KANSAN.

COM

DAY IN THE LIFE

DAY
in the

LIFE

KANSAN.COM

DAY IN THE LIFE

DAY
in the

LIFE
LETTER FROM THE
EDITOR
The end of the semester hasnt
come as a surprise to anyone.
Some students are showing up
to classes for the first time since
September, finals are creeping
up, winter is coming and the
campus is winding down.
It has been 16 weeks since we
first sat down in class. Most of us
chose the same seat each day, sitting next to the same person. We
might have been strangers at the
beginning, but after 16 weeks,
wed like to think we know our
classmates better and can even
count them as our friends.
But how well do you really know them? You may think
theyre quiet, but they could be a
talented violinist outside of biology class. You may glance over at
her doodles in her notebook, not
knowing she designs compression garments and a fashion line.
You may know shes the most
dedicated person in class, but
you may not know its because
shes a first-generation student
putting herself through college
on her own dime.
These are the students featured
in this issue of Day in the Life,
but theyre not the only people
at the University with unique
stories. People come to Lawrence
from all over the country and
the world, bringing their specific backgrounds and experiences
with them.
Day in the Life celebrates this
diversity and uniqueness. From
students to faculty to staff, Jayhawks on campus do incredible
things, and this is just a sample
of it all.
Kate Miller, Features Editor
DESIGN BY ROXY TOWNSEND

MIRANDA TREAS

designs compression garments

for transgender people

ZOE LARSON/KANSAN

Miranda Treas poses in front of her compression garments.

LARA KORTE
@lara_korte

If you wander into Chalmers Hall

any given day of the week, chances
are youll find Miranda Treas working
diligently in the senior studio.
The senior textiles major from Kansas City, Kan., spends over 40 hours a
week in the room surrounded by fabric samples, bottles of dye and sewing
patterns. Her latest work-in-progress,
which hangs on the walls, imitates the
pinkish sponges of a coral reef. The
material itself is felted fur from Treas
own pet rabbit, Aria. Treas said one
of her favorite parts of her work is
diving into new fabric techniques like
felting and weaving.
Most days Treas is here, she is working between classes on fresh color
combinations for her projects. On
weekends, Treas switches gears from
schoolwork to business work. Her
underwear line, Treas, is currently sold in a pop-up shop in Mission
Hills as well as a lingerie boutique in
Kansas City.
However, Treas newest endeavor is
something that isnt known so much
for its style as its function. Earlier
this year, Treas began designing and
producing compression garments for
transgender people.
Treas first started sewing compression garments when she was 15. She
spent summers and holiday breaks
sewing at a post-surgical garments
company where her aunt worked. As
of this year, Treas and her aunt started their line of compression garments
they design and create together.
In contrast to her fresh colorful
creations in the studio, Treas com-

pression garments are simple and discreet, and thats just how clients want
them.
Almost indistinguishable from
an average tank top, the garments
are light-beige and made of a thin,
stretchy material called lyrca. The
pieces are meant to be worn under
clothing, while inverted seams compress in to give the wearer the desired
silhouette.
Treas said her garments are designed to help transgender people feel
like themselves.
Before youre able to get surgery,
youre stuck with your old body, and
these garments help you feel like who
you are meant to be and who you
want to be, Treas said.
Although Treas said compression
can be an important part of helping
a transgender person feel like themselves, it can also be dangerous if not
done correctly.
Through working with the trans
community, Treas said she has
learned about the dangers of binding
and bandaging from stories of injured
bodies, even broken ribs.
There are things in your body that
you cant put that much pressure on,
Treas said. People physically hurting
themselves because they want to look
a certain way just should not be an
issue.
Treas and her aunt, Laura Treas,
take special care when creating their
garments. Although they do produce
a stock of generic compression tanks
and underwear, they also do custom
fittings for different body types.
Earlier this fall, the duo decided to
switch from offering their products
in an online store to offering them

to childrens hospitals and foster

care systems. Miranda said they are
currently in the stages of negotiating contracts to make their products
available in those spaces. However,
she said it can be difficult to finalize
products because, when working with
young bodies, they must be very careful.
The garments they wear can really shape them for life, which can be
a good thing but also a really bad
thing, Miranda said.
Laura said she is currently working
with doctors to see what is correct for
developing bodies.
Weve talked about having a little
bit lighter compression, Laura said,
but we just want to get doctors approval before we go forward with
that.
Although Miranda and her aunt
began making their own line of garments only recently, the pair has been
working side-by-side for years to give
the best of their sewing and designing
skills to transgender people.
Laura said when Miranda first came
to work for her at the post-surgical garments company during high
school, she found she had quite the
knack for sewing. Although she was
working alongside well-seasoned industry garment workers, Laura said
the high school student was able to
work twice as fast as her professional
counterparts.
She taught them a lot, Laura said.
She showed them how to go fast and
look very, very calm.
Laura said her nieces proficiency
earned her independence and freedom in her work.
She could not keep her own sched-

ule, she was so fast; everyone just let

her come and go, Laura said.
After enrolling in a fashion design
program her junior year of high
school, Miranda began to expand her
skill set. Laura said when she would
do custom fittings for clients, Miranda would often be in the room making suggestions and offering advice.
She was the only other design person in the building besides me, Laura
said. It gave me confidence too, and
that was helpful.
Now, as a senior in college, Laura
said Miranda is still providing her
with support and ideas as they move
forward with their independent venture.
Its so nice to have her now as this
creative, young adult thats so smart
and brings things to the table, Laura
said. We have different talents; she
brings things to the table that I dont
think of, and we work together well
that way.
In the future, Miranda said she
wants to continue working for herself.
Right now her bra and underwear
line is sold at Birdies, a lingerie shop
in Kansas City as well as the pop-up
shop. She hopes to have a website up
and running by the time she graduates.
As for her line of compression garments, Miranda said shes going to
keep moving forward with her aunt
on making them available to those
who need them. Miranda said making the compression garments is her
way of doing good.
It just makes me feel like Im giving
back, Miranda said. You should just
want to do good, and this is something that I feel is good.

DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM

HENRY SETTON Brazilian violin student

COURTNEY BIERMAN
@courtbierman

Before coming to KU, international student Henry Setton had

never left his home country of
Brazil. A second semester freshman violin student, all Setton
knew about Kansas before leaving his hometown of So Paolo
was that it gets tornadoes, as hed
seen in The Wizard of Oz.
Setton has been playing the
violin since he was 10 years old.
There are no other musicians
in his family, and he had never
picked one up before a dream
where he was playing the violin.
The dream made him ask his parents if he could take lessons. They
agreed but said he had to earn it.
Settons parents told him they
would only buy him a violin if he
continued to get good grades for
the rest of the school year. Each
side held up their end of the deal.
As a child he says he was talent-

ed but nothing crazy.

After skipping a grade in high
school, Setton started college in
Brazil at age 16 and had completed two years of it when he decided he wanted to study abroad. He
felt stuck in Brazil, where he says
the schools tend to put all of their
money into STEM programs.
In Brazil, I felt that I was stuck
and also that I couldnt grow a
lot as a musician, he said. Even
though I had a really great teacher, all the other music classes,
they were not strong enough.
They would not prepare me for
real life or to try to get a Masters
abroad, either in the U.S. or in
Europe. So I felt that it was too
weak.
Assistant Professor in the
School of Music Vronique Mathieu, Settons violin instructor at
the University, is originally from
Canada. Mathieu received her
doctorate from Indiana University and taught at the State Uni-

versity of New York Buffalo before hearing about an open violin

professorship in Lawrence. This
is her third year at the University.
I think in a way I can relate
better to international students
because I also was one during my
graduate studies, Mathieu said.
I understand the challenges they
face and can help them in various
situations.
Mathieu makes yearly trips to
Brazil to give master classes. It
was during one that she met Setton. They reconnected last summer, and he mentioned to her
that he was considering transferring to an American school. Mathieu encouraged him to apply
to KU. He agreed, and Mathieu
helped make preparations for his
audition and transition.
She would answer one million
emails every day for me, and I
know shes extremely busy, so, I
mean, shes a wonderful person,
Setton said.

Even though Setton sent his

audition video that fall after
the deadline for the spring 2015
semester the School of Music
made an exception and accepted
him. He began classes with Mathieu in January and says the two
of them have grown very close.
I like the way she tries to have a
good environment in the studio,
Setton said. Even when shes
choosing the students shes going to accept, she doesnt choose
any student. Its not only how the
student plays; its also the personality. If she feels the students
too competitive and, like, jealous,
she wouldnt accept the student,
because her priority is having a
good environment for the students. And thats great. I feel the
environment here is much better,
much less competition [than in
Brazil].
READ THE FULL STORY AT
KANSAN.COM

COURTNEY VARNEY/KANSAN
Henry Setton is an international student from Brazil.
Setton has been playing the violin since he was 10.

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DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM

ALEX ROBINSON/KANSAN
Laura Kimble works on blood samples. They often run tests on blood for students
who need medical tests done, ranging from tuburculosis to STDs.

LAURA KIMBLE
& PAT MOODY

Watkins Health Center

lab scientists who draw
cartoons on bandages
KATIE BERNARD
@KansanNews

As nervous students enter the Watkins Health Center lab for blood tests,
they are greeted by a room filled with
comfy chairs, countless posters and
the smiling faces of Laura Kimble and
Pat Moody.
After a quick procedure, students
are rewarded with a hand-drawn
bandage that could put a smile on
anyone's face.
Kimble and Moody, medical laboratory scientists, have been staples
at Watkins for a long time. Moody,
a University graduate, took her first

job out of college at Watkins 36 years

ago and has been there ever since.
Kimble joined the staff 16 years ago
after moving to Kansas. The two have
become known by students for their
hand-drawn bandages.
Many of the students who come into
the Watkins lab are anxious about
their results or getting their blood
drawn. In response to this, Kimble
and Moody draw on the bandages in
an attempt to put a smile on students'
faces before they leave the office.
We just wanted to make a better
experience for students," Kimble said.
"Its a little hug on the Band Aid."

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION ALEX ROBINSON/KANSAN

From left, Laura Kimble and Pat Moody sit down in the blood drawing room to demonstrate what they do.

A DAY IN THE LIVES OF KIMBLE AND MOODY

8:30 a.m. Arrive at the lab. Record temperatures and turn on analyzers
and computers. Check in and report results from reference lab. Read cultures.
9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Do different activities as needed, including running
tests, ordering supplies, performing maintenance, doing paperwork and
drawing blood.
4:45-5 p.m. Shut down machines and put reference lab specimens in lock
box for pickup.
5 p.m. Leave lab.

DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM
Kimble was the first to draw on
bandages after the state stopped paying for cartoon bandages. She gives
students the option of a cat, dog or
rabbit. Inspired by her coworker and
worried that the students would be
missing out if she gave them a bandage, Moody followed suit by drawing Jayhawks for her patients.
I sat down and figured out how to
draw [the Jayhawk], and then I practiced a lot, Moody said.
Drawing blood and drawing on
bandages are only small parts of their
job descriptions. Work in the lab also
involves running tests, including STD
tests, tuberculosis tests, and all blood
and urine tests. They don't always
have a set schedule; they do the work
that needs to be done when it comes
up.
Thats why I like it every day is
different," Moody said. "It requires
me to think."
Both Kimble and Moody said they
believe the best part of their work is
the opportunity to connect with and
help students. They see their job as
much more than just drawing blood
and running tests it's an opportunity to help students in need.
We can kind of give [students] a
push in the right direction and say,
'Keep your eye on your goal,' because
when youre sick you dont think you
can get through your day, much less
your semester, Kimble said.
Kimble and Moody said they specifically appreciate the opportunity they
have to work with college students for

