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A podcast focusing on the perspectives, lives, and stories of Kansans to provide greater insight into the state we all call home.
AAK_Ep25
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[00:00:00]
Sydney Collins: Do you pour milk before cereal or cereal before milk?
Gus Applequist: Uh, okay. I put the cereal in the bowl and then I pour the milk on it.
Sydney Collins: Okay. So Madeline is in that phase of, she wants to do everything by herself now, and so she got cereal the other day, poured the milk first, and then did the cereal, and I couldn't like.
How do you explain to a kid, like that's not how you do it. It's like, how do you put your shoes, socks, and shoes on? Do you go socks, socks, shoe, shoe or do you sock shoe. Sock shoe.
Gus Applequist: I had never considered this. I think I'm always a sock sock. Shoe, shoe person.
Sydney Collins: Really? Oh yeah. Okay. You said sock socks. shoe.
shoe I thought you said Sox shoe socks, shoe there for a minute. I was like, oh, that's bold. But it's really like. Um, the other thing, like, these are the brain teases that I think about a lot for some reason. Um, [00:01:00] what are things that are scrambled other than eggs?
Gus Applequist: Uh, like your, your brain or whatever, like you, you know what I mean?
Yeah. Brain scramble. Okay. Mm-hmm. What else? Uh, letters or words? Word scramble, like a word search. Okay. It's another name for a word search, I think.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Gus Applequist: Um.
Sydney Collins: You're coming up with a lot more answers than I did.
Gus Applequist: That's about all I can think of. Exactly.
Sydney Collins: And why is it called scrambled eggs? What's a scramble?
Gus Applequist: Because you're, you're like, you're mixing it together, you know the, is that what a scramble
Sydney Collins: is? This goes back to Tanner, say, or someone said that they need to get me at the source or a dictionary for. Christmas, which probably is not a bad idea now, but anyway. Yeah. So,
Gus Applequist: okay. So is it sacrilegious? Let's say you eat a bowl of cereal and you are not quite satisfied.
Sydney Collins: Mm.
Gus Applequist: And there's still milk in the bowl. Is it sacrilegious to put more [00:02:00] cereal in?
Sydney Collins: No.
Gus Applequist: No. Okay.
Sydney Collins: You pour more in, just enough to fill, like, to get rid of the milk.
Gus Applequist: See, I'm a Cocoa Puffs guy. Oh, we're a Coco Puffs family too. Well, I, I used to be, I don't eat cereal very much anymore. Um, but, but the milk gets chocolatey more and more and more.
The more, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it'll be fun to see how all this relates to Kansas later in the episode. It doesn't. No, it doesn't. Welcome.
Sydney Collins: Welcome back to Ask Kansan where we are amplifying, uncovering, and connecting stories. Kansans all over Kansas.
Gus Applequist: [00:03:00] Yeah, we are glad to have you here today. We have a guest that has been, uh. I'd say a friend for, for several years. Um, uh, the president of Kansas West University, Matt Thompson. Mm-hmm. Joined us for an interview on as a Kansan today.
And, uh, Matt is a, uh, I would call him a visionary thinker, and he's always looking for ways to, uh, push. Kansas Wesleyan into the future. Mm-hmm. And I think he's done a really good job.
Sydney Collins: And I've never, and I've never really had a conversation with Matt. I've just always known that Matt exists as an idea, as an idea, Uhhuh as, as kind of a, I don't know, kind of the cloud in the sky where everything, all the ideas fall from.
Mm-hmm. In a way that's kind of how I've always pictured Matt. And so to sit down and, um. Kind of actually be able to listen to him today and kind of how his brain works is really fun and interesting for me.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm. I, uh, uh, Matt shaved before the interview, I thought [00:04:00] my, my beard brother was coming on and then, and then he was clean shaven, which he's, he's a great looking guy either way.
So, yeah. No,
Sydney Collins: I love that so much. So, without any further ado, here is our conversation with Matt.
Gus Applequist: Hello.
Sydney Collins: How's it going? Good. How are you?
Gus Applequist: Good. Welcome. Welcome. Good to see you. Yeah, I love the, uh, the attire. Thank you. Yeah. Have you had, is that the same one you, you wore years ago? Or have you, uh, always have you had several different, very purple and gold?
Matt Thompson: Well, when I was inaugurated, I had pants. I was gonna say, I thought there were pants that go with that.
It started as pants. Um, and part of my job is to eat for the university, and so those pants no longer fit. So I had to go to a jacket that was a little more forgiving. Okay. So that's the reason, uh, for the jacket. Now
Gus Applequist: well, welcome to ask of Kansan. Thanks. Thanks for the
Matt Thompson: invitation. I'm really honored
Gus Applequist: to be here.
Yeah, yeah. Would you introduce yourself for our audience, please? Sure.
Matt Thompson: I'm Matt Thompson. I'm the president and CEO of Kansas Wesleyan University.
Gus Applequist: Well we like to say that there's two kinds of Kansans. There's Kansans [00:05:00] that are Kansan 'cause they were born here and then there's Kansans by choice and you fall into the ladder.
I do. I believe I, yeah. Could you tell us kinda where you're from and Sure. Tell us a little bit of your background.
Matt Thompson: Sure. I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. Um, um. Very much a southern experience. It's almost like growing up in South Georgia. Uh, I went off to college at Mercer University. Um, small Baptist affiliated, not small anymore.
It was when I was there, uh, institution. Um, and met my wife there. I had a phenomenal experience, was very involved in campus life and. Realized I liked college work and I stayed, I actually worked for Alma Mater for seven years and then went and got my doctorate in higher ed administration, uh, from the University of Georgia, and then went back to Florida, uh, to be Dean of Students at Florida Southern College, a sister Methodist institution to Kansas Wesleyan.
Uh, then was the VP for advancement, and then I was nominated for this job, which brought me here 12 and a half years ago. Wow. So that's the short version.
Gus Applequist: I wanted to ask, just because a lot of our conversation today will be about college.
Mm-hmm. And so, uh, [00:06:00] what, what stands out to you about your own college experience and your undergrad specifically? Sure.
Matt Thompson: it was the chance to find myself, I mean, very typical. Um, it was a place that was supportive and challenging. Um. My parents were. I always say I'm surprised he didn't challenge me more in my choices.
Um, I ended up being a theater major, um, and I never once said, why are, are you gonna get a job or, I'm not paying for that. And, um, and so I did what I wanted to do. I didn't really think I'd ever work in theater, but I thought. This is my chance. I like to be creative and I really wanted to be an architect.
Um, but I didn't have the gifts and talents for that. So theater was as close in set design. I wasn't an actor. I was, uh, construction. I was about to ask, I was like, where does the architect in theater live
Sydney Collins: together? But thank you. Set design, set
Matt Thompson: construction, lighting. That was my focus. Um, I had no idea and I kind of figured.
