K-State Alumni Association to expand Wabash CannonBall Kansas City Scholarships after 20 Years of impact
The K-State Alumni Association's impact continues to grow in the Kansas City metro area. Because of the support of K-Staters in the Kansas City-area the Wabash CannonBall Kansas City Scholarship will see an expansion of the program beginning in the 2027-28 school year.
During the 2026-27 school year, the K-State Alumni Association awarded 118 scholarships, each valued at $2,500. In the coming years, the Association will be able to award 151 scholarships annually, increasing the value of each scholarship to $3,000. Moving forward, 70 scholarships will be given to incoming freshman, with an additional 81 renewable scholarships awarded to returning K-State students.
“So many K-State students have benefitted from the generosity and support of their fellow Wildcats in the Kansas City-area over the past 20 years,” said Adam Walker, president and CEO of the K-State Alumni Association. “We are excited to expand the program to help more students attend K-State. The good work these scholarships are doing is an outstanding way to reach, connect and serve the K-State community.”
The scholarship program is funded through Wabash CannonBall gala, an annual black-tie event which includes an evening of dining and dancing to raise scholarship money for students from the Kansas City-area to attend K-State. The gala was started in 2007 and, to date, this event has awarded more than 1,300 scholarships for Kansas City-area students totaling more than $3.2 million. Additionally, Wabash CannonBall Kansas City also has funded a scholarship endowment fund totaling nearly $5.7 million that will create student opportunities for years to come.
To be eligible for the scholarship, students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a weighted or unweighted scale and reside in the greater Kansas City-area, which includes Johnson, Miami and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Jackson, Cass, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri.
“It is truly amazing to see how much this event has done for the K-State community as a whole,” said Andrea Bryant Gladin, vice president of alumni engagement for the Alumni Association and director of the Wabash CannonBall Kansas City. “We want to thank everyone, especially the committee members and committed sponsors, who have helped grow this event from where we started in 2007 to where we are today.”
The 2027 Wabash CannonBall Kansas City will be held on Feb. 26 at the Overland Park Convention Center. It will be chaired by Mark and Kristy Buyle, along with honorary chair couple, Paul and Sandy Edgerley.