Callista faced a hard choice this summer. Ready to enroll for her junior year at Wichita State, she still owed the university a hefty sum from her sophomore year. With no available cash to pay the debt, she was prepared to take a year off school to raise the money by working. The College of Fine Arts learned of her predicament and, with the help of a generous donor, was able to help her.

“I almost couldn’t believe it. These people were willing to give their money to help a student like me,” says Callista, a talented violin student and member of the WSU Symphony Orchestra. “This is one of the things I appreciate about Wichita State. They treat you like family.”

Callista’s parents have a limited ability to help her financially, so she has relied on scholarships and working to pay for college. She started playing the violin at age 8, but it was at age 11 that she saw a TV advertisement for the Kansas City Symphony and told her mother, “That is what I want to do.”