As Dr. Jamie Ball ’10 looks back fondly on her time at Kansas State University, she remembers it as the place where she “grew up.” 

“I was challenged mentally in the classroom and socially and leadership-wise on campus,” said Ball, now a pediatrician at Golden Valley Memorial Hospital. “K-State forced me to ‘put myself out there,’ and ultimately allowed me to develop in all aspects of my life.” 

In honor of her career accomplishments and continued support for K-State, Ball is being recognized with a 2021 Distinguished Young Alumni Award. The annual award honors K-State graduates who are younger than 35 and are using the scholarship, leadership and service experience they acquired at K-State to excel in their professions and contribute to their communities.

At K-State asked Ball to share some of her thoughts on receiving the award, her time at K-State and her goals for the future:

🏆 What are your thoughts on receiving a Distinguished Young Alumni Award?

I am incredibly honored and humbled to receive the Distinguished Young Alumni Award. To receive such an honor from my alma mater, a place I truly love full well, is such a touching award. The opportunities, education, experiences, mentorships and friendships that K-State provided, are what shaped the path that I have taken and allowed me the chance to pursue my dreams.

The K-State Alumni Association played a tremendous role in my undergraduate experience and provided me with so many amazing leadership opportunities and wonderful mentors. These experiences and individuals allowed me to truly discover who I am, my passions and helped me to carve the path that I needed to take to achieve my goals. The invaluable part of my K-State experience is the fact that it doesn’t end when you graduate. These same faculty, staff and friends are the same individuals who have continued to guide me along my path, support me and allowed me to be in the position that I am in today. 

🏆 What are some of the things you learned during your time at K-State?

I feel that my time at K-State allowed me to grow exponentially as a person. I grew up in rural southeast Kansas and I was one of the only students from my area that came to K-State. I didn’t know anyone and was setting foot on a campus where many of my classes had more students than my entire high school. My classes demanded more of me than I had ever encountered before and I had organizational opportunities that were endless. These new challenges taught me the value of time management, prioritizing and delegating of tasks. 

I had amazing advisers through the Division of Biology and through my pre-medical adviser, who allowed me the individualism to pursue my own interests, yet still complete my academic requirements. They helped to personalize my undergraduate experience to me, while ensuring that I was competitive in the future medical school market and beyond.

The amount of leadership opportunities and involvement on campus taught me priceless lessons in leadership, negotiating and delegation. These opportunities provided me with a network of peers and friends who challenged me day in and day out and allowed me to acquire skills that I use each and every day. These individuals are the same ones that I can turn to today for assistance, to bounce ideas off of and for general support. 

🏆 How has your K-State experience impacted your career or made a difference in your life?

Every experience and opportunity that I was afforded at K-State has contributed to my career and personal development and allowed me to be in the position that I am today. The beauty of K-State is that it offers all of the opportunities of a major university, without sacrificing that small-town family feel and atmosphere.

From the moment that I arrived on campus, I was thrust into an environment where I was constantly challenged to expect more of myself. As a freshman, I was able to participate in cancer research through the Terry C. Johnson Center for Cancer Research. I was able to become involved in the Student Governing Association, which taught me how to allocate a major budget and to advocate for my fellow students and taught me vital leadership skills. The K-State Alumni Association offered me the opportunity to serve my university through student recruitment, retention and preservation of traditions, but also provided me with the invaluable opportunities to network with administration, faculty, staff and outstanding alumni. 

Ultimately, my K-State experience provided me with a family, composed of faculty and staff, my fellow students and amazing alumni, who have continued to support me to this day. It is because of everyone and everything that K-State provided to me, that I am where I am today.   

🏆 What are your career goals for the future?

My career goals for the future are to be able to build a successful pediatric practice. For me, this means that I develop a practice where my patients are able to develop a personal relationship and do not feel as if they are just a number. I desire a practice that continues to stay at the forefront of medicine to provide the best in care that medicine can provide. Ultimately, I feel that I will be successful, if when all is said and done, one patient can say that I had a positive impact on their life. 

🏆 What advice would you offer to other young K-State alumni?