I'm not gonna work in it, but I feel like I'm smart enough that I'll get a job. Hmm. And so I'm gonna major in [00:07:00] what I wanna major in. Mm-hmm. And that will fill me up and make me ready for life. And that's what I hope we do for our students, right? Yeah. Is that you find what calls to you, uh, what speaks to you, whether that becomes your vocation, your advocation, but learning and growing and stretching yourself.
It's what's important for college years.
Gus Applequist: Hmm.
Matt Thompson: And so that was the experience. I, I was very involved in campus. I was an ra, I was president of our programming board, um, gosh, this is 30 years ago. And, um, probably had a budget of $250,000 as an undergraduate, which felt like a lot of money. Mm-hmm. Uh, and probably really was back then to program campus events.
And I loved doing that and being engaged in student life. Uh, and so that was. What led me to think this is where I'll be now, to be honest, I really got a job because my wife at the time, my girlfriend was a year behind me and I needed a reason to stay around in town. Uh, and so I got a job at the university.
Uh, and then it just, I didn't find out that I was on the right path and I was supposed to be where I was. So
Gus Applequist: are there any like insightful deep lessons that can be learned from someone doing set design? I mean, I'm sure there are, [00:08:00] but do you have any to offer? Yeah. Um, you know,
Matt Thompson: that's a fair question by one I haven't thought about in a while.
It's totally fine if you don't have answer. Um, but I think it's about understanding literally the stage you're setting. Hmm. Right. What happens in this venue? How you've organized us? Even when you walk into spaces, what's the story they're telling you, whether intentionally or unintentionally? Uh, what do you feel?
How do you react to it? Why do you get excited or tense? Uh, are all things that I think come from good design and in my experience, set design. Uh, and what's, what's that? Due to move forward the narrative, right? And so, uh, how we set up a classroom, how we set up a gymnasium, like right, all these things matter to create and, um, become evocative.
Uh, but even in, um, every everyday life, right? What does our home say about us and how we want ourselves or others to feel in that space?
Sydney Collins: ever sent anyone for a board stretcher before?
Matt Thompson: A board stretcher? I'm not familiar. Have you never done that?
Sydney Collins: Okay. So maybe [00:09:00] it was just an our generation thing. Yeah. So I was also with SBN, um, but the joke that you'd play on the underclassmen is, Hey, this board's not long enough. I need you to go find the board stretcher. Oh,
Matt Thompson: no. I guess I just had nicer colleagues, so, and we would have tease me know how.
Yeah. And we would have dads
Sydney Collins: that would actually, that would come in and help and like literally draw them what a board stretcher looks like and hand it to them. And they'd have to go back in the back, but. Anyway, I did
Matt Thompson: not have that experience. Yeah, like hunting for snipe or something? Yes, exactly.
Gus Applequist: Cow tipping.
Cow tipping, snipe hunting.
Gus Applequist: So the first time that you found your way out to Kansas for a visit, I assume that was the first time we've been to Kansas. Is that true?
Matt Thompson: interestingly, I was selected as one of eight finalists, uh, for this position. And so I flew to Kansas City and [00:10:00] did an airport interview, which is very common.
So all I saw was. The conference room we already met. And then typically I would've just have flown home that same day. But I was the last candidate, so I got to spend the night. Um, and I went home and I was like, well, nothing comes to this. At least I've been to Kansas. Mm-hmm. Of course that's how little I knew I'd been to Missouri.
Um, and then got invited back, uh, for an on campus as one of the three finalists. And that was my first time. Mm-hmm. And in fact, it was January and it was warmer here that day than it was in Florida. And so my wife and like, oh, no big deal. We got this. Like, totally not a problem. Yep. Uh, we came back about four weeks later when I'd accepted the job to, to meet people more officially and to do some house hunting and there was 12 inches of snow.
On the ground. So they're like, that checks
Sydney Collins: out
Matt Thompson: a little bit of a bait and switch. But uh, thankfully we love it here. Thankfully,
Gus Applequist: like 12 inches of snow isn't all that common. Right? So maybe that was just a little bit of hazing as well.
Matt Thompson: It could be. What's so funny in this is that all my daughter for Christmas, that.
A few months before was wanted to see snow, so we brought her back in [00:11:00] February. We came to look at houses and she was thrilled. I mean, people still talk about watching her run around in the, in the snow and play in the snow, but she didn't actually move here till June. So she got back and was very disappointed.
It was not always snowing here. Uh, so snow's always been a fun part of our Kansas experience.
Gus Applequist: Oh, man. What, what was it? Uh, like just that the first year on campus for you.
Matt Thompson: It was just a lot of getting to know people. Mm-hmm. Uh, to know the community. Um, and really it's, while we're all Americans, it's a different culture.
Mm-hmm. Uh, and understanding, um. Uh, southerners, I would say are generally very grandiose. Hmm. Uh, we overstate everything. Mm-hmm. Uh, and there's such a subtleness, uh, to Midwesterners again in blanket statements. Um, that really took a while to get used to because I was used to being in PR and marketing the institution and like telling every story.
And here everybody's like, oh, we don't. Tell anybody that. I'm like, no, we've gotta tell that. Like, that's important. Like we gotta, if nothing else, we gotta brag about our students. Mm-hmm. [00:12:00] And so that was a piece that took a little time to help people go, it's okay. It's, uh, we're supposed to do this. We're supposed to let other people know what's happening here, not hide our light.
Hmm.
Gus Applequist: you know, kins Wesleyan is a faith-based institution. So I'm just curious, what was your faith background when you came?
Matt Thompson: Sure. Uh, I was raised Episcopalian. I still claim I am Episcopalian.
Um, um, but it's interesting, if I can go on a side note of this, please. Um, my wife has been doing extensive, um. Uh, genealogy work for like the last, uh, 10 months. And so she's traced both of our families back eight plus generations. Oh, wow. Uh, and through that, have found connections both to the Methodists, the Catholic, uh, primarily those three, uh, pieces.
And so, um. That's my background. My wife, uh, raised Catholic. Uh, we were married in a Catholic church. My daughter was baptized Catholic. Uh, but her first communion was in the Episcopal Church and she attends a Methodist church now while she's at college. Uh, and so all three of those have been influential and, and, and shaping, um, my faith journey.
Uh, [00:13:00] and, uh, I may be going more than you want, but in my own faith, um, I bring a number of the Catholic traditions in my own prayer life. Um. Uh, the Hail Mary and our fathers and, and the glory bees. Uh, just because it's a part of my centering experience mm-hmm. And how I think about my faith. And for me, what I've always loved about the Episcopal Church, and it's also true in the Catholic Church, is that long history and connection to people back.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Matt Thompson: Hundreds and hundreds of years in the fact that they have worshiped in very similar ways. I, I got a book not long ago, which was the history of the, um, Episcopal prayer book that goes back 500, 600 years. Wow. And some of the prayers are exactly the same with just small refinement over time. Uh, and that just matters.
