2. EXPLORE TO
CREATE
A FLAIR FOR ADVENTURE
Always searching for novelty, I am driven to explore
where I live. I cherish my college town of Waco, TX
for the challenge of finding beauty in uncommon
places. Urban exploration opened up a way for me
to practice photography, both of people and
environments. This passion to get out and explore
brought me diverse friends and a rare insider’s
knowledge of my city. I now curate my Instagram
carefully, as my following there brings me business
doing freelance photography.
3.
4. FBC WACO
COLLEGE
During the summer of 2015,
I was a part of the public-
ity team for the First Baptist
Waco College Ministry. We
launched a new website, built
and designed by students. I
wrote copy and advised on
the style and structure of the
website. I also created the
print components for our new
branding: a trifold brochure,
flyers, and t-shirts. Not only
did I gain valuable insight into
website development, but
I created a brand from the
ground up.
A LOVE FOR PEOPLE
5.
6. FBC WACO
COLLEGE
BAYLOR
LARIAT
As a reporter for the Baylor Lariat,
I wrote for the Arts & Life section.
Combining my love for the Waco
community with my creative interests,
I learned to weave a story through
interviews and produce content quickly.
“ALLURE OF THE ALICO: MYSTERY & HISTORY
BEHIND WACO’S FAVORITE BUILDING”
From almost every direction, the ALICO building points both strangers and Wacoans downtown. The literal shin-
ing beacon connects Waco’s generations together, a common indicator of a life lived in this city.
“I think people like it because it’s such a unique part of Waco,” said Colorado Springs, Colo., senior Victoria
Cox. “It’s immediately associative with Waco, but it’s also sort of a mystery.”
The ALICO building was constructed in 1910 for the Amicable Life Insurance Company and designed by archi-
tects Roy E. Lane and Sanguinet & Staats. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and south
of the Mason-Dixie line until 1929, according to the “Amicable (ALICO) Building” entry by Kyle Baughman and
Amanda Sawyer on the Waco History app.
Unlike other structures at the time, the building had a steel frame — the reason it weathered Waco’s 1953
tornado. In all, the building is 303 feet to the top of the flag pole — 22 stories.
Besides the addition of the ALICO lettering, the top of the building has stayed constant. The street level, how-
ever, has evolved significantly. With the Urban Renewal Project taking place between 1958 and 1978, the
Amicable building became the ALICO Center.
Hunt said the ALICO building gained a new façade indicative of mid-century modern architectural style in
1966. As a kid, he said he used to go to the Austin Avenue pedestrian mall. His interest in the building began
then, he said.
“The ALICO was built around 1911 and has adapted so much to its surroundings, matching the street level,”
Hunt said. “It grew with the changing surroundings. But now it’s more of a remnant of the radical change that
they did to downtown Waco with urban renewal with the pedestrian mall.”
While the history of the building interests many, others are attracted to the building for artistic and photograph-
ic purposes.
“The ALICO’s simplicity and iconic all-caps lettering make it an interesting photographic subject,” Hewitt
sophomore Timothy Arterbury said. “The building has a very repetitive architectural pattern until the top three
floors, where it is more accented. This helps emphasize the top of the building more, drawing people’s eyes
to the bright red lettering. It’s also in the heart of downtown Waco, and since it towers over pretty much every
other building, nobody can miss seeing it.”
Arterbury is not alone in his interest in the ALICO and Waco architecture. Hunt, an avid photographer as well as
a historian, recreated a classic shot of the ALICO from nearby Schmaltz’s Sandwich Shop. The photograph is
from the repertoire of one of Waco’s earliest photographers, Fred Gildersleeve.
“I just wanted to see if my lens could replicate, not copy, Gildersleeve’s work, of course,” Hunt said, “It was a
challenge. Kind of like climbing a mountain, but taking a picture of the tallest building in Waco. I wanted to get
the whole thing into focus, and into proportion.”
People view the ALICO building as a challenge, both to photograph and to climb.
7. A MIND FOR WRITING
My column, Cookbook Confessions, attracted readers for its quirky projects and humor.
I found wacky recipes from cookbooks in a Baylor archive and recreated the recipe.
Want more? Find links to my published work at
sarahkjennings.squarespace.com.
“COOKBOOK CONFESSIONS: PRUNE CAKE”
This week, I am working with a recipe provided by the wise and somewhat vague instructions of a Mrs. Jack
Scott, a member of the 1948-1949 Killeen High School Parent Teacher Association. Chosen purely out of ap-
preciation for brilliant alliteration, the Kangaroo Kook Book surprised me with fascinating recipes like Green
Limas in Squash Nests and Harvard Beets.
It’s funny how a city even as provincial as Killeen—a city south of Waco by an hour’s drive—can provide foreign
tastes. We likely can credit the 1942 founding of the nearby Fort Hood and the subsequent immigration of sol-
diers and their families from all over the U.S. for this strange collection of foods.
Today’s adventure began with another embarrassing checkout at H-E-B. Prunes are apparently great for consti-
pation, or so says one snarky cashier.
First things first, I tried cooking the prunes by boiling them on the stove for 20 minutes. This was a total guess,
and it only occurred to me after I poured the whole bag into the pot that perhaps boiling would ruin the whole
batch. Nevertheless, the prunes cooked perfectly, despite looking disgusting and wrinkly. They tasted amazing.
Mrs. Jack Scott did not record temperature, cooking time or pan size for the prune cake. I chose a Bundt pan
and preheated the oven for 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m not sure how long it cooked, but I estimate 20 min-
utes. Timers are for amateurs. Insert hair flip.
At a whim — brought on from reading the spiced nuts recipe off the back of the allspice jar — I roasted pecans
for decoration. I beat one egg’s whites until frothy and added nuts, sugar, cinnamon and allspice. While the
pecans roasted next to the cake, I created icing from powdered sugar and milk. The trick is to add the slightest
bit of milk to a bowl and then whisk powdered sugar into it until it stops absorbing. This makes an icing rather
like the kind on cinnamon rolls.
Cookbook Confessions is teaching me that what we praise as good is sometimes only an arbitrary preference of
our culture. For example, in an alternate universe, pumpkins might be revolting. People might believe they are
useless vegetables or impossible to cook. Yet somehow, putting pumpkin in lattes became basic.
These foods not often touched, like prunes and pig’s feet, were the key ingredients to dishes every bit as deli-
cious as those trendy pins on my Pinterest board.
I’m learning that I have to stop deciding what’s edible based on what I’ve always seen on the menu.
We live in a wonderfully diverse and unexplored world. Knowing this, we have to stop limiting ourselves to cer-
tain people, things or activities simply because they’re not what we’re expected to like.
Fall in love with something out of the ordinary this week. Cook something you were never told to like.
9. BAYLOR
CAMPUS
RECREATION
SOCIAL MEDIAA
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @BaylorCampusRec
As an intern on the Baylor Campus Recreation
marketing team, I’ve worked on a website
re-design, managed social media, and shot high
quality photography. Through working on a
website re-design, I wrote copy using basic
HTML. My main responsibility is social
media, where I engage students and faculty
through photo contests and consistent,
strategic posts.
10. BEAUTY I
PERS
I shoot because I love
people. I love capturing
their wonder, their
imagination, their laughter.
AN EYE FOR
11. IN EVERY
SON
We walk each day
through a beautiful world.
It’s a changing world. In a
photograph, we remember a
unique moment, one which
will never be repeated.
BEAUTY
