By: Katelyn Norris
This story is part of the It’s a Knight Life for Me series, which highlights the experiences of every Bellarmine cohort across a variety of students. This story contains the experiences of two senior students.
Senior year – The last hurrah. A culmination of four years of hard work and growth into an individual ready for the “real world.”
For seniors John Klapheke and Kelsi Daniels, their BU journeys were long, and they are “real world” ready.
Daniels said her BU experience has been punctuated with lifelong friendships and adventure. She said the friends she made during her time at Early Knights are the best friends she still has during her second semester as a senior.
“I felt like my first two years were about finding myself. Even though I had made friends through the Early Knights program, I wanted to go out and broaden my horizons,” Daniels said.
Robbie Jones has been friends with Daniels since the Early Knights program and said it’s been a great four years of friendship. He said he has seen his friend grow over the last four years and she is someone who continues to surprise him.
“I just want to see her be the best and gain achievements. I hope she is successful in whatever she wants to be,” Jones said. “She has done so much since the first time I met her and now I can only imagine what she will continue to do.”
Daniels went through her first two years at BU exploring new things. She said she played club volleyball for three years. Daniels also said she served as treasurer for the Black Student Union during her sophomore year.
“It was such a little while ago and I can’t remember the things I have done. But along with club volleyball, I do a lot of intermural sports and things like that,” Daniels said. “I did Ambassadors for a few years. Overall, I decided to do the things that interested me.”
Daniels said Covid unfortunately has stopped a lot of her activities this year. She said she made the decision not to participate in club volleyball due to her concerns with the pandemic. She said she is sad that she will not get to participate in the sport as a senior but wanted to be a safe as possible.
Daniels said Covid has made her nostalgic for what her previous years at BU were like. She said she realized that she was never in her dorm and was always on the go with friends at an event or two.
“Before Covid I didn’t think I was being as social as I needed to be or as outgoing. And I didn’t feel like I was going anywhere,” Daniels said. “But now it’s made me miss a lot of people. You know some people had to stay back at home and they aren’t on campus this semester. It’s been a real impact on me this year.”
Klapheke said he has had a similar feeling about campus this semester. He said he has been fully remote since March 2020 and has made only a few trips to campus. He said he’s felt a pull toward campus, and he takes every opportunity he can to come to Bellarmine.
“I feel this sort of yearning to be a part of campus more. I have this fear of if I’m not part of campus physically then I somehow I might lose my connection,” Klapheke said. “Sometimes I will think ‘Oh, well then I need to go check out this library book’ and then I end up just walking around in the quad a little slower normal just taking in everything.”
Klapheke said his BU experience isn’t just his physical connection to the campus. He said his relationship with faculty and staff was always what drew him to BU and this rang true throughout his four years.
One BU faculty member who Klapheke said was pivotal to his years at BU is Dr. Shawn Apostel, an associate professor in the department of communication. He said Apostel was one of the professors he met at BU on his tour.
“I met him there in the fishbowl and it was an instant dynamic. One the main reasons I came to Bellarmine was because he was a professor who I realized I could connect with and collaborate with me whether that be in classes or with TEDx,” Klapheke said.
Apostel said he thought Klapheke was an amazing person to be a student at Bellarmine. After working with Klapheke on three TEDx events he said he believes Klapheke is going to do amazing things in his life.
“He’s going to go to law school at UofL, and I know he going to be a great lawyer,” Apostel said. “It’s my hope for him to be someone who stands up for the oppressed, and who knows, he may even run for office. I would love for him to stay in Louisville and fight for change in this city.”
Klapheke cited TEDx as an essential part of his BU experience. He said he has been part of five TEDx programs and with each one he learned about team dynamics and what it takes to plan an event. He said it is one of the projects that has helped him become comfortable in his skills.
“It really just taught me how to function in a small, dedicated team using skills that I’ve learned in college and immediately applying them. It’s not graded. It’s not like anyone judges you. You accomplish this task together as a team,” Klapheke said. “It leaves no room for necessary drama that you might find in any other like organization. It’s just always been very laser-focused, which I appreciate.”
Klapheke said he is always going to be grateful with the skills BU has given him over the years. He said he wants to put a cap on his BU experience by fully appreciating what this university and its community have done for him before he attends law school at the University of Louisville in the fall.
“What I want to do before May is to fully recognize how Bellarmine has transformed me from the kid I was at enrollment to the man that I am today,” Klapheke said.
Daniels said she also wants to recognize and remember how BU has helped her grow. She said she is glad Bellarmine has prepared her for what she wants to do, and she is happy it has led her to a path of success. Daniels want to own a financial planning business one day.
“Bellarmine and its classes, faculty and people have helped me grow in character, and it is going to prepare me for my future,” Daniels said.