Thank you for welcoming me back to the Wildcat Family!
A brief background on my return to K-State: I grew up in Ulysses, Kansas on a small farm, then moved to Manhattan when I was thirteen. I was a walk-on student-athlete (thrower) on the track team, earned a scholarship and had a tremendous experience – graduating in Kinesiology. After graduation, I began my career in higher education in the admissions office under Dr. Pat Bosco ’71, ’73 as an Admissions Rep (where I met my wife Rebecca '08 in Anderson Hall). From there I worked at the KSU Foundation for the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering and earned my master’s degree in College of Education (counseling and student development).
After getting married (in the alumni center!) Rebecca and I moved to UCF in athletics for a year before moving to Memphis where I worked at the University of Memphis Athletics for 13 years (with a stint on the academic side for a couple years in the Fogelman College of Business as senior director of development); I was also adjunct faculty for nearly 10 years before returning to K-State as President/CEO of our K-State Alumni Association. Rebecca and I have two daughters (Addison age 13 and Landree age 1). Addison enjoys tennis and golf, and Landree just enjoys life in general. 😊
My 100+ days have been fantastic with a whirlwind of travels, events and meetings. From my first Wabash CannonBall in Colorado my first week, to meetings with alumni, campus partners and SAB students. I have had an opportunity to connect and listen (the SAB brainstorming session was very entertaining and PRODUCTIVE with some original thoughts). I ask two basic questions from each interaction: 1. What are we as an association doing well? and 2. What can we improve?
The responses showed we overwhelmingly have a strong, trusted and respected organization. The common positive responses were connection of all K-Staters (future, current and alums), events (pregames, bowl, alumni clubs, Wabash, etc.), and the K-Stater magazine. Items we can improve upon are communicating the value of membership, young alumni engagement and enhancing communication. Several of these initiatives SAB can play a critical role in supporting. The feedback overall shows the hard work our staff has done to get us to this point, but we’re not done yet. I look forward to continuing to improve upon our successes together.
We truly have great partners between Athletics, Foundation, campus and of course President Linton! We do not just talk about being good partners but strive every day to make our university the best it can be. That includes supporting the Next-Gen University Strategic Plan. Speaking of priorities, we are working on our next strategic plan for 2025 and beyond to support these initiatives. For more information on our university’s Next Gen strategic plan visit: www.k-state.edu/next-gen
As 2024 approaches, we look forward to celebrating our 150th Anniversary! You will see our 150th Anniversary sprinkled throughout all we do. This upcoming year serves as an important opportunity for us to promote ourselves and an opportunity to rebrand and distinguish our identity. It also serves as a springboard to promote membership and donations — which allow us to exist! This upcoming year provides us opportunities to try some new initiatives.
I look forward to celebrating together to make our association the best we can be and in turn making K-State the best we can be together. Appreciate all your support and do not hesitate to connect with me.
Best and Go 'Cats!
Creating life-long memories at Camp SAB—2023 Fall Retreat
At the beginning of each school year, all Student Alumni Board members and advisors gear up for the fall by heading off campus to go on a retreat. These retreats have been a fantastic opportunity for SAB to come together for the purpose of team bonding and to start the new academic year organized and energized. In the past, these three-hour-long retreats would be filled with yard games, committee meetings and free pizza. Last spring, the SAB exec team and their advisors gathered and hatched a plan for a new and ambitious SAB fall retreat—Camp SAB!
As the sun rose on August 26, SAB members and advisors packed up their things and squeezed into minivans to head down to Rock Springs Ranch campgrounds. On arrival, all members were greeted with T-shirts and colored bandanas signifying which team they would be grouped with for the retreat. The rest of the first day was filled with adventure. SAB members worked on their courage and teamwork skills as they completed a high ropes course and had some time for relaxation by the pool. As the day came to a close, SABers gathered around a bonfire to tell stories, roast marshmallows and enjoy each other's company.
The second day of Camp SAB was fueled by black coffee and a competitive spirit as SAB members battled alongside their bandana team members for an unknown prize. The games included a paper plane accuracy game, blindfolded balloon popping and shaving cream-covered SABers trying to catch Cheetos. As the games concluded, SABers anxiously gathered in the lodge as points were being tallied, and after an ample amount of suspense was built, it was announced that the orange team, “the Cheeto Puffs” would be taking home bragging rights. Members and advisors grew in friendship and created lifelong memories together, all while having a blast at Camp SAB.