It just, it connects me and roots me, uh, in a very important way. Um. But I'm, I'm very open and ecumenical. I, I believe, uh, I don't know that I have enough audacity to say I've got it figured out, or that we should limit other people's beliefs. Um, but I believe our role at the university is to help people explore their faith [00:14:00] journey.
Um, mine doesn't have to be yours, uh, or vice versa. Um, but I want you to feel comfortable to, to seek out what it is, uh, at the university. Wow. I think I may have lost the thread of your question, so No, feel free to recenter me at any point. I think that was,
Gus Applequist: that was beautiful. Okay. And well said. Yeah. Um, for some of our listeners, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna kind of transition into Kansas Wesley now a little bit more Foley.
Um, all they may know about Kansas Wesleyan is your billboards and ads.
Matt Thompson: Right.
Gus Applequist: Um, and a phrase that's probably familiar to them, but they may not know what it means is the power of and Yes. Um, could you describe kind of, uh. Where that idea has its origins, I guess. And then I, I think it's maybe, or it's, it's, uh, changed a little bit over time and, and so yeah.
Could you speak to that?
Matt Thompson: Yeah. It's, it's interesting that you asked that question right after the previous one because, uh, I think at its root, it is about living and serving a god of abundance, right? Our world is additive and what we bring into it, we don't have a limiting God. Uh, I will not say that's.
The origin of the [00:15:00] idea for us at Kansas Wesleyan. But it's very much how I think about, um, when we use that term. In fact, uh, I talk a lot about that during, uh, baccalaureate. I have a whole talk about God's power and um, and I think that's important as a framing mechanism to, to not live in a fearful world, but to live in a world of abundance.
And that's what that power van gives us. And I believe God is a God of and um. And so at Kansas Wesleyan, most of our students come because there's some experience in high school. They wanna continue, whether it be athletics or music or theater, uh, debate, deca, uh, and so that's the, and it's the Kansas, it's the academic experience and the activity that you want.
It's deeper than that too. It's about being both a student and a community member. It's both volunteering and, um, being a paid, uh, intern. It's about growing both intellectually and spiritually, right? It's all those additive pieces that I believe makes the students that, um, leave us well prepared for the life they're gonna live.
So that really is what the power of and is. It's about thinking about how all the. [00:16:00] All of my life adds up to being who I'm called to be.
Gus Applequist: Hmm. Which obviously that's what you hope for college students is that they, you know, they, they go in as an 18-year-old, usually right out of high school with, with big dreams, but not a, a real clear plan to get there.
Well.
Sydney Collins: And the other thing is, is some of these students are also coming from smaller schools where they got to do everything That's right. So they don't know anything else, or they're coming from large high schools and they've only ever gotta do one thing. That's right. And so they're learning to add on basically as in college.
So yeah, it's kind of the best of both worlds for both. Both types of students.
Matt Thompson: Agreed. But also what happens with our students is all that they get to find other things that become their ads. Mm-hmm. Right? They may have come to play tuba, but they learn about podcasting or they learn about DECA or Right.
So they keep adding these other things on and that's what we should be about. Right? Mm-hmm. And a lot of institutions, bigger schools, you kind of get into one spot. That's all you really can do. But here you can keep adding, [00:17:00] uh, and, and, and trying things on, right? You don't have to keep everything you try on.
Either is an important life lesson, right? Mm-hmm. Some things can be for a season or just for an experience. Mm-hmm. And then you move on and that's okay. Hmm
Gus Applequist: I think it's obvious to, to many people in central Kansas, uh, maybe not the, the corners of the state, but
KW has been on a pretty impressive growth strategy, um, under your leadership from enrollment to new facilities. What do you see as the biggest drivers of that success?
Matt Thompson: Well, for me, all of our decisions come back to how do we serve students. Uh, and having the right tools and resources for them is an important part of that.
Uh, whether that's facilities, new academic programs, new athletic programs, uh, or the right scholarships. So that's what's driven our decisions is how do we make sure our students have the resources they need at the end of the day. That's my job as president. Is to find resources for the people at the institution.
Mm-hmm. I mean, I do other things, but that's really, if I can provide them the resources so they can do what they do to help students. I don't get to interact one-on-one with a lot of students every day. Mm-hmm. Uh, other people do, but my job is to make sure they have the resources. Uh, and so we spent a lot of [00:18:00] time telling that story and helping our, our friends and alumni and donors, uh, invest in that.
Uh, and to see the possibilities of what that means. And we've been very blessed
Gus Applequist: with that. this question just kind of came to me out of the, the clear blue. One of the things that we've talked about, um, on the podcast, um, is how Kansans have a tendency to look up. Hmm. And we have a tendency to, to look at the horizon because for one, we can see the horizon more than maybe in some states.
Sure. Um, and I, I've always been moved by the, the coyote statue that sits on campus. Mm-hmm. Um, and one of the reasons it moves me is, is because it's a, it's a focal point for students of course, is they're walking across the campus, but also because it spends a lot of time looking up.
Matt Thompson: Yes.
Gus Applequist: And, uh, and so, yeah, I guess, what is my question here?
Um. When you look up as a coyote mm-hmm. Um, and as a and a university president, what, what are things on the horizon for you that excite you, but also, [00:19:00] uh, you're not sure how to deal with?
Matt Thompson: Oh. There's a lot to unpack in that second half. Let me just also say though, there are two coyote statues on campus.
The one you referenced is sort of an howling up gaze. There's another one in front of the stadium that's looking out directly. Oh, I forgot about the one in
Sydney Collins: front
Matt Thompson: of the stadium as well. And I think actually, uh, without. Intentionally. I think that's a really good metaphor for what we do at the institution, right?
Mm-hmm. Um, I have a trustee that talks about having bifocal vision, right? It's looking at what's here, but also looking out at the same time. And that's what leaders have to do. Um, and I think, you know, that's what coyotes literally have to do because whereas the prey where our attackers, like, where you have to book up and down to handle those things, uh, in terms of what's out there, um.
We're, um, we've come through so much growth and so much construction, um, um, and, and a lot of wonderful investment. We have taken sort of an internal step back to really assess and talk about what's next. Uh, and there's some big things within our strategic plan that are in development, but not [00:20:00] quite ready, uh, for conversation.
But if I look more broadly, um, what concerns me and what I think about is a, a lack of. National commitment to higher education. Um, we know the growth that happens for particularly young adults. That's who we serve between 18 and 22, 20 3-year-old is some of the most transformational time in their lives.
