly a dream come true to sit here and be able to lead these young men.”

match, but it took a lot of courage for me to go out there and play as I needed to beat my opponent,” Murdock said.

Community members range in race, ethnicity and age, including an 85-year-old man from China.

“It’s a really cool place to see all of the community members: the diversity of age, language, race … That’s really one of the greatest things about the club, is just all the different people that you’re meeting,” Murdock said.

Prout, who enjoys the social interaction with the community members, said he thinks that practicing against them gives their table team an advantage compared to other schools.

“(Other teams are) only playing against each other that are at a similar level, and some of the community members here are a lot better than some of the people who we’re playing at tournaments,” Prout said.

For anyone who does table tennis recreationally, Murdock wants them to know that they can learn to play competitively.

“I would say that most people are capable of playing at a high level on the team,” Murdock said. “We are actually in a simple sport to learn and actually a simple sport to play.”

The table tennis team practices on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings. More information can be found via their Facebook page.

MEN’S GOLF 2023-2024 SCHEDULE

Allstate Streamsong Invitational

Sept. 11-13

Away at Bowling Green, Florida

Big-O Classic

Oct. 2-3

Away at Omaha, Nebraska

Grier Jones Shocker Invitational

Oct. 9-10

Home at Sand Creek Station Golf Club in Wichita, Kansas

Bahamas NCAA Invitational

Oct. 18-22

Away at Paradise Island, The Bahamas

Los Vaqueros Intercollegiate

Feb. 5-7

Away at Cancun, Mexico

Tiger Invitational

Mar. 11-12

Away at Auburn, Alabama

Twin Oaks Intercollegiate

Mar. 18-19

Away at Springfield, Missouri

Wyoming Cowboy Classic

Apr. 1-2

Away at Maricopa, Arizona

Hawkeye Invitational

Apr. 13-14

Away at Iowa City, Iowa

‘The vibes are really, really good’:

golf looks forward to

The men’s golf team is looking forward to the rest of their season. | Photo courtesy of GoShockers.com.

Khang Pui, a freshman in cyber security, plays a match of table tennis with a friend on Sept. 12. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Redshirt senior Natsumi Kurahashi hits the ball toward Houston on April 1, 2022. Kurahashi has been on the tennis team for four years and is heading into her fifth year. |

Wichita State women’s tennis diverse in more ways than one

BY MIA HENNEN editor@thesunflower.com

After closing off their 20222023 season with a handful of accomplishments, like a finished, unbeaten season at home for the first time in seven years and two weeks in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings, the Wichita State’s women’s tennis team is ready to work hard to prepare for their spring season.

Going into his 15th year as head coach, Colin Foster said his eightplayer team this year is diverse in more ways than one.

“(The team has) good balance from different classes, so we got some grad students all the way down to freshmen,” Foster said. “It’s a super international team. That’s always been a strength of our program and of our whole university.”

Foster said the sport, in general, has plenty of international players, and the team has “so much more in common” than they have different.

“They try and learn each other’s languages,” Foster said. “That really helps them all acclimate. If they were just one international player on a team full of Americans, it would probably be a lot tougher, but they’re all kind of going through … this experience together, which I think makes our team even that much closer.”

Redshirt senior Natsumi Kurahashi is starting her fifth year on the team and is emerging as the team lead on and off the court once again.

“She’s our strongest returning player,” Foster said. “But honestly, we feel really good about our depth … We’ve got eight really good players.”

In July, Foster signed three international players to the tennis team: Giorgia Roselli, Xintong Wang and Anne Knuettel.

“They’re so good,” Kurahashi said.

Kurahashi said having several players with English as a second language – and some recently starting intensive English – can make communication difficult.

From Toyota, Japan, Kurahashi said she was in a similar position five years ago.

“As we practice together and the season goes, we get strong bonds,” Kurahashi said. “Sometimes there’s a little bit of different values, so we just need to talk about it and just get to know each other.”

Kurahashi said she’s excited for the upcoming season.

“Everyone’s working hard,” she said. “(We) just need to keep doing it.”

Sports around the world: Plethora of sports available to students

BY ALLISON CAMPBELL news@thesunflower.com

As the most diverse university in Kansas, Wichita State is considered home to thousands of students, each with unique racial, cultural and ethnic upbringings. For international and immigrant students, these differences can make it difficult or intimidating to relate with peers of different nationalities, according to the Clay Center for Young Health Minds.

Many international and immigrant students find comfort and connection by participating in WSU’s sports teams and clubs. From Argentina to Australia, students of different ethnicities are offered a taste of what different sports from around the world

are like in an American setting.

Kristoffer Broadley, the Wichita State ultimate frisbee coach, hopes to encourage students to connect with each other through sports.

“We want to play hard, we want to win games, but also, we want to provide an environment where people feel like they have a family or a community,” Broadley said.

Wichita State has several intramural sports teams, including golf, basketball and cross country, as well as a wide array of sports clubs, like barbell, cricket and rugby. Many choose to participate in sports that are not as popular or accessible in their home countries. This exploration often helps students bond, gain confidence in a new environment and broaden

cultural perspectives.

Several countries, like Japan, Afghanistan and Ireland, honor older generations with historically and culturally significant sports. Others are eager to represent sports that originated from their country, like England and the Premier League.

While the United States doesn’t have an official sport, many consider baseball or football, the most popular sport in the United States, to be the national pastime. Other sports, like ultimate frisbee, were created within the United States and have elements ingrained in American cultural values. Broadley says that the team and self-refereeing aspects build an environment supportive of

honesty, respect and community.

“The ultimate frisbee community is really, really tight knit because there aren’t a huge number of players around the country. You get to know people pretty quickly,” Broadley said.

“The team here at Wichita State really tries to provide an environment for anyone who comes, especially people who might not be as welcome in other sporting avenues.”

Regardless of identity, Wichita State athletics and sports clubs provide an ideal space for students of all backgrounds to make friends, build leadership and teamwork skills and discover new athletic passions.

Read the rest at thesunflower.com

‘Anyone can play’: Pickleball’s astronomic rise reaches Wichita State

BY TRINITY RAMM managing@thesunflower.com

On any given night near the Heskett Center courts, passersby can hear the familiar popping of the latest sports craze — pickleball.

