Wildcat Besties: Our members share their favorite memories with their K-State friends
Jordan Wegele ’14 will never forget meeting her two best friends at K-State the day
she moved into her apartment.
“I had transferred in as a junior and had gotten the room via a friend of a friend
of a friend…as these things go,” she recalls. “I had no idea what these two gals would
be like, all I knew is that they had the same name and at least one of them seemed
nice. As it turned out, both were the absolute best, fun and great friends an introvert
like me could ask for.”
In the month of May, the K-State Alumni Association celebrated Membership Appreciation
Month, and our theme was “K-State Friends.” In honor, we asked our members to share
their favorite memories with their Wildcat besties.
For Wegele (pictured above), the friends she met at K-State — Chelsea Aeschliman Gentry '14 and Chelsie Green
Muniger '12, '14 — quickly became family.
“Our personalities blended together beautifully and we three became fast friends,”
she said. “We would have building-wide welcome parties at our place to greet new students.
We would hang out with ‘the boys downstairs’ to watch games and always bring them
baked goods. On snow days we would go sledding in the park, make cookies and cocoa
then have dance parties (where I may or may not have bruised my hand from going a
little hard on the dance moves). We would decorate our little apartment for every
holiday with our shoestring budgets and made it feel like home.
“We loved to laugh together, hang together, study together, we would even cry together.
We could talk about anything. What a huge blessing these ladies are to me. We are
still friends to this day, and I love that it gives me an excuse to go back to Manhattan
to see them and remember some of the best times of my life.”
Here are some of the other stories of K-State friendship shared by our members:
💜 Louanne Theilmann Isernhagen ’64
“I am still friends with some of the women who lived on third floor in Boyd Hall when
I was a freshman at K-State. My RA was Jan Wanklyn Wissman ’63, ’68, and Sunny Hooker
lived down the hall. We all three are Gamma Phi Betas and have stayed in touch over
the years. I remember seated service in the dining room in the basement of Boyd. We
sang songs during dinner, and after dinner, a cappella. The song leader would tap
her glass with a spoon and begin a song, and we all joined in, singing three-part
harmony. Singing was a big deal from 1960-64 and the fraternities and sororities competed
in the Intra-fraternity Sing every spring.”
💜 Mary Graham Bair ’71
“The memories are still vivid of my freshman roommate who has remained a best friend
57 years later. We were actually already friends when we decided to room together,
but our freshman year only served to increase this special bond. Although we have
lived in different countries and states since our K-State years, we have maintained
our special friendship. Through phone calls we often talk about our freshman year
dorm experiences and the many days/nights that we spent studying together, socializing
with our new friends, and learning about so much more than what our classes taught
us. We are both fortunate enough to now have season tickets to the K-State football
games and we look forward to our fall Manhattan trips where we have the opportunity
to continue our friendship story.”
💜 Rylee Coy ’24 (pictured above)
“I met my best friend (and fiancé), Erik Moore '25, here at K-State! We originally
met in Crop Science in the agronomy department. We got thrown into a group project
together, completed it and went our own ways. Then three months later at the beginning
of the fall semester, we found out we were enrolled in the same welding class in the
agricultural education department. Erik had experience welding, I did not. He is the
sole reason I passed the class, I am the reason he enjoyed the class. We carpooled
every Thursday to class in Wamego and would hang out outside of class. We started
dating in January of 2022, got engaged July of 2024, and are getting married April
25, 2026. Without K-State I would not have my absolute best friend, No. 1 supporter
and future husband.”
💜 Mayowa Adesina ’24
“My best friend, Oluwasanmi Moses Odeniran ’24, and I are both international students
who connected through the African Student Union WhatsApp page while searching for
apartments before arriving at K-State. We ended up living together throughout our
time on campus, creating countless memories. One of our favorite activities was riding
bicycles together in the snow, which was both challenging and fun. We also shared
many meals, including my signature spaghetti dish. Although Moses now lives in New
York and I remain in Kansas, we stay connected through social media and phone conversations,
keeping our friendship strong despite the distance.”
💜 Daryl Strouts ’82 (pictured above)
“Four of us were high school friends and all decided to attend K-State in the fall
of 1978. We lived in a couple of rooms in Haymaker Hall and continued our close friendship
while making new friends. Home football games, Floor Functions, barn dances, great
seats in Ahearn for basketball games, and early morning classes.
“Our friend network expanded and for our last year we came together again in the Glenwood
apartments, on the upper deck. We dubbed ourselves the “GUDs,” adopted a lightning
bolt for a logo and competed in intramural sports with others in the apartment complex
to fill out our teams. We enjoyed the easy access to the gym and pool at Ahearn. We
all graduated on schedule. Some pursued advanced degrees.
“Even though we went our separate ways in our careers, moved far apart, started families
and all the other things that life brings, the GUDs still get together regularly because
of our K-State connection. Then, we valued the education that K-State gave us to be
successful in the world; now, we value the friendships and memories that have continued
on after graduation.”