And if, if folks quit thinking about that or quit investing or quit attending, that is not good for us as a nation. Um, and so that concerns me. I don't fully know how to address that. Um, but a lot of what we're doing at the institution is focused on how do we serve our community? Hmm. And so when I think about what's kind of next, uh, one of our big initiatives is our community resilience hub.
And that's around how do you create resilient communities in 30 mile radiuses. Um, and that starts with food. So the first thing we've done is a new farm training program. Um, we've partnered with the Dale Institute. They are the founders of regenerative organic farming, uh, based in Pennsylvania. If you've ever read like a Men's health [00:21:00] magazine mm-hmm.
That's Rodale Press. Or historically they've sold it now. But that all started with the same family three generations ago, 75 years ago, saying about how do I create the best health in life for myself? So the Rodale, um, sort of catch phrase is healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people. Uh, and we agree with that, but we take it one step further to say healthy communities, right?
So when our soil is healthy, our food is healthy, when food is healthy, people are healthy, when people are healthy, communities are healthy. Uh, and so that's what we're focused on is how do we do that for our community? It kind of got to the point that I couldn't figure out how to solve. Bigger issues, but I felt like we had something to say about local issues.
And so that's where we're spending a good bit of our time and energy and focus now is focused on local issues. Uh, and how do we bring conversations forward? How do we even bring space forward that is safe to talk about things we don't agree about? So we've hosted multiple, um, civil discourse training sessions to know that it's okay not to agree.
But it's not okay to do it, um, in aggressive ways. Uh, we have to be able to sit in a room. Um, we also [00:22:00] talk about within our work, um, around food is that I wanna focus on the 80% we do agree on. And so whatever kind of brought you to the table and trusted in healthy food. Is less important to me than the fact that you're at the table and wanna be a part of those conversations and solutions.
And I hope that can be a model for us across the institution that ripples out over a longer term to our students as well as to the community. Uh, and so that's been a big initiative, um, that we've been really focused on is what can we do? And so other permeations of that is, um, how do we think about supporting law enforcement?
Right. So we've hosted a wellness retreat, uh, for the first time last year. That was Willie Ra, uh, attended because there's a lot of trauma involved in being a first responder, but the trauma doesn't stop when you go home, right? It's also trauma that takes home. There's large numbers of divorce and suicide, other problems.
But if we want people to be good at policing, then we have to support them in what they do in the totality. Uh, and so that's another example of creating resilient communities, right, is creating great law enforcement officers. It's creating great nurses and educators. Other things that we do, but those are a couple of early [00:23:00] examples of things that we're focused on, uh, as we look out to try to address bigger issues, uh, is to say, um, we can't do everything, but we can do at least some things and we can definitely do things in our neighborhood.
Gus Applequist: if our audience doesn't know as an alum and as a, a member of the just community and science, one of the things I really appreciate about what you've done and the university has done in your tenure, um. Is the community partnerships that have been built and, and built upon.
Yeah. Um, 'cause I think that's really meaningful and has made a big difference here at Sinai.
Matt Thompson: I agree. I, I would say, I don't know, the relationship was strong as I entered it had been, but there had been some, some distancing and that was important to me. But you sort of talk about what's great about Kansas.
To me, what's great about Salina is how collaborative this community is. I mean, I've lived a number of places. I have never lived in a community that cared so much about collaboration. Mm-hmm. And I think for Kansas Wesleyan not to be a part of that would be problematic. Uh. It's good for us, but it's also good for people we partner with as well.
Uh, these should be win-win experiences. [00:24:00] Um, but to see just what's happened, just to take downtown for an example, how many people would come together to support that? Uh, I think a lot of other towns would pick fiefdoms and say, no, I want this or that, or, uh, but it really was about being collaborative and that's an amazing part That's.
an Asset, um, to Salina up it to Kansas Wesleyan and I often say, what's good for Kansas? Wesleyan's good for Salina, and what's good for Salina's good for Kansas Wesleyan. And, and it's a symbiotic relationship that's almost 140 years old. And those things have to be strong and that we all benefit by them being that way.
Gus Applequist: We recently had a guest on who was a graduate of the Leadership Kansas program, and, uh, that was one of the things we've kind of learned about it through our work.
Mm-hmm. Making videos and, um, they, they're also trying to cross pollinate ideas across the, the state. Um, and, and I, yeah, that seems like if we can translate. What's happening in pockets across the state, into statewide collaborations. That's right. I think that's such a huge win for everybody. Absolutely.
Sydney Collins: And, and not just the positives. One of the things that he mentioned [00:25:00] was, um, I think he said it was Greensburg. Um, but he goes, they just laid everything out for us. The good, the bad, the ugly, what they were struggling with. Because if they can't be vulnerable, how are they ever gonna get better?
Matt Thompson: Right. It's very true.
Sydney Collins: So that's one of my, one of my favorite. Yeah. We don't wanna
Gus Applequist: sugarcoat. Yeah. Uh, the things that we need to work on. Mm-hmm. But we also want to ignore them either. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Thompson: But vulnerability is hard, right? Yeah. It, it, you have to put a lot out there and be willing to, um, to hear the criticisms, to take the pain that comes back from living through vulnerabilities.
Mm-hmm. Uh, or things you've experienced, whether it's the level of trauma or not. Uh, and so I think that's really hard to do, and so I think it's incumbent upon us as community is to create space to do that. Mm. Uh, and to come together. Um, and I think you create a better community when you do that. Well.
Said.
Sydney Collins: how have you helped students kind of attach their vulnerability to growth? Or is that something that you guys are trying to do?
Matt Thompson: [00:26:00] Absolutely. I would say probably less me specifically. Yeah. Although I do teach a class every fall. It's our Wesleyan experience class.
It's an eight week course. It's sort of extended orientation about preparing. Mm-hmm. Uh, and what I often say in class, and we talk about certain topics, is sort of challenge by choice, be as vulnerable as you want be. There's no wrong answer. Um, but typically the more you. Put out the more you get back from those experiences.
Mm-hmm. Uh, and so just trying to create safe spaces in order to do that. Um, but we do an activity called cross the line at the beginning of every academic year with our new students where, you know, if this is true for you, you cross the line. Uh, so for example, I've, I've, I've lost a parent. You cross the line.
I've thought about suicide. Um, that takes a lot in the first three days of school to be willing to be that vulnerable. Wow. But it always happens. Mm-hmm. And it always works. And I think what it helps, especially students to realize is that they're not alone. They're not the only one that's gone through something and or thank God I didn't cross the line for that one.
I can't imagine having dealt with that. Yeah. And talking about the idea that, you know, my sack [00:27:00] of rocks is my sack of rocks and yours looks worse to me. And you probably think mine looks worse to you. But they're my sack of rocks and I know how to manage them. Uh, and that's okay, right? It's okay. Again, this additive, whether all your experiences have been good or not, they are your experiences.