Farewell from the 2022-2023 Student Ambassadors, Elle Eilert and Ethan Brown!
ELLE EILERT
Words can hardly describe how grateful I am to this university. Just a few short years ago I was experiencing my first semester at Kansas State where I encountered the Student Ambassadors. You could feel their love and pride for K-State; I looked up to their leadership, charisma and kindness. Inspired by their zeal I decided to apply. The rest is history!
As Ambassador, I have been graced with hearing many K-State perspectives. Being entrusted with these stories and memories has intensely impacted my love for this university. My favorite memories from this past year have been conversations and encounters with Alumni who have a deep connection to this community. It was also such a joy to be able to share my K-State story with perspective students, alumni and friends of the university.
This experience has only opened my eyes to see the incredible impact that K-State has within and beyond the borders of this campus. Kansas State’s land grant mission statement to improve the lives of all Kansans through on campus classes, research that is available to all Kansans, and outreach is selfless and ever seeking the good of our Kansas community. I can confidently say that this university has given me the tools to become a servant leader, curious student and intentional friend. THANK YOU! Elle Eilert
ETHAN BROWN
I will remember 2023 as my favorite year in college. It went by fast! If I rewind to the very beginning, it was October 29, 2022. I was walking down the sidewalk away from Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Well, I say walking, but in truth, I felt so light in the air, my feet were barely touching. K-State football had just completed a dominant victory over Oklahoma State, and Elle and I had just been named the 2023 Student Ambassadors. I was enjoying shouting back thanks and throwing waves at friends and strangers wishing me “Good luck!” and “Congratulations!” Then, a father and son approached me cautiously and introduced themselves as from Nebraska. The son, a high school senior, was visiting and contemplating a future at Kansas State. At that moment, I realized my role as K-State Ambassador had officially begun, and we talked for a while about his interests and questions about how Kansas State might meet his educational and leadership goals. I was ecstatic to come across this student again at K-State this year, this time as a freshman Wildcat.
As one of many had begun their K-State journey, I was privileged to also see the culmination of one famous K-Stater’s journey, as Amy Button Renz ’76, ’86 began her farewell tour as president and CEO of the Alumni Association, and 45 years of university service. I will always remember the honor of being at the visit that was Amy Button Renz’s last. While that was a unique visit, each alumni club and community that hosted us this past year was a special memory for me. If you were in attendance, please know that it was my pleasure to meet you. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the various journeys of the K-State alumni. If you couldn’t make it this past year, I encourage you to attend one this year. I know you will enjoy hearing from the new ambassadors and Dr. Adam Walker. I am so excited for you to get to know Andrew Bergmeier and Avery Johnson, like I have gotten to know them, as the phenomenal students that they are. It was also a joy working with both Amy Button Renz and Dr. Adam Walker, both individuals are passionate about this university and their understanding of the familial nature that makes K-State unique.
In May, my own K-State journey will begin the next chapter as I will become an alumnus. I am excited to witness the continuing journey that our next ambassadors will be on. I have every confidence that they will convey all we value about K-State. They, along with Dr. Walker, will undoubtedly contribute to the momentum of the program.
I want to thank Elle for being the best partner. I admire her poise and humility. She is the model K-Stater.
I also want to thank our advisor, Alan Fankhauser, ’82 for all he did to make our year as ambassadors flow smoothly.
It is a testament to the culture that we have as an institution that I have been able to enthusiastically share my passion about access and higher education and have been given a platform to champion how Kansas State is thriving. This past year has been the best and most gratifying of my life. Being an ambassador for Kansas State has been the easiest job in the world because of the people who call K-State home. Thankful cannot quantify the appreciation I have for being given the opportunity to represent the student body. It is an honor that I cherish and am forever humbled by. Go ‘Cats Forever! Ethan H. Brown
SAB SPOTLIGHT
JEFF BATES ’91, ’97
The SAB spotlight this winter is Jeff Bates from Beloit, Kansas. Jeff was very active on campus as a student with SAB of course, but also a member of the Ag ambassadors, Ag econ club, Blue Key and Farmhouse Fraternity.
How did you end up going to K-State originally?