Pickleball is a paddle-based game that is played with up to four players on both indoor and outdoor courts, and according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, the sport has grown in popularity and participation by over 158% over the past three years.

In the greater Wichita area, that popularity is reflected in the Chicken N Pickle that opened in 2019, and the pickleball courts at the Heskett Center that opened in the fall of 2021. In addition, the City of Wichita approved the building of a $6 million pickleball facility in South Wichita.

Dylan Basinger, a sophomore exercise science major, said that he and his friends sometimes have to wait up to an hour for a court to open up at the Heskett Center.

Basinger said pickleball is a great way for him and his friends

to get together and get outside.

“I think it’s a sport that anyone can play,” Basinger said. “Like you can have some people that are really good at pickleball playing with some pretty casual players, and it still just works pretty well. Everyone’s out here, just having a good time.”

Hao Dang, a former Wichita State student who now works as a barber, said that he and

his friends come to the Heskett Center courts more frequently than any other because it is easily accessible.

“It’s free, that’s a big one,” Dang said about the draw of the Heskett Center courts. “It’s fenced in so that if the ball does go out compared to (somewhere) like Edgemoor (Park), it will go flying everywhere. And there’s lights on, so you can stay here as long as

you want. We’ve been here as late as like 2-3 a.m.”

Both Basinger and Dang point to the Chicken N Pickle on 13th and Greenwich opening in 2019 as the beginning of their pickleball playing. However, they both said that the space quickly became overcrowded and expensive.

“We had went to Chicken N Pickle a lot when it had first opened, so I think it was just, you know, an exciting thing to do,” Basinger said. “But getting in there on the weekend is kind of a pain.”

According to the City of Wichita’s Parks and Recreation department, there are 11 public sites to play pickleball outside of Wichita State, and more continue to emerge all over the city. Some of these sites require a small fee to enter, and others are completely free.

“We have basically a park that has some type of pickleball court on every corner, and I’ve seen some random ones pop up out of nowhere,” Dang said. “It’s even a surprise to me, who has been playing pretty consistently for a while now.”

Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

The Wichita State pickleball courts on Sept. 12. Most nights, the court is packed with casual players and teams. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

Illustration by Cameryn Davis / The Sunflower

Building a sisterhood: Wichita rugby brings experienced, inexperienced players together

BY ISABEL ORDOÑEZ ordonez.ai01@gmail.com

What started as a group of rugby fans teaching themselves to play has evolved into the competitive women’s rugby team, the Wichita Valkyries.

The Wichita Valkyries were founded in 1974 by Sabrina Perez and other rugby enthusiasts who

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Wichita State shooting team aims to change stereotypes associated with sport

BY SALSABILA ATTARIA arts@thesunflower.com

For the president and vice president of the Wichita State shooting team, the lesser-recognized sport provides a safe place to practice the hobby. Tyler Bayliff, team president, and Kolton Varner, team vice president, value their experience on the shooting team and hope to express what the sport really means to the rest of campus.

“A lot of people think it’s just a bunch of rednecks going out there and just shooting pop cans off fence posts, things like that,” Varner said. “But it’s so much more than that.”

Originally from rural Arkansas, Varner said shooting has been a hobby for the majority of his life. Being on the shooting team in college allows him to maintain a connection to his roots despite living in an urban area.

“From being a country kid being able to go outside and ride my dirt bike, ride the four wheelers, go shoot my bow, to coming to Wichita and living on campus,

I don’t feel like I have that same kind of freedom,” Varner said.

Varner also values the accessibility of the shooting team, which covers the cost of travel fees and ammunition. According to Varner, members are only required to pay a registration fee of 50 dollars a year and cover their own food on trips for competition.

“Shooting is a pretty expensive hobby,” Varner said. “I don’t break the bank just because I like doing something.”

This year’s team leaders aim to improve strength and morale with game nights and sports watch parties.

“Honestly, some of the best friends I’ve ever made have been on this team,” Bayliff said. “And it changes a lot, but there’s always a bunch of awesome new faces to meet.”

The team hosts practice at Ark Valley Gun Club three times a week and competes about once a month in Kansas and surrounding states. According to Bayliff, a healthy team dynamic makes practice and competition easier.

A “pillar” for Bayliff and

Varner’s team is safety. The team has multiple rules in place to ensure members are safe and comfortable on and off the shooting range.

Those interested in joining must already legally own a firearm to qualify for the team, and equipment is never housed on campus.

“Another process that we have for keeping everybody safe is at any moment during the range anytime whether you’re spectating the competitor, actively shooting or (judging), anybody can call a ceasefire if they see something going wrong,” Varner said. “And then we address it right then … everything stops.”

Varner said that prioritizing safety is how the shooting team keeps their reputation ahead of them and dismantles misconceptions that other students may have about them.

“It’s not all about going out there and shooting things, destroying things,” Varner said. “It’s more about honing a skill that is very useful to have.”

Wichita Valkyries teammates hoist Jenna DeRoo up for a catch during lineout drills. “Jumpers,” like DeRoo, are teammates that can be lifted from below the waist to catch the ball when it’s thrown into play.

Photo by Allison Campbell / The Sunflower

Hunter Orr tries shooting clay pigeons during the Wichita State Shooting Team practice on Sept. 6. The team hosts practice at Ark Valley Gun Club three times a week and competes about once a month in Kansas and surrounding states. | Photo by Monique Bever / The Sunflower

Discounts, freebies and tabling attract students to RSC open house

BY AINSLEY SMYTH ainsley.smyth3@gmail.com

If there’s one thing college students like, it’s free and discounted anything. That was part of the thinking behind the Rhatigan Student Center open house on Tuesday.

During the event’s second iteration, the RSC crawled with students engaging with student organizations, waiting in a crowd for a free momento and taking advantage of deals on food and drinks.

While students enjoyed discounts and freebies, Dining Services and the RSC advertised their amenities and products.

