Sterling Magazine

Much Ado About Gannon 10

Prayer Leader Program 12

New Head Men’s Basketball Coach 18

The inside scoop on the new home built for Todd ’96 and Liz fs97 Craft on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 4

HOME SWEET HOME

From the Editor A Fond Farewell

Sterling Staff

While on a recent road-trip to California, I read a book by Donald Miller entitled Through Painted Deserts, an appropriate choice for my journey. It was appropriate because many of the places I was driving through or had seen were places that he was writing about in his book as he road-tripped across Arizona, Nevada and California, places such as the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and The Painted Desert.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience as it so closely paralleled my own 3555-mile adventure, it was a paragraph in the prologue that spoke right to me: “I could not have known then that everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like the seasons; they have to or they die. The seasons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is God’s way. All my life I have been changing. I changed from a baby to a child, from soft toys to play daggers. I changed into a teenager to drive a car, into a worker to spend some money. I will change into a husband to love a woman, into a father to love a child, change houses so we are near water, and again so we are near mountains, and again so we are near friends…Everybody has to change, or they expire.

Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons…We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it?”

In a way, the people featured in this issue of Sterling left something in order to find something new. The Craft family left their home and life the way they knew it one Sunday in March in order to receive a great gift from their friends and strangers alike. Kelli LaRosh left the country right when she should have been starting college in order to share the love of Christ with soldiers in the military and to grow in ways she might not have otherwise. And Dr. Craig Gannon is leaving his office in Campbell basement because, as he says, “It’s time.”

Likewise, Miller’s comments were appropriate for me because I too am leaving, leaving Sterling College to pursue further schooling. In the process, I am moving away from close friends and stepping out of established comfort zones in order to fully embrace the next steps God has prepared for me.

I never would have guessed six years ago, when Ed Lowry handed me the reins of Director of Marketing Communications, that I would have planned, written and designed 13 issues of Sterling. After producing my first issue of Sterling in September of 2000, I thought, “Whew, that’s done, wonder how many more of those I will have to do?”

Ironically, they have not become a chore—lest anyone be mistaken, yes, they do take a lot of time and work to put together!—but have become one of my most favorite tasks in my job. Planning each issue with you, our alumni in mind, finding stories and ways to create an interesting and engaging publication that will connect you with each other and the College, is a process that fuels me. So, though this is my last issue, I will miss it.

However, as Miller comments, “…every person, has to leave, has to change like the seasons…It would be a crime not to venture out.” And so I do.

—Melanie Lightner’ 99

On the cover: The Craft family in front of the new home they received from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Left to right: Samantha, Sarah, Liz with Isabella, Todd with Todd Joseph. Photo by Melanie Lightner.

2 • Spring/Summer 2006

Director of Marketing Communications/Editor Melanie Lightner ’99 Photographer Melanie Lightner ’99 Director of Alumni Tarah Colvin ’98 Sports Information Director Justin Morris ’99 Director of Planned Giving Don Reed ’68 Contributing Writer Rocky Supinger ’98 Printer Mennonite Press, Newton, Kansas College Administration President Bruce Douglas Vice President for Institutional Advancement Mark Sarver Vice President for Academic Affairs Frank Johnson Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing Dennis Dutton ’82 Vice President for Student Life Mark Tremaine Board of Trustees Tom Simpson, Chair Mary (Horton) Knecht fs68, Vice Chair Alumni Council Keith Asmus ’71, President Greg McGlynn ’87, Vice President Jaime (Fairchild) Schechter ’04, Secretary-Treasurer Fran Calderwood ’54, Golden Club Representative View Sterling Online www.sterling.edu/alumni/magazine Current and back issues available Sterling is a publication of Sterling College’s Alumni and Marketing Communications offices. It is distributed three times a year and at no charge to Sterling College alumni, friends and parents. To remove or change your mailing address, or to submit a classnote, email alumni@sterling.edu; call 620-278-4206; or write the Alumni Office at 125 W. Cooper, Sterling, Kansas 67579.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Sterling, Sterling College, 125 W. Cooper, Sterling, Kansas 67579

Contents

On March 5, 2006, Todd ’96 and Liz fs97 Craft were surprised by Extreme Makover: Home Edition. One week later, they returned to a brand new home. 4

Sterling College student Kelli LaRosh was days away from her freshman year at SC when she got a call that would change her course of direction. 8

Doug Burg

Melanie Lightner

Melanie Lightner

Spring/Summer 2006

After 18 years at Sterling College, Dr. Craig Gannon is retiring from his position in the Language and Literature Department. 10

Features

Departments

Home Sweet Home

4 How did Todd ’96 and Liz (Castillo) fs97 Craft become the recipients of a new home from ? It all started with a discovery made by one of the girls on Todd’s high school basketball team.

Sterling Life 12

Marching Orders

Advancement 15

8 Kelli LaRosh signed up for the Army Reserves in order to be a missionary for Christ.

What she wasn’t expecting was action on that assignment just days before beginning her college career.

Much Ado About Gannon

10 For some, the retirement of Dr. Craig Gannon is an “end of an era.” Former language and lit major Rocky Supinger ’98 gives his own reflections on Dr. Gannon and his ability to teach.

New Prayer Leader Program; Charter School begins; Academic program and online learning update; Commencement review

Endowed chairs in business announced

Alumni 16 Alumni award winners

Athletics 18 Men’s basketball coach Dean Jaderston; Outstanding athletes named; Stadium renovation update

Employees and Trustees 20 Nine trustees join the Board

Alumni News and Notes 21 Classnotes from alumni around the world

Sterling Magazine • 3

Home Sweet

Home

The Craft Family Gets a New Home in a Week

By Melanie Lightner

Photos provided by Hondo Anvil Herald, Hondo, Texas

In August 2005 Todd ’96 and Liz (Castillo) fs 97 Craft bought a home in Hondo, Texas, a community of 8,000 people located one hour west of San Antonio, where they had lived for five-and-a-half years.

The purchase meant that Todd had ended his search for a coaching position in a bigger school and would stay at D’Hanis High School, nine miles west of Hondo in the small, rural town of D’Hanis, Texas. Following his 1996 graduation from Sterling College, Todd was hired as the head baseball coach at D’Hanis. In the years following, he added the responsibilities of head girl’s basketball coach, assistant football coach, and speech and health teacher.

“I had been offered jobs at bigger schools, but in the back of my mind I think I always knew I would stay,” said Todd.

4 • Spring/Summer 2006

Top, left-right: The Craft home, including the leaning mailbox, prior to the Makeover. Photo by Dawn Hoover. The new dining room includes a table where the entire family can share a meal. Photo by Sue Lynn Buckley. Middle, left-right: The living room is light and airy, an effect created by a twenty-foot ceiling and high windows (the “second story” on the exterior photo is actually the high ceiling over the living room). A larger kitchen now has room for the entire family and came stocked with dishes, pots and pans, utensils, appliances and food. Photos by Sue Lynn Buckley. Bottom, left-right: Todd’s new mailbox is straight and ensconced in stone, just the way he wanted it. The finished product, completed in a week, provides the room and equipment needed to care for Bella, the Craft’s third daughter. Photos by Melanie Lightner. For more photos of the Craft’s home, visit www.sterling.edu/alumni/magazine.

Sterling Magazine • 5

A rarity when he first arrived at D’Hanis High School because he was a young teacher right out of college, Todd was a hit with the students. With a fun-loving personality and the skills of a good coach, he soon became a favorite among his students.

