The "Manhattan Optimist Club Bulletin": Vol. 2025 #18: 2-26-25
VOLUME 2025 FEBRUARY 26, 2025 NUMBER 18
NOTE: THE MANHATTAN OPTIMIST MARCH 12 NOON MEETING HAS BEEN CHANGED TO A MORNING MEETING DUE TO CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES AT RC McGRAWS.
Second-Vice President Steve Boeckman welcomed the membership and guests, then Bill Wisdom shared a reflection by Maya Angelou, “I’ve Learned.” The flag salute followed.
Thad Hall outlined the Manhattan High School Student of the Month Program. The program recognizes Manhattan High School seniors who make a difference in their community through volunteerism and leadership of activities that have a positive impact on the MHS or Manhattan community. The goal of the program is to inspire and encourage youth to get involved in their community in an effort to benefit others. Applicants submit a résumé and are judged by a committee. Six recipients are chosen during the year, and each receives $100 to donate to the organization of their choice and are eligible for a $1,000 scholarship as the overall yearly winner. Eric Tiede was introduced as the Manhattan High School Student of the Month.
This past November Eric and another student started a 3 on 3 basketball league, initiated and run by MHS students. They received community support, raising over $800 for the purchase of equipment and $600 prize money for the winning team, most valuable player and defensive player of the year.
Eric is part of the Interpersonal Skills Class which is designed for students to bond with each other and get to know each other’s differences and turn them into similarities. They do many activities, including going to Camp Wood, and a “You are loved” campaign for Valentines Day where they cut out 2,000 paper hearts and hot glued a piece of candy to each one. He also did the Special Olympics Polar Plunge at Tuttle Creek; it was about 14 degrees outside, and they all ran into the lake and he was proud he went all the way into the water, though he regretted it afterward, but he said, “It was a great experience.” Interpersonal Skills Class gave him the chance to volunteer; he shared a picture of him handing out Halloween candy with the class at Bewitching in Westloop. He also volunteers as a basketball coach, participates in Stuff the Bus (school supplies for USD 383 students), KSU concessions (fundraising for the baseball team), and the Fit Closet donation drive.
His biggest role model is Coach Aslin who has coached him since his freshman year. He coached Junior Varsity football and baseball teams, as well as summer baseball. Coach Aslin sets high expectations while keeping things fun. Eric’s favorite quote of Coach Aslin is “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”
Eric plans to attend KSU and major in professional strategic sales. He currently has completed 24 dual credit hours with a 3.88 GPA. He is also working towards his Real Estate License and hopes to seek a profession in the real estate field before he graduates college.
Eric is donating his $100 from the Optimist to Kansas Special Olympics for their programs.
Mike Fincham introduced Katharine Hensler, Museum Director of the Riley County Historical Museum. Katharine is a repeat performer, who presented to the Optimist about a year ago. Since then, the museum closed last December and underwent a complete overhaul of its exhibit space, including new lighting and a place for kids to play. Katharine earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in historic preservation from Goucher College of Baltimore, Maryland. She joined the museum team as director in June 2022. She moved to Riley County from Washington State in 2017 and brings over 22 years in collections management and museum administration. Katharine has managed museums in Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, and Kansas. Katharine is originally from northcentral Pennsylvania and her husband, Craig Neill, is an active-duty soldier with the US Army and is a three-dimensional artist. In their free time they enjoy traveling, visiting museums and art galleries, food, wine, outdoor activities, and raising and training sport and working dogs. Katharine’s topic today is “Turning the Pages of History: A new year, a new exhibit.”
One of the things she wanted to cover was “In the world of museums, we often forget that those who preserve our heritage are at the same time, making their own history.” In 2024 they were able to accomplish things that they had not done in decades; for them, every day is making history.
The Riley County Historical Society and Museum have over a century’s worth of their own unique history to share which started with their incorporation in 1914. The last 111 years of organized activity have paved the society’s legacy, their involvement in the community, their contributions, their mission, and now their path forward. Riley County was established in 1855. The Riley County Historical Society was incorporated in 1914. The County’s first official museum was built in 1915, known as the Pioneer Log Cabin, was dedicated and opened in City Park in 1916; the cabin is still open seasonally.
In 2016 they did the first major exhibit installation since 1977 when the Centennial Gallery was created. Exhibits need to be changed every four to six years, so this change was long overdue. In late December 2024, the museum closed to the public for public space renovation and installation of all new permanent and temporary exhibits. She shared historical pictures of the museum’s development over the years.