So how do you manage them and how do you leverage them to do what you want to do? But sometimes it's hard to overcome, right? And so how do you find the space? So I think we've done good things with. Chaplains at the university with ca uh, with counseling services on campus. Um, having lots of people who are in relationship with students because, you know, you and I may not connect mm-hmm.
But we might connect. And so I'm willing to, to speak to you, uh, and you can go deeper and explore things that maybe I haven't done yet. Um, and I think that's what we do. One of the things I'm really proud of is every athletic team has a chaplain assigned to that. So, oh. All 25 teams have chaplains. Um, our music program, our theater program, nursing and education also have chaplains that are assigned to them, and so their job is not to coach or to lead whatever's happening.
Mm-hmm. They're just there to walk alongside students because in any of those activities. [00:28:00] You're gonna have great moments and you're gonna have tough moments. Mm-hmm. And it's okay to step back when you're having a tough moment and to process it with somebody who maybe it isn't, the coach is the right person to do that.
So giving people that experience to find out in life. I need people in my corner. I've told students number of times, uh, in the last few weeks that we've been working on some stuff in our class, they say you are the sum total of the five people you spend the most time with. So those people are not.
Positively contributing to you. You may not be in the right circle. So how do you frame yourself so that you find your circle group that lifts you up, um, and, and challenges you to be your best version?
Gus Applequist: Yeah. That, that's a good, I trying to think, I think there's a
Sydney Collins: book that someone wrote about that of how Oh, I, oh, I'm sure that, um, because I've heard that before.
Mm-hmm. And to expand a little, a little bit on it, it's basically if you, and this is a very blanketed statement. If you're only surrounding yourself with super bad influences, you're, I don't know, [00:29:00] without being too drastic. But if you're like just hanging out, drinking every night and you're not pushing yourself to be better, then you're not gonna get better.
But if you're hanging out with people who, Hey, what are you reading this, I would recommend this book. Or like at least encouraging you to. Educate yourself more than just being stagnant. Stagnant. Mm-hmm. It goes a long way.
Matt Thompson: But it's also what you consume too, right? Yeah, that's true. So it's not just people, it's your social media, it's the television programs you're watching.
What is it doing to enhance you or to fill you up? Mm-hmm. And not. Make you feel bleak or downtrodden, right? Yeah.
Gus Applequist: On that note. Well, okay, I guess this is a question. I, I don't believe you have any social media accounts. Is that true?
Matt Thompson: I, I'm on LinkedIn, but I'm not active on it.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. And I'd say that puts you in the minority of people in, in the country.
Matt Thompson: Yeah, probably.
Gus Applequist: And, um, I, I, I've always been curious why,
Matt Thompson: uh, so I was early on when I was here, um, and, uh, a couple of things. Uh, one is. I was [00:30:00] taking pictures at events, like I'm at a choir concert. Oh look, I'm, and I'm like, I'm not at the concert. Yeah. Like, you know, I'm not there, I'm not present and that's not what I wanted.
Uh, and then, you know, just these are, nobody cares what food I'm eating, you know, the sort of things that people were taking pictures of. Um, but then, uh, actually during, uh, LT, probably 6, 7, 8 years ago, I decided I was gonna take a break from it. Uh, that it wasn't giving me anything positive back. And so I stopped and it's better for me.
Um, and. I mean, at the end of the day, we have somebody who manages our social media, the insufficient. So there's something happening, somebody's seeing it. Um, but it's not where I felt like I could contribute the most. Uh, and it wasn't doing anything for me, so I stepped away from it.
Gus Applequist: I aspire to, to do such things, but always tend to fall back into using social media.
It has, but you're in a
Matt Thompson: media field, so Right. It's true. It is different. Um, I guess technically promotion of the institution is media and those things, but, um. It's, it's not where I feel like I have something to say and to do. I feel like I have other venues and ways to, to engage
Gus Applequist: and yeah, I know as a student and [00:31:00] as an alum, I've seen you show up.
You know, for athletics, for, you know, uh, fine arts for, for any event that's happening. Yeah. And, and I'm, I'm sure that, that helps not having that distraction.
Matt Thompson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, part of my job, I think, is the ministry of presence. Yeah. Um, you know, I, I wore this partly because part of my job is to be the banner of the institution.
Mm-hmm. Wherever I show up. I mean, I've done a, there's a lot of research behind this. The university has shown up. Mm-hmm. Um, and so by being an event, whether I'm there for the whole thing or not, the fact that the president's come is given legitimacy. And importance to the event. Mm-hmm. Um, and with so many of our students being so active and involved in so many things, it's important they know that I'm paying attention.
Mm-hmm. Uh, and so, um, plus I love going to stuff like, yeah. I mean, I kind of went to college and never left. Mm-hmm. Uh, and so it's what I know and so I love that world that we live in. Um, but I also want them to know. That I care and I'm paying attention, uh, to what they're doing and what it matters. I often tell them that they are students are representing themselves, their families, and the university, and that we're paying attention and we hope that they're doing [00:32:00] their best at all three of those every day.
Um, but um, from a, uh, sort of from a faith standpoint, presence matters, right? Mm-hmm. To be present in a moment with somebody. Um, and while I knew that I had an experience. Probably my second or third year here. It was night with the Oats event. We were at downstairs, downtown at Tony's Pizza, and it was just lots of people and just lots of energy and noise.
And we had sat down to dinner and Janet got up and walked away and I was talking to somebody and all of a sudden there's somebody else sitting in her seat and it was the wife of an alum. Who had recently passed away and she said, I just had to be here for him. And like we had this moment and she had to tell me.
Right? Like, just coming wasn't enough. She had to tell the university. Um, and so when you think about it, Alma Mater Latin being second mother. Mm-hmm. Right? Um, it really matters to people often when their most successes come, is later in life when their parents are no longer alive. And so coming back and telling the story.
To the alma mater, to the place that made them. And that's part of my, the positional [00:33:00] place I hold is really important to hear them and to validate them to say, you're doing good stuff. Because that's what people wanna hear, right? They want to know that what they're doing matters. And when you don't sometimes have a parent or somebody in your life that you would share that with.
To get, to come back to the place that formed you is important. And I could have missed that moment. Right. I could have, yeah. Yeah. And moved on. But we really had a very special moment, um, that I think was very cathartic for her and was very touching for me that she would want to share that with me. Hmm.
Gus Applequist: There's few jobs around [00:34:00] where someone has written a book about doing that job. Hmm. And I'm, there's a former president of, of Kansas, Wesley Marshall Stanton, who recently wrote a book. So I guess a two part question. Part one is, have you read his book yet? I have. It's great. I encourage
Matt Thompson: everyone to read it.
