Mandi McKinley
This fall our team had the opportunity to share our #SquadGoals with the University community—our expectations as a team that help us function well as a program, but also to thrive as a team and individuals. We each shared an expectation that resonated with us, and for me, that is “Be gracious and grateful, celebrate others”. K-State First has much to celebrate and be thankful for this year!
We started 2020 kicking off our #10for10, celebrating ten years as a program at K-State. We gathered with administrators, faculty, learning assistants, donors and supporters—standing in a room with over 100 people seems like a lifetime ago! We honored 10 people who have had a major impact on our progress. We celebrated the establishment of an endowed scholarship to allow more students access to CAT Communities. We are so grateful for the gifts from Lee and Brenda Reeve and Bill Miller and Debbie Leckron Miller, as well as the matching funds from the K-State Family Scholarship Program in honor of Pat Bosco ’71, ’73, the longtime dean of students. Our gratitude also to our partners at the K-State Foundation for connecting us with these funding opportunities.
We announced a year-long fundraising effort for other student scholarships. While COVID derailed this fundraising plan, we are so grateful for the donors who made it possible for us to partner with Student Life and the Office of Recruitment and Admissions to provide scholarships for students to attend Wildcat Warmup. Many students were able to attend this extended orientation program who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity.
Leah Hennes, junior in English, received the Bill Miller and Debbie Leckron Miller K-State First Book student scholarship. We also celebrated our 2020 First-Year Advocates, student Krista Everhart ’20 and Traci Brimhall, Associate Professor of English. We are so fortunate to have students and faculty who care so much about our first-year students. We owe much to Housing and Dining Services for hosting this celebration each year, as well as for all they do for our Residential CAT Communities.
COVID brought us new opportunities to be grateful. K-State Telecomm set us up with phones and hot spots so we could remotely enroll students in our first-year seminars and CAT Communities. Advisors across campus helped us enroll students in these classes. Our Convocation committee put together a fantastic virtual event, one that has been used as a model for other university virtual celebrations. Many thanks to our committee members and DCM for their amazing contributions! Faculty, instructors and learning assistants found new and amazing ways to engage students virtually and in person following social distancing guidelines. Students enrolled, navigated new ways of learning, and helped us refine our teaching methods. For all of this, we are thankful.
We end this year announcing the Bill Miller and Debbie Leckron Miller K-State First Book Endowed Scholarship. Matching funds from the Vanier Family will ensure that we can recognize students who engage in our annual common reading program, as well as assist students in need of financial assistance to return for their second year at K-State, indefinitely.
Our team–our program–has much to be thankful for this year. Most of all, we are so grateful for each other, our health, and the opportunity to keep serving first-year students for another decade. Thank you for your part in making this possible.
Thank you for your support of K-State First through our first decade and into the next! If you would like to donate to our program and support student scholarships and student success initiatives, you can do so here.