SAB PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Ibrahim Ciftci
Growing up in Manhattan, K-State has always been the center of my community. I still remember the Homecoming parades, the game days, and even walks on campus. Now, serving as Student Alumni Board president, I have had the opportunity to be involved in the community that has shaped both my environment and me! Before the year started, SAB agreed that reaching out to the K-State community was one of our main goals. Starting off in August, SAB quickly sprang into action for the Week of Welcome events! First, we helped at the Pancake Feed, serving pancakes for new and returning students and sharing a little about SAB and our programming. Later in the week, members tabled at the Activities Carnival, further sharing about our organization. More than 100 students expressed their interest in SAB, sharing their name and email. Shoutout to members Sam Vogel and Taylor Niemann for doing such a great job! Our monthly and committee meetings during the semester kept us busy! Recently, we have added another monthly meeting solely dedicated for committees to get together on a consistent basis. We have had good feedback and hope to continue this in years to come! This extra meeting has also allowed us to implement more activities for SAB. In October, we hosted a mini retreat at LOCKED, an escape room in Manhattan. Committees were placed into different rooms and worked to escape. Also in October, through the help of K-State Alumni Association president and CEO Adam Walker '04, '09, we were able to call SAB alumni with lapsed memberships. Through these calls, we connected with alumni and encouraged them to sign back up for their membership. Continuing a busy October, SAB hosted two Distinguished Young Alumni recipients, Ryan Urban '21 and Hayes Kelman '15. We hosted a social with the recipients to connect with SAB members and get to know the impact K-State had on them. In addition, we had the opportunity to attend the first Alumni Awards Night alongside the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Thank you to all the staff who made this event possible! Continuing our outreach initiative, in November we hosted a collaborative event between Multicultural Student Organizations and the Student Alumni Board. We collaborated with seven different Multicultural Student Organizations and had more than 75 students attend. Overall, our event was a success, and we are thankful for the opportunity to connect with other campus organizations. We closed out the semester in December with our holiday party. Our theme was holiday fiesta, and it was awesome to see all of our members celebrate their hard work over the semester. Moving forward, SAB will continue to work toward creating connections between past, present and future K-Staters! A special shoutout to all SAB members for their hard work over the past semester! As always, Go 'Cats! Ibrahim
Words from Outgoing & Incoming Student Ambassadors
OUTGOING
Emily Jones and Dalton Simmer
What was your favorite memory as part of the ambassador role?
Emily: My favorite memory would absolutely have to be the Homecoming football game last year when Dalton and I were selected. Having the opportunity to stand on the field during the pregame traditions was an experience that even in the moment, I knew I would be telling my kids about years down the road. When I heard my name announced I was overwhelmed with gratitude and love for the K-State family! This was a moment that I had worked toward for years, and it was an unforgettable feeling to know that the best year of my life was ahead. Dalton: For me, it’s less about one specific memory and more about getting to know the incredible people who make up our campus community. From university administration and Alumni Association staff I’ve traveled with across the state to the passionate community members, getting to know them has been one of the most meaningful parts of my time here. Those relationships are something I know I’ll carry with me long after graduation.
Has the ambassador position impacted you beyond K-State? If so, how?
Emily: Having the opportunity to serve as the 2025 Student Ambassador is an experience that I will carry with me for years to come. Not only did it provide me with a deeper love and appreciation for Kansas State’s incredible community, but it also showed me that being a K-Stater goes far beyond four years as a student. While traveling across the Midwest and attending community engagement events, I was shown time and time again that being a K-Stater means having a support system through all seasons of life, even after college! I was motivated by the passionate alumni we were able to meet and see all of the ways they were pouring back into the university, and I knew that I wanted to carry on the tradition of servant leadership as well. Dalton: Being elected as Student Ambassador gave me confidence in who I am and what I’m capable of. It pushed me to step into roles where I had to represent something bigger than myself and to grow through that responsibility. I learned how to communicate well, build relationships, and show up for people. It has also made me excited to take on bigger challenges after graduation.
What would you want alumni to know about your experience in the role?
Emily: As I prepare to transition out of the role, I want to emphasize the meaningful impact that the K-State alumni had on both Dalton and myself. I was able to hear countless stories about how Kansas State impacted them, and it made me fall even more in love with our university! Our alumni are leaders in their communities and set the standard for service and philanthropy. Kansas State would not be able to provide their students with the experiences they do without the support of these fantastic individuals, and we are more grateful for them than words can say! Dalton: I would love to share how amazing this year has been for Emily and I. Every experience has been something we’ve genuinely looked forward to, from traveling to the corners of the state to sharing our student experience to prospective students. We have learned so much about what makes K-State special, and we feel lucky to play a small part in representing that. It has been meaningful in ways that are hard to put into words, and we are grateful for every moment.
INCOMING
Abby Taylor and Remi Baldock
What are you most excited for going into this role?
