MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture in a news release Thursday announced winners of the 2014 KDA Photo Contest. The third annual statewide contest received more than 350 submissions showcasing Kansas agriculture from a variety of unique perspectives.

Preliminary voting on KDA’s social media pages identified the top five photos in each category: Agriculture at Work, Farm Animals, Farm Faces, Picture Perfect Prairie and a Youth Division. Finalist photos were then reviewed by Kansas State Board of Agriculture members, KDA leadership and agricultural leaders in the Kansas legislature.

The winners from each category are as follows:

Agriculture at Work

First Place – Kelly McCarty of Ashland, Kan., “Finding the One”
Second Place – Kelsey Fuller of Allen, Kan., “Patience”

Farm Animals

First Place – Josie Alexander of Hoxie, Kan., “Cattle Sunset”

Second Place – Rachel Braddy of Manhattan, Kan., “Parental Supervision”

Farm Faces

First Place – Kelsey Fuller of Allen, Kan., “Leader of the Pack”
Second Place – Melissa Navinskey of Cummings, Kan., “Just Another Day on the Farm”

Picture Perfect Prairie
First Place – Kelly McCarty of Ashland, Kan., “Morning Rain”
Second Place – Sheridan VanSickle of Riley, Kan., “Prairie Blaze”

Youth
First Place – Kelsie Conrad of Leoti, Kan., “Marcy’s Excitement”
Second Place – Kelsie Conrad of Leoti, Kan., “Zane Rides Away”

Winners in each category will receive $100 gift cards and runner-up participants will receive $50 gift cards. In addition, photos will be showcased throughout KDA social media, website and various other marketing materials.

View all of the winning photos on the department’s Facebook page.

FHSU University Relations

From exhibitions to writing reviews, Linda Ganstrom, professor of art and design at Fort Hays State University, stays active all summer outside of the classroom.

Ganstrom was selected to display three pieces: “Alice,” “White Queen” and “Red Queen” from her series “Through the Looking Glass Ceiling” for the “Women Ceramic Sculptors: Dynamic Narratives” exhibition at the National Association of Women Artists in New York from June 3 through July 2.

“My research into the lives of historically significant female leaders began during my sabbatical,” said Ganstrom. “A few years ago, my Ceramics One students designed a group project based on the Mad Hatter’s tea party from ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ and I began looking at the way those female leaders were portrayed.”

Ganstrom was invited by the Tennessee Art Guild to display two figurines, “The March Hare’s Daughter” and “The White Rabbit’s Daughter” from Aug. 1 to Aug. 26 in Nashville, Tenn.

From June 8 through June 12, Ganstrom traveled to the University of Texas at Tyler to give an external review of its department of art and design, sharing her opinions of the strengths, challenges and opportunities.

“I admired UT Tyler’s lovely campus and park-like setting in the piney woods of East Texas,” said Ganstrom. “I was able to share with them some of my ideas about potential areas to develop, especially online and with low-residency education. I appreciated the opportunity to learn in depth how another art department operates, and they gave me a CD with some Western Swing songs about Texas as a bonus.”

Ganstrom wrote a review for artist Swoon’s “Submerged Motherlands” exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. The review is published online for Eutopia’s Contemporary Art Review at https://eutopia.us/swoon/. This is the fourth review she has written for the museum.

“Thinking and writing about great art is a treat,” said Ganstrom. “To write a review in 100 words is like writing a poem. Every word must count.”

Ganstrom has recently been mentioned in a number of publications, including Ceramics Monthly and the Korean publication of Ceramic Art Monthly, for organizing and co-curating “Flow: The 2014 National Council Education for the Ceramic Arts Invitational” at the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin.

“I did a call for work,” said Ganstrom. “I visited gallery owners and artists, selected the work exhibited, and did a variety of tasks to bring the exhibition to the public. I was actively involved in creating the catalog to document the exhibition. It was a big job with major payoff, as the ceramic art looked stunning in the awe-inspiring architecture of the Milwaukee Art Museum.”

As the exhibitions director and executive board member of the NCECA for the last six years, Ganstrom has curated and directed 17 national and international exhibitions.

This fall, Ganstrom will install a solo exhibition of “Linda Ganstrom’s Bell(e) on Progress: Lindsborg” on Aug. 15 at Bethany College and will host a performance reception Sept. 5.

Also, Ganstrom will host the Kansas Artist Craftsmen Association Conference at FHSU on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. FHSU will exhibit a national competition in the Moss-Thorns Gallery from Oct. 17 through Nov. 8.

Ganstrom has been teaching for 34 years, the past 20 at FHSU. She is a member of the National Council on the Education for the Ceramic Arts and Kansas Artist Craftsmen Association.