their "big veins" and their perspective

on life.
They have fresh ideas," Kimble
said. "Its fun to see what they plan to
do after they leave here."
Both Kimble and Moody's children have come to the University
as students, and they both have had
their children as patients. Though
the women said they dont see most
students often enough to remember
their faces or names, they still see
themselves in motherly roles when
dealing with students, and they try
to care for the students in a way that
goes beyond their job description.
In healthcare youre busy. Youre
doing what you need to do to get the
student better, but maybe not necessarily talking to them, and students
really appreciate it when you show
an interest in what theyre doing,
Moody said.
The two have dealt with a wide variety of students, from students getting
blood drawn to those going through
chemotherapy or dealing with disabilities. From conversation while
they draw blood to the hand-drawn
bandages, Kimble and Moody try to
focus on the student they're seeing.
I like to think of it as the next person who comes in is going to be the
most fascinating person I see all day
long, and its usually true," Kimble
said. "If you feel that, its going to be a
good experience."

We just
wanted to
make a better
experience
for students,
Kimble said.
Its a little
hug on the
Band Aid.

Laura Kimble with a Jayhawk bandage drawn by Pat Moody.

ALEX ROBINSON/KANSAN

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DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM

GRACIE WILLIAMS/KANSAN
Sunny Walsh, 77, is the house mother for Pi Phi. First a house mother in Iowa, Walsh came to the University of Kansas in 1988 to be closer to her daughter and granddaughters.

Sunny Walsh Pi Beta Phi house mom will retire after 27 years
KATE MILLER

@_Kate_Miller_

When Sunny Walshs twin granddaughters were accepted into Pi Beta

Phi, Walshs response was not the
typical, congratulatory response expected from a grandmother.
Ill never forget. I just thought,
What were they thinking? she said.
I dont want to know what theyre
doing.
By accepting a bid to Pi Phi, Walshs
granddaughters werent just entering
a society of Greek women they
were committing themselves to living in the same house as their grandmother for two of their college years.
Walsh is the 77-year-old house
mother for Pi Phi. First a house mother in Iowa, Walsh came to the Univer-

sity of Kansas in 1988 to be closer to

her daughter and granddaughters.
Taking a job as a house mother on the
University campus was just a convenient way to do that.
My whole plan was to take one
class [of women] through and then
go to a different campus, she said. I
thought, My gosh, you could live all
over the country, because you dont
have to have furniture or anything.
But it just worked so well here, so that
plan didnt work out, [and] 27 years
later, Im still here.
Walsh compares being a house
mother to running a hotel, only your
guests never go home. Shes responsible for overseeing the maintenance
of the house and its grounds, which
is located on 15th Street across from
the Jayhawker Towers. That includes

organizing the kitchen, the staff of the

house and, of course, caring for the
women living inside.
There isnt really anything you
dont do, she said. Its a challenge
every single day, and you just never
know what its going to be.
While Walsh acknowledges the importance of getting to know the 199
women in the house, she also says
that its not her duty to be their best
best friend. Her favorite part of the
job is seeing those young women
grow.
Before the numbers of sorority
women increased, women lived in
the house from their sophomore
to senior year. Walsh established a
habit early on of eating breakfast and
dinner in the dining room with the
young women, inviting freshmen and

sophomores to eat at her table during

dinner.
Every year, the house has a different personality because the people
are different, she said. You never get
tired of it. Its never the same thing
every year. I really liked that because
whether you had a good group or
kind of a tough group, it was always
a challenge.
Sydney Chrisco, a sophomore from
Baldwin City and a Pi Phi member,
said Walsh has always been a welcoming presence in the house.
Its really personal with her, Chrisco said. Shes like a mom to us.
Its not all fun and games at the
house, though. Walsh says snowstorms present difficulties for the
women, who share a small parking
lot. She also recalled a flooding of the

house that cost $40,000 to repair.

After 27 years of dealing with both
mishaps and triumphs, however,
Walsh will retire at the beginning of
January.
Im 77 years old and there arent
very many people who can work like
I have done for 27 years, she said.
I have been really blessed, and Ive
done something that I really enjoyed.
She has no plan yet for post-Pi Phi,
but trusts that something will come
along.
She does, however, have an idea of
what shell do first.
I think Ill sleep for six months, she
said with a laugh.
Edited by Leah Sitz

ALEX ROBINSON/KANSAN
Grecia Rucoba combs through pictures to help create a project dedicated to the
retired professor of the Multicultural Scholars Program.

ALEX ROBINSON/KANSAN
Rucoba, who is a Woman of Distinction, is from a family of Mexican immigrants.
She was encouraged to be the first child in her family to attend college.

KANSAN.COM

DAY IN THE LIFE

GRECIA RUCOBA

ALEX ROBINSON/KANSAN

A first-generation student determined

to make her time at KU count

NATALIE CRAIG
@natjcraig

Its a weekday in 2012, and in the

mix of all the mail at Grecia Rucobas
house lies a blue envelope from the
University of Kansas.
Its tangible proof of Rucobas hard
work her acceptance letter. While
some students accepted to the University take it for granted, for firstgeneration college student Rucoba, it
was the biggest deal.
Every day that I am in class, that is
a success to me, she said. Just to be
here on campus is a success to me.
Rucoba, a senior at the University
and daughter of immigrants from
Mexico, said her parents always
pushed her to further her education
after high school because they never
had that opportunity.
It was never a question to my parents about me going to college, she
said. They were like, You are going.
Just because we couldnt doesnt mean
we are not going to do everything we
can to help you.
Rucoba said the biggest challenge of
being a child of immigrants is money.
I didnt always have a cell phone
and the things that my peers have but
I never experienced any kind of hardship like my mom has so I consider
myself to be so blessed, she said.
Rucoba works five jobs and has received scholarships to help finance
her education. While her parents
cannot support her financially, they
are her source of moral support.
Just because the monetary assistance is not there doesnt mean they
havent given me everything I need to
the best of their ability, she said.
Rucobas mother, Lucila Rucoba,
grew up in Jalisco, Mexico. She came
to the United States in 1988 when she
was 31. Rucoba looks to her mother

as her source of inspiration.

