By: Megan M. Sterrett, editor
11/30/2006

When junior Aleks Schaefer traveled to Cancun, Mexico, last summer, he took his guitar with him. It never left his side until the last day.

 “It added a joy to that group,” said Jerry Smartt, foreign languages director and trip sponsor. “It was just unbelievable.”

Smartt, Schaefer and seven other students went on the trip. The purpose was to become bilingual, but Schaefer took much more from the experience.

“Dude, it was just awesome. We had something amazing to do every day,” he said. “It was a lifetime experience.”

Schaefer not only improved his Spanish speaking skills, but he also learned a lot about a different culture. Beyond that, he learned to look past the titles “American” or “Mexican” and find out what it is to be just human, he said.

Throughout the trip Schaefer would begin strumming his guitar and break into song. He acted as a catalyst for the group and got others to join him, Smartt said.

He even played on a variety show while in Cancun with fellow students Kasie Knoll and Kassie Scott.

Schaefer is close to God and close to his faith, Smartt said. One of the best pictures from their trip is of Schaefer standing on the beach with his guitar strapped over his shoulder. He is unaware of the picture being taken and is staring into the Caribbean.

“(I thought) there’s Aleks having a conversation with his God,” Smartt said.

Back in Wichita, Schaefer sings and plays his guitar in a praise and worship team at Central Community Church. The praise team also plays as a band, Evidence of Life. Former Friends University student Caleb Alexander plays the acoustic guitar and sings, with current students Alex Lofland on the drums and Schaefer’s brother Rafe playing the bass guitar.

Schaefer learned to play the guitar his sophomore year in high school. He saw all the attention that Alexander got from girls so he decided to give it a try.

“You know, I thought it’d be really cool if all the girls liked me because I played the guitar,” he said. “And then they still didn’t like me, but it’s OK.”

A self-proclaimed small town guy at heart, Schaefer uses some of that boy-next-door charm to take on life.

He grew up in Dumas, Texas, about 50 miles north of Amarillo. Most of his high school years were spent in Garden City in western Kansas. His senior year in high school, Schaefer went to the Symphony of Spring at Friends University.

“I decided, ‘I want to do that,’” Schaefer said.

He is now a member of the Singing Quakers and will perform at the Candlelight Concert tonight through Sunday. An accounting and Spanish dual major, Schaefer is a member of the Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Club and was also inducted into the Alpha Chi Honor Society this semester.

He chose accounting to follow in the footsteps of his dad, Erich, the president of Golden Plains Credit Union in Garden City.

“I kinda always wanted to be my dad,” Schaefer said.

Even though Schaefer works for an accounting firm, he doesn’t plan to use the degree to be an accountant. After graduating from Friends, Schaefer plans to attend the University of Kansas to get a commercial law degree and a master’s degree in business administration.

Schaefer hopes to use his degrees to help many of the non-English speakers who don’t always get a fair deal.

“I’ll be able to communicate with them and help them,” he said.

He lives in an on-campus house with his younger brother Rafe Schaefer and brothers Jayme and Jason Dunn.            
“It’s been a really hard adjustment,” he said of living with his brother again.

As a freshman his brother was adjusting to college life, and they hadn’t lived together for two years. The situation is much better now, Schaefer said.

The brothers will travel home to their dad and mom, Christy, for Christmas. His parents are thinking about adopting a young child from a troubled home, probably between the ages of 4 and 12, Schaefer said.

“My parents are the greatest parents in the world. I have a really special family,” he said. “It would be a travesty if they didn’t adopt a kid. I’m not even a good guy, and I’ve got a family that is one in a million.”

Smartt emphasized that Schaefer is in fact a talented, multi-faceted and all-around great guy.

“I tell him all the time, I’m glad he crossed my path,” Smartt said.

To illustrate, she told her favorite story about him from their trip to Cancun. He became good friends with the driver who took them to a school each day. The last night, when they received their diplomas for graduation from the program, Schaefer gave the guitar to the driver.

“He’s quite a fella,” she said. “He runs the gamut.”