Keydy Sebastian-Perez poses with the Shocker rowing sign

Wichita State University is home to over 8,000 first-generation students, individuals whose caregivers never completed a college degree and who don’t have the firsthand experience to tackle college life. To help with their transition, Wichita State offers a number of resources to first-gen students to support them during their time in college, including F1RST GEN SHOCKERS.

Hear from Keydy Sebastian-Perez, a current first-gen student at Wichita State, about her first-gen experience.

Jacey Arnett

Wichita State University is home to nearly 5,000 first-generation students, individuals whose caregivers weren’t able to complete a college degree and who lack the firsthand experience to tackle college life. To help with their transition, Wichita State offers a number of resources to first-gen students to support them during their time in college, including F1RST GEN SHOCKERS.

Hear from Jacey Arnett, a current first-gen student at Wichita State, about her first-gen experience.

Map connecting Wichita to Huntsville, Alabama

Two Wichita State University organizations have established a solid presence in Alabama’s largest metropolitan area.

The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) and FirePoint Innovations Center recently hosted a grand opening event at the Big Spring Summit in the heart of downtown Huntsville, Alabama, showcasing 6,000 square feet of newly renovated space in the building.

Strategically located near the Redstone Arsenal, a hotbed of Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA aviation development, the satellite location allows NIAR and FirePoint to accelerate collaboration with Huntsville-based military units and their collaborators and provides the ability to conveniently hold meetings and events in downtown Huntsville, rather than obtaining clearance for visitors on base.

Eduardo Avila

Wichita State University is home to nearly 5,000 first-generation students, individuals whose caregivers weren’t able to complete a college degree and who lack the firsthand experience to tackle college life. To help with their transition, Wichita State offers a number of resources to first-gen students to support them during their time in college, including F1RST GEN SHOCKERS.

Hear from Eduardo Avila, a current first-gen student at Wichita State, about his first-gen experience.

Brianna Escoto

Wichita State University is home to nearly 5,000 first-generation students, individuals whose caregivers weren’t able to complete a college degree and who lack the firsthand experience to tackle college life. To help with their transition, Wichita State offers a number of resources to first-gen students to support them during their time in college, including F1RST GEN SHOCKERS.

Hear from Brianna Escoto, a current first-gen student at Wichita State, about their first-gen experience.

Sara Mata poses with Wu at commencement

Wichita State University is home to nearly 5,000 first-generation students, individuals whose caregivers weren’t able to complete a college degree and who lack the firsthand experience to tackle college life. To help with their transition, Wichita State offers a number of resources to first-gen students to support them during their time in college, including F1RST GEN SHOCKERS.

Hear from Sara Mata, executive director of Hispanic Serving Institution and a current employee at Wichita State who went to college as a first-gen student, about the first-gen experience.

Wichita State University is home to nearly 5,000 first-generation students, individuals whose caregivers weren’t able to complete a college degree and who lack the firsthand experience to tackle college life. To help with their transition, Wichita State offers a number of resources to first-gen students to support them during their time in college, including F1RST GEN SHOCKERS.

Hear from Bobby Berry, assistant dean for the College of Applied Studies and a current employee at Wichita State who went to college as a first-gen student, about the first-gen experience.

Students attend an Expanding Your Horizons event

Wichita State University is hosting the annual Expanding Your Horizons Workshop, a one-day event from 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 that introduces middle school girls to a variety of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) areas.

Attendees will meet STEM role models, participate in hands-on activities and learn more about careers in those fields. The keynote speaker is Clarice Phelps, an American nuclear chemist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She is recognized as the first African American woman to be involved with the discovery of a chemical element.

Registration is $15 and includes lunch, a T-shirt and a WSU bag.

Rudd Scholar Alejandra Facio helps a student with a math assignment at the Leslie Rudd Learning Center

Since it’s baseball, call it that home run moment — the reaction you see when something finally clicks for a young student.

“They get really excited when they get an answer correct, because they know that they’re growing,” said Natalee Delgado, a freshman marketing major and Rudd Scholar at Wichita State University. “They’ll see that they got it correct and their little mouths just drop, and they get this big smile.”

That’s an experience 30 of Wichita State’s Rudd Scholars get often as they work with youngsters in the Bright Lights Educational Enrichment Program at the Leslie Rudd Learning Center at League 42’s McAdams Park baseball complex. Each afternoon, several of them work on math skills with students in fifth through eighth grade and literacy with students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

WSU senior Cat Kee practices stage combat at workshop

The art of looking convincing in a sword fight or brawl is crucial to stage and screen. Punches don’t hit flesh and knives lay flat against the victim.

The audience must believe it is real and dangerous.

“When I tell them I can kill the six inches around them, they definitely give me some interesting looks,” said Emily Redfield, a Wichita State University theater performance major.

In July, WSU seniors Redfield and Cat Kee attended the National Stage Combat Workshop in Ruston, Louisiana. The three-week course offered instruction, testing and certification with weapons such as swords, shields, firearms, rapiers, daggers and quarterstaffs.