Yeah.
Gus Applequist: And, and I guess second, what lessons did you draw from that book, uh, in, in how you lead?
Matt Thompson: Well, I'm a huge fan of Marshall Stanton. Uh, he and Janice have been, um. Wonderfully kind to Jennifer and to me, uh, since our arrival. And I would say, I recognize that's hard, right? Like he spent 18 and a half years leading this institution.
Mm-hmm. And it was the heart and soul of who he was. You read the book and it's very clear. I wasn't surprised by that. Uh, but it comes out very clearly in the book. Um, but it's hard to hand that off to the next person. Mm-hmm. And I'm actually several people beyond the next person. Um, but they have been just.
Phenomenally kind to me. Um, but to read from his perspective, um, what he experienced was really interesting, um, [00:35:00] to talk, talk to. But sort of, uh, through his reading, what he experienced was interesting because it was very, I think, raw at times and, and very forthright, um, both the goods and the bads, uh, which we all experience in the work that we do, especially reading leading institution, especially for as long as he did, uh, and took us really from a place of.
Unsteadiness to real stability. And I tell him all the time, it's because of what he did. The university is thriving and so I couldn't do what I was doing without him and his hard work and, and, and Dr. Tedder who followed him. Uh, and so, uh, I really applaud him for being willing to put out, talking about vulnerability mm-hmm.
Uh, what those experiences were. And, um, and also I think he's just a paragon of great faith, uh, uh, that is, uh, affirming and reassuring mm-hmm.
Gus Applequist: On this work. Hmm. You know, someone in your position is always a little bit uncomfortable, uh, talking about yourself because you, you do represent the university like you said, right?
So I appreciate, you know, that you've already shared your faith journey and things like that about, um, your personal experience. [00:36:00] Um, so. What if you, if you could cast a vision for what you hope your legacy in Salina is, when you do move away or you do move on in whatever form that takes, um, what would you hope that legacy is?
And, and I, I'll let you answer the easy question, which is the Wesley and what after that. Okay. But I wanna know you personally.
Matt Thompson: I'll start with kind of a random answer, which is my daughter is applying for something at her campus and she really had to speak to who she is, uh, and that, so I've been working with her on that this weekend.
And so that's what's top of mind is I hope when I leave here, my legacy is being a, a person who, uh, cared about campus and community. I cared about the development of all the people in our community and supporting and uplifting them, uh, that I was fair, that I acted with, um, integrity, um, that I. While I didn't make the decision everybody wanted that they understood where I came from and why I made the decisions, uh, that I made, uh, and that the place is better, right?
Like. This is all great, but if the place [00:37:00] falls apart two years after I'm here, that's not good, right? Mm-hmm. Uh, so I hope I'm setting as Marshall had done the foundation for what comes for the next 50 and a hundred years and leave it in a place that is continuing to be a place that draws and inspires people.
Um, but I also hope my legacy is pushing us beyond our campus boundaries. The work we're doing with Community Resilience Hub, I really think. Pushes us into conversations we haven't necessarily been a part of in the past. And I think our faculty and our staff have a lot to say. I think our students have a lot that they want to contribute, and I believe we're opening up the doors to some new things that we haven't done.
So I hope that the, the connection point between the success of the community and the university are more deeply tied and that we're talking about some of those tough, vulnerable issues that we need to as a society, because Kansas Will, Wesleyan was willing to step forward into those spaces, uh, uh, to, to do that, uh, and to recognize that.
Um, success of the whole is more important than success of anything individually. Hmm.
Gus Applequist: Well, thank you very much. I, I, I, you know, I could honestly just keep asking you questions all day. Great. Um, [00:38:00] uh, and that's partially because I know you so well and partially 'cause I'm an alum and care deeply about the institution.
Um, but, but thank you for coming and sharing today. Is there anything, uh, that's top of mind that, that you, you thought, I hope we get to talk about that today?
Matt Thompson: Yes. I came with one thing to make sure you knew. That Paul C. Fisher, the inventor of the Space Pen, is a graduate of Kansas Wesleyan.
Gus Applequist: What you have been the space listening to the podcast.
Matt Thompson: Very good. And of course, if we're gonna stick on aeronautics, then Glen Martin is also a graduate of Kansas Wesleyan attended, so lots of good connection points to, to space and air travel.
Gus Applequist: If you don't understand the connection, I am a deep, uh. A fan of the space pen. I almost always have it in my pocket.
I happen to know what it fell out of my pocket today, but, uh, which is why
Sydney Collins: he always has to buy new ones. That's also a previous podcast. Yes. Of, of how many it goes through.
Matt Thompson: Uh, we used to have, um, some that had the Kansas Wesleyan engraved. I meant to look for one to bring you today. In fact, I actually
Gus Applequist: already have one.
Oh, do. you But that's why So one hasn't
Matt Thompson: lost Yeah. Is because [00:39:00] of that. Uh, but you know, you talk about kind of how those things move generationally. Um, Stephanie Milam, who's a trustee and a graduate of Kansas Wesleyan mm-hmm. Works at nasa and it was the face of the, the web telescope launch. Yeah. Uh, and is doing remarkable work and so proud of her.
Right. And she's not the only, we have four or five other alums also working at nasa, and so we need to keep. Being a place that prepares people to go out and push the boundaries of knowledge. Mm-hmm. And to how we're gonna serve and help the world,
Gus Applequist: Well, um, I guess a good way to, to end would be how, where can people learn more about Kansas Wesleyan?
Matt Thompson: Well, the easiest thing is, uh, www.kw.edu. Uh, visit us at our website, but more important. Come visit us on campus. People all the time say, oh, I've driven past campus. We haven't seen campus. You gotta get out and walk the campus. It's a beautiful, I'm biased. I know, but it's a beautiful campus. It really is kind of a park like setting to be in.
So I encourage people to come by, but go to an athletic event, go to a concert, go to a play, come see what our students are doing. Um, and that just means the world to them to have people there watching what they're doing. And I think you'll be enriched by doing it. [00:40:00]
Gus Applequist: I had a vision as you were saying that of, uh, my first experience with Kansas Wesleyan was when I was a fourth grade student, uh, here in Salina.
And I started playing the double bass and, uh, my, my teacher at school asked my mom to get me in private lessons, and so she reached out to everybody she knew and they all directed her to Eric Stein. Yes. Yeah. And so I. I, my mom and I carried my bass, I carried the neck, she carried the in pen. And we, we would carry the base, you know, uh, from our car, which we parked in front of Pioneer Hall, which is now, you can't walk, you can't park there anymore.
