May 4, 2018

Communication class honors veterans with Quilts of Valor

Nakita Herbert, administrative specialist in the Department of English, and Jack Newlin, a student employee in the Military Veterans Student Center, were two of the recipients to be honored by The Greater Wichita Chapter of Quilts of Valor. A total of eight people were awarded with quilts during a First Year Seminar class in Cross Cultural Communication and in an Interpersonal Communication class taught by Becky Nordyke, an instructor in the Elliott School of Communication.

Nordyke has had her nonverbal class, cross cultural seminar and interpersonal classes involved with Quilts of Valor because she thought it would be good for college students to be aware of some things that are not traditionally taught in communication textbooks.

The author of a nonverbal book writes that one of the functions of nonverbal communication is that it delivers verbal messages. Through history, quilters have been delivering messages to the military by making quilts. Another thing quilters do is attach labels telling their names, the quilt design and date the quilt was awarded.

In the interpersonal class, the term project is borrowed from Greteman Group's "Do the Deed" campaign. Students are required to do good deeds and write how the deeds have affected their self-concepts. The class good deed is to give a quilt to someone. Each person had to draw a picture of home to welcome home the service person who will receive that quilt.

"The art work isn't fabulous because we are not art majors, but the message is the same: 'Thank you for your service. Welcome home,'" said Nordyke.

Quilts of Valor is a national organization that awards quilts to service personnel who have been touched by war. Go to http://www.qovf.org for information about the organization or to request a quilt for a veteran.