On a windy, late spring day in Chicago, Jacob Barnes met fellow Ball State alumnus Mason Pippenger for lunch at Montrose Beach, overlooking the waters of Lake Michigan.
Wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a face mask in the summer heat, Brandon Townsend, 2018 Ball State alumnus, spent nearly three months in his hometown of Connorsville, Indiana, loving every minute behind the camera filming “Smokestack.”
From working with college students to lifelong Muncie residents, Jason Haney’s key focus is education.
November has arrived, and the season of giving has officially begun. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional ways of counting our blessings and showing our gratitude have changed.
When Devon Hayakawa, a 2019 Ball State alumna, returned to theater for the first time in eight months, she said, performing on stage felt electric.
Raised by a single mother who was the “backbone” for him and his eight siblings, Marwin Strong, a 2011 Ball State alumnus, said he wasn’t “born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”
In the ’90s, Cynthia Gaultney was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and neuropathy, and the side effects from her medications were causing her pain.
As the chilly October wind whips up the litter at the corner of McGalliard Road and Walnut Street, an alien dances, lighting up the Texas Roadhouse building.
If you told Brittney Goulet Russell five years ago she would be a personal trainer, she would have laughed.
Amanda Reninger, president of Sea Salt and Cinnamon, said the best and easiest way to invite people into the vegan community is to hand them a cupcake.
Karin Hartwell, a 2018 Ball State alumna and owner of Hite’s Bakery, spends her weekends in her Greenfield, Indiana, home kitchen whipping up homemade cookies, fresh cinnamon rolls and sticky buns to raise money to find a cure for her son’s cancer.
“In all reality, I have been overweight for so much of my life, it began to take a toll on my life. I hated how I felt, how I looked and how people treated me. I knew I had to reclaim my life. Along with that, I wanted to prove everyone wrong.”
When Judith Gill was looking to find her next pair of leggings, she said, no store seemed to have her size, quality material or the colors and prints she liked.
What was once an empty patch of dirt now houses more than 16,000 sunflowers, each one with its head turned toward the sun, looking at the bright side — how Garret Conway did last spring.
“If you would have asked us six months before we bought the place if we would ever want to own a miniature golf course, we would have said you were crazy,” said Kyla Bartle, co-owner of The Frozen Boulder and Boulder Falls Mini Golf and BatZone.
When Amber Corduan’s 7-year-old whippet, Mischa the Roo, was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Corduan went to her vet to talk about taking a different treatment approach than chemotherapy.
Shane Heath, owner of The Bearded Baker, a Muncie-based bakery, said the Food Network show “Good Eats” was the catalyst behind his decision to attend culinary school at Ivy Tech in 2009.
Since March 8, Susan Danner has been isolating in her Muncie home, only going outside to get her mail, care for her flowers and feed her birds and squirrels.
As the front door swings open, wind blows dog hair across the wooden floor, dogs bark from the back room and Jenn Morgan, owner of Downtown Dogs, trims the fur of a shaggy 8-month-old puppy and greets everyone with a cheerful “Hello.”
Star Gooch, a sophomore music education major, said she always had a deep-rooted desire to make healthy products for the mind, body and spirit.
