{"id":3934,"date":"2017-12-31T02:09:05","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T02:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/?p=3934"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:56:30","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:56:30","slug":"the-w-factor-a-crucible-where-friendships-can-be-formed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/2017\/12\/31\/the-w-factor-a-crucible-where-friendships-can-be-formed\/","title":{"rendered":"The “W” Factor: A Crucible Where Friendships Can Be Formed"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a better Wabash alumnus because I know Kaz. I’m a better Lambda Chi brother. I am better man because I know Kaz.
\n<\/em>\u2014Rob Shook \u201983<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Kaz Koehring \u201918 was a freshman waiting for Glee Club practice to start on the Salter Hall stage when IBM Program Director Rob Shook \u201983 walked in.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob comes to Glee Club practice whenever he\u2019s back on campus,\u201d Kaz explains. \u201cHe sings with us, which is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaz introduced himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started chatting on stage, sang together, then stayed in touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an alumnus there are two things that I can do for students,\u201d Rob says. \u201cI can shorten the learning curve, and I can make connections. The more I know about what students are trying to accomplish and what their goals are, the easier it is for me to make meaningful connections for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Kaz\u2019s case, that connection would eventually lead to an internship at IBM and a recently accepted job offer there.<\/p>\n

But the mentorship began as a friendship, and that remains its foundation. It\u2019s a crucial one for Kaz, who had moved to Indiana from an idyllic life in Hawaii after his mother suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident. The tragedy took its toll on the family, and in high school Kaz\u2019s teammates on the wrestling team provided much needed support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have three state championship rings,\u201d he says. \u201cA couple of us were really good, myself and the others were just average. But it\u2019s something about that bond \u2014we\u2019re all grinding it out together, working very hard. That culture brought us all together.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I started to get the bigger picture of family early in life. Things were diminishing around me, so I defined that for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He saw a glimpse of family during his first visit to Wabash.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy clutch went out on my truck,\u201d Kaz recalls. \u201cThis was right after some things had been going on at home, so I didn\u2019t really have anyone to help me. I called Nick Bova \u201917 who had wrestled with me throughout high school. He picked me up, helped me get my truck towed, and though I ended up missing half my campus tour, I stayed the night and just hung out.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick and I were already family, but it felt good that he wanted to introduce me to this family, too, making sure that I met people here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaz sensed what Wabash could be in his life, joined the Glee Club his freshman year,
\nand met the mentor he calls \u201cthe constant in my life\u201d that year at practice.<\/p>\n

Kaz:<\/strong> Rob is vulnerable, not afraid to step into an uncomfortable situation and be who he is. I don\u2019t know any other alumnus who just shows up at Glee Club practice to sing with us, get to know students.<\/p>\n

I can share anything with Rob. He’s family.
\nRob: <\/strong>This is by no means a one\u2011way friendship. I talk with Kaz about some of the tough stuff going on in life and at work.\u00a0Wabash is a crucible where friendships like this can be formed.<\/p>\n

Kaz:<\/strong> The classrooms, the campus in general, enhance vulnerability in people. They call on you in class and say, “Hey, what do you think about this?” Or, “What kind of man are you going to be?”<\/p>\n

That question is something that I didn’t really think about before. But coming here, being asked the difficult questions, being vulnerable enough as a campus that we can share that and talk with one another, has been really important for me.<\/p>\n

Rob:<\/strong> Wabash is a small college. That\u2019s one of its strengths. I think that friendships are easier to form in this smaller environment where people know each other, where sometimes you’re sitting around, laughing about something stupid, or you’re talking about the loss of a pet, or the loss of a family member, or you’re talking about changes that are coming up in life that are going to be really tough.<\/p>\n

You can ask “Have you ever had any experience in that?” and you\u2019ll hear, “Well, no, I haven’t, but I know somebody who has, and I’m sure they’d be happy to talk with you.” Making connections like that. That’s part of the nature of this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

pulled quotes possible:<\/p>\n

I’m a better Wabash alumnus because I know Kaz. I’m a better Lambda Chi brother. I am better man because I know Kaz.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rob Shook \u201983<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m a better Wabash alumnus because I know Kaz. I’m a better Lambda Chi brother. I am better man because I know Kaz. \u2014Rob Shook \u201983 Kaz Koehring \u201918 was a freshman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":3935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-videos"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/12\/kazrob1-1024x791.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3934"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3939,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3934\/revisions\/3939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}