“What the kids like about him the most is that he can get on their level when it’s okay, but when it’s time to be serious, when it’s time to put your head in the game, then it’s time to get to work,” said Lori McGuffin, the English teacher and yearbook sponsor at the high school. “He can be really laid back and silly and cut up with them, and then he can be the most intense person you’ve ever seen.”

“We crack jokes all the time but when it’s time to work, he’s serious,” said Lana Rothe, a senior at D’Hanis High School and a member of the girl’s basketball team.

“Coach Craft started coaching when I was in first grade and I’ve always looked up to him and Liz,” said Lana. “Their kids are like my brothers and sisters and I feel that I can talk to him [Todd] about anything. He has always been there to talk to and everyone at school feels that way.”

While a commitment to stay at D’Hanis High was made partly because of the students, it was also made with the Craft’s third daughter, Isabella, or Bella as she is called by her family, in mind.

“We had to think about Isabella and where she would get the best care,” said Todd.

Rothe Bella was born with Alobar Holoprosencephaly, a condition in which the brain fails to separate into two distinct hemispheres during development, and Hydrocephalus, commonly referred to as water on the brain. Bella is also legally blind.

With Todd’s decision, a house was purchased that held all the promise and potential of a home where the Craft family intended to stay for a long time. But like all homes, it had its own set of quirky problems, like a kitchen with a maximum occupancy of two and a dining room too small to walk through unless the table, which didn’t even fit their family of six around it, was up against the wall. Perhaps the biggest drawback, though, was the fact that the home wasn’t the most ideal set-up for Bella’s care and therapy needs. It was difficult for Liz to bathe Bella safely in a conventional bathroom, and extra space for physical and occupational therapy was at a minimum.

But the home also held great potential, and while Liz expounded to Lori one day on what she would do if she had the money, Lori suggested that Liz apply for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EM: HE), a popular television show on ABC in which a new home is built in a week for a deserving family.

It was a passing comment, one that a busy mom doesn’t really have the time to follow up with as she cares for four children: Sa-

mantha, 11; Sarah, 8; Bella, 3; and Todd Joseph, 20 months. The Crafts have another son, William, who was born on December 9, 2001. He passed away the same day.

A few short weeks after Liz and Lori’s conversation, a member of Todd’s basketball team was looking for basketball scores on a Texas high school girls coaching website when she found a notice that EM: HE was looking for a girl’s basketball coach from south Texas to be on the show. An offhanded comment by the player about submitting Coach Craft for the show was met with a serious “let’s do it” from Lori.

Todd’s players and Lori informed him that they were going to nominate him for the show and then submitted an application and produced a video of why the Craft family deserved to have a home makeover.

A period of intense waiting began for the basketball team as they analyzed each phone conversation that Lori had with one of the producers of the show while their application and video were being considered. The day finally came when the producers informed the family and Lori that the Crafts were being considered for a home makeover.

Todd found out during class when Lori came to his door with the producers on the phone. Liz received the call on her cell phone.

“I was driving home from San Antonio when I got a phone call from one of the Lana producers saying we had been selected as one of the families in consideration,” said Liz. “I was in shock.”

Even though there was no guarantee they would be the final family selected, the Crafts had to answer numerous questions meant to discover their style, likes and dislikes, and Lori worked with several different producers on submitting the information and videos Extreme Makeover needed to make their final decision. The difficult part in waiting was not jumping to conclusions about the outcome.

“I had a feeling that we might [be selected], but I didn’t know,” said the Crafts oldest daughter Samantha. “I wanted us to, for Bella.”

The Crafts were told they would know the final outcome on March 5.

“We were told that we would get a phone call that day with whether we had won or not,” said Todd. “All of sudden we heard noise outside.”

“When we went out the door the whole Extreme Makeover crew was there with Kermit the Frog, our friends and people from the show. They had set up in the alley with the big bus and barricades were already up.” (Note: Kermit the Frog took the place of an ill Ty Pennington as team leader on the Craft’s house.)

While the Crafts had waited in their living room at the front of their house, the Extreme Makeover crew had come in from the

“Coach Craft started coaching when I was in first grade and I’ve always looked up to him and Liz. Their kids are like my brothers and sisters and I feel that I can talk to him about anything. He has always been there to talk to and everyone at school feels that way.”

6 • Spring/Summer 2006

back and completely surprised the family.

“So much was set up; it was a total surprise,” said Liz. “We had nothing packed for vacation because we had no idea that we had been selected.”

“I really thought they were going to call us, but then when we came outside, I thought, ‘Maybe that was our phone call,’” said eight-year-old Sarah.

Following interviews with the family and “before” shots of the exterior and interior of the house, the Crafts were taken to San Antonio for the night before heading for their week-long vacation in Huntington Beach, Calif., where they went whale-watching, surfing, swimming, shopping, visited Disneyland and received makeovers before going to Hollywood.

Meanwhile, back in Hondo, D’Hanis High School students were taking to the Craft house with sledgehammers during the demolition day on Monday, March 6.

“School was out for one full day for the whole high school,” said Lana. “They had us walking down the alleyway with drums and yelling, ‘Demolition!’ Then they split us into different groups and we went inside to tear things down. Kermit was in there too giving instructions to everyone.”

The next day the girl’s basketball team returned to work with Paul, one of the EM: HE designers, on making a shadow box out of the Craft’s old front door in memory of William.

“Even though on the show it was Paige and Tonya who put the stuff in the shadow box, it was really the girl’s basketball team,” said Lana.

Lori continued in her role as contact person for the producers, working behind the scenes to make things happen.

“I spent a lot of my time on the phone with the producers answering questions and helping them get what they needed,” said Lori. “Liz had also told me a lot of her preferences, what she did and didn’t like. One of our jokes was that she didn’t want any roosters!”

Working closely with the EM: HE crew gave Lori and Lana an entirely different perspective of the show. Not only did they encounter designers who really were as genuinely nice as they appear on the show and who worked alongside everyone as the house was being built, but they received a crash course education in filming for television.

“Something you don’t know when you watch the show is that it takes 17,000 times to do something,” said Lori. “You think a scene is really cute the first time but then the people in the scene need to do it again and again.

“Another thing I didn’t expect to see was the sheer number of people involved with the process. I went to the house at one a.m. the night before the family came home and the house was swarming with people.”

Exactly one week after the Craft family was surprised by Extreme Makeover, they were back in Hondo for the reveal of their new home. While they admitted to being nervous to see the new house, it was the smaller details that initially stood out.

“The first thing I noticed was the mailbox,” said Todd. “Our old mailbox was on a post with a lean to it, and I always thought it would be nice to put stone around it. They had extra rock lying around the set and someone decided to make a nice mailbox on a

whim at two a.m. It wasn’t even in the plans, but they fixed my mailbox.”

“I loved the exterior rock because it was what I always wanted, and the fact that the yard was landscaped,” said Liz. As the family moved inside, the interior that met them was more than they could have dreamed.

“When you first walk in, you think, ‘Oh my, this is so cool!’” said Sarah.

“The kitchen was a big upgrade,” said Todd. “Now we have room for everyone to be in there at once.”

Though the house exceeded the expectations of the family, it was the shadowbox for William and the rooms created especially for Bella and her needs that made the biggest impact.

“In our old house, Bella shared a room with Sarah and had a bed that I had to manually crank to move into the different positions that her body needs to be in,” said Liz. “It was often too hard to do so I just didn’t do it. She also spent a lot of time on the couch or the living room floor, but since being in the new house, she’s progressed so much. It’s unbelievable.”

