K-Stater recalls being honored as an Alumni Fellow
Cheryl Hewitt ’69 often tells people if she could relive any part of her life, it would be her time at K-State.
“As I've gotten older, I've appreciated it even more,” she said.
Making friends has been a constant in her life. She comes by it naturally. Most of her friends attended the University of Kansas. She opted for K-State.
“A great thing about K-State for me was getting away from Johnson County,” she said. “I met all these fabulous people from out west.”
Hewitt grew up in the Kansas City area, but her parents moved to Ohio during her freshman year of college. In some ways that made Manhattan more of a home in college since she didn’t have a car.
She had wanted to attend K-State since eighth grade. One of her teachers that year was a recent graduate and later became her mentor.
“I just adored her,” Hewitt said. “And right then I said, I'm going to K-State because I want to be just like her.”
Hewitt followed in her teacher’s footsteps and attended K-State, earning a degree in elementary education and began a career as a teacher. She taught for 25 years and served in leadership roles including as president of the Shawnee Mission school district chapter Kansas National Education Association. For her efforts with KNEA she was recognized by K-State and the Alumni Association as the Alumni Fellow for the College of Education in 1993. The K-State Alumni Fellows program annually brings back successful alumni to campus to meet with students and faculty and to share their expertise in the classroom and at informal settings.
“I was greeted everywhere I went, and they had a great lineup of activities for me,” she said of the honor. “I'm not a shy person; so anytime they asked me to speak, I did. I could quickly tailor whatever I was saying to what class I was speaking. It was very well organized.”
Hewitt said she loved interacting with all the K-Staters in general – students, faculty, staff – anyone in purple. But really, she said, that has always been the case.
Hewitt later transitioned her career into retirement planning, helping individuals at Kansas Board of Regents’ schools set up and manage their plans. Once again, she found herself on the sidewalks of K-State’s campus visiting those faculty and staff members who were her clients.
Hewitt said what sets K-State apart from other schools in the Regents’ system is the friendliness found on the sidewalks and hallways.
“Being 25-year teacher, I always engaged kids, I would always speak to them first,” she said. “But at K-State, they spoke to me first, just a totally different atmosphere. Faculty and staff would see me on the sidewalk, three or four days a week; I think that made people think, she's here to help me.”
In her retirement, Hewitt and her husband, David Schauner, have stayed engaged with K-State in various ways. They proudly sport a K-State license plates in their hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, which is most certainly Jayhawk territory. Hewitt is a voracious reader of the K-Stater magazine, often texting the editor after reading it. They’ve also been on several Traveling Wildcats trips, making new friends and socializing in new locations.
“What I liked about these trips is that they're seamless and you are able to focus on meeting people that had a shared experience,” Hewitt said.
Until her next K-State outing, Hewitt said she’ll rep purple pride in Lawrence, but the first thing she’s doing on her next trip to campus is heading straight for Call Hall ice cream.