BY TRINITY RAMM managing@thesunflower.com

The Student Government Association and Student Body President Iris Okere called an emergency Student Senate meeting on Sept. 13 to discuss the Authorize Funding for Appropriations Relief Act that would provide $33,000 to some Registered Student Organizations.

Gabriel Fonseca, who helps advise student government, said that this money will come from the student fees contingency fund. Unspent money is typically used to replenish this fund, which is kept around $1 million. In recent years, that money came from unused department funds and COVID-19 relief funds.

As the body moved into discussing the bill, Student Body Treasurer Jia Wen Wang said the bill had support from both Okere and Student Body Vice President Sophie Martins, several organizations and the Student Funding Committee.

“I would like to remind everyone that the Finance Commission (the

BY TALIYAH WINN tmwinn03@gmail.com

Amrita Myers unraveled the untold history of Julia Chinn and her peculiar role as the slave and wife of a prominent politician in the Antebellum/Old South to students and faculty.

Myers spoke at the “Words by Women” lecture series, hosted by the Department of Women’s, Ethnicity, and Intersectional Studies. The event, which used to be annual, has not been held in almost a decade due to budget restraints followed by the COVID19 pandemic.

Myers, an associate professor of history and gender and women’s studies at Indiana University, spent over 12 years researching and developing her book, “The Vice-President’s Black Wife: The Untold Story of Julia Chinn.”

“What my work seeks to illuminate is how some Black women were able to use sexual alliances with white men to acquire power in the Old South, while simultaneously revealing the limits of that power,” Myers said.

Julia Chinn’s life and relationship to power offers a unique twist of a classic American tale. Chinn was born and enslaved on a Blue Hills Farm in Kentucky.

Richard Johnson inherited Chinn after his father’s death; they began a sexual relationship at 15 and 31 after she became his housekeeper. The pair then had two daughters and are reported to have

Student Funding Committee) has spent over 40 hours in deliberations and discussions throughout the entire appropriations process, meaning their support of this bill means something significant,” Wang said.

Wang said that she held an informal vote with the Student Funding Committee last week, and they unanimously agreed to support the bill. All members, except for Marcha Glenn, who missed the meeting due to personal reasons, are listed as co-sponsors on the bill itself.

When asked by Andrew Bobbitt, at-large senator, whether or not members of the Student Funding Committee were allowed to look over specific allocations, Wang said that they were not, citing that it was an unofficial vote as the reasoning.

“I did explain where the $33,000 came from, why it was allocated and how this would impact these organizations,” Wang said.

“They also had freedom to ask me questions on the bill, and I answered them as best as I could at

married. Although it is questioned whether their marriage would have been legal, it was public and generally “recognized” by the community. Chinn and her daughters were all literate, a rare occurrence for Black women at this time.

Chinn gained a remarkable amount of power on the farm, but her husband never freed her. During their relationship, Johnson represented Kentucky in the House of Representatives, which meant he was away for six months of the year.

Chinn oversaw almost all of the operations on the farm, including organizing political parties, managing and reviewing slaves and the payroll of white employees, and maintaining upkeep of Choctaw Academy – the first Indian Boarding School built in America – which was located on their property.

She remained burdened with responsibility until her untimely death in 1833, estimated to be in her mid 30s, from a cholera outbreak at Choctaw Academy.

Audience members remarked that Chinn’s life was intriguing –they couldn’t believe it was a true story – but untold histories are around us at all times, according to Myers. She said that Chinn’s story should matter even if she wasn’t married to a political figure; there are Julias everywhere whose stories are left to be unearthed.

Myers said that creating her novel was difficult. She had limited records to work with, as she

the time.”

In debate, Bobbitt was in favor of the bill but thought it needed revision before being passed.

“It’s important that we put this bill into context,” Bobbitt said. “It is not the generosity of student government that has made this bill. It is a requirement and the need of the students that is why we are providing this fund.”

Bobbitt asked to divide the question after the vote on the bill was called for.

Dividing the question would create an identical situation to the previous Senate meeting, where the bill would be fractured into line items for senators to approve and potentially reallocated individual amounts to organizations.

After some brief confusion over Robert’s Rules of Order, which are the code for how formal debate and government should run in the U.S., Bobbitt’s motion stood and senators voted against dividing the question via roll call vote with seven yes, 14 no and one abstention.

The body moved straight into voting on the bill, which narrowly

passed via roll call vote with 15 yes, two no and five abstentions.

Two organization presidents came to speak in the public forum during the emergency meeting: Hannah Holliday, president of Sigma Tau Delta and poetry editor for Mikrokosmos, and Kelly Rowlett, president of the Criminal Justice Student Association.

Holliday’s speech encouraged senators to fund the fine arts and humanities, as they are often the first organizations to receive budget cuts, and emphasized that Sigma Tau Delta serves all students, not just those in the English department.

“What happened is indicative of a larger problem,” Holliday said. “Smaller, mostly humanities-based organizations had their funding massively cut while other groups received disproportionately large amounts of the funding.”

She recommended that there be a maximum amount that an organization can receive from the SGA and that the amount should reflect their impact and reach on campus.

“We kind of just wanted a day that would encourage people to come in the building and maybe visit departments they haven’t visited before,” Vanessa Bell, director of marketing for the RSC, said. “We had done faculty and staff appreciation days before, but we wanted to do something where our students can also participate.”

The Shocker Store offered a deal as part of the open house. All WSU-branded merchandise was 20% off in the RSC location. Teresa Sheahan, a sales associate, said the discount increased business for them.

Restaurants partnered with dining services offered similar discounts, including 25% off some menu items at Starbucks, 10% off Chick-Fil-A cookies and a free keychain to the first 25 orders at Panda Express. The catering department had a free popcorn bar from 1 to 3 p.m., and a truck parked outside gave out coffee and tea Monster products.

According to Bell, the RSC handed out free mugs, an offer that she said was very popular last year. Students could pick up a mug and access many of the other discounts and freebies only with a campus ID.

Last year, Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes offered free bowling to students. This time, it provided free billiards with a Shocker ID.

Kaavyasri Balasubramanyam, a graduate student in business analytics, said she wouldn’t normally play pool in the RSC because of the cost.