Abby: I am most excited to continue the legacy that past Student Ambassadors have set, exemplifying excellence, pride and energy for representing our university. I am looking forward to interacting with alumni throughout Kansas and reminding them what makes K-State so great. I also want to help show our student body what role the Student Ambassadors play and how we can best help them during their time at K-State. Remi: I am most excited to have the opportunity to connect to K-Staters of many different generations. I always enjoy getting to know former Wildcats and hearing about their experience when they were a student here. I also love hearing about their pride for the university and what makes them continue to love K-State. It is really cool knowing that not only is K-State a special place now, but that it has been since day 1.
You can learn more about Remi and Abby from this article: 2026 Student Ambassadors
Distinguished Young Alumni Interviews
RYAN URBAN '21 AND HAYES KELMAN '15
RYAN URBAN '21
Talk a little bit about where and how you grew up and how you ended up at K-State
“I grew up in Louisburg, Kansas - I was actually born in Albuquerque, New Mexico - but I grew up in Louisburg [and] my family moved back when I was 2… In terms of growing up, purple was very much in the DNA, so both my parents attended here they actually met in Goodnow Hall. My sister was an undergraduate and graduate student here. So it was kind of a matter of time before [I] came to K-State. Growing up, my living room was actually purple. When my sister was about to be born my parents were trying to come up with a name to where her initials would be ‘KSU’. When you have a baby, you know, you usually teach them gibberish and baby words and nursery rhymes, and most people get 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' or 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' or something like that. My mom actually taught me the fight song. So, the legend goes that my first words were the fight song. [Once I came up to K-State] I was involved in the strategic communications side [of the A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication]. I started out in different forms of mass communication actually as early as 2017. So, I was the promotions coordinator for the Salvation Army of Pittsburg, Kansas. So, all of the advertising ran through me at some level and that was a really good kind of opening level to the different forms of advertising and the different methods that you have. I knew that I wanted to stay in that field and I knew that I had to get a little bit more competitive because I didn’t have the internships. My background was actually in technical theater at the time. So, I had to get those skills fast so a master’s degree at K-State was going to be very helpful. So, I came here, got my master’s degree in the strategic communications sequence rather than the journalism side, but continued the advertising with student organizations and learned how to do a lot [with] social media. So [I was here for] two years. I started in 2019 and then 2020 came - we all know what happened - and graduated in 2021.”
What were some things you were involved in at K-State?
“So I was involved with the Union Program Council, I was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, I was involved with the Epsilon Tau Pi Eagle Scout fraternity, the Alpha Phi Omega service organization, the Honor Council, and when I was with UPC I was also with UGB, the Union Governing Board just based on my position, and then the Graduate Student Council as well where I was the awards and recognition co-chair.”
What is your favorite memory from your time at K-State?
“One of my all time favorite memories, and admittedly it was in Aggieville so take heed, we were playing cornhole at [a bar] against my fraternity brothers. It was me and my pledge dad versus some others and he scored the winning shot at the last minute and I jumped up and hugged him. Then - I wasn’t prepared for this, because, you know, I’m almost six feet tall and he’s bigger than I am - so he actually lifted me in the air and ran around the [bar]. I was like ‘oh my gosh, what’s going on?’ and the president of Kappa Sig is just sitting there like ‘I have never seen a pledge son and dad as bonded as you two are’. And I just remember sitting there laughing and I smile every time I think of it.”
So you held multiple roles in UPC, but most notably, you were president. With UPC being such an interaction and event-focused group, tell me how you navigated the pandemic during this time?
“We got to do some really cool things. So, it was actually the 65th anniversary of the Union and next year will be the 70th, but we got to celebrate the 65th in the middle of the pandemic. We got to bring Neon Trees and 3OH!3 to campus virtually. We also got to bring comedian Drew Lynch to campus. The first semester, spring 2020, there wasn’t anything to navigate [with UPC] and the campus was shuttered. And that’s how we navigated it - we didn’t. Going into the summer, it was a lot of ‘what’s going to happen?’ and ‘what are we going to do?’ but I think the writing was kind of on the walls that we were going to come back to campus, but we were going to be masked. Six feet away, whatever that social distancing regulation would look like for K-State. So, naturally, we came back and social distancing didn’t go away for the entire academic year but we were able to go through and say ‘okay, this is what K-State is regulating for us so get out the hand sanitizer, give away the masks as swag items’ and take these events that would normally be at Bramlage or McCain or a big venue and take them virtually and just market differently. We also had what I called ‘the stick of death’ which was the six foot stick that we used to mark out where people would stand during events if we were going to be in person. And then additionally, we were able to do almost bizarre sanitary methods [like] put[ting] plastic wrap over a microphone if you needed to or make sure that you’re eating six feet away from your co-chair, or whatever that would’ve looked like.”
How did you think your experience in UPC, especially in a ‘weird’ time like that, helped you with your marketing ability?
“Marketing the shows in particular was a good experience because we got to market on behalf of another organization, so [with] Neon Trees, 3OH!3, Drew Lynch, we were able to go through and say ‘this is what we want to do, and here’s the items that we need to get approved.’ So, we were able to strategically build that plan in advance and then submit the preliminary graphics for approval. In terms of marketing in the pandemic and on digital, obviously the push for digital was huge because we [weren’t] able to rely on the normal posters, chalking, whatever that looks like, because people just [weren’t] on campus. So, we still did that, but a lot of our push was social media and being strategic not only what we posted but when we posted - trying to optimize timing, as well as email marketing.”
