D.C. K-Stater supports the mission of the Alumni Association through Tradition Founders
By Tim Schrag '12
K-State Alumni Association
Wayne Stoskopf ’10 likes to cheer on the Wildcats in person whenever possible. But he’ll root for the ’Cats wherever he happens to be. He sports purple regardless of the location.
“There's been a lot of good games I've gone to,” he said. Those moments are cherished memories for Stoskopf.
No matter where you find him – from his homebase in Washington, D.C. to a nearby away game in Morgantown, West Virginia; or a less local trip to Dublin, Ireland – an essential part of that experience is attending pregame parties, watch parties and/or pep rallies sponsored by the K-State Alumni Association.
“It's always good to see K State play,” he said. “I like to come back to a home game and see what's going on. Sometimes, like last year, it's easier just to make it out to a West Virginia game or make an event of it to go to a bowl game. It is a fun way to see other alumni and catch up with people. You never know who you're going to run into, particularly at the away games.”
He recalls a period of time during the Collin Klein ’11, ’19 era of K-State football the D.C. Alumni Club shared a bar with a Texas Tech watch party group. After a few several seasons of very close games with the Red Raiders, the Tech group found a new watch party spot. Most likely because K-State usually got the win.
“They moved on to different bars and wanted to be further away from us for future ones,” he said.
He also has fond memories K-State basketball game against George Washington University in D.C. and other away games like Virigina Tech.
Stoskopf has been a lifelong K-Stater. He remembers making away game trips to Lincoln, Nebraska, to cheer for the ’Cats as they battled the Huskers. As a student at K-State, he served as student body vice president, a member of Blue Key senior honorary, a member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and the K-State Alumni Association’s Student Alumni Board.
Through Student Alumni Board he helped coordinate the Wildcats Forever program. Wildcats Forever is the student alumni association. Its members receive a T-shirt and opportunities throughout the year to participate in contests and giveaways.
“Getting people to come into the building, whether at the beginning of their K-State career through Wildcats Forever, and then also at the end with the Grad Bash, was fun to see both bookends,” Stoskopf said of his time on SAB.
One such opportunity that Stoskopf helped organize was a bus trip to the University of Missouri for a football game.
“While the bus trip to Mizzou ended with a cold night game in November, we were prepared with K-State sweatshirts and blankets,” he said. “We stayed loud cheering for the cats in a far corner away section while the cats tried to rally in the 4th quarter.”
Now as an alumnus, he has plenty of purple in his office including the annual wall calendar provided to members of the Alumni Association and regularly awaits the arrival of the K-Stater magazine.
Additionally, he understands these events and meaningful moments don’t just happen because of goodwill. He regularly contributes to Tradition Founders, the Alumni Association’s annual fund, to ensure that can continue.
“Tradition Founders is a great way to support the Alumni Association for all of the activities that they're doing, and to really continue to be that connection back to the university and the events are great, but I also know the programming on campus is really important too,” he said. “It’s a fun way to stay connected and last year they had the Willie statue as another incentive to donate back to Tradition Founders. But really the bigger incentive is knowing the good work that's happening on campus and connecting with alumni, not only at events, but around the country.”