Each year, the executive director and the board president, along with WSU Alumni Association staff and WSU Athletic Department officials and coaches, embark on caravans to several alumni chapters throughout the state of Kansas. This year’s trips included Hutchinson. The event was held at the Kansas Cosmosphere and was a great success.
At the end of the proceedings, an alumnus approached me and introduced himself as Vic Edwards ’70, a resident of Haven, Kan. Like many students, Vic had worked full time while attending WSU. He remembered me from Hippodrome when we were undergraduates.
Vic said that our caravan stop triggered a rush of fond memories of his university days, and he realized that he could experience another side of collegiate life, which he felt he missed in part as a non-traditional student, through membership in the Wichita State University Alumni Association. He joined the next day.
While the alumni association has had a number of successes in the past six months, I can’t think of any more meaningful than Vic Edwards. I believe that each of us has a need to feel that we are connected, that we are a part of something larger than ourselves. Wichita State University provides that connection.
We should be proud of the rich history and traditions of Fairmount College, the Municipal University of Wichita and Wichita State University, because at the end of the day, that is who we are. Vic Edwards gets it. You can, too.
If you are not a member of the WSU Alumni Association (you don’t need to have attended WSU to join), then join. If you are already a member, then get two of your friends or acquaintances to join.
It’s the best way to come home to Wichita State University.
