7MaryWu?
Jodie Musser '95 has completed CHiPs training in Santa Barbara, Calif. (For those too young to have seen Eric Estrada's TV series from way back when: CHiPs equals California Highway Patrol.) Musser, whose bachelor's degree is in electronic communications, is now trained in an array of patrol duties, including crash investigation, weapons use and physical methods of arrest. No word on whether her trainers also divulged the secret of how to look cool in mirrored sunglasses.
Hipshock
In mid-November WSU's student newspaper, The Sunflower, reported that a group of rappers, including computer science major Chivas O' Neal (DJ Regal to those in the house), transformed the Rhatigan Student Center into "the Hillside Juke Joint." While that name seems to have more resonance with American Bandstand than Yo! MTV Raps, it was still one def jam. O'Neal, er, Regal was joined by several local rappers and by Kansas City-area KC & Dru Down and 2che. The Sunflower didn't say whether WuShock (a.k.a. MC Shock Daddy) and his entourage (The Black 'N Gold Posse) stepped up to the mic at what was surely the freshest, dopest, off-the-hook party of the year.
China Talk
John Conyers '70 traveled to the historic cities of Beijing and Xian last summer as a presenter at the Educational Leadership Conference – China 2002. Conyers, who received his master's degree in administration and supervision from WSU and is now the superintendent of schools for Community Consolidated School District 15, Palatine, Ill., discussed school improvement using the Malcolm Baldrige criteria with leaders in Chinese government, education and business, as well as professionals who edit and publish textbooks for the 270 million kindergarten through 12th-grade students in China.
DuMd wE AInt
CNN.com recently announced rankings for America's best- and worst-educated states. Prepared by an independent research company, the survey on which the rankings were based used 21 factors, including emphasis on excellence in the classroom and support for safe, well-run public schools. So what were the results? The rankings listed Connecticut as the best state in the nation in which to nab an education, while New Mexico came in last. Kansas was listed at the more or less respectable position of 14. Whew!
Gorilla Theatre
Back when Steven Clark Pachosa was majoring in philosophy and politics at Wichita State, his ambition was to become a lawyer and then, someday, a Supreme Court justice. But plans change. After a stint in the U.S. Navy and relocating to Portland, Ore., he took up acting as a hobby while he worked as a graphic artist. Eventually, he joined all the actors' unions, appeared in plays all over Portland, in some 10 TV movies and in feature films such as My Own Private Idaho, the remake of Psycho and Men of Honor. One of his recent gigs was as a principal player in Side Man at the Gorilla Theatre in Tampa, Fla.
Shocking Heads
The fall 2002 elections may have lacked the drama of the '00 presidential race, but there was still enough fodder for Washington Post columnist David Broder to wax political when he visited the Hughes Metropolitan Complex shortly after the November elections. Heralded as a "moderate" reporter and a nonspinner in a city of spin, Broder is also known for infusing healthy doses of humor into the serious business of political commentary. So what was the key issue he talked about? That overwhelming Republican sweep, of course.
