I should have read the fine print before I agreed to be this year’s president of the alumni association.
Connie White banished me to the dungeon in the bowels of the association’s offices to toil away at my first message to our alumni, some 90,000 of you who have attended classes at WSU or support Wichita State in some manner. Although I feel a little like the prisoner of Chillon, I certainly am not Lord Byron. (I wonder if Lord Byron was active in his alumni association.)
I had hoped the staff would bring me food or ideas that I could use in this article, but they were too busy with the many duties they perform every day on behalf of you and our university. They’re an excellent group.
This year we’ve moved the Distinguished Alumni Speaker Breakfast Series to the new Marcus Welcome Center, a building that is everything we hoped it would be, and more. I can see it as I peek through the bars of the alumni association, just a stone’s throw away, and I am excited about the number of prospective students going through the doors.
I certainly don’t want to miss the upcoming WSU sporting events. The Shockers had seven sports represented in NCAA or NIT play last year. The Shockers have also won the Missouri Valley Conference All Sports trophies for two consecutive years, and are the favorite to repeat for a third straight year, a feat accomplished only a handful of times in MVC history.
Just six short years ago we endeavored to attract the top high school juniors throughout the Wichita area to WSU. The Shocker Honor Scholars Banquet was born. Some 50 people attended the first dinner. This year we have reservations for over 427 students, family and friends.
Please visit www.wichita.edu/ alumni to discover the many activities in which we are involved. (You might also read closely to find a cryptic message which will be my only communication to the outside world until my next message.) I finished in ample time, but never could figure a way to rhyme my almost four decades of pride at being a Shocker!