I am inspired by my mom because
she grew up with literally nothing,
she said. She had 13 brothers and sisters, and she got her first pair of shoes
as a gift for her first communion.
When [she] would get a banana, [she]
would split it 13 ways for each of her
brothers and sisters. I always remember that when Im having a hard day,
I just think about the bananas. That is
what keeps me going.
As a senior, Rucoba has made a
name for herself on campus through
her leadership in the scholarship
halls, as well as her involvement in
the Multicultural Scholars Program
and Multicultural Business Scholars
Program. Then this year she received
a KU Woman of Distinction award.
I was shocked that out of the girls in
my scholarship hall, Margaret Amini,
I was chosen, and then campus-wide,
that was crazy, she said. So many
of the women are so much older and
they have PhDs, and it was just such
an honor to be included on that list.
As a KU Woman of Distinction, she
wants to set an example for other students.
It has really made me have a deeper
appreciation for the type of role model I can be because I am a lot of different things, she said. I am a woman, I
am a first-generation college student,
I pay for my own school, I am Hispanic, and I feel like in all of those things
I can be a role model to women, to
first-generation college students, to
all these different groups of students.
And each one of those labels comes
with their own challenges.
As a Hispanic, Rucoba said she faces
many challenges at the University,
especially with a lack of diverse role
models.
I will look around and see a room

full of white men in a lot of my classes, and that is a little bit disheartening
just because I dont see strong Hispanic professors or leaders, Rucoba
said. I mean, theres a couple here
and there, and I really admire them,
but I just wish there were more, especially among my peers. I feel like KU
could definitely benefit from diversity, and that is a hard conversation
with not a lot of answers.
However, Rucoba finds a sense of
community within the Multicultural
Scholars Program.
A lot of those students have parents
from different countries, and that
feels like the closest to a family that
Ive had on this campus, she said.
They renew my energy a lot because
I see all of them going through similar things.
Rucoba said that in the program,
all of the students have similar work
hours to her.
I think we average 22 to 25 hours
a week and that is average, she said.
I know some students who work 30
to 35 hours a week on top of 15 to 16
credit hours. They make it seem easy.
Through all of the challenges, she
still remains driven. Rucoba will
graduate in May with a major in accounting and will return next fall for
the Masters of Accounting program.
She has an internship this summer
with CBIZ in Kansas City and said
she hopes to eventually have a job
working with a nonprofit organization.
I think that it is a really valuable
degree. Everyone needs an accountant so I do not think I will ever be
out of work, which is reassuring, she
said. I hope to move into a controller or CFO or reporting position in a
non-for-profit; that sounds like goals
to me.

DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM

LIZETTE PETER
A teacher and
researcher who focuses
on the power of
language

JARRET ROGERS
@JarretRogers

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Lizette Peter sits at her desk

and turns her computer screen
around. Her calendar stares
back with three prominent colors green, yellow and red
splattered across the screen.
Green and yellow take up the
majority of space green for
the teaching side of her job, yellow for the service, and red for
her research responsibilities.
Peter is an associate professor in the School of Education
and has been since she joined
the department in 2005 after
receiving her doctorate from
the University of Kansas. Her
teaching focuses on secondlanguage acquisition, and most
of her research to date has focused on the revitalization of
the Cherokee language.
Peter describes her current
job as finding the perfect balance between multitudes of responsibilities.
Finding that balance between 40 percent teaching, 40
percent research and 20 percent service often gets out of
whack, she said. What I find is
that my window for conducting
research and publishing gets
squashed because I spend too
much time teaching and advising students and doing service
for the University and other
places.
Peter is also the chair of the
committee that deals with the
KU Core and was on the search
committee for the vice provost
of undergraduate studies. This
qualifies as service, an obligation that falls under one of the
requirements of an associate

professor.
On top of that work for the
University, Peter also reviews
papers as a member of an editorial board for an academic journal, The Journal of Immersion
and Content-Based Language
Education, which is independent of the University.
Despite all the work she does
and as full as her calendar is, Peter said she doesnt feel like her
plate is too full.
I think I do enough. Sometimes its more than others, she
said. Just like with students, we
have our cycles. The end of the
semester can get pretty busy.
I dont think I do too much. I
think its just about right.
The path to being a professor
that focuses on language is one
that started in Montana, where
she grew up. Her family would
go to Canada, the way a family
in Kansas might go to Colorado
or Missouri. While in Canada,
she encountered French language, and, from there, her passion grew.
[I] was always fascinated by
the French signs and the French
candy wrappers and all of those
kinds of things, Peter said.
Peter went on to obtain her
bachelors degree from the University of Montana. Following
college, she spent three years in
the Peace Corps in Sri Lanka.
It was life-changing, she
said. Like I said, I grew up in
Montana, so I was pretty callow, even though I had been
overseas as an exchange student
and did a study abroad in high
school. I was never prepared to
work or live in an underdeveloped country.
Sri Lanka holds a special place

in Peters heart, as it is where

she learned about the influence
English has in the world. Its
this lesson that she remembers
every day and hopes to pass on
to students who aspire to teach
the English language to people
who dont have the same lives
and privileges.
If I have any impact on my
students who want to teach
English abroad, its what I
learned from living in a place
like Sri Lanka, and realizing
that even though English may
be seen as a language that will
help people gain economic
prosperity or find better jobs or
find better educational chances,
its also a language that has a
lot of power, and that those
who are teaching it have to be
responsible with that power,
Peter said.
Peter says that her main
source of joy on a daily basis is
teaching and interacting with
students.
I can be having a really crappy day, but, when I can go into
a class and get them engaged,
so its not just me lecturing
when you get to that place in
your teaching, I think it really
charges you and gives you a lot
of energy, Peter said.
Going forward, Peter said she
sees herself making a positive
impact on the University as she
takes on more leadership roles
and attempts to leave her mark
on the lives of students.
I think me and my colleagues
have an opportunity to do
things and make changes that
will leave a lasting legacy, she
said. Theres a lot of potential.