“If you wish to play, it will cost pretty much a meal,” she said. She and her friends jumped at the chance to play a game for free.

theorized that Johnson’s brothers destroyed everything they could that mentioned Chinn, along with the local archive burning down on three separate occasions.

Myers had to redefine her process of examining history, going beyond archives: looking at the land “where they lived and worked and laughed and loved and cried and died in.”

Robin Henry, the chair of Women’s, Ethnicity, and Intersectional Studies, chose to feature Myers at the lecture because of the recent expansion of the women’s studies program to include ethnicity and intersectionality.

“I wanted the first person to come for the event to be somebody whose work had embraced that intersectional quality, and

I think Dr. Myers’ forthcoming book does exactly that,” Henry said.

Myers’ book, “The VicePresident’s Black Wife: The Untold Story of Julia Chinn,” is available for preorder and will be released on Oct. 10.

Henry hopes that the “Words by Women” lecture series will allow students to hear from scholars outside of Wichita State professors and inspire them to consider different majors and areas of research in their future.

“It’s about the experiences of people who look differently from yourself who have different backgrounds … and whose lives are different, but no less important and no less part of, in our case, the American landscape,” Henry said.

Student organizations gave out candy, pens and other promotional items to advertise themselves. The Student Activities Council assembled a large crowd with their custom street signs printed on the spot. NaKayla Murff, the student activities coordinator, said at 12:30 p.m. that they had produced 170 of the signs so far.

Ahmad Jesri, a junior biomedical engineering major, also took advantage of the activity to promote his group, Students Organize for Syria. He handed out candy and showed students that stopped by how to locate Syria on a map.

“It’s really just to raise awareness about our club and try to get new members,” Jesri said.

Students who missed the open house can still visit the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes, Shocker Store, and the restaurants in the RSC’s food court. The RSC is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. with varying hours on weekends and for each of the restaurants and amenities.

Amrita Myers, an associate professor of history and gender and women’s studies at Indiana University, speaks at the “Words by Women” lecture series on Sept. 7. | Photo by Lee Frank / The Sunflower

A student receives a free Monster outside of the RSC. Free Java Monsters were given to any participants passed by the truck. | Photo by Makenzie Leigh / The Sunflower

Flanked by members of student organizations, Student Body President Iris Okere and Student Body Treasurer Jia Wen Wang speak to senators at the Sept. 12 meeting about an emergency funding act. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower

‘Something significant’: Student government association passes bill, allocates extra $33,000 to fund student orgs

Wichita Clean Streams brings community together at Wichita RiverWalk

BY TALIYAHH WINN tmwinn03@gmail.com

Students and families from the ICT area marched down the RiverWalk, donned with blue gloves, white trash bags and grabber tools, to spend a Saturday morning picking up debris along the river.

Wichita Clean Streams is a monthly event where volunteers clean up trash in local bodies of water. The location changes every month depending on the needs of the community.

Wichita State’s Community Service Board partnered with the Wichita RiverWalk Cleanup Crew to help clean the area around the Arkansas and Little Arkansas River.

Matthew Phan, mechanical engineering sophomore and vice president of membership of the Community Service Board, said that Wichita Clean Streams is one of his favorite events

– he’s attended it almost every time they’ve held it.

“What really draws me in is being able to clean up the river and seeing the progress we made,” Phan said. “I also love having fresh air in the morning.”

The Community Service Board is largely student-led. Loren Belew, adviser of the Community School Board, praised her students’ independence.

“They facilitate the volunteer events, they plan them, they communicate with their volunteers and they just do a great job,” Belew said. “I think one of the most rewarding parts of my job is seeing my student leaders like the volunteer events and plan events and become leaders … among their students and within the community.”

Annie Nguyen and Rachel Edwards, a pair of students volunteering together, acknowledged the accessibility of the

event, stating they didn’t need any specialized skills or training, just a few hours out of their day.

Nguyen, a junior biochemistry major who recently joined the Community Service Board, said it was her first event with the organization. Edwards, a freshman psychology major, said she was there for a class – Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare – and that she needed 15 volunteer hours over the semester.

There were around 20 volunteers, half from WSU and the other half from the community.

Belew offered advice for students interested in fitting volunteering into their schedule.

“It can just be an hour or two on a Saturday morning or, you know, something that’s important to them, that means something to them and doing what’s best for them,” Belew said.

PROMOTING CLEAN WATER

Wichita Clean Streams outlines 10 preventative measures community members can take to promote clean water:

• “Conserve and reuse water.”

• “Pick up after your pets.”

• “Don’t litter.” – even things like gum and cigarette butts accumulate over time.

• “Recycle or dispose of household chemicals at a local HHW (household hazardous waste) facility.” The location at 801 Stillwell offers free disposal.

• “Mulch or compost grass clippings.”

• “Maintain vehicles to eliminate fluid leaks.”

• “Capture and reuse rainfall.”

• “Use native vegetation and eliminate turf grass.”

• “Use lawn chemicals wisely.”

• “Join a watershed conservation organization.

Faculty Senate receives update on gender-neutral spaces, CTAC

BY TRINITY RAMM managing@thesunflower.com

Last spring, Chase Billingham, an at-large senator, urged the Faculty Senate to work with administration and student groups on campus to discuss and mitigate the impact of SB 180, which requires transgender individuals to legally identify themselves as and use facilities based on their sex assigned at birth.

Faculty Senate President Jolynn Dowling gave an update on the university’s response to the bill at the Sept. 11 Faculty Senate meeting.

The university has worked with the Student Government Association and Spectrum: LBGTQ and Allies to map gender-neutral bathrooms around campus.

In the summer, Lainie Mazzullo-Hart, director of

communications, said in a statement to The Sunflower that Wichita State was evaluating the bill to see how it would impact campus.

Zach Gearheart, chief of staff for President Richard Muma, said that the university’s general counsel has analyzed the bill, and the administration does not foresee any changes “in either policy or practice” after the bill runs through the court system.

Gearheart encouraged faculty to communicate this message to students, other faculty and organizations.

“We’re happy, in our office, to meet with any student, faculty or staff member that wants clarity on that or wants to ask any questions about that,” Gearheart said.