Bella’s bedroom comes equipped with a state-of-the-art bed that can be adjusted by a remote control. Light panels surround the room and can be set to different pattern sequences, and a separate bath and shower area makes it possible for Liz to easily and safely bathe Bella.

Her therapy room, a completely different room, is filled with contrasting colors and objects with different textures and sounds.

The stimulation she needs is making a big difference for a little girl in whom the doctors placed little hope.

“She’s starting to roll so much that sometimes she’ll roll out of the therapy room,” said Sarah.

“My favorite part of the house is the therapy room because Bella loves that place,” said Samantha.

While the family took in their new home, the generosity of people they didn’t even know overwhelmed them. From a handcarved fountain for Bella’s room to a fully stocked kitchen to a sizable check from the contractor, the family was blessed again and again by the generosity shown to them and the support they’ve received from the Hondo and D’Hanis communities.

“I think I have heard that more than anything, our friends and neighbors are happy for us,” said Todd. “They knew we struggled a bit, and it was a little overwhelming to see all the nice things in the house when we returned home, but they’re happy for us. It’s nice to know that Liz has assistance in the house with Bella.”

With the new home that meets Bella’s needs, the Crafts will be in Hondo for a long time, a fact that has the students and teachers at D’Hanis High very grateful.

“We told the family as they left on vacation, ‘you thought we were doing this because we liked you as people, but really it’s so that you can’t ever leave!’” said Lori.

“A lot of people would be sad if they left, not only because he’s [Todd] a good coach but because he’s bettered all our teams,” said Lana. “If he sees people struggling, he reaches out and tells them that they can do it if they keep working hard. He’s such a great coach that I know he’s gotten offers other places but he’s chosen to stay.

“They’re a very deserving family; they deserved it 100%.”

Sterling Magazine • 7

Kelli LaRosh returned to Sterling College for the Spring 2006 semester following deployment to Kuwait in August 2004

IT WAS THREE DAYS before Kelli LaRosh was

to report to Sterling College for freshman orientation when a call came that would change her course of action. A call that, though she knew it could come at any time, would put her a year-and-a-half behind her classmates. A call that meant that God had a different plan for her life than what she had planned for herself.

It was August 2004 and Kelli, an Army Reservist, had been deployed to Kuwait, not just as a private first class, but as a missionary for Jesus Christ.

Marching Orders

8 • Spring/Summer 2006

Melanie Lightner

By Melanie Lightner

Kelli grew up on a dairy farm in the northwestern Kansas town of Osborne. As a young teenager, she liked the ideas of mental and physical toughness that the Army promoted, and the ability to be just as tough “as one of the guys.” While her young childhood visions weren’t always at the forefront of her mind, they resurfaced during her junior year of high school when an Army recruiter visited her school.

“I started praying about joining the Army Reserves, and one night it came to me that if I joined the Army, then I could be a missionary for Christ,” said Kelli.

Kelli had chosen to not only be a soldier in the Lord’s army, but a representative for Him in one of the world’s most powerful military forces.

Kelli joined the Army Reserves and completed basic training the summer between her junior and senior years. Following her senior year of high school, she graduated from Advanced Individual Training (AIT) as a supply specialist, her Military Occupational Specialty (MOS).

Two weeks following her graduation from AIT she had been called into service and was headed to Fort Riley, Kansas, for two months of weapons and urban operations training before arriving in Kuwait.

“I remember it being so hot and I remember the smell when I first arrived,” said Kelli. “The smell was a mix of the gulf with animals and filth…kind of a sewage smell, but I got used to it.”

Kelli’s unit was stationed at Camp Buehring, a support camp for those traveling to and from Iraq that would house anywhere from 6,000 to 20,000 people within its five-mile perimeter. As soon as she arrived at Camp Buehring, Kelli was informed that she was being sent to help set up a new camp—Camp New York—

Left: Kelli with the bobcat she operated while setting up Camp New York in Kuwait. Middle: Kelli, right, and a friend on a tank at Fort Riley in Kansas. Photos provided. Right: Kelli was a member of the Sterling College Track & Field team during the Spring 2006 semester. While she typically competed in field events, that didn’t stop her from trying new things, including the Steeplechase race. Photo by Jodi Lightner.

with several other people from her unit. Their job was to create a camp community—complete with 12 tent pads that held 12 tents each and a command cell—in the middle of the sand desert. Due to her experience running a bobcat on her family’s farm, Kelli was put to work digging posts, leveling ground and building sand volleyball courts for recreation.

For a month and a half she lived and worked at the new campsite. When she returned to Camp Buehring, her job as a supply specialist (A supply specialist is in charge of unit supplies, which includes uniforms, canteens, rucksacks, sleeping pads, cots, office supplies and toilet paper.) was already taken so she was given a position at the work order desk, a job that would provide her with an opportunity to change the environment around her.

At the work desk Kelli encountered many upset soldiers who came in to request maintenance work orders. She soon tired of the bad language that accompanied the maintenance work order requests and began what she called a “cussing jar,” charging people $1 for every cussword. She earned $250, which she then sent to United Way. “This dollar thing really got to people and broke them of the habit,” said Kelli. “It made a big difference. One gentleman even made an advance payment.”

As Kelli took initiative to change her work environment, other people noticed the difference in her actions, her roommate in particular.

“My roommate was mean both to me and to other people, but I became friends with her anyway and we actually did some devotions together. I think she noticed a difference in my attitude towards people and life as opposed to her attitude.

“There were other times too that people would ask me what was different about me. One guy in particular had questions about faith that he asked me. I shared as much as I knew.

“In Advanced Individual Training, I was fortunate to have another strong, Christian friend. People noticed a difference in us and asked us questions. We would always tell them about Jesus.

Though no one made any life-changing decisions, they would listen and be respectful. We were at least planting a seed and a different way of life.”

Though others noticed that there was a difference in her, the atmosphere was difficult for Kelli.

“It was very tough to be in that environment and I held a lot of stuff in,” said Kelli. “The people I was surrounded with had left careers, school and families and would drag others down with their bad attitudes. Some didn’t like their jobs or positions at the camp and that can rub off, but I tried to not let it affect me.

“I also felt that I was growing apart from God because of the atmosphere of people who didn’t believe. I needed a friend to stay accountable with. I discovered, though, that when I thought I was distant to God, that I actually learned the most.”

When Kelli returned home in October 2005, she knew that she was not the same person who had left the country a year before.

“I’m more positive about things, about life. I feel like I’m a lot more mature and that I can handle situations a lot better. I’m more patient than what I used to be and a lot more independent.

I’ve grown closer to God and my walk with Christ is growing.”

She came to Sterling College for the Spring 2006 semester, picking up where she had left off a year-and-a-half earlier.

Her scholarships had been held for her and she was able to participate on the track team.

Her only change was her major.

Working behind a desk in Kuwait showed her she didn’t really want to be an accountant after all so she opted for secondary math education so she can work with high school kids.

“This (Sterling) is a totally opposite atmosphere and I love it. It’s so nice to be around people who I can share my thoughts with and they won’t look at me like, ‘where did you come up with that?’ The people here have the same beliefs as me.”

As Kelli continues with her Sterling education, she also plans to pursue leadership responsibilities as a non-commissioned officer within the Army Reserves. During her deployment she was promoted from private first class to specialist and then to sergeant.

She plans to attend leadership training during the summer and has thought about going to officer training school.

Regardless of her future plans, Kelli’s main motivation will be sharing Jesus with those in the Army. While she does that, her time in Kuwait has given her a new appreciation for her life here.

“I see how lucky we are to live in the United States and how lucky I am to be at Sterling.”

