fort hays state university
fort hays state university
Friday Mar 03, 2023
As FHSU winter sports wrap up, spring sports celebrating early successes
Friday Mar 03, 2023
Friday Mar 03, 2023
On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University sports information director, Ryan Prickett shares updates from winter and spring sports.
Wednesday Feb 08, 2023
FHSU seeks to create global citizens with focus on sustainability
Wednesday Feb 08, 2023
Wednesday Feb 08, 2023
On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University Global Affairs operations director Haley Williams discusses the university's efforts to create global citizens with a focus on sustainability.
Friday Jan 20, 2023
Kan. grant match helps FHSU students in need
Friday Jan 20, 2023
Friday Jan 20, 2023
On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University Alumni Association alumni engagement specialist Carolyn Tatro, Chantelle Arnold, FHSU director of financial assistance and FHSU associate vice president of student affairs, Dennis King share information about the Kansas Comprehensive Grant Match Program.
Friday Jan 06, 2023
FHSU celebrates accomplishments in 2022
Friday Jan 06, 2023
Friday Jan 06, 2023
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason shares highlights from the university in 2022.
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
FHSU to celebrate Fall graduates this weekend
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University chief communications officer Scott Cason shares upcoming FHSU graduation details.
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
FHSU Christmas traditions return for 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University dean of the College of Education Paul Adams shares information about FHSU Christmas festivities.
Monday Oct 17, 2022
FHSU music department kicks-off season with Choirs Concert Friday
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Monday Oct 17, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University professor of music and director of choral activities Terry Crull shares information about the upcoming FHSU Choirs Concert.
Friday Oct 14, 2022
FHSU creates Cybersecurity Institute and Technology Incubator
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Friday Oct 14, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University Informatics Department Chair and Associate Professor, Melissa Hunsicker Walburn and Chief Communications officer Scott Cason discuss the Cybersecurity Institute and Technology Incubator.
Friday Oct 14, 2022
FHSU Alumni Association works to keep alums connected year round
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Friday Oct 14, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University Alumni Association engagement specialist Carolyn Tatro recaps Homecoming and discusses ways FHSU alums stay connected all year long.
Friday Sep 23, 2022
FHSU Media Tour shares university story across region
Friday Sep 23, 2022
Friday Sep 23, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University president Tisa Mason and chief communications officer Scott Cason share details of the upcoming FHSU Media Tour.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
Fort Hays State University will kick off their media tour next week from the university president Tisa Mason stops by along with chief communications officer Scott Cason to talk about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Tisa Mason
Last year, when we went out and we talked to people, we realized so much more value was developing working relationships with member of the media, even at the Kansas Board of Regents. Now I see some of the people I talked to last year, I have those relationships. So that is really great. And of course, always sharing information on Fort Hays impact in Kansas and beyond, is one of the great joys. And, you know, it's something we have to work hard on, quite honestly, we have to draw attention to us. And that's not part of our culture, we tend to be more modest. But we've got a lot to be proud of. And it's it's really a privilege to be able to tell that story. And we always we learned a lot last year going out and seeing how media consolidation and how that is impacting communities. And, and the the, it just was incredible to hear stories of what's going on, especially in the smaller rural communities. But even in the urban institutions, the consolidation and what that means and trying to find somebody open to even have a conversation with or going into newspaper and seeing that they're printing the newspapers for a large area because everything's consolidated. So we're always excited about identifying opportunities for also our experts, our faculty that are doing extraordinary work, to assist in news reporting. So when we get to have those relationships, then we connect everyone together. And that makes us better.
James Bell
Yeah, truly. Now, let's talk about some specifics. I think you're kicking this thing off pretty locally right here. Oh, goodness. Oh, less than a week, isn't it?
Tisa Mason
Yes. Yes. And always we start right here in this studio.
James Bell
Oh, is this the first one? This is the first one. Let's call this a warm up. Because as everybody knows, I'm not shy to say that I'm not a professional broadcaster. I just kind of hear doing the radio thing. The case kickoff. Exactly. But we're gonna be in Great Bend, McPherson, Pratt, and then kicking down into Oklahoma. The business Oh, next week.
Tisa Mason
Yeah, that's just Monday. Well, that's just
James Bell
Monday. Yes. Oh, my goodness. You're gonna be dreads a lot of road time. Are you gonna be flying those spots?
Tisa Mason
No, we are driving driving it. Oh, yeah. The real American experience. We're getting in that car and we're driving from community to community.
James Bell
Very cool. Very cool. Man. You're I mean, you're hitting everywhere. You're getting down to the Wichita, Kansas City. You mentioned you're popping up to Nebraska, McCook, Nebraska looks like and then of course, dodge sitting gods in the Garden City. Those are always really fun, aren't they?
Tisa Mason
Yes, we love that. And we love that in Garden City. We have our Higher Education Learning Center there as well, which we've had for decades to help tell the higher education story first and the Fort Hays story second, and really trying to drive people to understand the value of why a higher education post K 12 is really important today.
Scott Cason
And two of those stops, the one in pride and the one in Garden City will highlight our partnerships with the local community colleges there.
James Bell
Go Pratt, I don't know if you guys know this. I was actually I'm a I'm a proud alum. I went to community college there. And before I came to four days, and really they are the ones that steered me this way. I had never been to Hayes before. Well, before enrolling, to be honest.
Tisa Mason
No, for decades, we were among the first to do the articulation agreement. And we have always valued our Community College and our tech partnerships. We've done some really unique things with them. And we think that's really important. So yeah, go Pratt, and shout out to all the rest of the community and tech colleges in Kansas. Love it.
James Bell
So let's talk some specifics about what you're going to be talking about on these media, media tours. You know, I think it's no secret. There's since the pandemic, there's been a lot of changes, we've seen what's going on in Emporia and you know, kind of trying to rebalance these things. And, you know, I wonder if you want to talk about how that's going to be part of those conversations and how this strategic plan is going to be brought up as you guys are out and about.
Tisa Mason
So of course we're aligned with the Kansas Board of Regents strategic plan on building a future and theirs is built on family you know, and affordability which is something that we are the star at and continue to drive forward. Because access is the first thing that you need to go to coloriages is the ability to open that door and we have flown it open for decades, you know businesses and how we create jobs and provide a talent pipeline, particularly since the pandemic hiring employees is an every call conversation in every community. And so how we continue to fuel that and provide an educated talent pipeline is really important. And then economic prosperity. How are we driving? How are we making an economic impact in communities? How are we bringing value with all kinds of outreach centers that we do in communities. And so that's really important, that's tied to our strategic plan as well. Then, of course, we at Fort Hays talk a lot about academic excellence, because that's really important. Our value is not just about our low price point, but it's also about the high quality. And so we're constantly investing and professional opportunity for our faculty, encourage their dialogue with business industry, so that we're keeping all that connected. And then resources and infrastructure, look anywhere across the state of Kansas, and you will find the best buildings and experiences at Fort Hays State University.