With new construction on campus, Dowling said that the plans will include gender neutral

spaces to promote a “safe, inclusive environment” that is “just part of our strategic plan as we go forward.”

Jennifer Pearson, the faculty adviser for Spectrum, said that students are still concerned that the university has not confirmed that they will be protected if faculty, staff or another student questions whether they can be in certain spaces.

Dowling responded by saying that they can “get the right people” to Pearson “to be able to answer how that protection is provided.”

OFFICE OF CTAC UPDATES

Courtney McHenry, associate vice president and leader of the Office of Civil Rights, Title IX & ADA Compliance (CTAC), gave a presentation to Faculty Senate on

Shockers Vote Coalition aims to educate students on voting, local candidates

BY COURTNEY BROWN newsprojects@thesunflower.com

The Shockers Vote Coalition plans to host several events this fall semester to encourage students to vote and learn more about local candidates.

Loren Belew, the civic engagement coordinator at Student Engagement, Advocacy and Leadership, said the coalition hoped to do something different. Some events this semester include voter registration drives with food and games, forums with mayoral and school board candidates and an election day party.

Belew said her goal is to interest students to learn more about voting and politics during a polarized political climate.

“I’ve always loved politics, and right now, I watch the news, and I’m just like, ‘This is dreadful,’” Belew said. “(A student) told me, you know, ‘What about focusing on the causes or issues?’

“Maybe (students) don’t see that those causes and issues that they care about are directly affected by who they vote for.”

Belew said both Lily Wu and

Brandon Whipple have registered for the mayoral candidate forum on Oct. 18, while four out of the six school board candidates have registered for their respective forum on Oct. 25. Belew said students can submit questions in advance.

“We wanted to try something different and kind of give students a chance to meet their candidates and have sort of face-to-face time to ask them questions,” Belew said.

The Shockers Vote Coalition kicked off their voter registration drive on Tuesday in Shocker Hall. The organization plans to offer three more drives on Sept. 13 and 18 and Oct. 9, including one in Wallace Hall on Sept. 13 to target engineering students.

According to Belew, some of lowest voter turnout among Wichita State students are engineering, business and law enforcement training students.

Belew hoped the Wallace Hall voter registration drive would be a learning opportunity.

“We also wanted to do something that kind of engaged (engineering students) or gave them an opportunity to learn about our

voting process and sort of how to do things here,” Belew said.

For students who lack transportation off campus, Belew noted that there will be an on-campus voting location, which was at the Marcus Welcome Center in the past.

Belew also discussed the TurboVote App, where students can register to vote, request an advanced ballot and sign up for election reminders. Students from any location can make use of the app, which Belew said also helps the Shocker Vote Coalition track student voter engagement.

Belew said that this election will provide opportunities for students to learn about local elections.

“Some of the mayoral candidates have some pretty different views that affect everybody very closely,” Belew said. “There’s a lot to learn, lots of areas of growth.”

While Belew said she would love for future coalition events to be more student-led, they currently rely on volunteers. Students interested in volunteering at events can sign up at VolunteerICT.

how their office is evolving since McHenry joined in December.

Under current U.S. law, McHenry’s office has Title IX jurisdiction over incidents that happen on properties owned by Wichita State, which excludes the YMCA.

This means that formal investigations can only occur when incidents happen in those areas, but he said that he and his staff are willing to listen to any student, faculty or staff member and direct them to proper resources.

“We still meet with the students, we still try to guide them,” McHenry said. “I sit on the CARE team, we make sure they get what they need.”

Any member of the campus community can submit a report to CTAC through this form.

McHenry also said that they are reworking CTAC trainings for

students and staff and, as of now, the programs should take 30-60 minutes depending on the level of training.

TRANSPORTATION CONCERNS

During informal statements, Neal Allen, a senator from political science, suggested that a shuttle run around 3:15 p.m. from the far side of campus to Woolsey Hall and back at the end of meetings in order to make the Faculty Senate more accessible for faculty to attend in person.

Dowling said that the executive board would explore transportation options for future meetings.

Before the Faculty Senate meets again on Sept. 25, the Kansas Board of Regents will meet on Sept. 20-21.

Debbie and Jim Sims pick up trash from the river on Sept. 9 during the Wichita Clean Streams event. The Sims attended the event with their grandson, after seeing an ad through the Wichita Windsurge. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

When I moved out to Wichita before my freshman year, I kept my summer job at Dillons, transferring to the store on 21st and Rock. One problem: I didn’t have a car, and despite my pleas, my parents wouldn’t let me take one of theirs off to college.

This left me with three options: take an hour-long trek to work by foot five times a week, use two hours worth of my salary on a ridesharing app or utilize the free bus pass that I got with my student ID.

I chose option three – for multiple months, I was reliant on Wichita transit. Unfortunately, I quickly found that the bus system in Wichita is plagued by a lack of funding, resulting in late buses, infrequent routes and early closures. Most of Wichita’s bus routes run either every 45 minutes or every

hour. Most bus activity shuts down around 7 p.m., and the city runs zero buses on Sundays. Mike Tann, the Wichita transit director, said he would like to run more frequent routes, but is hampered by budget limitations.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have an unlimited budget, and most of the funds that we operate with come from federal and local dollars,” Tann said. “Without having some kind of tax measure funding, it wouldn’t be possible for us to increase the service right now.”

Wichita’s public transit is underused and underfunded compared to surrounding cities.

According to the Federal Transit Administration, two times as many bus trips happen per year in Des Moines, Iowa, than Wichita, despite Wichita’s transit system serving more people. Des Moines spent over $15 million dollars of local funds on buses in 2021. Wichita spent just over $2 million.

Quality public transportation is a necessity that Wichita simply

doesn’t have. A 10-minute drive is equivalent to a forty-minute-long bus trip, or an hour-long trip if you consider that the buses are usually about 20 minutes late.

For students without cars, this is a substantial barrier to the ability to work off campus or even to simply pick up groceries. (About a quarter of Wichita’s population lives in a food desert.)