One important lesson that I have learned, is that in life you often set out with a specific goal and endpoint in mind. Life will throw you curves, and dreams will be deterred by bumps and forks in the road. What you once thought you were destined to do, may have been the stepping stone to something even greater. Never let one door closing cause you to cast your eyes away from what may be the curtain opening for an even greater stage of opportunity. If you truly want something, never let anyone or anything tell you that you cannot or will not make it. Hard work, passion and dedication will overcome all else. Never lose sight of yourself and your heart’s desire.  

At Kansas State University, students are encouraged to pursue their dreams and reach for the stars — in the case of Kristine Larson Davis ’15, quite literally. 

The K-State grad is an engineer working for NASA on the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit, which will serve as the spacesuit for the planned Artemis missions. According to NASA, the goal of the Artemis program is to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024, eventually taking “the next giant leap,” which is sending astronauts to Mars.

In honor of Davis’ career accomplishments and continued support for K-State, she is being recognized with a 2021 DISTINGUISHED YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD. The annual award honors K-State graduates who are younger than 35 and are using the scholarship, leadership and service experience they acquired at K-State to excel in their professions and contribute to their communities.

At K-State asked Davis to share some of her thoughts on receiving the award, her time at K-State and her goals for the future:

🏆 What are your thoughts on receiving a Distinguished Young Alumni Award?

I am very honored and humbled to be recognized for the DYA Award. I was a member of the Student Alumni Board when I attended K-State and I remember reviewing all the very impressive DYA applications that were submitted each year. It really inspired me as a student to try to make an impact when I left K-State. I am very excited to be recognized as a DYA recipient, and I look forward to speaking with the students about my journey to hopefully inspire them as well.

🏆 What are some of the things you learned during your time at K-State?

It is hard to choose just a few things, when I learned so much! I learned the importance of having a strong network to support you. Going through engineering classes was very challenging at times, and having study groups to help each other learn the concepts together was very helpful. In addition, I recognized how essential it was to have upperclassmen mentors to help guide me through how to balance schoolwork and organizations while also working towards my goals. I have continued that in my professional career of seeking out mentors.

I also learned the importance of resilience! Sometimes life or work doesn’t go the way you planned, but it is important to stay focused on your goal, learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward.

🏆 How has your K-State experience impacted your career or made a difference in your life?

K-State gave me so much. Most importantly, it prepared me with an excellent education for an engineering career. It provided me many opportunities to gain hands-on experience which led to internship opportunities. I made strong, life-long friendships that help cheer me on in every aspect of life. My time at K-State was full of so many awesome experiences that helped form me into the person I am today.

🏆 What are your career goals for the future?

Right now, I am an engineer for the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit. We are designing, building and certifying NASA’s next spacesuit that will be used for future exploration missions. The last time NASA built and certified a spacesuit was in 1981 for the current EMU being used on the International Space Station. I am so excited to be able to work on this spacesuit, which will be used for generations of astronauts to come. I hope to continue to improve my skills as an engineer, and see this spacesuit be used to explore.

🏆 What advice would you offer to other young K-State alumni?

Don’t be afraid to pursue your passions! Write down your goals, along with the steps on how to achieve them. One way that helped me achieve my goal of working at NASA was getting hands-on experience early. I volunteered with professors in the mechanical engineering department to do unpaid undergraduate research. I believe those experiences really helped open the door to internship opportunities that led me to my dream job!

For New York-based film composer Alex Wakim ’18, there’s something magical about the Kansas sky — particularly at nighttime. 

In New York City, the big city lights can make it challenging to look up and truly see the stars. But in Kansas, with its clear skies and wide-open spaces, it’s easy to stargaze and marvel at the vastness of the universe.

Wakim did not necessarily plan to spend 2020 in Wichita, Kansas. He was scheduled to record in New York last May, as part of his goal to work on a personal project involving writing and recording his own music. Then the pandemic hit, and everything changed.

“It was actually an exciting opportunity in hindsight,” he said. He was inspired by the stars in the Kansas sky, and the arrival of the famous NEOWISE comet in summer 2020.

“It was really amazing,” he said. He remembers thinking, “I need to musicalize this. I need to write something. I need to create something.”