James Bell
Absolutely. And you know, what I like about kind of the strategic plan is, is your guys's vision of growth and how to actually accomplish that. And one of the things we've talked about previously in the segment is the the I don't remember the name of the plan, but basically the in state tuition that's offered across seven or eight states. Yeah, the 1313 states Oh, I was under pending. Yep.
Tisa Mason
We call it our 13 state regional tuition, program. And we're really excited. Of course, we don't have final numbers yet, because we're still waiting till the end of the month to get those. But early indicators with our first year out, is sending us really strong success in Colorado and Oklahoma, as first place winners for increasing those students. I've had I've had fun talking to are in states or out of state students from those 13 states last night at a dinner in my house with our VIP students. And we had a couple of students from Texas, like, how did you like that discount on your tuition this year? And they're like, We loved it. We're so excited. Thank you. So that was really fun.
James Bell
That's very cool. And you know, it really I think that helps probably in the community and global engagement piece as well, because you're getting people and folks, students from a larger geographic region, which then I think is going to just feed into the I don't know the stature, maybe a Fort Hays crossed the Midwest.
Tisa Mason
Yeah. And more importantly, we know when since that program is only for on campus students, we know when students come to Fort Hays, and then they do internships and practicums in the community, they're most likely to stay in Kansas. And that feeds the talent pipeline. So it's Win win, it's win for the students. It's win for the university and for our community in our state.
James Bell
Yeah. And there's lots of different ways I think you're going to be talking about on this tour, right about specifically some areas where the impact is very noticeable, like, for example, K through 12. Education, I think we're a huge driver of teachers out and across Kansas and beyond, right?
Tisa Mason
Yes. And really important. I think, over we've had about 200 students in teacher ed, every year, over 85% of them end up teaching in Kansas, and around half of those are in western Kansas, and often in rural areas. And that's something we work hard. And I know our nursing program. Also, if you're going to go to Fort Hays, you're going to do some practicums and some experiences in rural hospitals, because we want you to know that and understand that we really want to incentivize and encourage people to stay in rural Kansas. Yeah,
James Bell
yeah. I love that. And you mentioned at the top of the program here, the difficulty in hiring, and I think that is especially true in these rural school districts where, you know, you've got to pull in people that maybe aren't native to the area and are kind of questioning like, why would I live in this little town over anywhere else that I can live? And I think that's gonna help but to social workers, also a big important part of this, right?
Tisa Mason
Yeah. And they have been one of our strategic enrollment planning fancy word to say, how are we going to grow? And that's where we've put some of our dollars because we know the community needs social workers in many areas. And it's been a huge winner for us. Since its inception in 2015. We have expanded from 100 undergraduates to over 300. The Masters of Social Work, which is brand new to us had inaugural class of 52 students and grew to 85 students in just one year. And now a has a waiting list. Wow. We're really excited about the placements. Just last year and 21. The department placed over 90 students in clinics and other social service areas in 24 Kansas communities with 90% of that, or about 90% of those placements in rural areas. Again, really focusing on serving rural Kansas. We have about a hunt There needs students enrolled in practicum field experiences right now. And we're just really excited with our success and with the growth.
James Bell
Yeah, that's, that's awesome. This is another thing that I keep hearing about that I think is a really probably impacting a lot of people in ways that they don't understand or they don't know maybe don't understand, but don't necessarily see in their day to day lives. And that's the criminal justice program here. And the Regional de escalation Center, which you guys have been a huge part of getting set up. And I believe that's, that's up and running now. Right?
Tisa Mason
It is. And another shout out to Senator Moran, who helped us with some of the funding, we received $2.75 million in federal funding to fuel the center. We're doing all kinds of training both online and in person. We have delivered 20 programs to agencies in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. And right now, law enforcement agencies in Kansas, Nebraska and Florida, are scheduled to start completing online training created by Fort Hays and our fantastic teaching Innovation and Learning Technologies Group that can take learning to a new level online.
James Bell
Yeah, I love that. And then there's one other one we want to talk about. And this is this one is something I love. I think it's so cool. And it's been you know, I think it's becoming more and more prevalent. We saw the story even last year here in Hays, cybersecurity, you got some big achievements out of the Institute and technology department there, right? Yeah, infirm.
Tisa Mason
Informatics is the academic department. And we were so blessed by the legislature with half a million dollars and dedicated funding to create what we're calling the cyber Institute and technology incubator. So we're just ramping up right now. The first thing you're going to see here is the development of some really cool micro internships. So our students can go in sometimes I'm like, virtually, and sometimes in reality, physical body, and they can go into small businesses, small and medium sized businesses can lose their whole business with a cyber attack. So our students can go in and do web security evaluation, security vulnerability reports, clean up data for businesses, these smaller businesses don't have the resources that the large industries do. And so that's really important for us to make sure that we are supporting the grocers and other businesses, and the small area. So software testing and compliance of reports, this is going to be a great opportunity for our students to get hands on learning and training. And work on those soft skills as well. As well as support the small and medium sized businesses will be also then kicking off in years two and three incubators specifically to grow more businesses that can help small businesses and medium sized businesses with these issues in partnership with our outstanding Small Business Development Center throughout the state. So it's going to have I think, deep ramifications. And I'm so grateful for our faculty and informatics, who are leading this charge.
James Bell
Yeah, love that. All of these things, I think, you know, they're going to be really continuing to impact the folks out here in western Kansas and beyond. And I'm, I bet it really is just so exciting to go out and share more of these details with those, especially those young folks, as they're considering, like, what am I doing with my future? Where can I go and cybersecurity I think is in particular one of those areas that there's just unlimited potential out there in the field.
Tisa Mason
Yeah, we're actually having some exploratory conversations on we do a lot of Gen Ed, concurrent credit in high school so that they can take college bearing credit courses while they're in high school and informatics. We'd like to get a little bit into working with some of the high schools and partnerships so that the students can start getting college bearing credit in this in this information computer science area.
James Bell
Very cool. Get head start in the future. Yeah, love it. When the other last thoughts before we go,
Tisa Mason
I just want to say it's such a joy to be in this community. Our freshmen and our students have returned on campus today are high energy, they're loving haze, they're loving the campus. And I want to thank everybody who's coming out to our volleyball games, our basketball basketball is started but soccer and football and thank you everyone for being part of our community as we are a part of yours.
Friday Sep 16, 2022
FHSU Neuromuscular center helps keep community moving
Friday Sep 16, 2022
Friday Sep 16, 2022
The Fort Hays State University Neuromuscular Wellness Center has a new person in charge. Luke Kriley stops by to tell us about himself and a little bit about the Center on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
at the Fort Hays State University neuro muscular Wellness Center has a new person in charge Luke Kriley stops by to tell us about himself and a little bit about the Center on this episode of the Post Podcast.
my new assistant professor Fort Hays State University within the HHB with his health and human performance. I'm a physical therapist by trade, I switched over to academia just this year. But I wanted to talk about some of the service based programs we have on campus, what we're in charge of is the neuromuscular Wellness Center. So essentially, what that is, is just think of it like a gym or miniature PT clinic, it's there to provide an accessible resource for community members who have neuromuscular diseases, if they want to work on physical fitness, functional mobility, quality of life, or just to stay active will serve those populations. A lot of the times when you have a specific disease that's kind of chronic in nature, and does not improve over time, just based on how the disease progresses, pathology wise, you know, you can only do so much physical therapy for someone's gonna have to pay for it, not just insurance. So if you get to a point where you meet your cap, you need to look for a place we're a good place to do that. What's nice is we're staffed by two full time faculty myself and then Macy Klaus, we both bring clinical experience, she's is experienced in cardiac rehabilitation and pulmonary rehab, I come a physical therapy background. And then we also have a lot of students, I get involved with the program as well.