What was your favorite event you helped create with UPC?
“I think my favorite was probably Neon Trees and 3OH!3. Which is probably the easiest of the events to answer with, but it was very rewarding. So, we actually inherited that concert. I think it was set for the semester before? But, because of the pandemic, everything moved. So, we were able to take it virtual. We got to work with, I think it’s called Fan Effects (?), but it was a video program that would take Zoom, uncompress the video and the audio, put it on a delay so if something went wrong we could cut the broadcast, and then use UPC logos, graphics, etc. through animations to make it look almost like you would see on TV or at a sports game or along those lines. So, there was a lot of background to it and it was just very rewarding to see that finally, finally come together. One of my favorite memories [was with] 3OH!3 [because] they were in one of their basements doing the show from there and they would go over and pick up this random air filter and drag it across the screen for some reason. None of us know why - and I’m not sure they do either - but we were all laughing and it was hilarious. And, they actually sent us the air filter afterward. So I think it’s still in the storage rooms in the Union somewhere.”
So, you were at K-State for two years and you clearly became involved in a lot very quickly. What do you think allowed you to become acquainted with the university so quickly and how did you find the success you did while you were here?
“So, I think that there’s a number of answers to that question. Being a graduate student, I had the luxury of being able to learn from previous mistakes. So, going in knowing how undergrads work or a university works as opposed to a high school, coming in with almost four-five years of technical experience prior to even applying to work at McCain Auditorium as a student worker. [In terms of] getting involved with the student organizations, when I was at Pittsburg State I was with the Gorilla Activities Board - their version of UPC. So, I kind of had that background on how event programming and planning worked.
As far as Greek life goes, I actually had a customer at a previous job [where] we just stayed in touch. It turns out that my neighbor was his high school counselor, so we managed to stay in touch that way. But he just said, 'hey, go rush Kappa Sigma,' and I did. That’s how I joined. I actually joined Alpha Phi Omega kind of by accident. I was online looking at student organizations, because I’m like 'I need to make friends while I’m out here. I’m not gonna sit at home and be bored 24/7. That’s not happening - I’m too crazy for that.' And so, I actually got confused because when I was in undergrad I was part of an organization called Alpha Psi Omega which is a theater honor society. So, I walk in and I’m like, ‘hey APO, theater and lights and shows, [right?]’ And they’re like ‘this is a volunteer service organization.’ And I was like ‘oh…’ and I was actually too embarrassed to leave so I ended up joining. And then the Eagle Scout organization, I was already an Eagle so that lent itself to it. Then, all the others - Graduate Student Council, Honor Council - all those just kind of lent themselves to the situation based on [when I went through] student orientation.”
You are currently the director of marketing at a company (Naturion), and are an adjunct instructor at UMKC. How do you balance this?
“I mean, for one thing, I don’t sleep. And that’s not a 'oh I’m just so busy,' like I have [just] never slept. Even as a baby, I really didn’t sleep. In terms of the balance so to speak, there is more balance than I think people see. Because I still go to the gym, I still go on jogs, I still eat healthy (usually), still get to see my friends. But, if I’m going on a jog, I’ll usually go do that during my lunch break. If I’m doing shows usually I’m on [the teardown], so like we just had Linkin Park at the T-Mobile Center and I just went in for [the teardown] - I just helped tear down the show and put it on the trucks and say 'okay go away to your next venue,' you know, 'be gone!' So, it works out like that. Teaching is kind of cool… I’m teaching two courses at UMKC. My ad campaigns course meets one night only - Monday nights - for almost three hours. We’re usually only there for about an hour and a half because I talk really fast and the rest of the time I try to give [to] the students to work in class. Which, they then usually just say 'we’ll do this at home.' Which, after a full day on a Monday night, I can’t blame them. My other course is just online asynchronous, and it’s strategic communication research. Which is their absolute favorite course, just ask me. But that course, like I said, being online asynchronous, I just have to prepare the materials ahead of time. Sometimes it’s a recorded lecture, sometimes it’s just a little bit of reading material. And then they just take the course at their own pace on a weekly basis.”
So, you have degrees from Pittsburg State, K-State, KU, and now you also spend time teaching at UMKC. Not many people can say that they’ve spent time at four different universities in their life. Is there anything else we should know of?
“[Yes,] technically [I’ve spent time at] five - I have an associate’s from JCCC too. Yeah, so after K-State, I was working at a company called DEG, which, through an acquisition became Merkle, and I was actually email marketing. So, I was the guy who would spam your inbox at 3 a.m. So, I actually just got bored [and] started a second master’s program at KU. And, that was actually just as rewarding as the K-State program, which, you know, I’m sure I’ll get some hate for saying that, but [yeah]. As far as spending time at universities, there’s an energy here at the college level that I don’t think is at the corporate workplaces. And as a result, I think you kind of lose a little bit of the spark when you’re not at some place like K-State. One of the things we don’t talk about and we don’t do a good job of preparing students for is that transition from student to what I assume would be full-time work. The other thing is, school is very structured. Which, K-12 you attend class all day, you go to the right classes, you check off the right boxes, you graduate. Arguably, university is the same thing. You get your diploma, you move on to get a job, and then it’s almost like that linear structure is gone because you could be perfectly qualified and you won’t get the job or you won’t get the promotion, even though you check off every box. So, I don’t think we necessarily prepare people as well as we could be and I often wonder what it would take to close that gap.”