Kansas Department of Commerce

The Kansas Department of Commerce announced today that three communities have received grants through the Community Development Block Grant program. The funds, which total $554,649, have been awarded under the commercial rehabilitation category of CDBG funding.

The CDBG program allows the Department to distribute federal funds to Kansas cities and counties to improve their communities. To receive funds, a project must benefit low- and moderate-income individuals, remove or prevent slum or blight condition, or eliminate an urgent need created by a disaster when local funds are unavailable.

CDBG commercial rehabilitation funding helps cities improve the quality of their downtown commercial districts by assisting private property owners with the rehabilitation of blighted buildings. The intended outcome of the investment of grant funds in key buildings is to reverse the cycle of blight and encourage adjacent property owners to improve their buildings.

The following communities have received CDBG commercial rehabilitation funding:

• The city of Council Grove has been awarded $114,000 to make improvements to the Hays House restaurant. The work will include foundation stabilization, roof replacement, exterior walls repair, upper deck and front entry repair and an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant ramp. The renovations will allow the restaurant to continue to operate in Council Grove. The Hays House will provide $38,000 in private matching funds.

• The city of Dodge City has been awarded $190,649 to stabilize and repair the Old Dodge City Municipal Building that was built in 1929 and is listed on the National Register. The work will include tuck pointing the brick walls, roof repair and the removal of asbestos. The building will house the Boot Hill Distillery. The funds will be matched with $63,560 of private funds.

• The city of Plainville has been awarded $250,000 to improve a building located in downtown Plainville.  The work will include exterior wall stabilization, roof replacement and electrical upgrades. The owners will provide $83,333 in private matching funds.

By LINDSEY ELLIOTT
K-State News and Editorial Services

MANHATTAN — Whether you’re struggling to pay off student loan debt or considering taking out your first loan for college, a Kansas State University financial counselor says there are many changes to federal loans you need to know about.

Individuals still trying to manage payments on their previous college loans now have another repayment option called the Pay As You Earn program. Jodi Kaus, director of the university’s Powercat Financial Counseling, says this option adjusts the monthly repayment amount based on your discretionary income. But eligibility for this program is limited.

“The only borrowers who are eligible for this program are people who have no outstanding loan balances as of Oct. 1, 2007, and who also have a new direct loan obtained after Oct. 1, 2011,” Kaus said. “It can be a better option than some of the other repayment plans, but it’s a limited amount of borrowers who are going to be able to benefit. It’s a good way to stay in good standing on your loan if you’re in a high-debt, low-income situation and you want to make sure you’re not ruining your credit by not paying the appropriate amount each month.”

Other options are available for those who don’t qualify for the Pay As You Earn program include income-based repayment, which adjusts the loan payment based on annual salary. While having a lower monthly payment may make it more manageable, plans involving smaller payments mean it will take longer to pay off the loan, ultimately accruing more interest. Kaus recommends getting back onto the standard repayment plan when it is affordable, unless you are eligible for a loan forgiveness program.

“What many students and recent graduates aren’t aware of is there are loan forgiveness programs for federal loans,” Kaus said. “One of these programs is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. If you’re working for a nonprofit or government agency and making loan payments on time for 10 years, at the end of the 10 years — which don’t have to be consecutive — the remaining balance of your loan is forgiven.”

Other forgiveness programs are geared for specific careers such as teaching or based on your location. Kansas offers the Rural Opportunity Zone Program, which pays up to $15,000 of an individual’s student loan debt if her or she works in rural counties in the state.

Kaus said it’s important to make some type of payment on your loans because it’s a debt that cannot be removed from your credit or removed in bankruptcy. She also said having an idea of your future career and salary is important when considering student loans for college.

Loan calculators like those found at SALT, an online program that helps students manage their money and student loans, or the federal student aid site, https://studentaid.ed.gov/, can help you determine how much your monthly loan repayment would be depending on the amount you take out. But Kaus said to keep in mind that federal student loan details can change annually.

For instance, federal loans issued after July 2015 will have a higher interest rate because the loans are connected to the interest rate on 10-year treasury notes. That means changes in the market can increase the rate. Another change is that graduate students are no longer eligible for federal subsidized loans. Options are now limited to unsubsidized loans or graduate PLUS loans.

All these changes can be confusing, so Kaus warns to watch out for scams involving student loans.

“You shouldn’t have to pay for any advice or services with your loans,” Kaus said. “A lot of these scams are promising things that aren’t available because the federal lenders have to abide by certain rules and regulations. There’s really no way around those rules, so if someone’s making promises that don’t sound legitimate, it’s not correct.”

If you suspect a scam, contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to find out if the company is legitimate, Kaus said and added that the best way to find out about federal loan changes is through your service provider or the government’s federal student aid website.