James Bell
Love that, you know, I had the opportunity over the years to do some stories with physical therapists. And it's such an interesting kind of field. It's, it's, I think most people think of it as just an extension of like a massage or a yoga class class. But really, it's it's more in depth than that, right?
Yes, yes, absolutely. So, you know, within the world of physical therapy, most people come to physical therapy for pain. But one of the things pain does is it causes dysfunction, whether it's emotionally, physically, however you want. So those are the things we try to address. You know, if you come to us and say, Hey, I can't get swing my tennis racquet anymore, because my elbow hurts. What do I need to do we find a plan, we give you some interventions, some exercise stretches to help you figure that out. But there is massage involved. But there's a lot of other things as well. People just like to massage the best.
James Bell
Imagine that. So you said this is this is open to the community how to get involved? Or how do they take advantage of those services?
Yeah, so they can just get a hold of us anywhere at Fort Hays State University and they get a hold of me, I can give you my email or I don't have a phone number on me from my office. I don't know that quite yet. It just started. So
James Bell
fair enough. You know, and I've been here three years, I can't tell you my office line either sorry. But you're listening. Yeah, I just use my cell phone.
So it is $45 a month, you pay as a membership. And then you can come Monday through Friday, every single day, if you'd like to, we can give you different hours, we try to leave it open up for general hours in the morning. Because it's no longer staffed by full time position. That's faculty running it. The hours have changed a little bit, but we tried to be as flexible as possible.
James Bell
Okay, so is there you mentioned insurances? Is this covered at all by insurance? Are you guys strictly Okay, cash kind of service provider,
this is strictly cash service provider, we do not bill insurance. Now the neat thing is now, you know, say you do want someone to provide you with a little bit more guidance, supervision, because you're a big fall risk, you have these certain things going on, and you want someone maybe more than a personal trainer or a fitness expert, when you being a physical therapist, I can guide you through that stuff, give you the exercises you need, maybe do some hands on strategies. And the nice part is we don't have to bill insurance, so we're not restricted or limited by anything.
James Bell
Okay. And then I wonder if you want to talk a little bit about the role the students play in this? Because I mean, I it's obviously it's on campus, it's probably an academic kind of training exercise for them. But how does that all work together? Yeah, so
we use it a lot for professional development. And a lot of kids are going pre professional programs. So this gives them an experience to be hands on and actually see some people in the clinic with real disease real diagnosis, and then get to work with clinicians like Macy. And I,
James Bell
you know, historically, do the students always kind of have that track where they were seeing those hands on or is that relatively new kind of part of the field? It has
been going on for quite a while, I think they've had this for five or six years, somewhere along those lines, I'm not 100% Sure. But with myself being in the clinic, now we have a more clinical approach, I believe, we can start doing some more stuff to get them a little bit more specific into different tracks professionally that you want to take.
James Bell
Okay, you know, I'm just curious, what does a training track look like? Is that a standard four year program? Or is it kind of like a doctor program where they have the post secondary, and they have to do specialized training and all that to get certified or or
sure what I'm talking about physical therapy. So if you go pre professional PT at Fort Hays, you're gonna get your four year bachelor's degree, you'll have some specific prereqs you have to take and then after that, you'll go to a post professional or postgraduate school, which is going to be three years and you'll end up with a doctorate of physical therapy. So it's four years of bachelors, you apply to whatever program going to get into and then it's three years of additional graduate work.
James Bell
Okay, so yeah, that's like a doctor, as long as the training and lots of education I love that because that's who you know. You think talk about these things. And it seems like Google Now, everything is accessible, you can look it up, you can learn, you know, learn those exercises, but having that specialized training and having that people direct to you, probably when you're talking about physio, specialty, physical health, is a much better way to go. And having to have that training probably is invaluable to the, in the in the field,
right? Absolutely. And the nice part is they learn to work with patients and console them. So, you know, in the medical field, No, you go to see the doctor, you're gonna see the doctor for four and a half, five minutes, when you come see a physical therapist or with a clinician, you're gonna see them for 45 minutes to an hour. So there's a lot of personal one on one relationships, they start to figure out how to talk to different generations, you know, there's many years difference between most people they're going to work with, so trying to learn how to communicate, relate to them, not be offensive, and kind of find things they're interested in is a really nice aspect. They, they learned to develop their soft skills very well.
James Bell
Yeah. And you know, we're hearing more and more about that how important those are in almost every academic pursuit, but especially out in the workforce, having those abilities in those skills kind of translates to everything we do. Absolutely, you know, with this program as well, I wonder if you want to talk a little bit about some of the well, I don't know what what the right word would be. But some of the maybe the specifics, like what does the physical therapy look like? Or is it just so different for everybody that it doesn't take any sort of standard track?
Yeah. So you know, in general, we're going to be working on making sure people aren't high fall risk. So if you come in and say you have difficulty walking, we call that gait training. You know, if you're in a wheelchair, and you want to be able to get up and transfer move around a little bit, those are things we can work on. A lot of it is technique based, making sure you do it safely and appropriately and efficiently based on whatever you have going on. You know, the students like to work on the gait training, because it's interesting for them to see how different people walk to learn those different techniques. And the whole goal is to keep you more independent. So you're not having to go live in a nursing home or do something along those lines. We I mean, it's different for everyone, a lot of it's gonna involve the gait training, cardiovascular training, strength training, there's different balance technique techniques. We don't do a lot of hands on manual there. That's kind of not the point. But no, if that needs to be done, we can do a little bit of that too.
James Bell
Okay. Well, we get just about we've gotten under a minute left. I wonder if you want to share any last thoughts or anything else before we go?
No, I just say if you're interested, please try to get a hold of us. You know, I did not bring my contact information. So I'll get that to you, James. But you know, anyone that's really thinking about, Hey, I just want to get active, get involved, but I've got certain things going on where I really want to be supervised. We'd be a great place a great fit for you
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
FHSU Alumni Association prepares for 2022 Homecoming
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University Alumni Association engagement strategist Carolyn Tatro shares FHSU Homecoming 2022 details.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
The Fort Hays State University Alumni Association is get ready for this year's homecoming, Alumni Engagement strategist, Carolyn Tatro stops by to share some of the details on this episode of the post podcast.
Carolyn Tatro
It's only got a month away at this point, right about a month away and really for homecoming for us. It's there are parts of it that are year round. But by the time we get to this time of year, we kind of can't believe that it's already around the corner. And we have some really exciting things planned. So I'm really looking forward to it. I know a lot of other people are too.