Kelli had chosen to not only be a soldier in the Lord’s army, but a representative for Him in one of the world’s most powerful military forces.

Sterling Magazine • 9

After 18 years of teaching Sterling College students, Dr. Craig Gannon retired from his position in the Language and Literature Department this spring.

Much Ado About Gannon Melanie Lightner

By Rocky Supinger ’98

T

he voicemail is abrupt and serious, and I, a pastor on the eve of a vacation, am brought to immediate attention. “Hello, Rocky,” followed by a long pause as I wait for the worst, which comes as promised. “I am in serious need of pastoral care.”

My heart stops, my face gets hot, and I sit up immediately, propping my elbows on the wooden desk in front of me. This is THE call. The call every pastor dreads, especially once the flights are booked and the suitcases are packed. In a matter of seconds I race through the possibilities and the contingencies: cancellations, delays, explanations.

Then, less abrupt but just as serious, the voice returns. “This is Craig Gannon, returning your call. . .”

I let the words sink in and breathe a sigh of relief. This is not THE call; trips will go on as planned. Yet, even for minutes afterwards, my pre-voicemail vacation calm does not return. I am Dorothy, assuring herself, “It was only a dream”— which is comforting, as far as it goes.

Maybe there’s a better image to draw from, one more germane to the subject. Rattled from my late night pre-vacation diversions, I am Ebenezer Scrooge, visited by the Ghost of English Professors Past. For I am a former student of Dr. Craig Gannon, working on this, a tribute to Dr. Craig Gannon.

To get to the point, I am working against a deadline.

10 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6

Bemused by my eleventh hour correspondence, the good Dr. has responded as he does: promptly, courteously, seriously. Yet unwittingly he has visited upon his former student the jitters and sighs of midnight study long forgotten, when life was a moving deadline and time a stack of books.

That Craig Gannon should retire in this, the year of our Lord, 2006, cannot come as a surprise. It certainly does not come as a surprise to him. “I told myself when I turned 65,” he recalls, “that I would retire at 67.” He is now 67 and looking forward to home

projects, travel, even a novel.

“It’s time,” he says. And there is nothing more to say.

No, there is much more to say. The retirement of Craig Gannon signals the end of an era. It completes the emptying of the Sterling College Language and Literature Department of a trio of teachers known to more than a few generations of students: Pamela Stark Haney (now Troy), Sara MacDonald, and now Dr. Gannon.

Perhaps it’s a tad dramatic to call it the “end of an era.” Maybe I’m making more of the teachers who shaped my education than is accurate, elevating them to skewed and lofty status. If I am, Dr. Gannon would surely understand. He recalls how, when he arrived at Sterling in 1988, he stepped into the shoes of a legend (Dr. Dorothy Behnke) whose students bewailed her absence as much as Gannon’s students are bewailing his. It’s one of the sure things about Sterling College, that at every time and in every department there are era-making professors. And those professors tend to leave a trail of nostalgic devotees when they retire.

Still, the coming semester at Sterling will be the first one without Dr. Gannon in almost twenty years. For him, it will be the first lecture-less fall in almost 40 years.

Beginning in 1967 as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Gannon has taught. When his graduate work was finished, he joined the staff of UM as an administrator, but, unable to stay out of the classroom, he quickly picked up a freshman composition course and eventually wound up teaching full time.

He never stopped.

Prior to landing in Sterling, Dr. Gannon’s teaching talents were exercised at Central College in McPherson, Kansas (now Central Christian College of Kansas). The eight years he spent at Central produced a valuable self-awareness, as the Harvard-educated professor discovered his true strengths, as well as his shortcomings.

“What they [Central] do they do really well,” he explains.

“They take high school students who aren’t college material and make them so. But what I do and what they do don’t fit really well.”

Cue Gannon’s signature self-abnegation: “I’m not so good at working with students who aren’t academically gifted.”

A word about what Dr. Gannon does, what, for 18 years, he has been really good at: teaching. Novels, essays, poems: he simply teaches them. He doesn’t perform them or reinvent them or strain them for “relevance.” He teaches them.

Sometimes standing behind a podium, sometimes seated in a chair, he reads texts to students and students read texts to him.

He talks in and through the contexts of the great British literary works that have long been his subject, a technique that often can’t be mapped out on a bullet-pointed lecture outline (this student once watched him set Henry V in the context of the great “ages” of human history, a task he dispatched in about 25 minutes).

In the world of academia, where students are more likely to respond to eccentricity and iconoclasm, Dr. Gannon has been a steady marker of predictability and depth. Semester after semester, the Good Professor has inhabited some of the greatest literary works of Western civilization before student after student, choking on the verses you’re supposed to choke on and laughing at the prose you’re supposed to laugh at. He has translated Wordsworth’s

“host, of golden daffodils” into a simple drawing with a black marker on a white markerboard. He has elevated the meter of Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” to a mathematical spectacle.

He has taught with a quiet deliberation, as informed by faith as it is by scholarship. That may not have produced much zeal, but it has guided two decades’ worth of Sterling students on the course of faith and learning.

It’s first day of my vacation, and I’ve got Dr. Gannon on the phone as I sit in a Memphis airport sports bar awaiting my connection. We share a nervous laugh over his voicemail the night before, and then we talk. It’s not an interview so much as a congenial conversation between student and teacher, much like the ones we had in his Campbell basement office going over class schedules and assignments (the ubiquitous Kansas Public Radio playing in the background).

He reflects: “My years at Sterling College have been the best of my career. “I’ve been spoiled.”

If he believes he has been spoiled, Dr. Gannon would tell say his students have done the spoiling. A lifelong academic who began as a Harvard undergrad, Dr. Gannon has known all kinds of students, from the overly-driven to the lost and lazy. “Students who are too driven can be a pain,” he says. “Sterling students are driven enough.

“I’ve very rarely had to go through the agony of giving a language and literature major a bad grade.”

Yet the students that ambled into his class in 1988 and the ones he is leaving behind today would hardly recognize one another. The phenomenon known as the college student has changed tremendously in 18 years. In 1988, the student with a personal computer would be an anomaly; today you’re lost without a laptop and a 24 hour wireless internet connection. Cell phones and iPods have fundamentally changed the way college students relate to one another, their teachers, and their education.

But Dr. Gannon doesn’t see what has changed in the Sterling College student as much as he sees what has stayed the same. “It’s astonishing,” he says, “that year after year we get students who are similarly motivated. They all want the emphasis on Christian character, and a lot of them have a desire to get a good education.”

Thanks to Dr. Gannon’s quiet mastery of his craft, those students have, year after year, received what they came for. And thanks to his deep commitment to Sterling’s mission of blending Christian character formation with a liberal arts education, we got even more than we came for.

That’s the truly astonishing thing.

Rocky Supinger ’98 was a language and literature major at Sterling College. He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2004 and has been the pastor of St. Matthew Presbyterian Church in Grandview, Mo., for the past two years. Rocky is married to Meredith Clayton ’98, who is a resident at Children’s Mercy S t e r l i n g M a g a z i n e • 11

Sterling Life

A Place of Prayer Prayer Leader program will ensure daily prayer for every student on campus

W

ith Sterling College’s small, family-like community, it would stand to reason that it would be easy for new students to become connected to one another, right? Not always.

While resident assistants (RAs) and resident directors (RDs) do everything they can to make sure each new student is connecting with other students and finding a place to belong, it is virtually impossible for an RA to have a close relationship with each of the 15-25 people on his or her wing.

“We had a student leave during the fall semester simply because he did not make enough meaningful connections. He simply fell through the cracks,” said Director of Residence Life Kati Helzer. “That was a wake-up call for the Student Life staff to change our system in order to foster an increase in intentional relationship-building among students on campus.”

