Blair

Because K-State was founded as a land grant University, many people have a stereotype about K-State being all Ag kids who chew tobacco and drive tractors. While there are people who might fall into that category it's definitely not the most accurate description of our school. We have accelled in both football and basketball for athletics, won the national championship for debate last year and are overall average college students with a very diverse campus.

While K-State has many outstanding aspects that make it a great University the overwhelming response from students I've talked to as to why they chose K-State over another school is the friendly, family atmosphere. K-State has a small town college feel on a large University scale; with over 23,500 students it's big enough to find whatever you're looking for but small enough to walk from one side of campus to the other in 10 minutes. Despite the minor disputes of EMAW/EPAW or whether or not Ekocat was a good choice the general demeanor of students is welcoming.

My overall academic experience has been great at K-State. The teacher's in my major of Business Management have been attentive and dedicated to my personal success as a student; if I put forth the effort to learn they've put forth the effort to make sure I understand. The only area I've been disappointed with in my 4 years at K-State was the math department. The teacher's I've had are so smart that they have had trouble relating to students. Fortunately for me K-State has FREE tutoring available to all students on campus. The greatest classes I've had an opportunity to be a part of were the Leadership Studies Minor classes. These classes have opened my mind about and allowed my leadership abilities to grow to a new level. By understanding that our backgrounds make us unique is has allowed me to understand more clearly how to resolve conflict and lead a group more effectively.

I came from a high school of over 2,000 students and sit next to students everyday who had a graduating class of less than 50. Somehow, we find a way to get along. I have yet to have a class in college where I wouldn't feel comfortable leaning over to the person next to me, asking for a pencil, and continuing a convesation with that person regardless of race, religion, or sex. With so many different students there are obviously different financial backgrounds. This is what makes K-State great. We have a program at our school that is the only philanthropy of its kind. It's by students, for students. Each year students donate $10 to receive a t-shirt for the K-State PROUD campaign. This money goes into a general scholarship fund that goes back directly to K-State students who apply because they don't have other financial options. With local business donations this fund raised over $100,000 for students right here at our University!!

It's hard to mention K-State activities without mentioning the athletics. We are the only team in the Big 12 conference that has our student sections right on the 50 yard-line! We also have an amazing program involving our UPC (Union Program Council). They have substance-free events every weekend for students who are looking for something to do at little to no cost to them. These events include everything from $1 movies on the weekend to free comics to creating wax hands or even dance parties. Finally my personal favorite event at K-State would be the arts. We have several theatrical productions every year and the musical this fall, The Putname County Spelling Bee, was incredible. Not to mention the real-life version of Glee: The K-State Singers!!

In all honesty, every school is going to have good and bad professors. You won't love every single class you take. What I have found however, is that here at K-State the professors are usually pretty easy to get in contact with regardless of how stellar they are in the classroom they are typically really good at answering any additional questions you have if and only if you make the effort to talk to them outside of class and get the help you need. That being said once you get past the gen-eds the professors are usually more enthusiastic and more enjoyable.

Easy! Eric Stonestreet (Cam from Modern Family) is a K-State alum. He was on campus just a few weeks ago and would periodically tweet his location for students to come say hi to him on campus. That night he rented out McCain Auditorium and had an open forum to answer any and all questions from students. He stayed until there were no more questions and then signed autographs and took pictures with whoever wanted one. It was absolutely awesome and shows that K-State really is a family of students; both new and old.

Library! The entire first floor is a quiet study area as well as the great room on the third floor nicknamed "The Harry Potter" room due to it's large echoey environment. Now, if you need to get a group project done the second floor is the floor for you. This is the "noisy" floor during finals week because group discussion is allowed. This is also where we have our collaboration stations where students can have a blocked off cubicle section for their group to meet. If you're the student who like their own study cubby we have study nooks available on a first come first serve basis. All there places combined with the library help staff there to serve students from 8am-10pm make the library the ideal place to get work done on campus.

K-State's official color is Royal Purple. Purple is not as easy color to wear. When I first came to K-State I told myself I'd wear black, grey, white with maybe a hint of purple but now 3 and half short years later purple is the primary color in my wardrobe. This school pride is contagious at K-State. It's easy to shoot someone a smile when walking across campus when you know they share the same pride as you in your school.

Princeton just did a review of colleges around the United States and K-State ranked second overall in community-college relationship. This speaks volumes about what you see when you step off campus. You will see local businesses supported by K-State on campus and you will see local businesses supporting K-State off campus. The Konza Prarie and the Flint hills are two things other things you'll see off campus in our wonderful landscape.