Edited by Dani Malakoff

10

DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Graham Wehmeyer conducts an
experiment in the lab.

GRAHAM
WEHMEYER
Who got a
perfect score
on the MCAT
JOSH MCQUADE

@L0neW0lfMcQuade

In the middle of September, many students are finally

grasping the concept of each
of their classes. But Graham
Wehmeyer, a senior microbiology major, was walking
into the dreaded MCAT, or
Medical College Admission
Test, completely prepared.
Seven and a half hours later,
Wehmeyer became one of
the few examinees to receive
a perfect 45 on the MCAT.
But the road to this perfect
score was not easy.
It began during Wehmeyers
childhood. He was always interested in sciences, especially
biology, and was raised in a
strongly academic family.
I was lucky enough to have
a family that understood the
importance of academics
my dad has been a professor at
KU since 1999 and is currently the director of the Beach
Center on Disability and the
co-director of the KU Center
on Developmental Disabilities and encouraged me to
pursue my interests at every
opportunity, he said.
However, even with an academic-heavy family, Wehmeyer said he struggled with
academics in high school. He
had trouble understanding
how he could connect the material he learned with how to
use it.
During his junior and senior
year of high school, Wehmeyer said he was lucky enough
to take part in a bioscience
program at Blue Valleys
Center for Advanced Professional Studies. This program
focused on exposing students

to how they could apply bioscience to the real world. This

included learning correct lab
techniques, knowing how to
design and perform research
projects and understanding
scientific literature.
The program sparked Wehmeyers interest for molecular
bioscience and paved the way
to his microbiology major. He
was able to obtain a position
in a molecular bioscience lab
at the University before he was
a freshman.
Despite his difficult major,
Wehmeyer said he had to adjust to a heavy load to study
for the MCAT.
It takes time and practice,
Wehmeyer said. The test
that you take, it plays to your
strengths, it plays to your
weaknesses.
The menu Wehmeyer had
created for himself looks to
be rigorous to the normal
student; however, Wehmeyer
made sure to leave room for
pleasure within his schedule.
He said he believes a student
will not be able to perform
well when under the constant
stress of the MCAT, and must
leave room for relaxation and
a social life.

Its important to not get too

caught up in studying all the
time, Wehmeyer said, If you
study 24/7, youll burn yourself out and you wont do as
well.
Wehmeyer began studying
for the MCAT in May, allowing him flexibility between
juggling studying, volunteering at Heartland Community
Health Center and a job at a
microbial genetics research
lab with Susan Egan.
[Studying] didnt [affect
my daily life] that much actually which was nice, he said,
The lab Im in is really great
because its pretty flexibleI
could fit 4-5 hours of research
in a day and then go study and
still be done at 8 or 9 and go
watch a movie or go out.
The Heartland Community
Health Center is a clinic based
in Lawrence dedicated to providing service to underserved
and uninsured people. Wehmeyer did not have much extra
time while studying for the
MCAT, but still volunteered at
the health center.
READ THE FULL STORY AT
KANSAN.COM

KANSAN.COM

DAY IN THE LIFE

TONY
BOLDEN
Artist and associate professor of

11
CONTRIBUTED
Bolden also served in South Korea.
Tony Bolden

CONTRIBUTED

African and African American Studies

CAROLINE FISS/KANSAN
Tony Boldens love for funk and blues started early, inspired by his parents. He then pursued his passion academically.

BRIANNA CHILDERS
@breeanuhh3

When Tony Bolden, an associate

professor and undergraduate adviser
of African and African American
Studies, was young, he considered
himself an artist.
But when he uses the term artist, he
doesnt mean a singer or rapper he
means a reader.
Though reading didnt become a
passion until later, growing up, Bolden always wanted to be a writer and
said he understood that the two were
closely related.
When he was a child in the 1960s
in Berkeley, Calif., his mother used
to play BB King and Aretha Franklin
in their home, which Bolden remembers giving him a warm feeling. His
father was a reader, and though his father never went to college, he studied
jazz on his own. Boldens father also
studied Egyptology and taught himself how to read hieroglyphs.
Boldens father would also read to
him. Bolden fought it at that age, but
he would realize its importance later.
When Bolden was a soldier in Korea, he had a negative emotional experience and, while he still doesnt
know why, the next day he went to
the local library and picked up a book
by James Baldwin called Go Tell It on
the Mountain.
When I read the book remember, I am 19 years old and thousands
of miles away and I couldnt understand what I understand now, but all
those characters reminded me of my
aunts and uncles and gave me a really
warm feeling, Bolden said. Thats
where I started.

When Bolden returned home, he

moved back to California and went to
school at Merritt College in Oakland.
At the time, his father lived in Oakland, so he would stop by on his way
home to Berkeley, and his dad would
teach him the history of jazz.
He taught me how to identify the
sounds of individual instruments and
individual instrumentalists, and then
he taught me how to listen for certain
kinds of sounds that sort of reflect
certain feelings or moods or ideas,
Bolden said.
His father also taught him genealogies of musicians and who had
influenced whom. They would sit and
listen to music for hours, and when
he visited him on the weekends, his
father would take him to the living
room and put on the record player
with music from 1945-70.
Despite his fathers focus on music,
Boldens attraction to being a writer
and a literary artist remained. For
him, an artist meant an intellectual.
I aspired to be an artist, and one
thing that happened was one of the
older artists I knew told me in a formal voice, Tony, if all you want to do
is read and write, why dont you go
and pick up a masters degree somewhere? Bolden said.
Thats exactly what Bolden did.
After enlisting in the army in 1975,
he moved south, went to college
and started a family. He received his
bachelors degree in English at Dillard University in New Orleans, his
masters degree in African-American
Studies at the University of Iowa, and
has his doctorate in English from
Louisiana State University.
His first job was teaching at the Uni-

