November 2017 Distance Education Newsletter Coming Up November 3-4 Homecoming Weekend November 10 Veterans Day ESU closed November 22-26 Thanksgiving Break December 8 Graduation Celebration event December 11-15 Finals Week
ESU-KC Student Spotlight Q: Where did you grow up? A: I grew up in Swanton, Nebraska, population 93. Moving to Lincoln and then Kansas City were big adjustments for me. Q: Where did you receive your undergraduate from? A: My undergraduate degree is from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln in agricultural journalism with minors in entrepreneurship and agricultural economics. Q: Where do you currently work? A: I m an elementary resource para at Santa Fe Trail, which is part of the Shawnee Mission School District. I chose this job because I wanted more hands on experience working in schools. My previous work experiences have been with nonprofits and a global agricultural company, where I worked in the animal nutrition division as a management-trainee. Q: What do you plan to do with your degree from ESU? A: I plan to become an elementary school counselor. Q: What do you think will be your favorite part of the job? A: My favorite thing about working with elementary students is their unabashed joy for the little things. Seeing the small wonders of life through their lens really helps me stay centered. Q: Did anyone inspire you to become a school counselor? A: After leaving the global agricultural company, I didn t know exactly what I was looking for. I knew that I needed to find a career more focused on people as individuals and less focused on numbers and spreadsheets. I eventually landed on counseling after a chance conversation with Nicole Smith, the student development coordinator from my undergrad program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her background is in student counseling. She encouraged me to explore different types of counseling. Q: What is your favorite part about your program and/or ESU? A: I really value my friendships with my classmates. Without this program- I would have never crossed paths with them. I know this is a crew I can lean on for both personally and professionally. Emma Likens Brown Graduate Student in School Counseling Expected Graduation Date: May 2019 Fun facts: Recently married in May to husband James. One random job Emma would leave off her resume is her first job: power washing hog barns If Emma got a research grant she would study character traits that contribute to student success. Q: What has been your favorite ESU class so far? Why? A: Group counseling theories with Dr. Briggs. This class has helped me gain a deeper understanding of the different counseling theories while engaging in courageous conversations with my classmates.
A Day to Honor Veterans By Roberta Birk Mlynar Without Emporia, Kansas, there would be no Veterans Day; it s as simple as that. The holiday 50 years old in Emporia and 49 years old nationally this year began through the efforts of an Emporia shoe repairman, Alvin J. (Al) King. King and his wife Gertrude had helped bring up his nephew, John E. Cooper, who was serving as part of the Third U.S. Army in Germany when he was killed in action on Dec. 20, 1944. Pfc. Cooper, an ammunition handler with Company B, died during an enemy counterattack in a forest outside Habkirchen, Germany, according to a letter to the family from Army Chaplain Charles H. Washburn. John was struck and instantly killed by shrapnel from an exploding enemy artillery shell, Washburn wrote in a letter dated April 11, 1945. He is buried in the United States Military Cemetery at Limey, France. One of our Protestant chaplains gave (John) a Christian burial and read appropriate Scriptures and prayers. Grief over the young man s death apparently started King looking for a way to honor not only his nephew, but all veterans who fight during wars and serve during peace to keep America free. King thus began his campaign to change an existing national holiday Armistice Day to Veterans Day. He gained the cooperation of the community s American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AmVets and War Dads units, plus support from an essential ally, U.S. Rep. Ed Rees of Emporia. Rees agreed to take King s idea to Washington, D.C., where it passed the House and Senate. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill establishing Veterans Day as a national holiday. The nation held its first Veterans Day on Nov. 11, 1954. Emporia, however, had organized its first celebration, called All Veterans Day, the previous year. Ninety percent of Emporia storeowners had decided to close their businesses for the day, and the Emporia Board of Education followed suit. As a result, most Emporians were free to take part in or watch many of the events. The Emporia Gazette and Emporia Times newspapers reported a full slate of activities that began with a parade at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 11, 1953. At 11 a.m., civil-defense sirens, church bells and power-plant whistles marked the formal beginning of the event; the timing acknowledged the signing of the armistice that ended World War I at 11 a.m. of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. The American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps stood at Sixth Avenue and Commercial Street to play Taps after the whistles and bells, and the Kansas City AmVets Drum and Bugle Corps stood nearby to sound the echo. Hot dogs, beans and coffee were served free in the basement of the Civic Auditorium. A wheelchair basketball game followed, featuring the Rolling Pioneers of Kansas City against a town team that included names familiar still to long-time Emporians Malcom Smith of the Lowther Junior High School faculty, Carl Haney, Jerry Waugh and Gene Ridenour of the Emporia High School staff; Leslie Hayes of The Emporia Gazette; Keith Caywood of Kansas State Teachers College faculty; and Tom McGahey of Olpe High School. The drive-in theater showed a free movie and a free dance closed the day s events. Then-Kansas Governor Edward F. Arn watched the parade from the reviewing stand and, according to a newspaper account, exclaimed, This is a wonderful thing. It should be done in every city of the nation. By the next year, it was. h t t p s : / / e m p o r i a k s c h a m b e r. o r g / h i s t o r y - of- v e t e r a n s - d a y /
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