Public transportation is also more environmentally friendly than driving individually. City buses are one of the most sustainable forms of transportation in America – they’re 550% more fuel-efficient than cars on a per-passenger basis. Even for students with cars, an eco-friendly alternative should be viable.

Tann said that Wichita is working with a consultant to potentially redesign the bus system. One possible change could be a switch from a hub and spoke model, where routes all lead out from the Wichita transit center, to a grid system where lines run down

major streets.

“You’d have more opportunities to transfer to different routes, just at different shelters or different bus stops throughout the city rather than having to come downtown to the transit center to transfer to different buses,” Tann said. “And doing so will usually allow for much faster travel, especially from far points of the city.”

Of course, none of this matters if the city doesn’t provide funding for the changes. Tann suggested that if revisions were approved by the transit department, they would likely be put directly on the local ballot.

If this happens, we should vote in favor of future funding proposals that increase the viability of the transit system in Wichita and support local, state and federal candidates who promise significant investments in public transportation. Car-less students –and the planet – will thank you.

How Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’ changed music culture, across the decade

BY SASCHA HARVEY opinion@thesunflower.com

Ten years ago, when 10-yearold me heard the Arctic Monkeys on the radio of my dad’s Jeep Wrangler, it was love at first sound. My dad skipped the song before we got to the second verse, but the deep strumming stuck with me. When we got home, I opened my Kindle Fire and furiously tried to find the song, Googling scraps of lyrics I thought I’d heard.

In my mind, it had to be called “Crawling Back to You” – the singer just said it too many times for it not to be (this was before I realized that song names could be derived from lyrics outside of the chorus, or things that don’t make an appearance in the song at all).

The song I’d heard wasn’t by Tom Petty, and definitely not by Daughtry. Miraculously, I found it – “Do I Wanna Know?” by the Arctic Monkeys. Wow. Nothing would ever be the same – the prophecy had been fulfilled, and I was destined to be pretentious forever, all thanks to the release of “AM” on Sept. 9, 2013.

I was far from the only one that fell in love with the Arctic Monkeys via “AM” – although the Arctic Monkeys were definitely not strangers to Americans, “AM” propelled the band further into the states.

Frontman Alex Turner, evolving with different eras of the band, adopted a very west-coast 1950s aesthetic that made him popular as the quintessential rockstar boyfriend. “It was indeed the fantastic

AM that catapulted the band to mainstream international success, as the late-night hedonism of its lyricism and its smooth, swaggering sound charmed listeners across the globe,” Meer’s Ellie Henderson wrote.

Although the Arctic Monkeys’ first album, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not,” became – and has remained –the fastest selling debut album in British history, six out of 10 of the Arctic Monkeys’ top songs on Spotify are from “AM,” with only the bottom two sourcing from “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.”

Their debut album is their third most popular in total Spotify streams, with “AM” securing the top slot and their sophomore album, “Favourite Worst Nightmare,” coming in second.

Still, no Arctic Monkeys album has shook the Internet, especially Pinterest and Tumblr, like “AM” did. Ten years later, I’m sure there are countless regretted wrist tattoos of the “AM” album cover, countless Arctic Monkeys shirts tucked in the back of closets alongside pleated skirts, countless “AM” pins buttoned to mustard yellow Kånken backpacks.

In 2014, “AM” was it – “It” being what was reblogged and retweeted, stacked into playlists with Lana Del Rey’s “Ultraviolence.”

“AM”

uniquely blended heavy R&B elements with the classic indie rock sound Arctic Monkeys was accustomed to, with a name inspired by rock legend Velvet Underground’s album “VU” (and not the wee

hours of the morning).

In the two albums following the release of “AM,” the impact of its musical style on the Arctic Monkeys is apparent.

“Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” directly followed “AM,” released five years later in 2018, takes on world-building and heavily narrative lyrics about a hotel and casino on the moon.

“Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” is sultry and bass-heavy, like “AM,” while being dreamy and jazzy, unlike “AM.”

“AM” has, inarguably, inspired a countless amount of other artists – Dark Stares’ entire discography sounds like an extension of “AM,” while Mexican band Duck Fizz also sports the same deep bass and similar vocals to “AM.”

Arctic Monkeys, working in collaboration with Josh Homme since the release of “Humbug,” also has similarities with Josh Homme’s band, Queens of the Stone Age, specifically their album “...Like Clockwork.”

Similarly, Alex Turner and Miles Kane, mostly known for his solo work but also The Rascals, have been in collaboration for a project known as The Last Shadow Puppets. Turner and Kane have

released two albums and one EP under this name, with Kane often accompanying Turner on tours for the Arctic Monkeys.

“Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” pilot track “Star Treatment” starts with a musical reference itself: “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes.” However, Alex Turner has done that, and more, and “AM” was part of what launched the Arctic Monkeys into stardom.

Now, in my 20-year-old wisdom, “AM” is far from my favorite. Although the order changes with my mood and the weather and my horoscope, their 2011 album “Suck It and See” usually tops the charts as my all-time favorite.

As a fan of 10 ten years, I think I have a right to abandon my roots and move away from “AM.” However, I cannot understate the impact on “AM,” not only on the Arctic Monkeys but on the indie rock genre in general, a decade later.

A decade later, “AM” has stood the test of (a sport period of) time and remains the band’s most popular album, and I would be surprised to see another Arctic Monkeys album surpass it in popularity and impact.

We all remember Olivia Rodrigo: she was best known for her acting role in “High School Musical: The Musical,” and then her 2021 debut album, “SOUR.” Well, she’s back with her sophomore album, “GUTS,” and it’s just as good, maybe slightly better than her first album.

Rodrigo is known to have both a relatable and deep as well as a fun and uplifting feel in her music. It’s bright and spunky, but there are times where it can hit you right in the feels — a little too close to home.

That’s exactly how I felt about this album as well. She still tosses back and forth between the two sounds, but I feel that this album had more rock-sounding tracks than “SOUR.”

Since listening to this album, I have grown to have some favorite tracks from it. These include “lacy,” “love is embarrassing,” and “pretty isn’t pretty.”