And we'd carry it into Sam's Hall of Fine Arts and upstairs where his office was. And, uh, I cannot tell you the difference in the institution from, I'm about to cry, um, from that day to now. Mm-hmm. Um. From the, uh.
It was an empty place. There wasn't a lot happening. It hadn't been [00:41:00] fixed up in years. And uh, yeah, I'm just deeply proud to be a coyote and, uh, to call that place as one of my own,
Matt Thompson: you know, you know, at some level that's part of my job, right, is to make sure the value of your degree. Continues to get better, right?
Because people don't ask you what the school was like when you were there. They ask you what it's like today. Mm-hmm. Right. So the strength of the institution today is the strength of your degree. And so our job is to keep moving it forward so that one, you're proud, and two, that it has meaning and consequence when you go out into the world and tell people that you're a graduate of Kansas Wesleyan.
So we're proud to do that and we appreciate your help in doing that as well.
Gus Applequist: Well, thank you very much. Thank you. That was great.
Gus Applequist: I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Matt Thompson. Uh, I had no idea I was gonna cry, so that was a bit unexpected. But yeah, I thought, I thought it was good. And, and one of my goals in that interview was to get to the mat underneath the university. Um, 'cause he doesn't, as we said in the, in the interview.
Yeah. He doesn't talk a lot about himself. And to be honest with you, if I knew he had a Catholic and Episcopalian background, I certainly forgot it.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. As I mentioned earlier, like I've, I have, I've never had a like conversation with him, so mine was just. My, my whole part of that conversation, granted, um, you, you took the lead on this, but I was just kind of.
Absorbing the [00:44:00] Matt-ness. Mm-hmm. And again, how, how his ideas kind of form and where that comes from. And actually knowing like he has sort of that creative mindset from being a theater, being in theater Yeah. And being, um, but also wanting the structure portion of it, um, really makes a lot more sense when you think of like how the university has grown in the past, past few years.
It's pretty fascinating.
Gus Applequist: so I'm currently in the pit for a, a show here in Salina at our community theater called Come From Away. And our, normally a pit orchestra in a theater is underneath the stage basically. Mm-hmm. But on this one, we're on the backside of the stage and from that perspective we can see the backside of the set, right?
Mm-hmm. It's in front of us. And, uh, what you don't realize when you're sitting in a theater is that they don't paint the backside of the set and that, you know, like the backside of the set is.
Sydney Collins: Literally just two by fours. Yeah. It's, it's plywood. It's,
Gus Applequist: it's only as structured as it needs to be. [00:45:00] And I feel like to some extent that that explains like why Matt's good at what he does is because you have to, you have to be both good at, at spreading the vision and, and creating something on stage that attracts attention.
Mm-hmm. But also like. You have real confines within, you have within which you have to work. Mm-hmm. And you have to, you have to do both things well, to be a good set builder or Yeah. University president.
Sydney Collins: Very much so. Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Well, do you have something else for us? I do
Sydney Collins: have stuff for, for us today, I was kind of trying to figure out, um, different elements today.
We'll get to this, um, Kansas history piece here in a minute. Um. But with that, let me pull up my stuff for today. I've got a couple stories, so I don't know if this is a new segment, but just fun things that I've learned. Okay. Um, thanks to, uh, Kansas public radio.org. Um, I found these stories on there. Um, did you know [00:46:00] that groups say that Lawrence has the best tasting water.
Gus Applequist: I think maybe I have heard that. Yes. So sorry.
Sydney Collins: Yeah, there is a little explanation. Um, and I'll post the link to the story so you guys can research it further. But Lawrence has the best, best tasting tap water in Kansas, at least that, uh, that's what the Kansas section of the American Water Works Associa Association and the Kansas Water.
Environment associations say they've named the water that comes from Clinton Lake, the best in the state. Um, the Lawrence Journal World Reports, um, it's a huge achievement for the Lawrence, uh, municipal services and operations department because in 2021, the city had to treat the water multiple times to get rid of, in a quote, unpleasant taste and odor caused by algae.
Ugh. Yeah, gross. So the Clinton, uh, lake water treatment plant can process up to 25 million [00:47:00] gallons of water each day. Hmm.
Gus Applequist: In my experience, the best tasting water is the water I can't taste. So I, I will, but
Sydney Collins: water does have a taste when you get down to it, like, you know it's water when you drink it. So therefore, okay.
I feel like it has a taste.
Gus Applequist: I will, I am essentially nose blind, like I can't smell very well, and so maybe I don't have the best taste either. Okay.
Sydney Collins: also from, um, the Kansas Pub Public Radio. Um, I was searching for the water story and then I found this one too. Um, the Kansas Museum of History, so mm-hmm.
They have been going through a huge renovation for the past few years. But they are going to reopen, um, to the public November 22nd. So, but they have, um, let's see, a year long renovation process. Um, the renovation of the museum includes updating records and pictures and remodeling the lobby. The museum will also now, uh, be set up thematically instead [00:48:00] of chronologically.
So it'll be in different themes rather than chronological.
Gus Applequist: Is this the, the building that's on the, the west side of Topeka? Yes. Okay. Yeah. I'm glad there's been a lot of road construction right there too. Mm-hmm. So this, it'll be good for them to open, it'll be good back open. Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: So that led me down another rabbit hole of.
Kansas history. Ah, okay. So this all comes from the Kansas Museum of History, um, in Topeka off their, uh, Facebook page. So they've been doing these cool little segments, um, in order to gear everyone up for the reopening. So, uh, next slide please. Merlin. So I want you to name the artifact, and this is where Sydnee shows you a picture and you have to tell me what it is.
Gus Applequist: I live for this. This is
Sydney Collins: great. Next slide, please.
Gus Applequist: Oh, wow.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. So for those listening at home, it's kind of a triangular box, has a little handle on it. It's a little worn, [00:49:00] it's metal.
Gus Applequist: I think I have a guess. Okay. I think it's a, a shoe shiner's box.
Sydney Collins: You are very close. Very, very close. So this is a foot warmer.
So that little, um, uh, drawer kind of in the side of it is where you put coal hot coal in and you put it in the side. It keeps your feet warm. Here's little, uh, info about it. Um, so the use objects like this foot warmer, um, to keep your feet warm. Uh, this item was used by Dr. Otto Clarence Fritz when he worked as a.
Horse and buggy doctor. He used the warmer in both his buggy and later in his car while making house calls during winter months. It is covered in green wool carpet and features a drawer that held the goal.
Gus Applequist: Did he make it?
Sydney Collins: No.
Gus Applequist: Oh, okay. I was just, I have no idea. That's all I got out of it. Well, that's very interesting.
Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. So you can [00:50:00] see like where his feet would be from where, where the carpet's worn out. I was
Gus Applequist: thinking like they kept their little brush and their shoe polish and little, I mean, it's not a terrible
Sydney Collins: idea. All right. Here's the next one. This one might be, some of these are easy and some of these are hard, so I want you, what are these structures called?