versity of Alabama, and he came to

the University of Kansas in 2009.
I had been organizing a symposium on funk music at the University
of Alabama, and the chair at KU said
I could do that here, so I came for a
campus visit and really loved the energy of the place, Bolden said.
Though Bolden isnt teaching any
classes at the University this semester,
in the past his classes have focused on
music. He has taught black popular
music and the introductory course of
African and African American Studies. He also created a course called
The Life and Times of Jimi Hendrix.
Bolden said his students learn critical skills, how to phrase questions and
how to evaluate and formulate their
own arguments. He said these are life
skills that students can always use in
any real sort of endeavor.
[What I teach my students] is also
important in terms of the history of
the country in many ways, Bolden
said. I know [my classes are about]
entertainment but in many ways
these musicians exuded democratic
principles and they reconciled the
conflict between the interest of the
individual and the collective.
Aside from teaching classes, Bolden
achieved his goal of becoming a writer, focusing on funk and blues music. He currently has three published
books and has been working on his
current book, Blue Funk: Performing the Grooves in Black Cultural
Philosophy, for 10 years.
The reason it took so long, he said,
is because he is a literary scholar and
his training is in how to interpret literature. While he writes the book, he
reads on his own and trains himself

on the information he is learning.

Blue Funk traces the history of the
concept of funk from its early beginnings.
The best way to explain [Funk] is:
Have you ever danced before and had
fun? That feeling you get, the goosepimply feeling, well in African-American cultures way back when, that was
all expressed religiously, Bolden said.
Dancing was the way people praised
God, but after slavery, there was a
split in the church, where dancing
had previously been allowed, Bolden
said. Young people couldnt express
what they had experienced because
church rituals had become conservative. Because of this lack of space for
expression, blues music was created.
The test of good blues music was
to create that feeling that you feel in
dancing, but within a profane or secular context, so Im tracking that feeling and how those ideas get expressed
in music, Bolden said.
Despite working on the book for
years, Bolden said he hasnt been discouraged.
I have a high standard, so when I
put my name on something I want it
to mean something, Bolden said.
While teaching at Alabama, Bolden
met Willie King, a singer and guitarist
who would go out into the woods to
perform. Bolden joined and watched
the performances.
Out in the country, everybody
danced, and there was no taboo,
Bolden said. The only taboo was disrespect, and that was the only thing
that wasnt allowed, so it was a really
spiritual thing.
Bolden recounts that it was almost
like going back in time because there

were no paved roads and there were

barbed wire fences. He said it was like
an old dilapidated juke joint with
plywood floors.
There were very poor people, but
they had all this dignity and there was
just a beauty to the music, Bolden
said. You had the entire community
there, from 18 to 78, and everyone
from 25 up would dance, and they
could all dance and they had their
own movement.
This experience not only plays into
his book writing, he said, but also in
the way he teaches.
Tara Green, a professor and director of African American and African
Diaspora Studies at the University of
North Carolina-Greensboro, was a
student of Bolden when he was teaching at Dillard University.
Green said Bolden has a clear and
broad outreach, he is very comfortable and always very willing to give
parts of himself to other students to
help them be at the level he is now.
I dont recall any other professor
I had bringing music into the classroom, and I think, for me, that was
something that stuck with me, because when I teach now, I teach music, Green said.
Starting from listening to blues and
jazz music in his home at a young age
to writing books about blues and jazz,
Bolden has come full circle.
But having listened to the blues, I
began to understand it wasnt just entertainment, Bolden said. There was
a logic to this, and it had to do with a
philosophy of life.

Edited by Maddy Mikinski

12

KANSAN.COM

DAY IN THE LIFE

PAMELA
RODRIGUEZ
MONTERO
Makeup and stage
designer for
University Theatre

Pamela Rodriguez Montero, a graduate student from Costa Rica, has worked on four Univeristy plays, including Johanna: Facing Forward.

ANGIE BALDELOMAR
@AngieBaldelomar

Pamela Rodriguez Montero arrives

at Murphy Hall around 9 a.m. each
day. On her way to work the backstage world of her students and fellow theater lovers greet her.
Theater has something about a
community that is just so beautiful, she said. Everyone involved
does some part, and then everything
comes together in a whole big thing.
Its just magical.
Rodriguez Montero is a graduate
student from Costa Rica pursuing
her master's degree in scenography
the integrated study of all the visual elements in the theater, like sets,
makeup and lighting. She also works
as a makeup and stage designer for
University Theatre.
Theater is inclusive of everyone
and has the ability to work with any

department, she said. You can combine theater with any other discipline,
which is something I love.
This love ultimately led her to
choose scenography as her study focus.
One of the biggest discoveries she
made during her experience at the
University is her passion for teaching. Before that, she never considered
teaching as a career path. When she
was told she had to teach a class as
part of her program, she said she was
a little worried about it.
I was scared, at first because English is not my first language, and I
thought they wouldnt understand me
through my accent, but it turned out
fine, she said.
She now says she enjoys watching
her students grow and gain more
confidence in their talents throughout the semester.

Its really rewarding, she said.

When working for Johanna: Facing
Forward," her second play working
with Rodriguez Montero, junior Kate
Smeltzer would see Rodriguez Montero for hours each day. As a result,
she even has her Jimmy Johns order
memorized.
She is so inspirational and has
opened so many doors for me, Smeltzer said. I have never done makeup
before, but I want to do it professionally now.
Smeltzer said she did not expect being handed so much responsibility in
the development of the play from the
very beginning, but that's what happened. She said that on the first day of
work, Rodriguez Montero put her in
charge of the papers an important
part of the Johanna set.
Its like she never doubts a person
for a second that they are capable of

doing something, she said.