The Student Life staff found the answer they needed from the Prayer Leader program at Liberty University and have 12 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6

implemented a similar program at Sterling.

The Prayer Leader program is a volunteer program in which each Prayer Leader is responsible for praying for five students each day by name. Prayer Leaders will also assist the resident assistants and Student Life staff in staying connected to each student in a more personal way, intentionally building relationships with them and communicating any needs a student may have with Student Life.

“Our number one task is that each student would be prayed for daily by name,” said Helzer. “The role of the Prayer Leader beyond that will differ with each student, depending on how they are adjusting to college and connecting to other students.

Going to the cafeteria by yourself can be intimidating as a new student, so Prayer Leaders might invite new students to join them for lunch or dinner.”

As Prayer Leaders pray for and build relationships with their five students, the RAs will pray for and mentor the Prayer Leaders. RAs in turn are prayed for and mentored by the resident director in each

residence hall.

“Adding the prayer leaders to our support system for students creates a unique opportunity for RAs. As resident directors, we pour into the lives of our RAs and model for them the mentoring and discipleship process. Now, they have the opportunity to have students with whom they can intentionally build relationships with as well.”

Student response to the Prayer Leader program has been overwhelmingly positive, with many students participating in the application, interview and training process in order to impact the campus through prayer and relationship.

“In the Bible, Jesus ministered specifically to 12 individuals, even though he touched the lives of many more,” said Stephen “Sto” Christian, resident director in Kilbourn Hall. “What is exciting about the Prayer Leader program is that students interested in ministering this way on campus will be able to reach a specific number of people, which is an achievable goal.”

Melanie Lightner

Amber Kaspar, left, will serve as a Prayer Leader and Jessica Walton, right, as a Resident Assistant during the 2006-07 year.

Education Department spearheads new charter school on Sterling College campus Assistant Professor of Education Judith Best has just completed a lesson in a math methods class, teaching her students the types of things they would need to do to teach their elementary students about problem solving. In order to practice the methods of teaching problem solving, students will create a lesson that they will then teach to a “class.”

However, the “class” they teach the lesson to is filled with 18-22-year old college students instead of 7-12-year olds.

“We would talk about the methods of teaching a particular subject, but we had no place to model those methods for our students,” said Best. “Our education students do go into public school classrooms to observe and practice the methods of teaching, but each teacher has their own way of teaching and we couldn’t ask them to teach something a particular way.”

Sterling Academy, a new charter school

on the Sterling College campus will not only provide an alternative education option in the Sterling area but will be a venue for SC education students to put the things they learn in the classroom into practice with actual children.

“One of the reasons we pursued starting a charter school on campus was because we wanted a professional development school where we could extend our philosophy from the academic classroom to the elementary school setting,” said Best, who is overseeing the formation of Sterling Academy.

At Sterling Academy, education students will be able to take what they’ve been taught in the college classroom and immediately put it into practice in an elementary classroom setting instead of practicing on each other.

The first charter school in the state of Kansas to be located on an educational

New academic programs, online learning taking off with Fall 2006 semester Culinary Arts. Graphic Design. Sports Management. Online learning. An MBA through a partnership with Walsh College.

What do all of these seemingly unrelated entities have in common? They are all new academic offerings available for the Fall 2006 semester at Sterling College.

Strategically added, each program is in high demand among prospective college students.

“The sport and leisure industry is one of the top three industries in almost every state in the U.S., annually generating more than $300 billion dollars nationwide,” said Assistant Professor of Exercise Science Shawn Reed. “We wanted our students at Sterling to have the opportunity to enter this vast marketplace, and were able to accomplish this by offering an interdisciplinary major with courses from both business and exercise science.”

While adding majors in graphic design and sports management will make Sterling more attractive to prospective students, a

bachelor’s degree in culinary arts makes Sterling one of the few, four-year culinary programs to combine culinary skills and business management with an underpinning of a liberal arts education at a Christian college. Only two other Kansas colleges—Johnson County Community College and Butler County Community College—offer a degree in culinary arts; the programs are two-year programs.

“With the nearest four-year culinary arts program located in Denver, Sterling’s program will attract students from the Midwest region who desire to be chefs,” said Sterling College Vice President for Institutional Advancement Mark Sarver.

Unlike most culinary programs, which focus primarily on preparing students as a chef, Sterling’s program will have the added distinction of a solid background in business management skills, making it easier for graduates to move into culinary management without further schooling.

Online learning ventures are also

campus, Sterling Academy is an accredited public school and will feature small class sizes and a multi-age setting instead of a one-age or one-grade class.

The most unique feature of Sterling Academy, though, will be the intentional character education program, which will explore character education through literature.

“We wanted a place where we could educate kids’ hearts as well as their minds, so we’re using a program that suggests books for discussion about character traits such as respect or kindness,” said Best.

“The intent of the program is to help the kids discover these traits within their own reading and assist them in drawing conclusions of what it means to practice that trait in their daily life.”

Other program features of Sterling Academy include teaching Spanish and hands-on, project-based learning to engage the students in the learning process.

Sterling Academy will open in August 2006.

bringing Sterling up to date with current educational trends. Sterling’s online learning program—e.Sterling—will be fully launched with the fall semester with course offerings in religion and philosophy and business.

While e.Sterling will initially be a degree completion program, the vision is to be able to offer complete degrees online.

“It is important for Sterling College to be able to offer courses and degrees online because the face of higher education is changing,” said Vice President for Distributed Learning Troy Peters. “We’re seeing a new population of students who don’t fit the traditional college-age mold, and this is one way that we can provide Christ-centered higher education for these students.”

An online MBA degree will also be available through e.Sterling in partnership with Walsh College of Troy, Michigan.

The program allows Sterling students to take dual credit courses their senior year of college that also serve as introductory courses for the MBA program at Walsh.

Following graduation, students can either continue the online program or take the S t e r l i n g M a g a z i n e • 13

Sterling Life 114th Commencement celebrated May 13 Saturday, May 13 was a day of celebration as seventy-six seniors graduated from Sterling College and Dr. Bruce Douglas was installed as the tenth president of SC. The commencement address was given

by Mr. Paul Bucha. A baccalaureate service was held in Culbertson Auditorium on Friday, May 12, with SC alumnus Daryl Nuss ’71 giving the baccalaureate message.

Prior to the commencement address, Dr. Tom Simpson, chairman of the Sterling College Board of Trustees, installed Dr. Bruce Douglas as president.

The William M. McCreery Teaching Award was presented to Assistant Professor of Education Terri Gaeddert, and the Professor Fran Jabara Leadership and Outstanding Graduating Male and Female Awards were presented to Heather Fuller, daughter of Ken and Janet (Kilgore) Fuller ’77, and Andy Wesner, son of Dave and Claudia Wesner. For a report of the Alumni Award winners, see pages 16 and 17.

Clockwise from top: Conor Eastman, Chad Cox and Jonathan Coon move their tassles following the conferring of their degrees. Terri Gaeddert, assistant professor of education, received the McCreery Teaching Award for excellence in teaching.

Paul W. Bucha, an international businessman, West Point graduate and Congressional Medal of Honor winner gave the commencement address.

Heather Fuller (daughter of Ken and Janet (Kilgore) ’77 Fuller) and Andy Wesner were honored with the outstanding graduating student awards and the Professor Fran Jabara Leadership Award during the commencement ceremony. Eli Svaty (son of Don and Niki fs71 Svaty) and Erin Sundquist march past Cooper Hall on their way to Smisor Stadium. Dr. Tom Simpson, chairman of the Board of Trustees, charges Dr. Bruce Douglas with the presidency of Sterling College. Photos by Melanie Lightner ’99.