This spark of inspiration led to Wakim’s instrumental cinematic album, Dust and Ions.

The album is designed to play like a film, “navigating different worlds of sound and layers of intimacy.” The music builds on the idea of connections — connection to the cosmos, and connection to each other. The album features a multitude of styles and collaborations with many other music artists, including Wayne Goins, University Distinguished Professor of Music and Director of the Jazz Studies Program.

“It feels like every part of the album has a sliver of my experience at K-State,” Wakim said.

"I think the entire faculty involved in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance program want only the best for our students, and we know that in order for them to achieve success, they have to be prepared to face the expected challenges that come in a naturally competitive environment," Goins said. "It is for that reason that we strive to share with our students the highest degree of wisdom, experience and exposure so they can be ready when the reality of real life outside of the academic arena hits them."

Wakim graduated from K-State in 2018 with a degree in applied music. He said studying at a place like K-State gave him the freedom to explore his future as an artist and provided him with a rich well of inspiration to draw from. 

He got to experiment with different musical styles, ranging from singing in a choir, to jazz, classical piano and film scores. He also minored in entrepreneurship — which came in handy as he learned to manage the business side of his artistic endeavors.

“I’m very thankful for my time at K-State,” he said. “I could do a lot of different things. I wanted to be in an environment that had all sorts of people from different walks of life.”

For his honors project, he wrote a musical titled An American in Beirut. The musical was performed by the K-State Theatre department in 2018 as a staged reading, directed by Jennifer Vellenga, K-State professor and associate director of theatre. He worked with Vellenga on the theme music for the podcast Kansas Theatre Works, as well as scoring all of their Macbeth audio production.

During his time at K-State, he also received an undergraduate research grant to work with dancers and videography.

“K-State opened the door for a lot of opportunities,” he said.

Wakim said his favorite part of the creative process for Dust and Ions was collaborating with other artists, including a masked, socially-distanced recording session with live musicians in Wichita. For some of the musicians, it was their first gig in a long time due to the pandemic.

“If I could go back to that moment, I would,” he said. “I want to make music with other people.”

Wayne Goins said he and Wakim have been in close contact ever since he graduated, and Goins always wanted to find a time or a good excuse to work with Wakim again.

“This seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it, so when he told me he was working on a new album, I told him I wanted to be a part of it, and he immediately agreed with me that it was the right time to do it,” Goins said. “Alex has incredible taste in music and composition, combined with an innate sense of form and adaptation when it comes to captivating and synchronizing the disparate elements of mood and movement from a universal perspective. Having said that, he told me the album was still missing something and needed the special ‘G’ thing!”   

Although adapting to COVID-19 was a challenge — as was mourning lost opportunities as an artist due to the pandemic — Wakim also viewed 2020 as an opportunity to pivot and create art in a new way.

He decided to handle the entire marketing initiative for the album on his own, since this was such a personal project and very close to his heart. He set a goal of 2,000 listens in the first couple of days following the album’s release — and he was able to achieve that goal.

He sees marketing not as a business necessity, but as an organic part of creating art. 

“Marketing is just telling your story in a creative way to get people to hear it,” he said.

Wakim is now back in New York, and future projects he’s working on include a documentary and several films, as well as a collaboration with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra concert master. He’d also like to eventually develop Dust and Ions into a live concert performance experience.

Follow Wakim on social media:

Instagram

FacebooK

Listen to the album:

Spotify

Amazon

Learn more at www.alexwakim.com.

🎵 I know a spot that I love full well, 
‘Tis not in forest nor yet in dell; 
Ever it holds me with magic spell, 
I think of thee, Alma Mater. 🎵 

There are many things we all love about Kansas State University. From the beautiful limestone architecture on campus, to the roar of cheering fans on a K-State game day, to the warm sense of camaraderie and family that binds us together as K-Staters.

We asked some of our staff members here at the K-State Alumni Association to share what they love most about being Wildcats.

One of the most electrifying all-purpose running backs in the early 2000s, Kansas State University’s Darren Sproles ’05 has been selected for the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2021. 

