{"id":58456,"date":"2025-03-24T10:20:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T14:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=58456"},"modified":"2025-04-03T14:12:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T18:12:34","slug":"a-royal-tale-kaleb-wyse-10-found-recipe-for-success-at-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-kaleb-wyse-10-found-recipe-for-success-at-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"A Royal Tale: Kaleb Wyse \u201910 found recipe for success at EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This profile is the fifth of six stories about students and alumni leading up to LovEMU Giving Day on April 2. For more information about the day and how to donate, visit: love.emu.edu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard for Kaleb Wyse \u201910 <\/strong>to pinpoint exactly what drew him to EMU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, he had plenty of connections to the school. His older sister and two cousins are EMU alumni. A graduate of Iowa Mennonite School (now known as Hillcrest Academy), Wyse said he isn\u2019t sure what it was about EMU. He just liked it more than the other schools he visited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt more at home at EMU than anywhere else,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just felt like the right campus for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wyse is a content creator who shares delicious recipes, gardening tips and home decor projects with more than a million followers through his lifestyle blog<\/a>, YouTube channel<\/a> and various social media platforms, all under the \u201cWyse Guide\u201d handle. The culinary entrepreneur majored in accounting and business administration at EMU, where he gained the skills needed to build his brand. It\u2019s also where he met his business partner and college friend, Joel Kratzer \u201910<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The two EMU grads launched their passion project in 2012. They maintained the website as a \u201cnight and weekend thing,\u201d Wyse said, while working regular jobs. About seven years into their venture, the site started to take off. Wyse said he shifted in his approach, serving up more authentic content with stories personal to his life. \u201cThen, when COVID hit,\u201d he added, \u201ceveryone was looking for help with gardening, preserving, and cooking or baking at home.\u201d Wyse and Kratzer began working on the site full time in 2021. Today, their multimedia company is comprised of a team of six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wyse said his time at EMU taught him to be more open and honest with others. He pointed to his intercultural program, a three-week voyage to Greece and Turkey led by Dr. Linford Stutzman \u201984, SEM \u201990, <\/strong>as a pivotal experience. Packed into close quarters with other students he didn\u2019t know well, Wyse found that the trip offered him a crash course in forming new connections. \u201cThat trip is something I think about a lot,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMU\u2019s small class sizes helped him thrive as a student. \u201cI could walk into my professors\u2019 offices and talk to them instead of a teaching assistant,\u201d Wyse said. \u201cI\u2019m someone who needs personal connection and having that at EMU really supported me. I didn\u2019t feel like I was just a number.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another advantage of attending EMU is the wealth of scholarships accessible to students. Wyse received the Horace & Elizabeth Longacre Business Scholarship during his four years as a Royal. He remembers writing thank-you cards to the Longacre family and feeling a personal connection to them through the award, which is named in honor of a philanthropic couple from southeastern Pennsylvania who were staunch supporters of EMU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fact that someone believed it was important for me to receive a good education at a great school was both impactful and humbling,\u201d Wyse said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His debut cookbook, There\u2019s Always Room at the Table<\/em>, is now a New York Times’ bestseller. The collection of recipes and stories was published by HarperCollins earlier this month and is available for purchase<\/a> at online retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first time EMU News has covered his exploits. Wyse landed a one-day cohosting gig<\/a> on The Rachael Ray Show<\/em> in 2015. In 2021, he returned to campus during EMU Homecoming and Family Weekend as a featured speaker for the annual TenTalks event<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wyse is the fourth generation to live on his family farm in southeast Iowa. Follow him at: wyseguide.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your generous support helps students pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual LovEMU Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future EMU students. Together, we can help write EMU\u2019s next chapter. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read the previous profiles in our A Royal Tale<\/em> series:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Royal Tale: Trina Trotter Nussbaum \u201900, MA \u201917 found her place at EMU<\/a><\/blockquote>