How has your experience been building up Naturion's marketing from the ground up? What does marketing look like in your field?
“So, marketing in mitigation banking, it’s very different because lots of times, when you have a product, you want to optimize your website so Google will crawl it and bring it to the top of the search results or you want to get all that social media out there. Lots of times, if it’s a service, it’s storytelling. Mitigation banking is still storytelling, but very different. Even though we have the credit to sell, we’re not necessarily explaining that [in] our storytelling. We’re going through and saying, “this is what we’ve done to restore this plot of land to bring ecological uplift to this area.' I was hired… it’s kind of a funny story. My fraternity brother reached out [in] November or December of last year and said 'hey, like, we need someone to basically run our marketing for this company.' And I said, 'okay, you know, send me the link I’ll take a look at the job description.' And then I went looking and there was no social media, there was no website. And I was about to message him back and say, 'I think you’re working for a scam, like are you sure about this?' And that’s when the HR guy emailed me and said, 'hey we’re building everything brand new [and] going through a rebrand.' And I think there was maybe 14 different entities that they were squishing into one brand. So, the goal was to take that and get that over the finish line and kind of move toward this concept of one identity rather than several mini ones. [This process] hasn’t exactly been a challenge, but it’s been surprising to go through and say 'oh, like this still has the old logo, I didn’t know this existed, let’s get a reprint.' Or, 'let’s open this social media channel.' I’m still working to figure out what our email campaigns would look like and what that storytelling would look like. There’s a lot of things we’re getting ready to do. We’re looking for some of our project sites that have specialized partnerships that we can celebrate and tell that story through long form video content. There’s all sorts of things as far as that’s going, but it’s really cool because, for the first time ever, it’s mine. So, I don’t have to follow anything because there really isn’t something to follow. It’s been very rewarding, and I’d be lying to say it wasn’t an adventure from day one.”
What makes you proud to be a Wildcat?
“I think what makes me proud to be a Wildcat [is] not only the family pride that both my parents went here, they met here, my sister came here, [etc.], [but] I think there’s something about K-State and Manhattan that… it’s not just multi-generational, it’s inter-generational. And, as a result, the genuine joy that you get from this area is incomparable to anything else.”
What would you want people to remember about you as one of this year’s distinguished young alumni?
“That’s an excellent question - hopefully they’ll remember my name! They gave me a nametag [just] in case I forget it. I think, if anything, that they can take away from my story is that there is always the second chance, there is always the third chance, there is always the fourth chance, and to definitely grow and learn from any mistakes you have from previous [chances].”
HAYES KELMAN '15
Talk a little bit about where and how you grew up and how you ended up at K-State
“I grew up in Sublette, Kansas. So, far in the southwestern tip of the state. I grew up on a farm - fifth generation farmer growing corn, wheat, soybeans, milo. [I] went to a small 2A school at the time. Really, K-State, I don’t know. Yes, it was an option, but, you know, both of my parents went to K-State - it’s kinda just what you do with a K-State family, you bleed purple, it’s part of it. There were a couple other schools I looked at going to, but in the end, it was a pretty easy choice [for me to] end up in Manhattan at Kansas State University.”
You got an agribusiness degree. How do you think you got to that interest?
“When I came to K-State, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. It was encouraged to go off the farm and go do something else, go out into the wild and get a 'real' job, my dad said in a joking manner. But go out and get a job, see what you think, and then come back and farm if you want to. I [did] like I normally do, I didn’t listen very well, so I started off in milling science and really enjoyed that, but it was a little bit too technical, too much science for me, so I realized pretty quickly I’m more of a business-minded person. And, a year or two in [I] changed majors to agribusiness, which seemed kind of more fit. And, [I] didn’t know if I was going to get along well being inside of a concrete building all day every day making flour. But, that taught me a lot. The flour milling side of it learning, you know, grain processes - we have a lot of different grain movement processes at the farm and at the distillery that we’ve maintained, [built], [and] utilize all the time. And so that little hint of milling science was almost perfect for what I’m in now. [So I had the business side], and then it kind of eventually was like, well, we’re gonna come back to the farm, and I’m gonna be a farmer, and what’s the next step from that? At that time I thought, well, I need to do more than just farm. I don’t know why, I don’t know what my mindset was being a 22 or 23-year-old, going, 'well, I’ve got all this time! I don’t have to sleep ever, I don’t have a family, I don’t have a wife and kids,' so how is this farm going to keep me busy? And in hindsight, the farm would’ve kept me plenty busy on its own. And the distillery could keep me plenty busy on its own. But, it was a whole thing that kind of came together.”
How long were you at K-State?