14 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6

Advancement

Melanie Lightner

The Importance of Chairs

Endowed chairs one way to provide opportunities for program growth

N

umerous times during an academic year are the words, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a program in ____________,” heard. As ideas are generated across campus of what programs are needed in today’s society that would attract more students, they often are just a passing thought due to lack of funding. However, there is one way to increase the program offerings without straining the budget: endowed chairs.

“When an endowed chair is established, a principal amount of money has been donated and the interest earned off the principal is used to fund a professor’s salary,” said Vice President for Institutional Advancement Mark Sarver.

As the College grows, offering more programs to attract and prepare more students to impact the world around them, it will become increasingly paramount to establish endowed chairs in order to add to the spectrum of the College’s academic offerings.

“Establishing endowed chairs provides the College with an opportunity to strengthen our programmatic offerings

without having to pull funds from operational resources,” said Sarver.

Two endowed chairs were recently established in Sterling’s Business Department. Tony Thompson ’69, real estate investor with Triple Net Properties, LLC of Santa Ana, Calif., funded an endowed chair in real estate development; Pete McVay, president of Minnwest Corporation, funded an endowed chair in entrepreneurship and leadership.

Kevin Hill was recently hired to fill the position of the endowed chair in entrepreneurship and leadership. With a strong background in business entrepreneurship, he is anticipating the opportunity to develop a Christ-centered business program that will prepare students to have an immediate impact on the business world.

“Sterling’s Business Department is dedicated to producing programs that will focus on the skills and traits most desired by the contemporary business community,” said Hill. “Employers are currently interested in new employees with communication and interpersonal skills, software and technological proficiency, and analyti-

cal and problems solving abilities.

“Employers are also looking for the character-based traits of loyalty, honesty and integrity. Modern business programs often address these skills and traits to some degree, but rarely does a program focus on the skills and traits currently in demand by the business world. Sterling will offer such programs.”

As Hill fills one endowed business chair, other partially funded chairs will also benefit SC students once they are completely funded.

“We currently have a chair in missiology and a chaplaincy chair that are halfway funded,” said Sarver. “We need another $500,000 each in order to hire professors to fill the positions.

“We’re always open to any person who wants endow a chair in a specific program or start a new program, as long as the program fits within the mission of the institution,” said Sarver.

For more information on endowed chairs, contact Mark Sarver at 620-2784219 or msarver@sterling.edu.

S t e r l i n g M a g a z i n e • 15

Alumni

Honoring Service

Melanie Lightner

President Douglas presented Tony Thompson ’69 with the Distinguished Service Award during the May 2006 Board meetings.

Tony Thompson ’69 awarded Distinguished Service Award

E

ach spring, the Alumni Council selects several alumni, who have made outstanding contributions in developing careers, service to society and loyalty to SC, to be recognized and honored during the College’s commencement ceremony. The highest alumni award given to an individual is the Distinguished Service Award (DSA), which recognizes a lifetime of service that exemplifies the purposes for which SC exists -- exceptional contributions to society, distinguished professional accomplishment, outstanding leadership and character.

This year, the DSA was given to Tony Thompson ’69. Thompson was nominated for the award by Don Reed ’68.

“Tony is a strong example of what a true and valued alumnus should be,” said Reed. “He shares the College with those around him, speaks of the value of its mission in blending Christian principles with

learning, is involved in its work, prays for its mission and future, and sacrificially gives to support its work.

“Tony has served his Alma Mater as a trustee for eight years. His love for his College has been clearly demonstrated in his strong financial leadership on the Finance Committee of the Board and his involvement in so many aspects of the College.”

In addition to his leadership on the Board of Trustees, Thompson served as a leader on the Cooper Hall Campaign Committee.

Conversations with his friends about Sterling College resulted in 28 of his friends secretly raising more than $40,000 to purchase 31 acres of land just west of the college campus. They gifted the land to the College in his honor.

A native of Kansas, Tony graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Shortly after entering the

Still Standing Firm

16 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6

financial planning business, he moved to Orange County, Calif., where he began investing in real estate, buying rental properties, land and small commercial properties throughout Southern California.

In 1998, he founded Triple Net Properties, LLC, where he is actively involved in asset management, real estate acquisition, and raising capital. He serves as chairman of Triple Net’s management committee and chairman of the board of NNN Capital Corp.

Triple Net is currently the largest securitized tenant in common sponsor in the United States. Triple Net’s expertise and accomplishments have been documented in some of the nation’s top journals and publications including Business Week, New York Times, Orange County Register and the Wall Street Journal.

Tony and his wife Sharon have three daughters and two grandchildren.

—Melanie Lightner

Nancy (McCreery) ’63 Billings and Rev. Nancy (Clixby) ’65 Troy were honored during the Sterling College commencement ceremony with Alumni Citations, which are awarded to graduated of 15 years or more who have shown continued contributions over a great period of time in sustained excellence in careers, service to society and continued loyalty to SC. “Nancy Billings has given a wonderful lifetime of example of what it means to be a servant leader,” said Director of Alumni Tarah Colvin. “She is an active participator and supporter in her community, church and in the life of Sterling College.”

Named the “2005 McPherson County Woman of Distinction,” Nancy Billings has been active in her church and the community of McPherson, Kan., where she resides with her husband Tom Billings ’62. For more than 30 years, she has volunteered in her church by teaching Sunday School to children, teen’s and adults.

She has also led women’s Bible studies in McPherson for more than 20 years.

Involved over the years in numerous organizations within her community, Nancy has served as a member of the McPherson USD 418 School Board for eight years, chairman and board member of the Christian Women’s Club for five years, Kiwanis International Community Service organization for seven years, as a CASA (Court Appointed Special

chaplaincies and pastoral counselors, child advocacy, disabilities, health and parish nursing, and serious mental illness. She serves on the council of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery.

Prior to coming to the PC (USA) national offices she served with her husband, Bruce Tjaden, as interim co-pastors of John Knox Presbyterian Church in Louisville.

For six years, she worked at the Center for Women and Families, a sexual assault and domestic violence agency. In that capacity, she created an interfaith council to facilitate better communication between clergy and the agency and trained clergy on how to address the issue of domestic violence in their faith communities.

Advocate) volunteer for three years, on the McPherson City Alcohol and Drug Abuse Committee for ten years, and as a McPherson Community Bible Study Fellowship International teaching leader for 12 years.

Nancy was awarded “Volunteer Beyond Excellence Award” from McPherson’s CASA organization on March 5, 2004.

Nancy and Tom have three sons, including Brian ’89.

Rev. Nancy (Clixby) Troy is the Associate for Social Welfare Ministries/Executive Director of the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA). She works in the Justice and Compassion area of National Ministries Division, PC (USA) in Louisville, Kentucky. This office is responsible for resourcing and supporting professionals and volunteers who work in the areas of addictions, community ministries, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, Nancy (McCreery) ’63 Billings, left, with Alumni Director Tarah Colvin after SC’s reproductive health, commencement ceremony on May 13, 2006.

Melanie Lightner

Alumni Citations presented to Nancy (McCreery) Billings and Nancy (Clixby) Troy

Which Warriors?

Last issue’s photo was from page 51 of the 1955 Round-Up. Pictured were John Irwin, Carol (Humphrey/Rhaesa) Vineyard, and Elwyn Tedford. All three were from the class of 1955.