James Bell
Yeah, yeah, it's always a good time. And I know, you know, COVID kind of changed some things, you guys introduced some virtual events, and that seemed to go over really well just, you know, as we were having to deal with that, but a lot of back to normal kind of stuff. Um, you know, oh, my goodness, look at the list of thing. No, lots of stuff going on. Yeah, you want to give us some highlights?
Carolyn Tatro
Yes. So first of all, we had a record sell out of the golf tournament. So the golf tournament is currently sold out. It's one of our most popular events throughout the three days, which by the way, before I forget, October 6, seventh, and eighth is what we're talking about here for our alumni homecoming events, the golf tournament sold out in five days, which record for us. So we're excited about that. But we, we know a lot of people didn't get into it, but we you know, give us a call and we want to talk to you about it. Because there's a lot of other things that you can do lunch with Coach Brown is also happening that afternoon, which the golfers can participate in because it's during lunch. So we want people to come and have lunch with football coach, Chris Brown and and learn a little bit about game day routines, and learn about the team, that kind of stuff. So that'll be a really exciting event as well. And then I know later that evening, we'll have the bonfire. Hopefully Weather permitting knock on wood was a great event last year. So hopefully we'll get to do the bonfire again.
James Bell
You guys do that right there to the the west of the Alumni Center, right
Carolyn Tatro
right next to the Robins.
James Bell
The one that always floods.
Carolyn Tatro
Hopefully we're you know, we're again, month away. We'll see what happens. But the bonfire is always a big event when we get to do it. So yeah, very fun. Yeah. And then lots of exciting things planned for Friday. And we have a rather exciting slate of award recipients this year, our homecoming awards are always, you know, a really big deal. There are some of the most distinguished alums that we get to celebrate. And Friday is sort of the the big day to do that Friday and Saturday, we get to have lots of events to celebrate these award winners. So looking forward to that have people from all over the place that I'm looking forward to meeting in person, some really fascinating individuals that I think people want to meet.
James Bell
Yeah, for sure. You want to tell us maybe what some of those awards are? I know, I've seen them year after year, but I'm drawing a blank. Yes.
Carolyn Tatro
So we have four awards that we honor at homecoming. One is the Alumni Achievement Award is sort of the most prestigious for our alums via NIDA, Landrum and distinguished service awards are some of the others. This year, we are honoring four Alumni Achievement Award recipients and two Young Alumni Award recipients. So we've got alumni achievement, and NIDA Landrum Distinguished Service and young alum. And the this year, we have four alumni achievement, and two young alum award recipients. So very exciting people.
James Bell
Cool. Cool. Yeah, I'm gonna talk more about these events. But I am curious, like, how do those folks get selected? You guys drop out a hat or is there a vote
Carolyn Tatro
there. So we have a nomination process that takes place, December, I read around December in January, we open it up for about a month, but people are sending us names year round, you know, oh, I met so and so who's doing some really cool things that you guys need to know about. So we do collect names pretty much year round. Our Alumni Board has a committee that reviews these nominations. And then based on specific criteria, we they select who they believe should be the standout award winners for the coming year. So the selection is usually made end of January, sometime in February. So a lot of us are sitting on this secret for several months before we finally announced them in the summer.
James Bell
I can tell by your face. You know who they are?
Carolyn Tatro
Oh, yes, yeah. And we know we, we know who they are for a long time. And we usually release, we put out the press release in the summer. So, you know, it's it's maybe six months before we get to tell the public about it. But um, yeah, they're out there. And I think some people are very excited about who we get to celebrate this year. Very cool.
James Bell
Very cool. Well, moving back into some of these events. I mean, that's gonna be fun. That's again on Friday. I had it open in the morning, Friday morning, but lots of stuff going on that Friday afternoon night, right?
Carolyn Tatro
Yes, that's right. So Friday morning, we will have a meet and greet for these award recipients now I should say. So John Allen, who is a world renowned journalist in Rome, he will be unable to join us but we're So excited to celebrate him. And also Mike McCarthy, who's the current head football coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He's a little busy right now. So he's not going to be able to do it because I know he's he's got some things going on. But we're really excited the meet and greet will involve Judy billings, who's a lifelong nurse educator, Don Richardson, who's also a lifelong educator been teaching for more than 50 years. Tory blue, who is the current House Majority Whip in Topeka. She's great Ben native ran for office before she even graduated from Fort Hays, and then Brandon Penny, who I'm very excited to meet great creative mind doing some really cool things in New York for Saks Fifth Avenue. So it's, those four individuals will be at the meet and greet. And there'll be at the Alumni and Friends awards banquet on Friday evening, as well. So just a couple of different opportunities to meet them on Friday, they'll be doing some presentations in classes, mostly from the departments that they graduated from, but opportunities to speak to students, and then we get to celebrate them in the parade on saturday as well. So get to spend some time with them this week, that weekend.
James Bell
I love that. And you know, it's always so amazing to me. The I mean, obviously, we have a large number of alumni out there doing amazing things, but it always seems like you guys are finding new ones that you know, maybe the general public doesn't know or people that left years ago, and they're doing amazing things internationally. You're on the coasts. Yeah. And it's like an endless supply of amazing four days long.
Carolyn Tatro
I'm telling you even just yesterday, there were a couple people who came up to me and said, Did you know that so and so has a connection to Fort Hays? And it's, it's really cool to see some of these names that you're right, we just we don't always know that they have the connection to Fort Hays. And that's why we like to celebrate them with some of these awards, because it's just a really exciting time our community gets to see how connected we are to some people that are doing some really amazing things out in the world.
James Bell
Yeah, very cool. And to be able to celebrate and bring everybody together, or almost everybody in this case and, and hang out and get to meet those individuals. What a cool experience.
Carolyn Tatro
Yep. So a lot of those events, you can check out the full list of our events at fhsu homecoming.com. Now, I will say that is the website for our alumni events. There's a lot of other stuff happening happening on campus that week of Homecoming. So make sure you check out the fhsu website as well, but fhsu homecoming.com. A lot of the events that I've mentioned already, you do have to pre register for, but you can do that through September 29. So you still have a couple of weeks to do that. But we were very excited. And yeah, I can't contain it. Honestly, this is one of my favorite, favorite times of the year, just getting ready for all this and then watching it all come together and and seeing people come to the events is just a really great time.
James Bell
Yeah, I bet because I mean, you guys have to plan this for such a long time. There's so many moving pieces, and especially when with your events, and then the university events you got a whole has to coordinate together and to some degree and so many people make this event how happened it just you know, everybody gets together have a great time. But there's a lot of work in the behind the scenes.
Carolyn Tatro
That's right, and we participate with Oktoberfest as well. We're going to have an Oktoberfest tent out there, come out, meet people, you know, if you're meeting up with a group of friends, our tent will be a great place to do that. Sit down, enjoy the delicious food and the atmosphere will be out there both days too. So again, something happening pretty much every day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday through a homecoming so yeah, on on all the time.