“So it took me five years to graduate. I did take one year off, and then I took my senior year basically as light of classes as I could because I was working on this project of the distillery. That year off, I went and I worked in the restaurant business, in hospitality, in Kansas City, and that taught me a lot about the retail side of how this distillery was going to come about. And then that last year, most of my focus was on building this business and putting the business plan together and seeing what the next steps were going to be. So, five years, but five years well spent I think.”
What were some things you were involved in at K-State?
“So, I wasn’t overly involved in things. I know that’s the thing that everybody tells you to be, and probably in hindsight I wish I would’ve been involved in a few more clubs… but I was involved in the milling science club, and that was a great club. I started off in that because of my major [and] stuck with it all the way through even when I switched majors because it was really a great group of people and I enjoyed the concepts. Other than that, I was in the water skiing club, so that was fun. I’ve never been a great water skier, but I love the lake [and] love the boat. I did jump skiing, believe it or not - I don’t know if you can imagine this 200+ pound guy going across a jump, but I did it. Maybe not great, but I did do it. [So] I really enjoyed that… and made some really great friends. And maybe not an extracurricular activity, but one particular thing we did that sticks out [to me] is that I went on an Ireland study abroad trip. It was kind of a short-term two or three week trip, went with [an] Ag Econ group, and we got to tour all the different agricultural industries in Ireland. And that was really fun - and same thing - made lifelong friends from that trip. So, a few different involvements, I’m sure there [were] a few other things I was involved with here and there, but those were the three that stick out.”
What is your favorite memory from your time at K-State?
“So I have one memory that, I don’t know if it’s a favorite memory, but it’s kind of a fun memory that ties into my life now. So, as I said, a lot of times meeting friends is more of a social engagement, so we were well known for having events at our house and having friends over. And so I, with my mind and where [it goes], you know, I’m very resourceful and I hate waste and… I don’t like the idea of not reducing and reusing things. So, I had this big idea at one point to build a still. And we were going to take all of our leftover party drinks and… add those all to my still and distill them into spirits that we could then have, you know, kind of a repeating party with. My friends all thought that was the worst idea in the world, that it was so gross and terrible and so I just always remember that thought process and that conversation I had, [and them saying], 'you can’t do this Hayes.' In hindsight, now, I would be able to explain the science that like, 'Look, this [is] fine. We can do this - I know it sounds gross - but you can distill out the ethanol and utilize it again.' But, they didn’t let me do that. [So], that was kind of my first dabble into making spirits. I ended up taking that still that I built… and went down to the liquor store and bought the cheapest bottle of wine that they had - and it was like a big gallon jug [with] dust on it - and instead of using our leftover party remnants we dumped that in and made brandy [as] the first thing we ever distilled. Thinking back, at that time, I don’t know that the distillery and any of those concepts were really a part of what I was going to do, but you can see the pieces that came together to make this business a reality.”
You started Boot Hill Distillery in 2016 and it quickly grew popularity with customers and became a center for community building. What do you think contributed to the early success of the business?
“I think a lot of it is perseverance, hard work, [and] putting the time in. I mean, we literally worked nonstop, slept the bare minimum, and didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. So, we started with this old building. First off, the city was ready to tear the building down, so when a group came in and said, 'hey, we’ll take this building and we’ll turn it into something,' that got [the community] on our side. They were like, 'that’s great,' you know, this is a historic [building] on the national registry. And this guy, random dude, nobody knew me in Dodge City necessarily, but, this guy is gonna show up and restore a building and put some sort of business in it. And, you know, as they saw that transformation happening and saw the blood, sweat and tears we were putting in it just was amazing how the community came around us and said, 'this is going to be great.' On our grand opening day, we had nothing to sell but T-shirts, and I think we gave away free samples of whiskey… Now, looking back at our numbers, it was probably one of our worst sales days ever… but we saw more people than we’ve probably ever seen. People just wanted to see what we’d built and what we’d done. That concept, again, of reducing [and] reusing things - there’s nothing more sustainable than an existing building. So, I’m big on that… Taking a building that was built a hundred years ago and then repurposing it - there’s no way to get a greener building than that. I think the community saw all these things we were doing, saw the hard work we were putting into it and they’ve really been excited ever since. It’s been a part of our mission - the community - from the beginning. [We wanted a] place for people to get together, a place for them to enjoy good cocktails, enjoy good conversation, and have a little bit of a different night than they might anywhere else in Dodge City or the surrounding area.”
Once COVID hit, you shifted your business to producing hand sanitizer. How did you transition into that space? What was it like for you at that time?