Jeff - I was a first-generation college student from northwest Kansas. We had no ties whatsoever to K-State growing up. I was all set to go to another school closer to home that I had had a couple of uncles go to. During my senior year, my high school counselor insisted that if you're going to be an ag major you need to at least go look at K-State. I kept putting it off because I was going where I was comfortable and what I knew. During the beginning of track season my counselor comes out during track practice one day, stands in my lane, and brings me to a stop. She handed me a flier and said “Kansas State is having an All-University Open House a week from Saturday. I've already registered you. You need to go home, talk to one of your parents, and they need to take you.” I talked to my dad, and we drove the 4 hours to K-State All-University Open House. I was blown away. If you talk about the single event that changed the course of my life, and changed my whole family’s trajectory, it was going to the open house and figuring out this is where I need to be. We’ve now had four children that have all gone there and it has felt like home to them. Even my seventh grader could navigate you around Manhattan. So, when I was on SAB, and we helped with the open house I was 100% in, because I knew what it did to get me on campus.
How did your time spent in student organizations (such as SAB) prepare you for your career/leadership/family life?
Jeff - We used to take a one-hour class as part of the Student Alumni Board that had a lot to do with K-State recruitment. Every little detail matters, down to putting your nametag on the right side of your chest, because when you shook hands with people, they were looking right at your name tag instead of looking across your body. We spent time learning all the ins and outs of the university so that you could represent it well to people. I learned a lot about how to handle the small details and how details matter.
Question - What is a favorite memory from your time in SAB?
Jeff - I was hoping you would ask that. There are several, we spent a lot of time in a university van coming home from an event late at night. If you had somebody that was new, and it was their first time on the road in the dark they were called a virgin sparker. The whole premise behind it was you get a small roll of Wint-O-Green Life Savers, you’re in the dark, you start chomping on those things as fast and hard as you can with your mouth open and you can see sparks shooting out of your mouth. That was always a rite of passage if it was your first time out on the road.
Another favorite memory, and I 100% guarantee that it was not me and I am not going to name names, but they let the students drive the vans if they were over 21, and I learned that if you got a speeding ticket in a state issued van, you got an official letter of reprimand from the governor of the state of Kansas signed in ink.
One other memory was working with our sponsors Becky Klingler and Tresa Weaver, who were responsible for corralling a bunch of us rowdy college kids. They were just awesome to work with.
Have there been any connections made in SAB that have come to your aid after graduation?
Jeff - Ultimately my best man in my wedding, Clint Riley, was a fellow Student Alumni Board member. I really truly feel that despite all of the connections I made in the College of Agriculture, through Farmhouse, and a number of things, I would say that my best, lifelong friends that I made at K-State were friends that I made in SAB and Blue Key.
Why are you proud to call yourself a Kansas State Alumni?
Jeff - I know that sports are very much the face of the university, but I am proud of the education that I received and the people who shaped and formed me into the person I am. I am proud that my professors in the Colleges of Agriculture and Education and my sponsors from organizations cared enough to mentor me and help me be the person that I have become.
SAB Mentor Program
"Having Mrs. Niemann as a mentor has been such a joy! She has really been a listening ear for me to bounce ideas off of and someone that I can always turn to for words of encouragement. Mrs. Niemann's honesty, positivity, and level-headedness has been so refreshing when college life gets overwhelming. My goal after K-State is to go to medical school, and it's no secret that applying is a stressful process. By checking in on me and finding time to meet whenever she is in town, Mrs. Niemann has continuously supported me throughout the entire process. I'm so grateful to her, as well as the Student Alumni Board, for this friendship." — Jessica Binckley
"I had no idea what a special experience was in store for me when I answered an email asking for SAB mentors. I have enjoyed being able to check in with Jess and see the K-State experience through her eyes. Jess is such an accomplished student and campus leader. I was so excited when she was elected Student Body Vice President and have learned more about student government from her than I knew as a student! I have also loved witnessing her character, compassion and drive as she navigates the pre-med journey. It has been such an encouragement to me to listen and invest in any way I can, whether that’s having conversations about the challenges she faces, the highs and lows of life or her future. SAB was my favorite activity when I was a K-State student, and the people are just as exceptional as I remember. I’m thankful I have been able to get to know Jess and this generation of SABer’s (in addition to my own son, Alex😊)!" — Tammy Niemann ’96