James Bell
And Oktoberfest you also know that's separate, but it's the same. And it brings a lot of people to town to do that. But while you're there, come make the connection to Fort Hays, where you connect with Fort Hays and go check out the bit like if you've been on campus, holy smokes, it still boggles my mind. How much has changed even from the time that we were there, which was, you know, we're pushing in almost a decade, I think since we both graduated, but so much activity, physical activities there. And it's just, it's still it's great. It looks amazing. But it's different. And it's it's a it's fun to explore even I think some of those new facilities and buildings
Carolyn Tatro
it is. And we do offer, you know, we offer the opportunity for people to take tours of campus while they're out there as well. Even some of our awardees that I've talked to on the phone, I haven't been to campus in a long time is there going to be a chance for me to see, you know, this such and such new building or my building has been renovated since I was there. So you know, things are changing all the time. And they still are and so yeah, this is another just a great time for people to come see how things are different on campus and all the cool things that we get to do out there. Absolutely.
James Bell
Well, Carolyn, I tell you, we've got just about a minute left last thoughts or anything else you think that folks need to know before we go?
Carolyn Tatro
Well, again, just check out fhsu homecoming.com. We really encourage people to pre register for some of these events because they are going to fill up again lunch with Coach Brown on Thursday afternoon. So that will be October 6 That noon. Again, something we don't get to do all the time. So come and have lunch with the football coach Chris Brown, and then sign up for our alum. I award events as well. So you can meet some of these really cool people we have coming to town, September 29. That is the deadline for a lot of our registered events. Don't
James Bell
wait. Don't get you know what happens when you have a deadline like that. Always for me, people wait
Carolyn Tatro
till the day I wait till the deadline is right. Don't wait till the deadline, get it out, get
James Bell
your computer listening to us and probably at work. So go ahead and just take a minute to lock out. Get it in do it now. Yeah, no, it'd be a good time and hopefully you get a great turnout. And you know, I'll be around I always am.
Carolyn Tatro
Yeah, absolutely. And everybody, give us a call if anybody has questions, lots of stuff happening. So we want to be able to point you in the right direction.
Friday Aug 12, 2022
FHSU selects next Chief of Police
Friday Aug 12, 2022
Friday Aug 12, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University's newest Chief of Police Terrance Pierce shares his story and how he landed in Hays, along with Hays Chief of Police Don Scheibler and Chief Communication Officer Scott Cason.
Thursday Aug 11, 2022
Community Cruise strengthens FHSU, Hays connection
Thursday Aug 11, 2022
Thursday Aug 11, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University Alumni Association engagement specialist Carolyn Tatro and Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Melissa Dixon share information about the Community Cruise.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
The Fort Hays State University Alumni Association recently partnered with the Hays Convention and Visitor's Bureau for a community cruise on campus from the CVB Melissa Dixon, as well as from the Alumni Association, Carolyn Tatro joins us to talk about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Carolyn Tatro
We had an outstanding opportunity just a few weeks ago to bring together community leaders and community members on to the Fort Hays State campus. So we partnered with the Convention Visitors Bureau with the chamber and grow Hayes for the first community cruise and think it was maybe three years right, Melissa, is I sound right? Correct. Yeah. So it was a it was yeah, it was a great opportunity. We probably had I mean, we had a couple dozen, there were a lot of people
Melissa Dixon
think, yes, this event started, way before I worked for the city as an opportunity to educate our newly elected officials on what our organizations are, what they do, how we're funded, and what our big projects are. And, you know, after COVID, we had to not get on a bus together and do that. So we would start out with a presentation of, you know, I'm the CVB. I'm funded by transient guests tax, and here's my mission. And each organization would go through that and just let those officials know what they do. And then we would all jump on a bus together, and we would drive around town and say, What's going on over here? What's that empty lot? What are your plans for this? And we usually would have somebody on that bus ticket, answer the question. And we would have a lunch at the Welcome Center, and then COVID. And so we hadn't done it in in years.
Carolyn Tatro
But I think it was awesome having them on campus. There were a lot of familiar faces that I knew that I had recognized, but a lot of people that I got to meet and really kind of here. You know, a lot of people had not been on campus in a while. And so it was definitely a different event than what kind of community cruises had taken place before.
Melissa Dixon
Absolutely. There's so many new buildings on campus in the past few years that I know, I know, our city department heads hadn't been in. So the guest list kind of looks like school board members, city department heads, county department heads. And that includes Police Department educators. So everybody got together and got some fantastic personal tours of the three newest buildings on campus. So we went to the officially wills Center for Student Success, which is gorgeous, so many little spaces to meet and engage. And then the new art building, and then the new Center for Applied Technology.
Carolyn Tatro
Yep, Applied Technology. Yes, got it.
James Bell
Nothing greatest, really, we'll need to get to get a cool name for that building.
Carolyn Tatro
It's a cool building, though it is a cool building. They're
James Bell
all they're all great. And what I love about this, and what I think probably everybody took away from this, correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of the ways that we kind of teach our students especially that college age, are shifting, it's a little different. And it's more community spaces and collaborative rooms and things like that, that especially that fishery will center really helps, you know, happen.
Carolyn Tatro
Yeah, so much more collaboration, so much more hands on. And it really was important to us to make sure that our community was able to see that not just the facilities themselves, but what's going on in some of those facilities. And so I think for us, it was just really important because we, you know, we want everybody to feel welcome on our campus, not just students and faculty and staff. But you know, people who and first of all, I cannot tell you how many alums were in this group, what I asked at the very beginning, hands shot up all over the room. I mean, people were cool. Yeah, it was great. There were 4k State alums all over the place. And a lot of them really had not been back to campus in a while. And so being able to connect them back to the spaces, allowing them to just sort of explore what their campus looks like now. And we want everybody to be able to feel welcome on our campus so that they can come see all the really special things that we're doing.
Melissa Dixon
And now those people will be more comfortable. They'll say, Oh, I know where this is. And I know where I can park Exactly. And I know who to talk to. And what I love is sometimes you'll walk into space, and have an idea or an opportunity and say what if we work together on something like this? Because with my job, people call us all the time looking for meeting spaces. And when I walked into the officially Will's Senator, I said, Look at all these meetings. What if we could work together and so I think that's the ultimate goal is to find opportunities that we might not have thought of, for city and university county to work together.
James Bell
But there are really strong connections already in place between the university and I think some of the events and things that I've been involved with and one of the first calls that I always hear is well, let's See if we can get some students down here. Because they are a great resource workwise ideal wise, and engaging them in the community then helps keep them here.
Melissa Dixon
Yes, absolutely, thank you know, I
Carolyn Tatro
get on the soapbox all the time, when I was a student, I wish that I had taken more advantage of the things that this community offers. And I tell people now do not wait until it's too late. Whether or not you plan to stay in Hays, you will want to be engaged with this community, because we want you to feel like you're part of it. And I know how many people stay in Hays because of those community connections. And so it just really benefits everybody to have this relationship. And so this, I mean, and the city of Hayes gives back in so many different ways, you know, whether it's support or student scholarships, you know, there's so many different ways that we can really just build this relationship. And it's so important to the university as well. And, you know, it's, it's a very tight knit community, and everybody, you know, everybody knows everybody sometimes. But we're really just, you know, everything is kind of intertwined. Everything is interconnected. And so it's just important for us to be able to do things like this.