“So, a big part of what I put my - I don’t know if I’d call it success yet - but, of my abilities to do what I’ve done so far is problem solving. I just love having a problem handed to me and I solve it, and we go onto the next step. And so COVID hit… and I just remember one day it was like, hand sanitizer’s unavailable, you can’t buy hand sanitizer in the entire United States. So I sat my team down… and said look, '[we’ll] shut down our retail side” - that was the first decision we made. I was like, 'OK, what do we do about this pandemic that’s going on? Let’s be a community leader, let’s be the first people in the community to… [shut] down the retail side, social distance, jump through all those hoops, and we’ll re-evaluate and we’ll see you in a couple weeks,” at that time that’s what we said, right. Then, the next step was, all right, this hand sanitizer situation - I think we can make this. We have everything we need to make it. We have all the ethanol, we make vodka all day long - 190 proof, high proof spirits - I mean, can we just bottle high proof grain alcohol and give it to people? Well no, we can’t do that. So, we jumped through all the hoops, we looked, we learned how to make it. Which, the WHO, World Health Organization, actually has a recommended formula. [So], we found that formula, found how simple it was… it’s ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, a denaturant - you have to denature the alcohol so that nobody would want to drink it so we used [the most] bitter compound in the world - and glycerine. So the glycerine helps with viscosity a little bit and helps it stay on your hands a little longer to kill the germs. [Yeah, but], sat down as a group and we said, 'look, I think we can make this, [we’ll] order a couple thousand bottles… we’ll make this, and we’ll just give it away for free. [I] had conversations with my lawyer, he said, 'this is a terrible idea… the liability that you have… and who knows what you’re going to get into…' [But], we didn’t listen. We said, 'sure we can do this.' So, we made a couple thousand bottles, announced it on Facebook that this [was] what we [were] going to do, [and] it was really a couple days’ work. By 7 a.m. the next morning, my phone was ringing off the hook with people saying, “how can we help? How can we be a part of this? What could you do if I wrote you a check for $10,000?' [And I said], 'well, let me do the math!' So, I was just gonna give away these couple thousand bottles and be done with it. [But], the next thing we know, we’re buying truckloads of small plastic bottles, they’re getting delivered to us in the middle of the night. We’ve called in favors to our distributors and vendors and customers and whoever we knew across the state. [They] would show up in the middle of the night, deliver us bottles, and we [had] truckloads of ethanol. You know, we couldn’t even make enough ethanol to do what we needed to do… So, we’re bringing semi [truck] loads of ethanol in, blending this, [and] hiring more people… Over COVID, we actually increased our employment. [We] convinced whoever we could to come in and volunteer to help us make these bottles. We re-tooled our whole process. It was relatively hand bottled because we didn’t have any of the fully automatic equipment to bottle anything at that time. And then, all through this, we were trying to maintain our social distancing and follow the rules… Thinking back, [it’s] like, 'how did we figure that out?' But, in the moment, it was you do what you do. I mean, we learned it, and we were full speed… We had a call center set up, we had a full phone system, and I mean, it was hectic. But, thinking back, it was one of the most proud times of my business and my career, just doing the right thing and helping people out. …In hindsight, I wish we would’ve put barrels of bourbon away back in 2020, but I’m glad that we were able to make hand sanitizer and help the community.”
So your business sits atop Boot Hill cemetery. Can you talk about the history of that and what that means to you and your business?
“So, Dodge City was literally founded by a guy selling whiskey out of a barrel by the ladleful. So, the history of our business goes back. Fort Dodge was put in place about five miles away as a way to protect the wagon travelers from Native Americans attacking them. At some point, the general of that fort decided that his soldiers were drinking too much. So, he outlawed the sale of whiskey within five miles of Fort Dodge. So, this guy G.M. Hoover loaded up his wagon and went five miles away, parked his wagon, parked his barrels of whiskey that he had, and started selling whiskey. That was the first business in what was soon to become Dodge City. [So, the] train comes through, cowboys start bringing their cattle up to Dodge City, and a city is built… right around this whole thing because this is where the train stops, this is where [they were] loading [their] cattle up and sending them to market. The cowboys are getting paid, they’re having fun, they’re drinking and causing all sorts of ruckus, they don’t exactly have a great rule of law, they don’t know how to solve problems very well, they often solve their problems with a gun fight in the street. Boot Hill cemetery was, at that time, on the northwest side of town. It was a hill, seemed kind of out of the way, and so it was really a place that they buried vagrants and bodies of people that didn’t have family to come call on them when they met their own untimely demise in Dodge City. You know, everybody’s heard the stories about Boot Hill and the Wild West and the gunfights. Well, when the train moves on, the whole cattle trade goes on, well guess what, we still have this community of all the support and all the people that were living here running the bars, running the stores, running everything. And this is their home. They [have] kids, they’re going to school, they made a community out this place even though everybody else is moving on. So, they made a decision that this marketing of this Wild West Dodge City, you know, come out here and get shot in the street and buried up on the hill, isn’t a good way to get people to move to your town and raise their family, right. So, let’s nix that whole Boot Hill concept, that’s just awful for the marketing of our city. At that time, they decided they’d dig up the bodies, move them to another burial ground and they built the schoolhouse on this property. We’ll just erase the thought of it being a cemetery - no more bad images of Dodge City in your head. And move out here, bring your families, it’s a great place to live! That didn’t work… Pretty much now, if you start a business in Dodge City I think you have to call it Boot Hill something. There’s Boot Hill everything. I was not that original in starting a Boot Hill Distillery. But, it seemed to fit perfectly because we [are] literally on top of that Boot Hill cemetery. So, the schoolhouse didn’t last long, they tore it down [and] in 1927 they built the building that we’re in which is a city hall municipal building, police station, fire station, city jail, anything and everything to do with city government was in this building back in 1927. And, they built it on top of what would have originally been the Boot Hill cemetery. So, there’s maybe some spirits in more ways than one flowing through that building.”
