Insights from 2022 FHSU Pilot Award winner Ken Windholz

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