Melissa Dixon
And our goals are so similar. We all want Hayes to be the best it can be. We want people, alumni, students, employees, to fall in love with Hayes and stay here forever. So I feel like in the CVB, yes, our mission is to take care of visitors and market hates to visitors. But our long game is that those visitors will decide to live here. And so I feel like that's something that we work on together every day.
James Bell
Yeah, and I gotta believe, too, that, you know, the university helps. And especially, although the Alumni Association events and activities help bring those visitors to Hayes, and maybe even not alumni, but somebody's curious about the school and they say, Hey, I saw this, these new nice, neat buildings down on campus. And maybe you should check this out when they're talking to their youth, which then helps recruit for the university as well.
Melissa Dixon
Absolutely. That relationship is so important. With that, we have a committee, yeah, dedicated to it. It's called the town and gown committee. So town is the city gown is like what you wear when you graduate. And we're, we're a member of the International Town and Gown Association, because there's so many college towns that have the same challenges. And every year, we go to a conference, and we get together and hear how everybody else is, is solving their problems and, and we take notes on their things that are working. And we've actually presented on some projects there before. It's a great organization.
James Bell
Very cool. Very cool. You know, I wonder if you want to talk a little bit about, you know, after these events, what happens next, you know, what are we gonna do you get to build all that goodwill? And that, you know, like, Oh, that's cool. That's neat. But then what?
Carolyn Tatro
No, well, I laugh because there's just, there's so many different opportunities. Um, you know, we bring our graduates to the community, they, you know, they might find jobs around here, there's lots of different ways that they can benefit afterward. And then they bring those there kind of stories back to the university to help the current students and the other alums to kind of understand, like, here's where I have come full circle. So and I know, throughout the year, you know, there's lots of other opportunities to do this as well and other opportunities, not just for, you know, our elected officials like what we were doing for this community cruise, but my first of many pitches to come for homecoming, you know, it's an opportunity for anybody to be part of what we're doing on campus. We open it up to the entire community, people come from all over the place to see Oktoberfest and homecoming. And we have a lot of different ways for people to get involved for that entire weekend. So absolutely lots of ways that we can do this.
James Bell
Yeah, you mentioned homecoming, and Oktoberfest is one of those things. I think they're so intertwined that most people don't realize they are separate activities and events, you know, different people are planning different things, but it all happens kind of at the same time and together and works perfectly. Oh, always has it as long as I've been here. Don't want to curse it this year, but
Carolyn Tatro
Well, I will. Yeah, both both. People who have their hand in both big events really do a great job of putting it together.
Melissa Dixon
And this year is actually the 50th October so I think everything's going to be bigger and better. There's plans for they're going to try to break the world record for the world's largest beer rock. So don't miss that.
James Bell
You know, what's bummer about that? Cuz I had to talk to some of the organizers. All the spaces to eat the beer rock are full. They're done. Like I want to eat the beer rock I don't want to see it I mean seeing some school but it tastes good. Well, I'm sure it's gonna taste good. But anyway, we got about a minute left guys last thoughts or anything else we want to hit on? Before we go?
Melissa Dixon
I'll say something we're working on right now back to school picnic, which is They're really big town and gown collaboration effort where students are invited to come out to the quad and get to know student organizations that they can be involved in, and local businesses come out to meet them. And CVB is really excited to actually get the the ability to sponsor the meal this year. So we're excited to get down there and see their students too.
Carolyn Tatro
That's great. Yeah, one of the first opportunities for students to see the community is to see all the opportunities during the back to school picnic, it's one of my favorite events of the year, so I'll for sure be there. And then of course, like I said, we've got homecoming coming up. I'll be talking a little bit about this. You're in the next a lot about this in the next few months, but just some some more really great ways for people to come check out what's going on both in at Fort Hays State and pretty much looking forward to all of that.
Saturday Aug 06, 2022
FHSU job fair connects area business to potential workforce
Saturday Aug 06, 2022
Saturday Aug 06, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Lisa Karlin Fort Hays State University career and internships advisor shares information about an upcoming career fair.
Thursday Jul 14, 2022
Insights from 2022 FHSU Pilot Award winner Ken Windholz
Thursday Jul 14, 2022
Thursday Jul 14, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University Alumni Association engagement strategist, Carolyn Tatro and psycology instructor, sports announcer and recipient of the 2022 FHSU Pilot Award Ken Windholz speak about connection and community.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
A big part of the Fort Hays State University culture is celebrating successes of students, faculty and alumni from the Alumni Association, Carolyn Tatro joins us with pilot award winner Ken Windholz, on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Carolyn Tatro
Couple of reasons that I invited Ken to be here with us. First of all he is well, he's a very well known voice around here, as I think many people who are listening might pick up on. But Ken was actually our pilot award recipient this year. So one of our commencement award recipients we selected, our committee selected Ken to be our outstanding faculty member of the year. And so we were just very excited to be able to talk about his story, his time at Fort Hays, and one of the things that I like to think, you know, when I in the time that I've been in this office, I've met a lot of alums and one of the most common threads among each individual alum that I've talked to is, everybody can pick out an a professor and instructor, an advisor, who kind of helped shape their time at Fort Hays. And so that's really why we like to honor our faculty in the ways that we do because they really helped shape the our students into outstanding alums. And so I'm really excited to be here. Ken is a instructor in the Department of Psychology. He's also as I mentioned, our PA announcer for football, basketball larks games, a well known voice around here. So thank you so much for being here with us. It's
Ken Windholz
great pleasure. Thank you, Carolyn. And, James, thank you for taking the time to visit with us this morning.
James Bell
Yeah, absolutely. It was great to get to hear a little bit about your story. And I'm excited to talk to you today. And congratulations on winning that pilot award. That's a big deal. Right
Ken Windholz
knocked me over with a feather. I'll tell you what, it was the most interesting thing because it's not one of those awards that you seek. I, I was in awe of the folks over the years since the 1970s, when the award was conceived and brought forward very impressed with some of the people who had wanted over the years, some of those people were my instructors and mentors, and teachers, and I held them in enormous esteem. And so it's not something that you strive for, and say, Well, one day, I didn't even dare to dream it. But it was a step by step process of being nominated. And I think that's one of the greatest privileges of being nominated by the students themselves. And it's a very humbling experience, to know that people value what you do, and that they take it to heart. And it puts even greater emphasis, I guess, on on the role that good instructors and educators serve in our society, and particularly here in our community. So I just I had hoped that I would be a good reflection of all of the incredible people who had, who had given their time and their passion to me over all of those years and, and that I would be somehow able to play that forward to today's students. And what it feels good to know that among people who are so, so caring, and so advanced, and who in fact, teach me in many ways, far more than I think I ever teach any of them. It's a real privilege.