Those who correctly identified the individuals in the picture were Bob Meanor ’54 (first out-ofstate email) of Omaha, Neb., and since we did not have a correct in-state email, we decided to give a mug to the next correct out-of-stater, Jay Grimstead ’57 of Murphys, California.

The first to reply after July 15, 2006 with the correct identification for this picture from the 1990s, will win a SC travel mug from the SC Bookstore.

There will be a winner for each of the following categories: the first correct letter, in-state email and out-of-state email. No repeat winners please. SC employees are not eligible to win.

Send your answer to the Sterling College Alumni Office, 125 W. Cooper, Sterling, KS 67579, or alumni@sterling.edu.

S t e r l i n g M a g a z i n e • 17

Athletics

Dean Jaderston is Sterling College’s new head men’s basketball coach.

Melanie Lightner

A Program with a Purpose

Dean Jaderston takes the helm as Sterling’s head men’s basketball coach

D

ean Jaderston had to trust that God had a plan. The mission trip to Panama that he was planning for his basketball team at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill., had only two players committed to it, a surprising turn of events considering the success of the previous year’s trip. But unbeknownst to Jaderston, God was planning a different mission opportunity for him. One that would take him and his family to Sterling, Kan., to be Sterling College’s next men’s basketball coach.

For Jaderston, the opportunity to come to Sterling meant being a part of an intentional community.

“What is most exciting to me about Sterling College is the community aspect between the College and the town. As a high school coach I loved connecting with the community, and as I heard people talk about the town of Sterling and Sterling College basketball, there was a real sense of being part of a community.”

With Jaderston’s respect for community comes a vision for a basketball program built on the same principles, a program in which young men are prepared for life beyond college.

18 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6

“I want our players to see basketball as more of a program than just a team. In the classroom, the community, on a mission trip or on the floor there needs to be a sense of identity, family and purpose to what we do. College is such a great time to prepare to be a man, a dad, a husband, an employer or employee and I want to build those key relationships—from player to player, coach to player, faculty and staff to player—that will help prepare and sustain them for the rest of their lives.”

Jaderston’s vision for the basketball program stems from his own walk with Christ.

“My faith in Christ is the central part of who I am and everything else has to integrate into that. It influences my basketball coaching, my teaching, my being a dad. I want my guys to first of all be followers of Jesus and then it will impact everything they do, who they are and what transformation has happened in their life.”

As Jaderston interacts with his players, he will be helping them “see and seize” their potential in every area of life.

“My first responsibility is to help my players see what their potential is, whether in the classroom or in a career. Once they see what they can be, I want to help them

know how to grab hold of it. Whether it’s encouragement, discipline, weightlifting, whatever it takes to help them actually seize the opportunity, I want to be able to give that to them.”

For the last five years, Jaderston has been the head basketball coach at Trinity International University, where he took a program that had only won two games his first season to winning sixteen in each of the past two seasons. This past year Trinity finished with an overall record of 16-17 and a third place finish in the Mid-States West Conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

Jaderston is a native of Yorktown, Ind., and played collegiate basketball at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota. He coached high school basketball for 12 years in Minnesota before moving to Trinity.

Jaderston holds a bachelor’s degree in history/secondary education from Crown College and a master’s degree in Adlerian counseling and psychotherapy from Alfred Alder Institute of Minnesota.

Jaderston and his wife Julie have three sons—Matthew, Michael and Jacob—who will be a senior, a sophomore and a sixth grader.

Bacon and Collins garner outstanding athlete honors

Left: Jodie (Bacon) Wesner takes off from base during a softball game. Right: Mandrae Collins puts up a shot in the 2006 NAIA National Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Stadium renovation on track for Fall 2007 completion Those hearing rumors of a renovated Sterling College stadium, track and football and soccer field surfaces in 2006 will have to wait until Fall 2007 for the renovations to be completed.

“When we began the stadium renovation project this past January, we expected it to be a 2007 project,” said Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Andy Lambert.” “Sometime during the spring semester we thought that perhaps it could be a 2006 project, but we knew that it would be difficult to raise the money we needed by our cut-off date of April 15.”

Lambert, working in conjunction with

Photo courtesy of Creative Images Photography

award. “Participating in softball at Sterling taught me about time management as it took a lot of work to stay on top of both school work and a busy competitive schedule, but it [softball] was a great experience.”

Collins was a three-year starter and a four-year letterman for the Warrior Basketball Team, which achieved a record of 64-56 overall and 49-23 in the KCAC during his college career. He is a member of the Sterling 1000 point club, having made 1227 points; he is currently #9 on the SC all-time scoring list. Collins was named Honorable Mention All-KCAC his sophomore, junior and senior seasons and was a member of the KCAC tournament championship team in 2004. During Collins career, the Warriors qualified for

Joe Jacob

Seniors Jodie (Bacon) Wesner and Mandrae Collins were honored at the 2006 Athletic Banquet by being named the Outstanding Male and Female Athlete of the Year.

“We look for athletes who have consistently been involved in the Athletic Department, which typically means they have played their sport all four years of college,” said Associate Athletic Director Lonnie Kruse, who spearheads the award process.

“We also look at their character, how they represent the school, and whether or not they are performing well in the classroom.

We felt that Jodie and Mandrae were consistent, four-year players, good students and exemplified high moral standards and Christian character.”

Wesner was a four-year starter in softball and played basketball for two years while at SC. During her college career she was named to the All-KCAC First Team her sophomore and seniors years and the All-KCAC Second Team her junior year.

She led the conference in on-base percentage and was an Academic All-KCAC her sophomore, junior and senior years.

During Wesner’s tenure, the Lady Warrior Softball Team won the KCAC Tournament Championship and qualified for the NAIA Region IV Tournament.

“I was definitely surprised and honored,” said Wesner about receiving the

the NAIA Tournament in both 2004 and 2006.

“Participating in basketball taught me how to learn to lead by example and work as a team,” said Collins. “As team captain for two years, I was big into learning to lead by example. There were times I messed up and did things wrong but I couldn’t say anything to the rest of the team because I had messed up.

“This past year there were a lot of good athletes. I was so blessed to receive the award.”

Don Reed, athletic fundraiser for the College, established a goal of two million for a new, eight-lane track, synthetic football and soccer field surface and other stadium improvements which were identified as Phase I of a multi-year plan to bring Sterling’s athletic complex up to date.

Between one and one point three million was needed by April 15 in order to break ground by May 1.

While nearly 40% of the funds needed

by April 15 were raised through private donors and commitments from Sterling USD 376, it did not equal the one million dollar amount needed to begin construction.

Though renovation construction won’t begin until April 2007, Lambert is pleased with the progress that has been made thus far, including the hiring of a project manager.

“When we began the renovation project in January, we had no plan, no money and no intent to build in 2006,” said Lambert.

“The fact that we have 40% of the money we need raised, a plan in place and three major bids is a lot further along than I would have expected, and I fully expect a new track, football and soccer facility by September 1, 2007.”

The additional time will give College officials time to raise the balance of the needed funds through a capital campaign.

S t e r l i n g M a g a z i n e • 19

Employees ~ Trustees

New board leadership includes (l-r): Back - Mia Korbelik, Phil Levin, Charles Sale, Pete Kitch, Howard Hay, Jeff Hanson, Joe Lang; Front - Daryl Nuss, Tim O’Brien.

Melanie Lightner

A Growing Board

New trustees bring wide array of expertise

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ine new board members were voted in to the Sterling College Board of Trustees during the spring semester.