Gus Applequist: Ah, um, um, dugouts.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. And I just realized it's on the picture. Oh,
Gus Applequist: well. Jokes on me because I didn't even see that. Okay.
Sydney Collins: Well, yes. Um, so this is, these are from, uh, Norton County. So dugout served as a practical dwelling for early Kansas settlers, uh, in when resources like timber were scarce. 'cause what a lot of people know is trees are not native really to the prairie.
They had to plant them, so they had to, um, make dugouts. So the structures were used as a temporary living quarters until improvements could be made. Um, and these photos, um, show dugouts in Norton County. [00:51:00] Visitors came to learn more about the history of dugouts in. Other earthly structures, um, when the gallery reopens.
Gus Applequist: So can I tell you a brief story? Yes. Okay. Um. So my family settled in the countryside, uh, near here in the late 18 hundreds. Mm-hmm. Like 1880s. And, uh, we have several different written kind of testimonies of different periods in time. And, uh, the first family that came, they came on the train, they arrived in Salina, and they didn't have any way to get to their stake, to their, to the land that they had claimed.
Uh, so they had. They had to basically hire some random guy outside the train station with a wagon to drive them out to their stake with all their stuff. Mm-hmm. And then they were just there in the middle of a field with no plan. And it was October, November, winter was coming fast. Oh man. And so before the sun even set, they look up and on the horizon there's smoke coming up over the hill.
So they, they walk over the [00:52:00] hill and there's a dugout. So they go up to the dugout and they knock on the door. And lo and behold, it's their neighbors from Sweden who moved here before them, and they spent the whole first winter in the same dugout with that family. That's wild. It wasn't until the next summer that they were able to build their own dugout.
Mm-hmm. And then eventually a house and move on.
Sydney Collins: Crazy. So, yeah.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. To some extent I wouldn't be here if dugouts, uh, hadn't sheltered our family. Well, well there you go.
Sydney Collins: Alright, we're next. Okay. We're back to name the artifact. Okay.
Gus Applequist: Sorry. Isn't that like the thing on a carousel you ride?
Sydney Collins: Correct. Do you, we've talked about the carousel before.
Do you know, uh, what carousel?
Gus Applequist: The CW Parker.
Sydney Collins: It is CW Parker. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
Gus Applequist: The one in Leavenworth.
Sydney Collins: Um, they said this one is from Abilene.
Gus Applequist: Oh, okay.
Sydney Collins: But actually it, it's kind of got a weird story, so it's highlighting. Abilene, [00:53:00] but the, the, I believe this horse is in their collection in Topeka. Okay.
I think. Mm-hmm. Well, let me read there a little bit. So, CW Parker built his first carousel in 1892 before starting his own carnival supply company. A few years later, the CW Parker Amusement Company created a variety of devices and machines including, uh, shooting galleries, Ferris wheels and carousels.
The company operated in Abilene until 1911 when it relocated to Leavenworth. Okay. That's the piece that we have never been able to. Yeah. That makes a lot more sense. Okay. To um, 'cause for those who are listening, I know C-B-D-C-W Parker to be in Leavenworth. Gus knows it to be in Abilene, and we've never been able to figure out why it's in two places.
Yeah. So that is why, this is why
Gus Applequist: we need the historians. Exactly.
Sydney Collins: Very good. Okay. Um, so relocated, uh, to Leavenworth. After Parker's death in 1932, his son managed the company until the 1950s. A number of [00:54:00] Parker's carousels still exist today, including one at the Dickinson County Heritage Center in Abilene.
The 1901 carousel is the. Oldest known Parker Carousel still in operation. It is listed in the National Register Register of Historical Places in 8 19 87. Um, and the Kansas Museum of History has two Parker Carousel horses in its collection. So, and they will be in display in the new gallery.
Gus Applequist: You, uh, if you haven't ridden the one in Abilene, it's worth a trip.
Yeah, it and in Leavenworth. Yeah, I
Sydney Collins: say you make a road trip out of it. And just you both, both
Gus Applequist: the, I don't, I've never done the one in, in Leavenworth, so I can't speak to that, but I've never
Sydney Collins: done the one in Abilene. The one in
Gus Applequist: Abilene, uh, has like an old organ and Yeah. Uh, symbols and things that are like automated, like That's cool.
It's
Sydney Collins: creepy. Yeah. It kind of is.
Gus Applequist: It's great.
Sydney Collins: All right, last one. Who is the family? And this one's hard. This is, this is the one that I thought [00:55:00] was just interesting and weird and I don't know is a very acceptable answer. Is there any hint you can
Gus Applequist: give me?
Sydney Collins: Um, mental health.
Gus Applequist: Oh, is this like, uh, trim Truman Capote, like, Nope. No, not in cold. Okay.
Sydney Collins: You ready? Yeah. So these are the Menninger. So this story comes out of Topeka, so the Menninger, M-E-N-N-I-N-G-E-R-S. Um, were well known leaders in 20th century psychiatry and mental health.
Charles f Menninger. His son, Carl opened their first psychiatric clinic in 1919 before building a sanitarium in 1925 on the outskirts of Topeka. Eventually a training school and children's facilities were developed as well. Um, and then at one point the Menninger Foundation employed more than a thousand people [00:56:00] between the two campuses.
Gus Applequist: Wow.
Sydney Collins: Yeah,
Gus Applequist: I suppose I haven't heard of it.
Sydney Collins: Well, in 2003, the clinic moved to Texas to affiliate itself with Baylor Medical College.
Gus Applequist: Oh, snap.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: So where it still continues to operate today, the State Archives has a large collection of materials relating to the Menninger Foundation, some of which will be on display at the new gallery.
Gus Applequist: Very cool. There you go. Very cool. Yeah, I had no idea, first of all, that there's a sanatorium there. That makes sense. Yeah. Um, but also that it yeah. Has a, has some historical significance. Very cool.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm. I'll put all those links in the show notes, um, and make sure to check out the Kansas Museum of History as it reopens November 22nd.
Gus Applequist: Lovely. Yeah. Thank you. That was fun. Yeah. Well, we come to the end of another episode of Ask A Kansan thank you for joining us today.
Sydney Collins: Uh, make sure to check us out on all the social medias and please share with at least one person. If you're an avid listener, I'm sure you're running outta people, but [00:57:00] please keep on sharing.
Gus Applequist: Every, everyone matters. Yeah, everyone matters, that's for sure. Um, yeah, and, and, uh, please, uh, comment, like, subscribe. If there's any, uh, stories you think we should be telling, uh, reach out to us. We, yeah. We're always looking for what's next on the podcast, so, and we'll see you next time. Yeah, thanks.