Tag: LAS

Elliott School alum applies WSU experience at Take 36 film competition

When Jacob Workentine ’23 signed up for Tallgrass Film Festival’s Take 36 competition, he wasn’t expecting that he and his friends from Wichita State, Payton Steiner and Luke Arrasmith, would take first place and leave the weekend with a check for $1,000.

“I feel like I’m still in shock from our win, especially seeing the other creators who participated,” Workentine, director of K-9: The Car Chaser, said. “Being in this competition with them was such an honor.”

Take 36, an annual competition hosted by Tallgrass Film Festival, challenges creatives like Workentine and his teammates to write, shoot and edit a short film in just 36 hours. But this kind of creative crunch is what the director loves most.

He remembers how his passion for filmmaking developed. “In high school, my teachers would let us either write an essay or create a video,” Workentine said. “And I would only ever pick the latter option.” His first video project involved a rap battle between anthropomorphic personas of the U.S. and Canada, competing for the title of most impressive geographic features.

At Wichita State, that passion for filmmaking only continued to develop. He took up positions in the Dean’s Office for the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the office of Counseling and Prevention Services and the Black Fox Crew video team, under the direction of his professor, Kevin Hager.

It was this diversity of opportunity that made Workentine’s time at WSU so invaluable.  “As a student in the Elliott School of Communication, I took as many opportunities as were presented to me,” he said. “I am so grateful to the faculty members that created a safe place for me to not just try new things, but try a bit of everything.”

Now a marketing director at INTRUST Bank Arena, Workentine’s applied learning opportunities serve both his personal creative pursuits and his career.

“The number of skills I was able to confidently list on my resume based on my experience at Wichita State set me apart from other candidates,” Workentine said. “But, more importantly, employers value a team member that can learn, and those applied learning experiences show that I care to learn.”

Transformational estate gift will benefit first-generation students at Wichita State

Ed and Marla ’71/86 Flentje have designated a transformational estate gift to create the Flentje Scholarship Fund at Wichita State University. The gift will support first-generation students with financial needs to seek degrees in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 

Ed and Marla have been lifelong advocates of education, and both have pursued careers in in which they aimed to inspire the same passion in others. They believe young people who aspire to a college education should have that opportunity and hope this scholarship will help open the door for deserving students.

Ed and Marla Flentje

They are establishing this scholarship in memory of their parents, Augusta Flentje and Paul McManis, who encouraged their pursuit of higher education. Both Ed and Marla were the first in their immediate families to complete undergraduate degrees and  believe their educations built a solid foundation for their careers and lives.

Ed’s mother, Augusta Flentje, was the daughter of Czech immigrants and encouraged her three children to seek college educations. After her husband passed away, she pursued her own degree, graduated magna cum laude, and taught elementary school until her retirement.

Marla’s father, Paul McManis, spoke in ways that assumed she would attend and excel in her college studies. He was the only sibling in his large family to attend college, but was forced to drop out during the depression to help with the family farm. He never lost his yearning to continue his education, even enrolling in evening classes at Wichita State while working full time at Boeing. The image of him studying late at night is one of Marla’s cherished memories.

Ed and Marla both have strong ties to Wichita State University.

In 1979, Ed joined the faculty of the Center for Urban Studies, which evolved into the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs at the University, and taught in the field of public administration for 35 years. He has authored and edited numerous books and articles on governance and public policy, most recently coauthoring Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics. He retired from Wichita State in 2014 and continues to support the university as professor emeritus.

Ed served as director of the Hugo Wall School from 1999 to 2008. He also served in cabinet positions with Kansas governors Robert Bennett and Mike Hayden, and later as interim city manager for the City of Wichita and interim president of Emporia State University.

Marla has been a Shocker from the beginning, earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the university and later serving as an associate director of the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs. In addition to her time at Wichita State, Marla’s 35-year career has involved education and leadership development in professional management for those serving in local government. She served as director of education for the Kansas Association of Counties for seven years, and since 2006, has worked as senior consultant with The Austin Peters Group, advising social sector clients on executive recruitment and human resource management.

Significant scholarship established to benefit LAS and CFA students

In 1971, Mike James was finishing out his year as WSU’s student body president and preparing to graduate from WSU with a degree in political science. He had attended Wichita State on a basketball scholarship and planned to apply for scholarships to go to law school. But as is often the course with best-laid-plans – things change.

Uncertain about what his career trajectory would be, James thought about many future possibilities. But what he didn’t imagine in those last days as a Shocker student was one day giving $1.5 million to create a scholarship program at WSU. And yet, 52 years later, that’s exactly what he did. To be awarded through the Distinguished Scholarship Invitational, the newly established Mike and Mary James Scholarship will provide $10,000 each year for four years to a student in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences or the College of Fine Arts.

“The experiences I had at Wichita State – the people I met, the things I participated in – they went a long way to forming who I am,” James says. “I’d like to see as many students as possible have the same opportunities I had.” He isn’t exaggerating about how important the connections he made at WSU were. His first job came about through a local banker who knew him from the basketball team. “He asked me if I had any interest in banking, and I didn’t,” he says with a laugh. “But I didn’t know what else to do, so I said, ‘Sure, I’ll talk to someone.’”

He was offered a position at a bank in Chicago, and from there his career took off. Since then, he has worked as a vice president or higher at eight different Fortune 100 companies, including Nestlé, Kraft and Motorola. Demanding as his work schedule was, he focused on family – even joining his wife, a professional model, for a photo shoot or two. (That’s “monster” James, BTW, lurking in the background of the photo above.) And he stayed connected to his alma mater. In 2017, he was recognized with the Alumni Achievement Award. He joined the WSU Foundation’s National Advisory Council in 2011 and has served as a member of the Fairmount College Advisory Council as well as on the WSUFAE’s board of directors.

“I think you really owe the university something for all the energy that people there have put into your life,” he says. “A college education can change the trajectory of your life, wherever that leads.”