James Bell
It's very cool. And I love that you talk about the you know, the continuity of it, you studied with award winners, and now you're bringing that legacy and who knows maybe one of your students 2030 years down the road, they're getting their own toy
Ken Windholz
would not surprise me in the slightest, because one of the great things that being an instructor at the university affords is to meet some of the most gifted people on the planet. I mean, these are folks who are curious, who want to know how life works and who keep people like me on our toes. I have a saying and I and it guides me every day that I walk into the classroom or certainly into the office and I mentioned it at the at the presentation ceremony back in May. And it is it's a quote that I don't really know who the who the author is several different people are attributed with the same with the same sentiment but it but it goes like this. A good educator teaches you where to look, but doesn't tell you what to see. That works for me. I can show people the things that I've been privileged to understand and recognize in my own education, my own career and how life works for me, and pass that along to folks But, but the real education comes when we enter that journey of our own self discovery and informational discovery and how that works for us. The only thing I ask in addition to something like you know, I can't tell you what to see is when you do see what you're looking at, tell me play it back so that I can learn. Also, from that standpoint, a good educators also a good student, we want to know, we're as curious as anybody else that we ever encountered in the classroom.
James Bell
I love that. And and as a journalist, I feel that, that that curiosity, it's hard to keep it. And I think for a good educator to really to be able to carry that through the career is a hallmark of what makes them you know, remembered and someone like yourself,
Ken Windholz
well, thank you. I mean, it's, it's a matter of, of how do I explore this life? I'm given the privilege the opportunity of this lifetime, how do I use it? Shall I use it in service? Shall I use it in gaining something of a material sort? Of? What should be? What should be? How should my lifetime be spent here? And I think a lifetime spent in, in service and in giving and playing forward is a life well lived?
James Bell
Absolutely. You know, I wonder Ken, if you might be able to share with us a story or two some of the accomplishments or something maybe that sticks out to you over your career as an instructor down at Fort Hays?
Ken Windholz
Oh, I you know, every day if I thought about this, you know what it is that I love about this place? And about this profession? This the opportunities I alluded to just a few moments ago to meet people who are as curious as I am, but who have a perspective that maybe I don't have who can share that with me also. That's the excitement I feel every single day walking into the classroom. Yes, you know, 689 weeks into the school year into the semester, things become kind of a grind, and you're facing people who, who may or may not be highly enthusiastic about being there. So the challenge is to go back to that bedrock, what's our motivation for being here, and to continue the process and knowing that this is not a sprint, it's a marathon. It's piece after piece. And this is the way life works. It's the way it works in the classroom also, but we look for a continuity, or at least I do, from moving from the overall perspective, here's why we're here. And these are the elements that that help animate that purpose. And so that's the piece that excites me every day of the challenge, how am I going to make this work? You know, I've gone through a number of phases in my life and in terms of how I've viewed the things that, that come my way things from which I can learn, and ultimately, I'll be able to pass along to students, this is more than just standing around lecturing and telling people what to think. But it's a mutual discovery processes. As I as I think we're understanding here. I used to view problems as problems. And then I evolved slightly to understanding them more as challenges because the idea of, of a problem was a little bit daunting. A challenge met, okay, am I up to meeting this requirement? What resources of mine can I bring forward to meet this challenge? I, I have found a way I think, thanks to the students that I know and have met and who, who, whose hearts and minds are open to next steps in their lives. That rather than it being a problem, rather than being a challenge, we look at it as an opportunity. So things that are set in front of us are really our opportunities to grow. How do we take advantage of that? That made all the difference for me as a game changer when I started understanding problems in my life as opportunities. I see students do James at our university, who in in some cases work full time, jobs in addition to carrying full loads that's incomprehensible to me, and lots of instil, make up the class and still do well still put in the time and the effort. In fact, I'm thinking there may be as many as six or maybe even 70% of our students who work in parallel with their class time. So the concept or That or the notion that we have students who are just privileged and sitting around all day long and living off of someone else's money or the or, you know, not earning their way in in kind is really a fallacy. At least it is a Fort Hays State. And I think it probably isn't many other places. These are hardworking folks. And it shows in their classroom and in their discipline, and it shows in their accomplishments, and so many of them do it in such quiet ways. In unrecognizable ways, I think one of my greatest joys in the classroom, is seeing a student and experiencing with a student, the occasion when they find their voice, when they move from that invisible. Don't look at me sitting in the corner kind of individual just let me get through this too, challenging themselves to moving into that difficult territory where they're able to voice an understanding and share a view and, and play it forward. For people like me. That's a that's a thrill that connects it all for me.
James Bell
That's very neat. Thanks for sharing that sir. We've got just just about a minute or so left, I wonder if we want to maybe wrap this up with the the way that alumni kind of feed into that same thought and as they go out. And we talked about this in the segment a lot how the Fort Hays alumni get out into the world and kind of share that attitude and those ethics with everyone.
Ken Windholz
Right? I you know, I'm local. I was born and raised here. I went down to the university when I was 10 years old and watched Fort Hays basketball in the Old Snake Pit the Coliseum and, and never had an intention of attending school anywhere else. But for Hayes. I don't know how common that is. But what I would encourage you I'm very familiar with with the plates and with the the policies and the grounds and all of those things. What I encourage alumni to do is come down, come and visit us take part in this process. Yes, we appreciate any generosity that you can offer to us, whether that be materially but but your own time. Come down and see what we do. Visit, walk through the campus see this beautiful place. It's an oasis of sort here in western Kansas and be a part of the university to the extent that your time and your resources allow. We want our alumni to come back and see what they have helped develop and be a part of the process as we're moving forward. They're vital to that
Friday Jun 10, 2022
School is out, but FHSU busy as ever
Friday Jun 10, 2022
Friday Jun 10, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason and Chief Communications Officer Scott Cason share information about campus over the summer.
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Tuesday May 24, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University assistant director of admissions Hugo Perez and Fort Hays State University Alumni Association engagement strategist Carolyn Tatro share information about the upcoming Hispanic College Institute.
Monday May 09, 2022
Fort Hays State University has lots to celebrate as year end nears
Monday May 09, 2022
Monday May 09, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University chief communications officer Scott Cason shares some of the achievements from FHSU during the year.
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
FHSU Music depart wraps semester will final concerts for the year
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University choirs director Terry Crull shares information about upcoming university concerts.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
For the State University choirs are preparing for their last show of the academic year. Director Terry cruel stops by to share with us a little bit about what they're going to be performing and when, on this episode of the post podcast
Terry Crull
and of the year concerts Yep, we're preparing last night the orchestra and I worked on our last piece. The Hayes Symphony Orchestra is the company my choirs on Frances pool onx Gloria, beautiful setting. And then hey, Symphony Orchestra will play. Very famous piece. Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique are very cool. Yeah, great piece, very picturesque, kind of the start of programmatic music where you tell a story with it, too. So they've been working hard on it. It's a it's a, it's a big bite for them to choose, hey, symphony orchestra, but they're working their tails off. So it should be a fun concert Sunday night 730 and beach Schmidt, free to the public.
