Cool Cat: Kyle Hanis
Interview by Justin Zabel | Photo by Tallie McArthur
Disc Golf and God may not seem like a typical pairing, but for Kyle Hanis, CWU Communication Studies 2020 alum, this combination is what keeps him going in his free time. Hanis strives to be a compassionate person that anyone can turn to. Here’s why you should know this Cool Cat.
What are some of your hobbies?
[A] Majority of my time is mainly spent on work or playing disc golf… I’m trying to get into reading. I really am not a good reader and I hate reading, but it is just so good for you… Every couple months I try getting into it, but I just finished a book that I started last week, so we are on good track because usually I can’t finish a book.
What are some of your personal goals?
Being a man that others feel welcome by… I want to be a person that people know they can call and talk to and know them and care for them in situations.
What are some of your career goals?
To put a church at the University of Washington in Seattle and for that to be a shelter and refuge place [for] people, who can bring their brokenness and baggage and all the crap life has thrown at them.
What are three fun facts about you?
I have spent some time in the aviation program at Central and I actually have like 60 hours of flight time as a pilot. I don’t have my pilots license unfortunately, but I have a lot of hours… I spent five years as a tour guide for Central… I am proficient in sign language. My grandma and grandpa are actually deaf and so I grew up knowing a little bit of sign language. And then I spent a couple of years taking ASL classes at Central as well. I wouldn’t say I am fluent by any means, but I am proficient in American Sign Language.
What is your favorite childhood memory?
The one that is coming to mind is a trip that I took with my family down to California. We road-tripped down to Disneyland and spent some time there. And then we drove a little further down to San Diego and spent some time in the city. Then after San Diego, we met up with a family friend who’s retired from the Navy. He got us onto the Naval Air Station, and we got to watch a F18 fighter jet take off from 100 yards away which we shouldn’t have been allowed to do. I think that trip was a sweet moment where [my] family was all together.
Can you tell us more about disc golf?
I have been playing off and on for the past six years. I started back in high school but very inconsistently lately. Last year I started playing very consistently. I’ve been trying to go out at least a couple times a week.
Quote he lives by?
“But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2: 4-5,8-9
It continues on “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. not by works, so that no one can boast.”
