Applied Learning Stories

Zayden Tomson, a graphic design senior, currently interns with the Shocker Career Accelerator, where he creates promotional materials for student career resources and events. His professional design journey with the Shocker Career Accelerator began in Summer 2025, and since then, he’s been refining his skills while making a visible impact across campus.

Niki Noland is a spring 2025 Wichita State graduate who majored in studio art, concentrating in print media. Before leaving Wichita State and the College of Fine Arts, Noland directly impacted Wichita’s art scene, interning for the City of Wichita’s Arts and Cultural Services Department and Public Art Manager, Jana Erwin.

As a fourth-year graphic design major at Wichita State, Janis Hwang has found her applied learning experience to be both creatively fulfilling and professionally transformative. Through her role designing for No Choice but Action, a project that aims to preserve and highlight Kansas' often-overlooked role in American independent and post-punk music, she has been able to develop a deeper understanding of what it means to work as a designer in a real-world context.

Luke Samuelson, a senior majoring in game design, has found a unique intersection of creativity, technology, and applied learning through his role at Shocker Studios. As an LED volume and game design lab technician, he is already laying the foundation for a career that blends the immersive world of game development with the rapidly evolving field of virtual production. His dream job would be to produce games for either AAA companies or as an independent developer while also working to develop scenes for virtual production.

As a sophomore pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Design & Technical Theatre at Wichita State University, Lena Castro has stepped into a leadership role that combines both technical expertise and mentorship. Lena’s applied learning experience as the head electrician and student lighting supervisor has been instrumental in shaping their skills and career aspirations.