Sproles is the sixth K-State player or coach to be selected for college football’s highest honor, joining former Wildcat head coach Bill Snyder (Class of 2015).

Sproles played on some of the most memorable teams in K-State history as the Wildcats went 22-6 over his sophomore and junior seasons, including the 2003 campaign when K-State won its first Big 12 Championship with a 35-7 upset over top-ranked Oklahoma. Following his time in Manhattan, Sproles enjoyed a 16-year NFL career with the then-San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles. Read more

🏆 Noah Lindquist ’18 and Dennis Ruhnke ’20 named 2020 Distinguished Kansans

K-State graduates Noah Lindquist ’18 and Dennis Ruhnke ’20 have been named 2020 Distinguished Kansans by the Topeka Capital-Journal.

Distinguished Kansan in Entertainment, Noah Lindquist of Topeka wrote a 2020-themed parody of “Be Our Guest” (from the Disney film Beauty and the Beast) called “Wear a Mask.” 

According to the Topeka Capital Journal, the song has received more than 2.9 million views since it was posted Oct. 17 on YouTube. Celebrities who shared the “Wear a Mask” video included Dan Stevens, who played the Beast in the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, and actresses Anne Hathaway and Yvette Nicole Brown.

Retired Troy farmer Dennis Ruhnke, the 2020 Distinguished Kansan in the humanitarian category, gained fame when he sent one of his five N95 masks to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in March, hoping his mask could help a front-line worker during the pandemic.

The Topeka Capital Journal reports that Cuomo thanked Ruhnke during a nationally televised news conference and said the donation was a “snapshot of humanity.”

Ruhnke attended K-State in 1967 until his father died in 1971. He was two credit hours short of his degree but chose to return home to take care of his mother and the family farm. Administrators in the College of Agriculture recently reviewed his transcript and four decades of experience and approved his work for the degree, which would have been awarded in December 1971.

At a special ceremony May 5 in Topeka, Gov. Laura Kelly and K-State President Richard Myers ’65 presented the long overdue college degree to Ruhnke. Read more

💻 University starts spring semester online

With the goal of mitigating the continued spread of COVID-19, K-State began the first two weeks of the spring semester with remote learning classes. Most classes were scheduled to begin Monday, Jan. 25. The university plans to return to the hybrid and in-person teaching methods used in the fall semester after the two-week period on Feb. 8.

“As we anticipate a surge in positive cases as people return to our campuses, this action will help us keep safety protocols in place,” said Richard Myers, university president. “Last August we saw a surge in the fall when students returned and we were able to manage it well. As anticipated, cases spiked again as we neared the holidays and people moved indoors. We appreciate the tremendous efforts by our faculty, staff and students to help keep our communities safer.” Read more

⚕️ K-State medical director contributes to research behind updated CDC quarantine guidance

Dr. Kyle Goerl, the medical director of K-State’s Lafene Health Center, is part of a collaborative team that is providing research-based guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team’s latest research contributed to the updated quarantine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The publication was one of many that the CDC considered for its update that provided shortened options for quarantine, Goerl said.

In the publication, Goerl and collaborators describe findings among a sample of COVID-19-exposed collegiate athletes in 17 states from June to October 2020. Twenty-five percent of the athletes tested positive during quarantine and the positive test occurred an average of 3.8 days after their quarantine started. Yet, the probability of testing positive decreased as quarantine progressed. The probability of testing positive dropped from 27% after day five to less than 5% after day 10.

“These findings show that after 10 days of quarantine, the risk of COVID-19 is relatively low,” said Goerl, who is also the team physician for K-State Athletics. “This helps to support a quarantine period that is shorter than 14 days. If the quarantine period is shortened, it may become more likely that people would follow important quarantine measures.” Read more

💉 Lafene Health Center prepared for vaccine administration

Lafene Health Center has been selected as a vaccine distribution site. The university will be receiving and administering vaccines for students, faculty and staff based on the state and local priority groups and vaccine availability. Vaccines are not available at this time.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is responsible for allocating vaccines across the state. Lafene has not received vaccines yet or been given a date of vaccine delivery. However, the university is actively preparing for distribution so that vaccines can be administered as soon as possible after arrival. Read more