January 27, 2020
Two K-State students to present at 2020 Community Engagement Symposium
Two K-State Students will offer keynote speeches on March 23, the opening day of the 2020 Community Engagement Symposium in the K-State Alumni Center. Students will be front and center in this annual symposium organized by the Center for Engagement and Community Development at K-State.
Hayley Spellman, senior in political science and communication studies, will present "Unleashing Our Voice: Empowering a Generation." Spellman is president of Wildcats Vote, a nonpartisan independent student organization dedicated to increasing student voter participation. She leads K-State planning for the 2020 ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and was active in voter registration drives that won K-State a Silver Seal designation for voter participation on university campuses in the 2018 midterm election.
Ron Orchard, a graduate student in veterinary medicine and public health, will present "Building Relationships to Empower Engagement." Orchard is a licensed veterinary technician with years of involvement in animal shelters before he came to K-State to help establish the shelter medicine program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. He was instrumental in establishing a mobile surgery unit teaching fourth-year students about all aspects of veterinary shelter medicine, and organized the first symposium on the subject at K-State.
On Tuesday, March 24, a student-led PechaKucha will feature several presenters in a rapid-fire series of short speeches answering the questions, "What is student success?" and "What is the Public Good?" For those interested in presenting, the call for proposals submission deadline is Jan. 31. In addition to the PechaKucha, the symposium is soliciting oral paper presentations, panel discussions, posters and workshops on this year's topic, "Student Success and the Public Good." The symposium steering committee will review all submissions and announce the final program on Feb. 14.
The symposium will draw participants from across Kansas and from other Midwestern states. Students may register for free, but must pay to attend the luncheon at which the student keynote speakers are featured. Registration details are online at k-state.edu/cecd/2020-engagement-symposium/conferenceregistration.html.