Smeltzer said that quality also
speaks about Rodriguez Montero's
teaching skills.
"As a teacher, she is so patient and
calm, but most of all, so encouraging,
Smeltzer said. She gets excited to see
us growing as students.
Since Rodriguez Montero has been
at the University, she has participated
in four plays, designing the sets, stages and makeup. The most significant
play she has designed so far is Johanna: Facing Forward," which is based
on a real-life story about a Latina
teenager who survived abuse.
The story was so powerful, and I
got to meet with the real Johanna,
she said. It was an amazing experience.
She studied as an undergraduate
in Costa Rica, where she obtained a
bachelor's degree in visual arts. Ever

CAROLINE FISS/KANSAN

since high school she has been actively involved in the theater world,
and one of her dreams was studying
in the United States. The prolific theater industry the U.S. has to offer, she
said, put the country as her next stop.
She said studying abroad has been a
powerful opportunity.
You learn a lot of things about
yourself and about the world, she
said. You become more attached to
your country, your traditions.
And the food?
Definitely, the food, she said,
laughing. I cry when I find some of
it in the supermarket.
But the University environment and
the Lawrence community as a whole
have made her transition to the United States easier. The Small World, a
nonprofit organization in Lawrence,
is the place that helped her the most
those first few months, she said. She

DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM

developed and improved her English

skills, which prepared her to eventually apply to the University and pursue her graduate studies.
Theres just a human quality at KU
that I find to be precious, she said.
When she's not in the theater, Rodriguez Montero is part of the Latin
American Graduate Organization,
where she meets with the other members mainly to dance but also to hang
out. However, exercising is her main
hobby. She belongs to the Lawrence
running group Red Dog Dogs Days
and also loves doing yoga. She is currently trying acro-yoga, which is yoga
with a partner.
I try to be as active as possible, she

said. Its just part of who I am.

Smeltzer agreed.
Shes a ball of energy and very enthusiastic all the time, she said, "even
in the early hours in the morning.
Now in her last year of the program,
Rodriguez Montero already looking ahead. So far, she said, she only
knows she wants to continue working
in a university environment, whether
teaching or designing productions
but not necessarily at KU.
Im open for everything, whether
its here in the U.S. or Costa Rica, or
anywhere else in the world, she said.
After all, you just have one life.
Edited by Jackson Vickery

13

Im open for
everything,
whether
its here in
the U.S.
or Costa
Rica, or
anywhere
else in the
world,
Rodriguez
Montero
said. After
all, you just
have one
life.

CAROLINE FISS/KANSAN
Pamela Rodriguez Montero with
makeup she uses for University Theatre.

14

KANSAN.COM

DAY IN THE LIFE

CASSIDY RITTER/KANSAN
Tad Carpenter offers critique on work from his sophomore class,
Visual Communications 204.

TAD CARPENTER

Instructor and owner of the design

firm Carpenter Collective

CASSIDY RITTER
@CassidyRitter

At 5:30 a.m., when most students

are still asleep and the sun hasnt yet
risen, Tad Carpenter is awake and
ready for the gym. Hes running two
miles, taking a moment to de-stress
and collect his thoughts before beginning the long day ahead.
Carpenters gym routine is similar to
the rest of his day always varying.
From 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Carpenter is running around. This is typical for the University graphic design
instructor and owner of Carpenter
Collective, a design firm in Kansas
City, Mo.
At the University, Carpenter teaches
a visual communications class. At
Carpenter Collective, he designs everything from book illustrations and
designs to branding for microbrewer-

ies and salons.

Id say creating brand identities is
probably one of my favorite things
to do just because it encompasses so
many different elements and applications, Carpenter said. I mean, to be
honest, even when I design a book or
anything like that I kind of approach
it from a brand identity standpoint
just because youre creating a little
identity in itself with pallet and type
recommendations and style.
Carpenter said it probably sounds
like the most boring job, but his love
for design runs deep. His father, an
illustrator, is a lifelong employee for
Hallmark Cards.
Im lucky that Ive been around
design and art my whole life, more
or less, Carpenter said. A lot of kids
growing up wanted to be firemen or
policemen or football players, and
yeah, maybe a little part of me wanted

those things, but when I was a kid I

knew I always wanted to be an artist
or designer.
Carpenter said each day is different.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays he teaches Visual Communications 204 at the
University, leaving less time to work
for his clients at Carpenter Collective. He said his clients are brave and
willing to take risks when it comes to
design.
I want them to trust us and be willing to take risks, and those are the
kind of clients we want to continue
to work with, he said. Weve been
lucky to work with a lot of people like
that. We hope that those are the kind
of people we can continue to work
with and just continue to do the kind
of stuff that we really enjoy doing.
Sally Carmichael, a former intern at
Carpenter Collective and student of
Carpenters in 2011, is now a designer

for Airbnb in San Francisco. She said

Carpenter makes flawless designs and
is also a kind, personal person, making him a great business owner.
Hes an insane powerhouse basically, Carmichael said. Its insane how
great he is. Hes incredibly efficient.
When Carmichael worked with
him, she said she remembered he
would print designs, talk to clients on
the phone and prepare for a presentation, all while trying to eat lunch.
I dont know how he does it, Carmichael continued.
The Carpenter Collective office is a
short walk down two flights of stairs.
Carpenter and his wife converted an
old house in West Plaza into a live/
work space. The top two levels are
for living, and the bottom level is a
walkout office space where he works.
Living so close to work makes it hard
for Carpenter to take a break, but he

doesnt mind.
It can be an early Sunday morning
when I cant sleep, and instead of going to watch TV, I typically find myself going to the office, making stuff,
he said.
Carpenters wife works for Carpenter Collective, too, which is a great
part of their relationship, he said.
While hes in Lawrence teaching, his
wife is making progress on deadlines
at the office.
So I might be here [in Lawrence]
teaching, but the trains still on the
tracks, he said.
Before beginning work in the office, Carpenter works out. With such
a busy schedule of teaching and consulting, this is a release for Carpenter.
It just makes me more focused, he
said. It makes me more productive,
just stronger in general, if I can do
some sort of physical activity, because