Boot Hill has multiple university partnerships. How did you develop these partnerships - where did you get the idea to do that and how did that develop?
“I mean, it was just kind of always a dream of mine… Every brand needs its own licensed product in my opinion. So, K-State has this fantastic brand, it’s, you know… big on agriculture, my company is large on agriculture and I thought it was a perfect fit for Boot Hill Distillery and Kansas State University to partner up and allow us to license the brand for product. If you’re a K-State fan and you’re drinking spirits, why not drink them from Kansas? K-State has that kind of family feel, you know, family is a big part of what we talk about at K-State I feel like. So, keeping things local, keeping things in your state. We’re not this huge university or this huge state, but we are a force to be reckoned with because of our community and because of our tight knit close things that we can get done in this state. So, that was something we worked on for many years. It was calling, and kind of begging, and seeing whether we could have conversations with people. And it just eventually was something that came together and we almost fell into it at a certain point after many, many phone calls [and] many, many conversations of, “oh, OK, let’s try this. Let’s see what happens.” So, we started making Wabash Reserve. And I believe it was in 2021 when we released the first product. Since then, we’ve made a handful of iterations of the Wabash Reserve and we’ve made the EMAW Vodka, and it’s been a really great partnership.”
A major theme about your story is that you're very devoted to giving, whether that's through your business or otherwise. Where did you develop this kind of selfless drive to give back?
“I think it was just good parenting. My mom was huge on that - and my dad - both of them. I remember, growing up, just seeing where they would donate their time, their money, their abilities, wherever we were. If we traveled somewhere, the things they would do for people that, at the time, didn’t make sense to me as a child… Being on vacation somewhere and watching them take care of the people that were around us. As I got older, I started to realize, you know, that’s great. It makes you feel good. Take care of those around you and the rest will come together.”
What makes you proud to be a Wildcat?
“What makes me most proud to be a Wildcat, to have graduated from this university, is the camaraderie [and] the family. I feel like, while this is a massive university… there’s those connections. You can walk around campus and have those memories. You may not know these people, but you know the connection, you know that we’re not all that different… We’re all connected through this university and this town that is Manhattan, Kansas. And it’s an awesome town to have spent a few years of my life in.”
What would you want people to remember about you as one of this year’s distinguished young alumni?
“I’d want people to remember that I am probably not the conventional winner of this award. I’m a farmer, I didn’t graduate top of my class - didn’t graduate anywhere near top of my class - probably towards the very bottom, but I did graduate. And that really, you can do anything through hard work, perseverance, [and just] put the effort in, and don’t take no for an answer. That, to me, is what’s made my life to this point: not taking no for an answer.”
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Dr. Justin Kastner '98
How did you end up going to K-State originally?
"I'm from Manhattan. So I went to high school at Manhattan High and graduated in '93. [As] you may be aware, the 90's was a pivotal decade for K-State - there was a lot of momentum in terms of enrollment, and K-State football was suddenly good... and that was kind of a big deal. As a Manhattan High grad, a good portion of my friends and I went to K-State. "Also, my father was a professor at K-State, so I was familiar with K-State because of him. It's kind of a joke in our family that my dad, who was a food scientist, early indoctrinated my brother and I, [since] we both ended up studying food science at K-State. And if there's anything K-State does well, it's food science. So food science being an interest area made it a no-brainer as to where to go... And I remember coming to campus tours and being very impressed with the spirit at K-State and the sense of dynamic growth that was happening. So, it wasn't like I felt like I was settling to go to K-State."
Outside of the classroom, how did you spend your time during college?
"I got pretty involved with New Student Services, which was the orientation and enrollment outfit at K-State run out of Anderson Hall at the time. So, I did things like giving campus tours to prospective students and helping with orientation. And then, it was natural to be involved in something like SAB because it was a chance to do that on a statewide scale and go represent K-State. Really, some of my closest friends from college were in SAB. "I was also involved in intramural sports with the house I lived in, and with leadership-type activities. So, my first senior year they started the minor in leadership studies, and because I was staying for a fifth year, I decided to do that. Our first class for that minor had maybe 20 people in it, and now it's grown to like 2,000 or something."
How did you become city commissioner of Manhattan and what was that like while still being a student?
