{"id":27705,"date":"2023-05-25T17:36:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T22:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?p=27705"},"modified":"2023-05-25T17:40:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T22:40:14","slug":"feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: Waltz ’23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Connor Waltz \u201923 came to Kansas Wesleyan as a football player.<\/p>\n

He left as so much more than that.<\/p>\n

Waltz, originally from Niceville, Fla., graduated this month with his degree in Business Management and is off to serve as the recruiting creative content coordinator for the United States Military Academy football team, known worldwide as Army West Point.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s kind of surreal. It\u2019s one of those things where I started doing this and I had no idea where I was going to wind up,\u201d Waltz said. \u201cFootball is awesome, but getting to tell a story about one of the oldest brands in America, that\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming out of high school, Waltz sent his football highlight reel out to multiple colleges and universities. He had twice torn his ACL and thought his football playing days were done. But to his delight, Kansas Wesleyan came calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I stepped foot on Kansas Wesleyan\u2019s campus, it just felt special,\u201d Waltz said. \u201cI was able to find my AND at Kansas Wesleyan. I came here and I was just a football player. I didn\u2019t know anything else. But through the guidance and opportunities President (Matt) Thompson and Dr. (Trish) Petak and all the other administration and staff at Kansas Wesleyan have provided me, I was able to find out that I am an excellent student.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redshirted his freshman year in 2019, he played in five games in the 2020 season before suffering a career-ending injury. However, his life and its trajectory had already begun to change.<\/p>\n

With COVID-19 shutting everything down, Waltz found himself confined to a room. Already fond of the graphics program Photoshop, he decided that, with nothing else to keep him occupied, he would dabble more frequently to see what he was capable of.<\/p>\n

His first graphics were elementary in scale and design, but that did not keep him from continuing. Instead, he saw what the football coaches at Kansas Wesleyan were putting out and tried to see if he could better it.<\/p>\n

Retired from playing football, he was instead helping the team in other ways, assisting David Toelle, KWU\u2019s sports information director, with recruiting content, social media graphics and video boards, among many other things.<\/p>\n

Those duties, and a connection with Matt Drinkall, former KWU head football coach and offensive coordinator, led him to an internship with Army West Point last year. Now in his fifth season on the Army Post, Drinkall has been promoted to co-offensive coordinator for the Black Knights.<\/p>\n

His work so impressed those at West Point that when an opening came up on their civilian staff, they knew whom they wanted to join the team. Meanwhile, Waltz was far from done as a student at Kansas Wesleyan. He was recruited to the DECA program as a junior by head coach Petak.<\/p>\n

DECA is an organized business competition that provides students with problems and requires them to present solutions, with varying amounts of time to prepare, sometimes as little as 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnor has always been a hard-working and diligent student; he has a high drive for success,\u201d said Petak, associate professor of Business and Accounting. \u201cHe is a student whom I asked to compete in DECA after seeing his high-quality work in the classroom. His business acumen, attention to detail, dedication to academics and personality is a recipe for DECA success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Success indeed.<\/p>\n

Waltz and his partner, Trey Duffey, took first in the state and second in the world last year in Sports & Entertainment Marketing, as well as International Marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when Trey and I started feeling like, \u2018We can do this,\u2019\u201d Waltz said.<\/p>\n

A year later, they fumbled their way through the state competition, taking second in International Marketing and third in their main event, Sports & Entertainment Marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fought through some adversity this year,\u201d Waltz said. \u201cThere was one of those moments where we were like, \u2018Oh, shoot. What\u2019s going on?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Going to this April’s DECA International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Fla., Waltz and Duffey made all the adjustments necessary. They worked with Petak, refining their system. It culminated in a world championship in Sports & Entertainment Marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrey said it best: As much as we like to think of sports as a competition, business is just as much of a sport as playing football or basketball, volleyball or soccer or softball. It\u2019s competitive,\u201d Waltz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll miss Connor at KWU, but I\u2019m so proud he\u2019s taking his many talents to the Army, continuing his career in graphic design,\u201d Petak said. \u201cHe has set tremendously high standards for current and future DECA competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waltz also set high academic standards. At this year\u2019s Commencement ceremony, he was one of two students to be presented with the University Medallion for highest academic record, and he was also one of the winners of the Fran Jabara Leadership Award, an honor based on entrepreneurial traits and leadership, particularly in business creation.<\/p>\n

With a world title in hand for his academic pursuits and a career ahead of him supporting the Black Knights\u2019 mission, Waltz reflected on how much his time at Kansas Wesleyan has meant to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs hard as it was to leave home and come 18 hours away, I wouldn\u2019t change it for the world,\u201d Waltz said. \u201cKansas Wesleyan is very special to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story by Dan Froehlich<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFeature: Waltz '23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU - Kansas Wesleyan University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feature: Waltz '23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU - Kansas Wesleyan University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kansas Wesleyan University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-25T22:36:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-25T22:40:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"kwu_rhinde\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"kwu_rhinde\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/fe9c7dcb398d32dc0c207e9d37afccce\"},\"headline\":\"Feature: Waltz ’23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-25T22:36:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-25T22:40:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/\"},\"wordCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/\",\"name\":\"Feature: Waltz '23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU - Kansas Wesleyan University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-25T22:36:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-25T22:40:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"Posed shot of story subject\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Feature: Waltz ’23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/\",\"name\":\"www.kwu.edu\",\"description\":\"Discover The Power of AND at Kansas Wesleyan University!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Kansas Wesleyan University\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg\",\"width\":1472,\"height\":510,\"caption\":\"Kansas Wesleyan University\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/fe9c7dcb398d32dc0c207e9d37afccce\",\"name\":\"kwu_rhinde\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef84932143ba377611e41650c529b3024890bd1e41007f6f64c727f25f1fa06?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef84932143ba377611e41650c529b3024890bd1e41007f6f64c727f25f1fa06?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"kwu_rhinde\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Feature: Waltz '23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU - Kansas Wesleyan University","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Feature: Waltz '23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU - Kansas Wesleyan University","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/","og_site_name":"Kansas Wesleyan University","article_published_time":"2023-05-25T22:36:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-25T22:40:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"kwu_rhinde","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/"},"author":{"name":"kwu_rhinde","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/fe9c7dcb398d32dc0c207e9d37afccce"},"headline":"Feature: Waltz ’23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU","datePublished":"2023-05-25T22:36:37+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-25T22:40:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/"},"wordCount":8,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Alumni"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/","name":"Feature: Waltz '23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU - Kansas Wesleyan University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-25T22:36:37+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-25T22:40:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waltz-for-web-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"caption":"Posed shot of story subject"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/feature-waltz-23-recalls-finding-his-and-at-kwu\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Feature: Waltz ’23 Recalls Finding His AND at KWU"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/","name":"www.kwu.edu","description":"Discover The Power of AND at Kansas Wesleyan University!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization","name":"Kansas Wesleyan University","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg","width":1472,"height":510,"caption":"Kansas Wesleyan University"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/fe9c7dcb398d32dc0c207e9d37afccce","name":"kwu_rhinde","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef84932143ba377611e41650c529b3024890bd1e41007f6f64c727f25f1fa06?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef84932143ba377611e41650c529b3024890bd1e41007f6f64c727f25f1fa06?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"kwu_rhinde"}}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-01-30 12:35:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27705"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27714,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27705\/revisions\/27714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}