The cabin was constructed of local black Walnut with private contributions of money, time, and talent. She shared a picture of the dedication of the cabin; the people in the photo helped build the cabin and created the organization at that time. It was intended to be a replica of a pioneer cabin, however, it was about double the size of the typical 1850’s cabin.
She said, “2025 is an exciting year ahead” and shared a quote from Andrew Carnegie on how a partnership works: “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” She has a fabulous team and many, many partners. She works with multiple boards including the Riley County Commission and the Riley County Historical Society as well as staff, volunteers, and the community and progress can’t happen without all these individuals working together. They held a private opening for their members on February 7th and opened it to the public the following day. She shared some before and after pictures. One of the interesting features is “a brick motif” (patterned after Juliette Avenue) with exhibit information applied to the floor; children sometimes use it for hopscotch.
After a survey, the Riley County Historical Society determined that they needed to focus more on the entire county, not just Manhattan, thus they have featured smaller towns, including some displaced by the Tuttle Creek Dam project in the 1950’s. They also realized they needed a space and exhibits for kids to have interactive experiences. Additional information on Kansas State University and the 1951 flood as well as Tuttle Creek Lake and the controversy over its construction was also added.
During their renovation, they removed a curtain wall and opened the space into one large room, then created modules with displays which lead the visitor through the museum space. This also allows them to redesign exhibits in the future without moving physical walls.
A new temporary exhibit features the cost and currency of the Civil War, which runs from February 8th to April 13th. Formerly, they had a book store in the museum, but have changed to a gift store. RCHS members get a 10% discount.
Admission to the museum is free and is open Tuesday through Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 and Saturday and Sunday 2:00 to 5:00 pm. They also host 4th graders to tour the museum in April from all public and private schools in the county. They also have a program to clean headstone in cemeteries, especially rural ones without adequate maintenance support.
Katharine concluded with a quote by Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” She also invited everyone to visit the museum.
https://www.rileycountyks.gov/328/Historical-Museum
Steve Boeckman acknowledged our presenter, Katharine Hensler, Museum Director of the Riley County Historical Museum and our Student of the Month, Eric Tiede and his family. Bill Wisdom introduced his wife, Karla Wisdom.
Ashley Urban remined the group of the Optimist Social at Goolsby’s on Thursday, February 27th at 4:00 pm. The next event will be a tailgate at a KSU baseball game with Omaha on Tuesday, May 6th.
Jim Franke announced the signup sheets were on the tables for the Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser. Many have signed up on Signup Genius. Help was needed for serving the dinner on Saturday from 4:30 to 9:30; Bread Baking at KSU; Baking Cookies, or Brownies, and items for the Silent Auction.
Steve Boeckman announced help was needed to set up (3:45-4:30) and teardown (6:00-6:45) for the Lawnmower Clinic on March 11th. He also needs someone to pick up Ice from Dillons at 3:45 pm.
Bill Wisdom announced the Chili Crawl will be held on October 18th.
Bill also announced the Optimist quarter two zone meeting is in Manhattan on Saturday morning, March 1st, from 9:00 to 12:00.
Bruce Bidwell shared a couple of historical snippets from the January, 2011 issue of “THE GRAPPLER CONCESSIONAIRE” (a Manhattan Breakfast Optimist Club Newsletter) for the Manhattan Optimist Kids Wrestling Club’s Manhattan Little Apple Classic on January 22, 2011.
Offensive and Defensive Players of the Game belong to Doug Jardine and Bob Seymour. Offensively, Doug volunteered! to do the Cotton Candy for the 2nd year in a row. He is getting real close to being known as Mr. Cotton Candy! The things one learns about our members. When Steve McKinzie was microwaving the Ham & Cheese Croissants, he mentioned that Doug was a great “Rapper”. I know Doug plays hand bells in the STM Bell Choir, but I didn’t know he “Rapped”. I wonder if he writes his own lyrics? Defensively, Bob had a key to everything and was there every time we needed him. Whether it was Friday afternoon unloading refreshments into the woodshop, Saturday 5:00 am getting us into the school and the concession area, or all-day long Saturday getting us through locked doors, Bob got us to our destination.
SAVE THESE DATES: Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction March 29th.
Adjourned with the Optimist Creed
MARCH 5: MORNING MEETING: Youth of the Month Presentations: “Lee & Woodrow Wilson Elementary”
MARCH 26: NOON MEETING: Brad Streeter, Owner, Vista Drive-In: Topic: “The History of Vista Drive-In”