James Bell
I love that all of the concerts down there Fort Hays and you see me down there for almost every one I hit drag my kids down there probably two or three. It's such a great assets of the community to have those free concerts. And, you know, while it's not quite could not quite professional level, those students sure get darn close.
Terry Crull
We think we think our kids are on the road to that if that's their career choice. And we hope people will come and hear it and say, Wow, those kids got some stuff going on because they do they work hard. And a lot of talent fun to work with them every day. So
James Bell
yeah, it seems like this year you've had you had a really great group. I mean, every year is good. But this year, I don't know. It seems like there was just really a few field
Terry Crull
trip like two why kind of bonds a group together. So he developed a spirit of esprit de corps that it's really fun to see they're working hard. No complaints in that group hardly ever. I mean. That's that goes to the concert choir and our bands and our jazz groups to Brad just gave his last performance. He's given up the jazz bands, turning them over to our new percussion and band instructor Ryan Pearson. So
James Bell
young guy I don't know, guys
Terry Crull
just out of graduate school. He's been here a year on part time, and now we hired him full time. And his wife was out. They did their joint recital. He's a percussionist, of course, she's a clarinetist. She played amazingly well, too. And I think they bought a house and hey, so hey, they're coming here.
James Bell
They're here. They're stuck. Yeah, very cool.
Terry Crull
Pass the bond issue they'll have a nice new school for when their kids get there. Yeah, well, we'll see how that goes.
James Bell
But But yeah, so suddenly, so is all this piece is going to be set with the orchestra is just
Terry Crull
the orchestra is grand finale concert, and every other year we join them for a combined orchestral work. And the concert is called voyage to France because Hector Berlioz for the orchestra and Francis Poulenc for the choirs, and we did his Gloria wants 10 or 12 years ago, was a guest conductor. Dr. availa Allen or soprano is doing the soul. The soprano solo work three of the six movements. So we'll start off with that plonk, Glory acquires behind the orchestra. And I bail out front and meet conducting. And then after intermission the symphony fantastic. It's 5055 minute work as long five movements but it's great story. If you know that piece. It's about a artist in France who goes into a drug induced trance and has this horrendous dream. When they first played Symphony fantastic. It caused a riot. I mean, they had to bring the police in because they really aren't used to that kind of grotesque in your face music you know, some of the harmonies some of the blasts of sound. The famous DS era that you hear do you do at the beginning of shining Jack Nicholson movie is a is from that work? The big brass sound. So it's a big orchestra, powerful orchestra. And the Poulenc is just sublime. I mean, it's beautiful melodies, great harmonies by the choir, they've had fun working on it. So we're excited. 730 Sunday night, voyage to France, free to the public. Love it. Love it. To the public. Do we say free to the public? Be free to them? Well, I don't know. Yeah. Military. I'm not used to this hour later time I spent the hour calling my 3200 listeners tell them I'm on at 845 instead of 740.
James Bell
Yeah, there's a little bit different but but, you know, I also I wonder I count how much work has to go into put in one of these shows. And, and everybody knows, I think that you know, I was a music student. So I was on the band side. But for choir, you know, of course, the band side there's that little bit of rivalry sometimes Right, like, they have that
Terry Crull
advantage of, you know, being able to pick stuff up more quickly. Although they have the disadvantage of not having all the parts in front of them, I'm singing a choir music, you've got the soprano part there as well as your tenor part or whatever. And when you're a bassoon as long as you have as your part in front of you, so you've got to listen hard and work beforehand to get familiar with the work so that you know how your, your part fits with the other parts. So there is that but yeah, the orchestra has been working, I think six rehearsals for this concert, which isn't very many four pieces complexes of the symphony. Fantastic. We even the choirs have been working while since our spring concert, which was March 10, I believe. So 340 minutes, 45 minute rehearsals a week and and to learn that it's in Latin. So the language presents a challenge, although it's pretty common Latin. So a lot of the kids have some of
James Bell
like any Latin is common lap, rock breaking in Latin
Terry Crull
text. I mean, Gloria in Excelsis day, I mean, every Christmas time. So they haven't had too much trouble with that. Poulenc is a little bit post romantic, a little bit modern, 20th century and that his style is classic in form. But his harmonies are more colorful, and lots of use of the woodwinds and the horns. And that's a great orchestra. They work so well. Brian buxted is our orchestra director, he's done. marvelous job at getting that orchestra, you know, up to snuff, so to speak, and, and playing consistently. Well always enjoyed their concerts. So
James Bell
yeah, and he was I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but he came in right before that pandemic, right. And then
Terry Crull
a lot of big concerts with them. Since he came in right at the end of that, yeah, so this year has been his debut year, I guess you could call it and they've done some great stuff. Of course, they have their children's concert in Halloween. We got that again next year. On Sunday, whatever, October 3 Year 29th, or whatever is close to Halloween. It's always a fun event. There'll be with us under cathedral concert next year, which was December 11. The strings Anyway, do some combined work with the choirs and then they always do their grand finale concert with some large works like this. And then every other year we joined them. So next year, I'll do my own masterworks choral concert with the choirs, and he'll do something with his orchestra. I don't know yet if he's got programming ideas, but for this year, it's voyage to France. Very cool. Again, it's Sunday at 730. Don't miss free,
James Bell
free and free no excuse not to go.
Terry Crull
No excuse not. Yep. NBA Playoffs aren't anywhere close to the end yet. So who's watching those? I didn't even know that was going on. Honestly, other in the early stages, you know, 28 teams that make the playoffs out of 29 teams. Oh, yeah. So yeah. Everybody makes up like not to select. But anyway, I watched when it gets down to the semis. There you go.
James Bell
So well, already. Certainly anything else you think folks need to
Terry Crull
know? Well, the last week of classes, the percussion ensemble will have their concert, and the bands will have their concert? Oh, let me see. What's the date? I think it's Thursday, which would be the 12th nor the fifth. So we exam week. Yeah, that's the last exam. So the fifth will be the band's concert. And I think the night before and Wednesday, the percussion will be in beach Smith. And those are all free as well. So wrapping up the year yeah, kids are excited the ball teams are trying to make the playoffs softball and baseball got a few those kids in my class. I gotta get to here in a few minutes. So it's always exciting at the end of the year when the weather turns nice guy. I wish we had some rain to soak us down a little bit good, but at least it's windy. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, in Kansas with my big motorcycle on the road with those windy. Oh, yeah. So always good to be with you, James. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. So he's kind of like, Hey, we got a contract this week. Can I get on tomorrow or the next day and you always accommodate me. So thanks a lot. I love your music program. I know you're a student there percussionist were Yeah, I was. Yeah. So you enjoy. Did you happen to come down when Ryan gave his faculty recital
James Bell
didn't I was I was wanting to I was so
Terry Crull
remember, he's fun to watch to kind of dances up there. My wife turned to me and said, you know, you could lose some weight. If you were a percussionist. He's going to workout Oh, yeah. So having been an athlete, I know that sometimes. I work just as hard in certain aspects. You know, we'll have conditioning that it didn't was a basketball player. But you work hard when you sing. We could play an instrument because