These tracks stood out to me because these songs don’t solely focus on an ex-lover of Rodrigo’s, which is a subject that many female artists like Rodrigo and Taylor Swift get flack for. While the two singles released from the album, “vampire” and “bad idea right?” were good, these are the three that stood out to me.

“lacy” is one of the slower songs on the album, but it fits well with the lyrics. I can’t imagine this song being a fast-paced song, as it simply wouldn’t fit. Since the album’s release, there has been a debate about whether “lacy” is about either Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter, or if it’s about a girl that Rodrigo is possibly in love with. Whatever it is about, it’s a good song, and it deserves appreciation.

“love is embarrassing” is relatable in a way that love (and finding it) has its ups and downs and, at times, can be embarrassing. This song is one of the more fast-paced, rock-sounding songs and it’s light-hearted in a way that she makes fun of how love can be embarrassing, which is why it stands out to me.

“pretty isn’t pretty” is one of those songs that sound really upbeat, but when you listen to the lyrics, it’s actually dark and sad, shedding light on a real problem. The song talks about the societal standards for women and how those standards are problematic to the point that teenagers starve themselves, take medications, and contemplate plastic surgery just so they can look a certain way and fit into social expectations. These standards, in the end, don’t really matter.

Just as “SOUR” was relatable for those embarking on adulthood like Rodrigo at 18, this album is perfectly catered to people in their 20s like Rodrigo. The pop artist truly “spilled her guts,” and I am here for it.

Illustration by Haylee Coolen / The Sunflower

Photo courtesy of Geffen Records

Photo courtesy of Domino Records

Jacinda Hall podcast@thesunflower.com OPINION

Jacob Unruh jacobunruh333@gmail.com OPINION

City of Wichita’s bus system requires revitalization to serve the community

Olivia Rodrigo ‘spills her guts’ with sophomore album

BOUNTIFUL BOWLS

Build-A-Bowl event attracts Wichita community members from all corners

BY CHEYANNE TULL earth2chey.info@gmail.com

Community members, staff and students came together to combat hunger by creating ceramic bowls for the homeless people of Wichita. The annual “Build-A-Bowl” event, put on by the Ulrich Museum of Art, took place in Henrion Hall on

Saturday, Sept. 9. Ceramic students and members of the WSU Ceramic Guild provided guidance on proper techniques when using a pottery wheel. Designs were provided on a white board for those needing inspiration when doing their coil bowls.

All bowls will be donated to the Empty Bowls Chili Cook Off on Oct. 21 at Woolsey Hall. A

donation or $10 student donation allows participants to choose a bowl to keep and try varieties of chili.

Co-sponsors of the Empty Bowls Chili Cook Off are Ulrich Museum of Art, WSU Ceramics Guild, and Empty Bowls ICT.

All proceeds will directly benefit HumanKind Ministries and the ICT Community Fridge Project.

$25

Meghan Beehler, a Wichita State alum who studied marketing, throws a bowl on a pottery wheel at the Ulrich Build-ABowl event on Sept. 9. There were three methods to create a bowl: throw on the wheel, hand building, or glazing premade bowls. | Photos by Cheyanne Tull / The Sunflower

Dean Elliott and Addyson Maddux, Wichita East High School students, attended the Build-A-Bowl event as a community service opportunity. Students from several local high schools attended the event on Sept. 9.

Fifth grader Lydia Iwig makes swirls for her bowl at the Ulrich Build-A-Bowl event. Iwig attended the event with her mother for a bonding day.

Mother Jennifer Atchison, a social worker for Wichita schools, watches her 12-year-old daughter Elle create her bowl at the Build-A-Bowl event Sept. 9. Many children tried ceramics for the first time at this event.

‘MAKE THE FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS’

Taylor Swift Tailgate offers pre-game entertainment

BY AVERY GATHRIGHT averygathright@outlook.com

Several tables with black and yellow beads and string greeted students and community members at the Wichita State women’s volleyball game against the University of Colorado.

The tables were for fans to make friendship bracelets as part of the “Taylor Swift Tailgate” for the game’s Taylor Swift

theme. The pre-game event also included a photo wall and trivia about the popular artist.

The tailgate was selfproclaimed Swiftie and freshman Sheccid Banuelos’ first WSU volleyball game, and she was impressed by the activities available.

“I think it’s a great way to start off my experience,” Banuelos said. “I think it’s really fun,

especially the bracelet-making station because it’s cute.”

Sophomore Caleb Anderson, another Swiftie, also appreciated the atmosphere of the tailgate.

“I stepped inside for a second and heard all of the songs and that was interesting,” Anderson said. “I’m definitely excited to make some bracelets.”

Banuelos explained the significance friendship bracelets

REVIEW: The Black Fig Bakery, perfect for vegans, vegetarians with a sweet tooth

BY CHEYANNE TULL earth2chey.info@gmail.com

As a vegetarian, it is hard to find healthy and plant-based sweets and pastries. I love to shop locally, so The Black Fig Bakery, owned and operated by Heidi Cruz, was the perfect fit for my sweet tooth.

The choices change constantly as the owner is always experimenting with new recipes, from cake to pastries, and the commonly known treats like brownies, oatmeal cream pies, etc. All ingredients are vegan, vegetarian and naturally derived.

Cruz works remotely as a pastry chef and operates through popups and assorted pastry-boxes. She started The Black Fig Bakery in

2021. I had the pleasure of visiting WAVE to buy treats from her pop-up on Sept. 9.

I chose a vegan oreo peanut butter chocolate brownie and a vegan cream pie for $12 plus tax.

You definitely get what you pay for with Cruz's large portions, and she was kind enough to give me the largest of the pastries.

I could tell the peanut butter was raw and natural and that Cruz used dark chocolate.

The creme pie was absolutely delicious and probably my favorite of the two I chose to buy — way better than Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies.

At the pop-up at WAVE, Cruz also had homemade and vegan/

vegetarian pop-tarts, zucchini bread, cookies and juice. It feels guilt-free to munch on treats that I feel confident fit with my vegetarian lifestyle.

The only downside to her shop is the lack of a storefront and getting in contact to order something, as she is often busy, even more so around the holidays.

play in the Taylor Swift fandom.