DAY IN THE LIFE

KANSAN.COM
if I dont Im a very big jerk. If I dont
my wife can always tell shes like,
You havent worked out in the past
day have you? You need to go do your
gym thing.
When Carpenter begins work in the
office, he starts by shifting through a
stack of emails before designing. An
hour later, Carpenter begins working
on one of many projects. He said each
project is a different level of completion because some may be put on
hold while his clients wait for approval or investors. This means Carpenter could be doing a variety of work,
from branding a new brewery in St.
Louis or a new salon in Kansas City
to branding an international freight
shipping company in Dallas. Sometimes Carpenter takes on designing
and illustrating childrens books.
In Carpenters eyes, the best part of
designing is the exploration process.
Carpenter explores and creates new
designs every day.
Youre getting to make something
out of nothing every single day in
some form or fashion, and thats
whats awesome about our process
and what we get to do, he said.
Carpenter said there is still room for
improvement though.
Weve been doing this for 10 or 11
years, and I still feel like [Carpenter
Collective] can always be a little bit
better and can do a little bit more,
and thats a healthy thing to feel and
continue to try to strive for, Carpenter said. And I think just getting new,
exciting work all the time is very motivational.
Deadlines for Carpenter vary. Some
projects take months, while others
need to be finished in a few hours.
Carpenter Collective does a lot of
branding projects, which typically
last two to four weeks before showing
the client a design.
Illustrating books is a whole new
game, Carpenter said. Its normally a
six-month, multi-step project from
the time he receives the manuscript
to when he releases the project to the
printer.
Carpenter said the first step is sharing style ideas with the client. Then
he sketches the whole book by pencil
or concept, gets approval of the client
and makes revisions. After revisions,
Carpenter adds color to the pages,
gets the clients approval, makes revisions and sends it to the printer.
To Carpenter, books are a labor of
love.
They are such a pain in the ass, and
you tell yourself, Alright, I cant do

one of these for a while. This one was

just too much, Carpenter said. But
then the book arrives on your doorstep and you get this thing that you
made. You did the whole thing, you
know, and youre like, Oh man, that
was fun. I could do another one of
those, and you do another one.
Similar to any job, Carpenter experiences frustrations with time restrictions and changing gears in the
middle of a project.
But, in the end of the day we are
lucky to do this, he said. Theres
nothing thats really chapping my
hide over and over again other than
things that are just are things that all
people collaborating on work have to
deal with in any industry.

Youre getting to make

something out of nothing every single day in
some form or fashion,
and thats whats awesome about our process
and what we get to do.
TAD CARPENTER

In the midst of a semester, Carpenter typically works late into the night.
Now that Im getting older, I try
not to pull like the 3 a.m. nonsense
anymore. It just aint helping nobody, Carpenter said. So I would
normally say I do the 8:30 to 11 p.m.,
a lot of times maybe midnight. Are
there nights that I work until 1 in the
morning or 2? Yeah, it happens, like
you just have to get stuff done, but Im
also one of those people thats very
lucky that I dont need a ton of sleep
to function.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when
Carpenter teaches, he drives from his
office Kansas City, Mo., to Lawrence.
Its not ideal by any means, but its
also the only like 45 to 50 minutes
[when] Im forced to not do anything, Carpenter said. And I think
thats probably a healthy thing for me.
Im not good at not doing anything.
During the drive, Carpenter gets
lost in the music of Johnny Cash,
Buck Owens and Willie Nelson. The
music reminds him of a slower pace
and simpler time, bringing him back
to memories of driving through small
towns in Kansas with his grandpa.
What I took away from my grandparents was the importance of hard

work, he said. My grandfather

Boehme was a state trooper and
Grandfather Carpenter worked in the
concrete industry both no-nonsense, roll-[up]-your-sleeve, get-shitdone kind of jobs. That work ethic has
always stayed with me.
Carpenter began teaching in fall
2009. His class this semester is the
first of four classes students take before being accepted into the School
of Graphic Design. When the four
classes are complete, students turn in
all of their work to design professors
to be reviewed, he said.
Megan Snelten, a junior from Lake
Zurich, Ill., is an intern at Carpenter
Collective and was in Carpenters
class last year. Snelten said Carpenter brings a lot of energy and passion
to his class. She also said Carpenter
gears class projects towards real world
applications which helps keep everyone inspired.
Carpenter particularly likes teaching the class because of the youth of
his students and their dedication.
I love this class because everyones
on pins and needles a little bit. Everyones willing to work hard because it
is a big semester and it is a big class,
but also like the kids arent too cool
for school yet, like they dont know
anything, man, Carpenter said. So
its cool to kind of introduce them
to some things and get them excited
about stuff and motivate them.
He loves watching students formulate their own ideas and become passionate about design the way he is.
I wish so badly that I didnt enjoy
teaching because its one of those
things, man. Its really hard when
you run your own business and you
have a lot of clients and a lot of work
and a lot of stuff going on, and then
to basically take two days out of the
week and come teach you have to
love it, because if not it would be an
easy thing to remove, he said. I always joke a little bit that Im like this
is probably my last semester teaching,
but the problem is its addictive and
you enjoy it. Like, you really get a lot
out of it and you love it.

15
CASSIDY RITTER/KANSAN
Tad Carpenter lectures his
sophomore class, Visual
Communications 204.

Edited by Maddy Mikinski

CONTRIBUTED
Modern-Day Venus, Tad Carpenters spin on Botticellis The Birth of Venus,
part of a project he did for Adobe.

XX

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