Rafael Guereque’s schedule rarely repeats itself.

One day, he’s behind a drum kit, setting the rhythm for the Shocker Sound Machine. The next, he’s on the sidelines at Koch Arena in a cheer uniform, rallying the crowd. On other days, he’s in Army green. He’s even appeared on an episode of Amazon Prime’s “The College Tour.”

It’s a pace that would overwhelm most college students. But Guereque manages it well.

“For me, it’s definitely a lot of calendars,” he said with a laugh.

Beneath the packed schedule, there’s a throughline. Even while balancing classes, military service and campus commitments, Guereque shows up to each outing with a certain pull.

“People will gravitate toward him because they want to follow him,” said Bobby Gandu, Wichita State’s associate vice provost for strategic enrollment initiatives. “He’s just a really decent, humble person who is going to be a star at the next level.”

That gravity on campus wasn’t always around, however.

While taking an exam as a freshman, Guereque received a message from the Army saying he would deploy to Kuwait. He remembers scribbling a note at the top of his test, asking to retake it because he knew he hadn’t done well.

“I turned it in, walked away and I was freaking out,” he said.

Within weeks, his routine was gone — or rather changed. Guereque spent nine months stationed in Kuwait from 2022 to 2023.

The shift was abrupt. So, too, was his growth.

“It certainly accelerated his maturity,” Gandu said. “He just had a whole different perspective on life.”

It taught him adaptability and how plans can change instantly. It taught him how to sit with the quiet and that it was OK to be by himself — to be comfortable with it.

“When I came back, I had a new respect for time with myself,” he said. “I had a new respect for being alone and being happy being alone.”

Gandu joked that the only thing that changed about Guereque when he returned was the size of his muscles.

“What stuck out to me was he was still the very same genuine, caring person. A lot more muscular a year later,” Gandu said. “But he’s still the same person. He still had Midwest, Kansas values and was still the same kind person.”

While overseas, Guereque stayed connected to friends, mentors and the life he left behind. His messages, however brief, reminded people of how much the home he found at Wichita State meant to him.

“Our relationship changed a little bit in that moment,” said Lucas Hulett, director of athletic bands. “I was like, ‘Oh man, he’s thinking about us. He’s ready to come back.’”

Guereque stepped back into campus life during the 2023-24 school year with a clearer sense of direction. Now, as he prepares to graduate in May with a degree in forensic science, his next steps are calculated.

He plans to attend the University of Central Oklahoma and pursue a graduate degree in firearms and toolmarks analysis. His long-term goal is to return to Wichita and work for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

As a first-generation college student, Guereque is proof that what may feel distant can be tangible.

He grew up in Hugoton, a town of about 3,700 people in southwest Kansas near the Oklahoma panhandle. He didn’t have much, he said, but he had something that mattered more: a family that pushed him forward.

Guereque’s parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico, building a life that emphasized stability, work and opportunity.

His mother was his emotional anchor, offering steady care through difficult moments. His father challenged him in a different way.

“My dad has been a very big supporter in the sense that he wants me to be better than him,” Guereque said. “He wants me to live a life where I don’t have to ask for anything.

“He’s told me multiple times, ‘You’re doing great. You’re living life. You’re graduating. I’m not worried about you.’ That’s the biggest thing my parents have shown me — that I’m OK in the world and I’m doing good.”

Together, Guereque’s family gave him the freedom, expectation and opportunity to carve out a path for himself.

That confidence, however, didn’t always come naturally. The version of Guereque who performs in front of thousands of fans didn’t start that way.

As a child, Guereque was shy — the kind of kid who would disappear when guests came over.

“I would hide with my sister in her room and be like, ‘Let me know when mom’s friend leaves,’” Guereque said. “I just wasn’t extroverted.”

That changed gradually over time. He started trying new activities, each one expanding his world a little more.

First, it was sports. Then it was spelling bees. Soon came music.

“Next thing I knew, I was involved in everything,” Guereque said. “Science club, band, choir, scholar’s bowl.”

By the time he reached college, though, Guereque was ready to scale back.

“Band was my high school sweetheart,” he said. “I did it all four years. … Moving to college, I was ready to drop it.”

Instead, it became his entry point.

Guereque joined the Sound Machine his freshman year and, from there, his involvement only grew rather than narrowed. He later joined Phi Delta Theta, where fraternity members encouraged him to try out for the cheer team.

Eventually, as a junior, he did and made the team — later being crowned a national champion on the mats.

At the same time, he built a presence across campus not only in the athletics department, but as a Student Ambassador Society member, Rudd Scholar, Cohen Enhancement Scholarship recipient, a former Military and Veterans senator for the Student Government Association, and an intern with the Wichita Police Department.

“He wore so many hats for the university,” Gandu said. “His experience in our office was incredibly valuable.”

The hats Guereque has put on may not have been possible anywhere other than Wichita State. He said that had he gone to a larger university it would have forced him to choose one activity over another. He wouldn’t have been able to advocate for the university while also drumming, cheering and uplifting the student body.

“It let me become the person I want to be,” Guereque said. “Whatever I wanted to achieve here, I have. And that’s because Wichita State’s let me.”

Part of his achievement and impact is most visible in places where those roles overlap.

Before Guereque joined cheer and band, the two groups often operated separately. Communication became the key and, through his involvement, he has helped build a stronger connection between them.

“I think a lot of it has to do with understanding how the two groups function,” Hulett said. “For years, cheer kind of did their own thing and band did their own thing. We’re told to collaborate — we don’t always know how to do that.

“Understanding how cheer can support us, understanding how we can support them, understanding the support system and what we go through in rehearsals and preparation was one of the big ones.”

That understanding has led to trust. So much so that Hulett allowed Guereque to direct the band during the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament that Wichita State hosted this March when Hulett couldn’t be there.

Everything, from the drumline’s pregame performance to the songs played during timeouts, were managed by Guereque.

“I pride myself in training my students to do that,” Hulett said. “I can send them out and trust that they’re not going to make a fool of themselves. Trust that they’re going to represent the university.

“All of those things compound on each other. (Rafael) has done a fantastic job of that.

For Guereque, building trust and forming connections are the point.

“I’ve really tried to see myself as a conduit for other people to where I can help them out or just kind of connect people,” he said.

Now, as graduation approaches, his schedule hasn’t slowed. If anything, it’s intensified. But the feeling has shifted.

“I’ve kind of slowly understood that this is like I’m saying goodbye, which is definitely a little more rough than I thought,” Guereque said.

In five years at Wichita State, Guereque has been taken across the world and back, into arenas, onto national stages and into roles he once wouldn’t have imagined for himself. 

It’s taken him to just about every corner on campus and built relationships that will carry him forward.

The version of Guereque who once hid from guests is gone. The one who was forced to leave home has come and passed. 

In his place is someone who steps forward, whether that means performing, serving or leading. Wherever he ends up next, the setting will change. 

The approach won’t.

“For that, he’s one-of-one,” Gandu said. “But more importantly, he’s a great human.”