“There’s actually a song on her new album, ‘Midnights,’ called ‘You’re on Your Own Kid,’” Banuelos said. “There’s a line that basically says, ‘make the friendship bracelets,’ and the fandom kind of ran with that and did that for the whole (Eras) Tour. They made them for every show.”

Even those who did not

consider themselves Swifties, like freshman Breanna Leach, were able to enjoy the festivities.

“I didn’t know that (Taylor Swift) was the theme, to be honest,” Leach said. “But I think it’s cool because she is making like billions of dollars on her tour right now. It’s definitely very fitting for the time. It’s very positive. Everyone seems really happy.”

Overall, if you can find Cruz and her traveling/remote shop, it is so worth it to try her delicious treats. It is a beautiful thing to support small businesses locally owned in Wichita. You can count on her treats being perfect for breakfast, desserts or as a Saturday pick-me-up. Vegan

MacKenzie and Addison create friendship bracelets at the Taylor Swift tailgate in Koch Arena on Sept. 9. MacKenzie said her favorite Taylor Swift era is Reputation. | Photos by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

oreo brownie and vegan oatmeal pie from The Black Fig Bakery owned and operated by Heidi Cruz. |

Photo by Cheyanne Tull / The Sunflower

Lillian Delgado poses with Wu for a photo during the Taylor Swift tailgate. Delgado said her favorite era is Reputation.

Luca creates her own friendship bracelet during the Taylor Swift tailgate before the volleyball game on Sept. 9. When asked, Luca said her favorite Taylor Swift era is Midnights.

Attendees of the Taylor Swift tailgate make friendship bracelets before the volleyball game on Sept. 9. The tailgate was located by the entrance of Charles Koch Arena and offered bracelet making and photo ops.

FEEDING OFF THE CROWD

UPCOMING EVENTS

EVOLVING LEADERS

THURSDAY, SEPT. 14

2 - 3 p.m. | Wichita State University

COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD

GENERAL MEETINGS

THURSDAY, SEPT. 14

3:30 - 5 p.m. | Rhatigan Student Center

NORTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL

TUTORING

THURSDAY, SEPT. 14

3:30 - 6:30 p.m. | Off-campus

TEACHING IS FOR SUPERHEROES

THURSDAY, SEPT. 14

4 - 6 p.m. | Rhatigan Student Center

PREPARING A COMPETITIVE NSF-GRFP APPLICATION

THURSDAY, SEPT. 14

5:30 - 7 p.m. | Jardine Hall

WSU WIND ENSEMBLE - DR. TIMOTHY SHADE, CONDUCTOR

THURSDAY, SEPT. 14

7:30 p.m. | Duerksen Fine Arts Center

HEALTHHUM GRANTS WORKSHOP

FRIDAY, SEPT. 15

10 a.m. - Noon | Fiske Hall

INFORMATIVE SESSION FOR UNDERGRADS ON THE NSF-GRFP PROGRAM AND GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP

FRIDAY, SEPT. 15

11 a.m. - Noon | Rhatigan Student Center

LECTURE SERIES IN THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES: DR. KEIKO KAWAMURO, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

FRIDAY, SEPT. 15

3 p.m. | Jabara Hall

KMUW IS PROUD TO PRESENT A SOLO EXHIBITION BY OUR 2023 FEATURED ARTIST ARMANDO MINJAREZ

FRIDAY, SEPT. 15

6 - 8 p.m. | Off-campus

COMEDIAN JACOB WILLIAMS FROM WILD N’ OUT

FRIDAY, SEPT. 15

8 p.m. | CAC Theater

CARS AND COFFEE

SATURDAY, SEPT. 16

8 - 11 a.m. | Braeburn Square

SERVICE SATURDAY

SATURDAY, SEPT. 16

8 a.m. - Noon | Off-campus

SHOCKER NEIGHBORHOOD

COALITION VOTER INFORMATION LITERATURE DROP

SATURDAY, SEPT. 16

8 - 11 a.m. | Off-campus

SENIOR SATURDAY

SATURDAY, SEPT. 16

9 - 11 a.m. | Larksfield Place

OPEN STREETS ICT: DOUGLAS

SUNDAY, SEPT. 17 Noon - 5 p.m. | Off-campus

VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE MONDAY, SEPT. 18 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. | Rhatigan Student Center

THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF INTELLIGENT, CREATIVE MACHINES’ MONDAY, SEPT. 18

3 - 5 p.m. | Woolsey Hall

HAVE AN EVENT YOU WOULD LIKE LISTED?

CONTACT THE ARTS EDITOR: arts@thesunflower.com

CONTACT THE NEWS EDITOR: news@thesunflower.com

Morgan Weber celebrates after the Shockers score a point in the second set of the match against the University of Kansas. The match was a part of the Shocker Volleyball Classic. |

Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Gabi Maas, a defensive specialist and libero, high fives teammate Barbara Koehler, an outside hitter, after WSU scores a point against the University of Kansas. |

Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Morgan Weber dives to the side to save a hit in the second set. Weber made nine digs against KU on Sept. 7. |

Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Defense specialist and libero Katie Galligan passes the ball in the second set against Colorado on Sept. 9. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Head Coach Chris Lamb shouts plays to volleyball players on the court. Lamb has been the volleyball head coach for 24 seasons. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Libero and defense specialist Annalie Heliste dives to save the ball during the first set of the match against the University of Colorado. Heliste played in two of the three sets on Sept. 9. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Before the game starts on Sept. 7, the Shocker volleyball team stand lined up as they watch their hype video on the big screen. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

Hitter Emerson Wilford goes to hit the ball in the game against Kanas on Sept. 7 at Charles Koch Arena for “Yellow Out” night. Wilford had a total of four blocks. | Photo by Madeline Bell / The Sunflower

Senior setter Izzi Strand sets the ball during the first set against the University of Colorado on Sept. 9. Strand made 16 assists during the three-set match. | Photo by Kristy Mace / The Sunflower

The Shockers huddle before the match against the Kansas Jayhawks on Sept. 7 at Charles Koch Arena. The Shockers came up short in the fourth set and lost the match with a score of 3-1. | Photo by Madeline Bell / The Sunflower