"I had never been involved in politics - I wasn't even in Student Council in high school or anything. But, in 1994, which was the spring of my freshman year and fall of my sophomore year, there was an annexation thing that happened. Basically, the city of Manhattan 'annexed' the K-State land to become part of the city... which involved suddenly applying [city] sales taxes in places like the Union. When that happened, all the money that being was generated from people buying food and T-shirts and everything else in the Union was going into a new project fund called The City/University Projects Fund. And, that money, which wasn't a ton of money - probably several tens of thousands of dollars at the time - was being used to do 'improvement projects' of mutual benefit to K-State and the city, and they wanted a committee to meet to evaluate which projects to fund. "So anyway, the Student Body President at the time, Jeff Peterson '94, knew that I was from Manhattan and mentioned that this was a possibility of something I could do as a sophomore. So I served on that committee as a K-State student voice, but also as a Manhattan voice. The KSU Gardens, some of the bike lanes and wider sidewalks that traverse campus, and a lot of the lighting on campus was funded by that City/University Projects Fund. "So I got involved with that, and then I discovered that there's this whole world of city government. In Manhattan, we have a mayor who sits on a five-member city commission. And in December of '94, it dawned on me that, you know, I was a citizen of Manhattan, I was 19 years old, and I was old enough to vote, and old enough to even run for office. So, I ran for the city commission in spring of '95 - which was the spring of my sophomore year. Obviously, running for a local office is not the most high-profile thing, but it required a campaign. Because I was involved in things like SAB, I had friends that helped me campaign. And, despite myself, I got elected to a two-year term on the Manhattan city commission. And I really enjoyed that - I served from my sophomore year to my first senior year."
What did you do internationally, and how did your time spent in student organizations (such as SAB) prepare you for your career following, both internationally and back here in the United States?
"There's so much incidental benefit to being involved. With SAB we would travel to high schools across the state and promote K-State, and I think that kind of public speaking enterprising and want to serve the university inspired me to think about public service. "She now actually works at K-State again, but my mentor for some of the scholarship stuff [I pursued] was Beth Powers when I applied for the Truman, Fulbright and Rotary scholarships and was a major blessing. Getting those scholarships enabled [my wife] Susie '98 and I to move overseas and do all the international stuff. I think part of the value of leaving Kansas and going overseas with things like the Fulbright was the chance to both represent K-State and be a proud Wildcat, but also to discover the world outside of Kansas. So, that was a tremendous time of growth for me personally. "Susie and I got very involved in an Anglican Church in London where I was studying Mad Cow Disease. Getting involved in this faith community was quite exciting and has been a big part of our lives. So I studied one year there, one year in Edinburgh, worked a summer in Geneva, Switzerland, at the World Trade Organization, and then did my Ph.D. at the land-grant school in Ontario in Canada. It's not really a land grant, but it's kind of similar to K-State in the sense that they have lots of majors and have a historically agriculture-focused university. So there at the University of Guelph I studied the history of food safety and animal disease and trade, and that's the kind of stuff I teach now at K-State. So I really enjoyed being involved with that. "Also, on the personal side, I actually ended up getting ordained as a minister within the Anglican Church, and that was really an outcome of that first year in London."
What is a favorite memory from your time in SAB?
"One of my favorite memories was before I was dating Susie - Susie's from Garden City - but I remember we literally flew in the K-State plane from Manhattan to Garden City for an SAB trip. And it was me and a few of my fellow SABers and we went with a guy by the name of Bob Krause, who was the vice president for institutional advancement during the Wefald era, who was a very influential leader. I think [Pat] Bosco '71 went as well. But, we're sitting in this small plane, a propeller plane, flying from Manhattan to Garden City and I remember once we got there we met with Garden City high school students, families and local alumni. It's just kind of cool [to think about], little did I know that I was in this town that my future wife had grown up in. So that was a special memory. "The other memory I have is going to classes, then leaving class a bit early or sprinting after class to go meet at some pickup point by Anderson Hall in a K-State van so that I could ride to some high school or event with Pat Bosco and the rest of the crew, or whoever else was driving. "Beyond that I just remember a lot of people I became very close with, talking with them about life, academics and career things."
How have you been involved with SAB since you've graduated?
"I've met with a couple of students over the years that are involved with SAB and I encourage my students to apply. So I guess my enduring connection has been being an advocate for my students that I meet and encouraging them to be involved with SAB, and that's a real joy. Generally, I think SAB is a very unique student group because of its affiliation with the Alumni Association and not just K-State proper."
Why are you proud to call yourself a Kansas State alumni, and why are you still here today?
"I am proud to be a Wildcat because of the commitment to public service. You know, we have an ethos at K-State - even a mission as a land-grant university - to serve the state and the nation and the world. As a student, being involved with things like SAB gave me a taste of what it looks like to serve. I really bought that vision and I really credit people like Bob Krause, President Wefald, Rebecca Klingler '86, Beth Powers, Dr. Phebus, and others. "Now, I organize these field trips for my students, and they're all designed to help them catch a vision for what it means to use their academic disciplinary expertise, or even multidisciplinary expertise, to serve society. So, I organize trips called Frontier Field Trips and K-State has been a very good university to have this program based in because, without having to fight a lot of battles, I can involve students from different academic majors, graduates, undergraduates, [etc.] and take them on these trips to learn about [things like] the history of public health. For instance, we'll sometimes go to library archives... or to international trade ports and learn about the complexity of regulating imports and exports of food and animals and plants. Most recently, we've been doing trips to places like California to learn about water infrastructure and water safety. And, my colleagues' and I's goals with these trips is to pass on that enthusiasm for serving society. K-State is a university that is well-positioned to support that kind of effort. So that's another reason why I'm proud to be back at K-State. "And, also, I'm proud because this is where I met my wife."