Jeff Hanson, Tustin, Calif., is the senior vice president for Grubb & Ellis, a leading real estate services firm. Hanson specializes in the sale of private and institutional-grade commercial assets throughout Southern California and other select Western United States markets.

Howard Hay, Costa Mesa, Calif., is a partner with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, in its Orange County, Calif., office, where he specializes in representing employers in all aspects of employment law.

Pete Kitch, Wichita, Kan., is president and chief systems designer/consultant for KIPHS, Inc., in Wichita. He has 40 years experience in defining and designing information systems for Fortune 500, non-profit and governmental organizations. He has served the Wichita community as an active 20 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6

Elder at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, on the board of Wichita’s Habitat for Humanity affiliate and as a board member and now chairman of World Impact Inc., Wichita.

Mia Korbelik, Dodge City, Kan., is the director of development for United Methodist Mexican American Ministries.

She currently serves as the ruling elder for First Presbyterian Church, Dodge City and as moderator for the personnel committee of the Synod of Mid-America (PCUSA).

Joe Lang ’66, Wichita, Kan., has been a first assistant city attorney for the City of Wichita for 25 years. He also serves as the clerk of the First Presbyterian Church, Wichita, and chair of the economic development committee for the Sedgwick County Extension Council.

Phil Levin, Troy, Mich., is the president of Levin Development Company, a real estate development and consulting company.

Levin has been a principal at MGM Management Services, Inc.; a partner-in-charge

for Cooper’s & Lybrand, L.L.P.; a manager for Arthur Young and Company and a financial analyst for Ford Motor Company.

Daryl Nuss ’71, Poway, Calif., has been the International Coordinator for the National Network of Youth Ministries and founder of the Youth Missions Network, a coalition of 75 groups who minister to youth internationally, since 2001. Nuss was the recipient of Sterling College’s Distinguished Service Award in 2004.

Tim O’Brien, Newport Beach, Calif., is co-founder and director of Econo Lube N’Tune, Inc., the largest real estate-based franchisor and operator of drive-through automobile oil change, tune-up and brake centers in the U.S. Charles Sale, II, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., is co-founder of and has been executive vice president and CFO of Pacific Republic Mortgage Corporation (PRMC) since its founding in April 2001. Sale initially founded PRMC as National Pacific Mortgage Corporation (NPMC) in 1980.

Alumni News & Notes

Classnotes

Tarah Colvin

Lori (Kammerzell) ’87 Herrington, left, and Paula (Daniel) ’92 Steinbacher reconnect at the Wichita Alumni Picnic on June 10, 2006.

News and Notes from Alumni around the World Employee Notes

ESTHER EDIE passed away on January 31, 2006. Esther is survived by her husband, DICK EDIE fs46. Esther and Dick were part of Sterling College’s faculty from 1948 to 1956.

REV. DR. KENNETH P. SMITH passed away on March 23, 2006 in Wilmington, Penn. Some of his survivors include his wife Sue, his son REV. PARKER SMITH ’66 and daughter SUZANNE MARIANI ’71. Rev. Dr. Smith was SC’s Academic Dean from 1955 to 1970.

PATRICK MICHAEL HASS of Glendale, Ariz., passed away on January 23, 2006. Mr. Hass was a professor at SC from the fall of 1979 to the spring of 1981.

1920s KATHERYNE (WORK) HAMILTON ’26 went to be with the Lord on March 1, 2006. She is survived by one daughter,

three sons, a foster son, 13 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

1930s VENNA MCCAGUE fs32 passed away on February 20, 2006 in Salina, Kan. She was preceded in death by her husband, FLOYD fs32 in 1993.

1940s

REV. ELMER ZAMZOW ’40 passed away on May 28, 2006. Some of his survivors include his wife ETHEL (BYALL) ’37, and his daughter RUTH CAWYER ’65.

1950s

DR. JIM CONWAY ’54 and Jan Kinne were married on February 19, 2006, in Petoskey, Mich. The couple has

merged their two teaching and mission ministries to reach more midlife people all over the world. Their website is www. midlife.com.

CHARLIE BROWN ’53 and RUTH (ANDREASON) ’55 DIXON BROWN were married on May 11, 2006. The newlyweds reside in Great Bend, Kan. DAVID CREE ’57 passed away on May 12, 2006.

1960s

D. LANE BROADSTREET ’63 passed away on March 5, 2006, at Marion Manor. Survivors include his wife CAROL (STARR) ’64 and sister NANCY BOWEN ’58.

CHARLES W. COBB ’64 passed away on January 12, 2006.

DUNCAN MACLAREN fs69 died on February 14, 2006, in Hutchinson, Kan.

S t e r l i n g M a g a z i n e • 21

Alumni News & Notes 1970s

REV. ROBERTA “ROBBIE” FALL ’73 was elected to the Order of Elders and ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church on Friday, May 26th at

the 2006 Kansas West Annual Conference session in Salina, Kan. Robbie will begin her fourth year as pastor of First UMC and Antrim UMC in St. John, Kan. CRAIG ’79 and Susan SUTTON announce the birth of their daughter

From the Alumni From the Alumni Office.Director ..

Greetings from the Sterling College Alumni Office! It’s hard to believe that it will soon be my three year mark here at SC as alumni director. I love my job more than ever and I am incredibly enthusiastic about what the future has in store, both for the College and her alumni.

This summer has been keeping me on my toes. I feel like I have been swimming in alumni and I have loved every moment of it. In early June I had a special tea for alumni ladies in the Sterling area. A few days later I left with our Director of Marketing Communications Melanie Lightner to visit and interview the Craft family for the feature article in this magazine issue. Since we would be taking Interstate 35 to get to the Crafts, I decided to try and meet 35 alumni on Interstate 35!

The week started with a picnic in Wichita, and then we made our way through Oklahoma City, Norman, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Waco, Temple, San Antonio and Hondo. Whew! One of the oldest alums I saw was Rev. David T. Moore ’48 in San Antonio. I saw others, just to mention a few, such as Kandi Wyer ’96, Jim Brackensick ’79, Tammy McGlynn ’83, John Pitzer ’83, Mike ’82 and Susan fs82 Beckett, Lois Sieverling ’51, Flossie and Allan Talley ’58, Brandi Beins ’00, Jeanette Johnson ’76, Sharon Brower ’62….and many, many, more! It was so much fun to sit briefly with each of them, whether it was in their living room or their office, and hear about their life!

The full report of the trip—complete with pictures of each alumnus/na and a brief update on what they’re doing now—will be in the August edition of the e-Sterling News. If you don’t get the bimonthly e-Sterling News, I encourage you to sign up for it on our website—www.sterling.edu/alumni.

In July, I plan to meet the sixty-some people who are gathering in Canton, Ohio, for the all-school football reunion. Thanks to Jim Abramson ’71 who has worked so hard to organize this event! Also, on August 5, the fourth annual “Warrior in the Woods” in Estes Park, Colo., will be taking place, thanks to the generosity of Scott Carter ’88 and Heather McCreery ’90 and Bob ’63 and Linda (Bay) ’72 McCreery.

My office will soon be moving to a new location in Cooper Hall. I invite you to come for a visit as I would be more than happy to give you your own personal tour of the building and the grounds. Please feel free to stop by for a cup of coffee and a chat.

The Alumni Council and I are hard at work preparing for next summer’s 120th Anniversary celebration. Please make plans to come, stay a few days and see a bunch of your friends at our Alumni Week 2007 from July 4 to 7!

As you can see, much is happening in the SC Alumni world. I so hope that you include yourself in this “world” as you are most definitely a part of our SC family! Well, until next time! God bless you!

—Tarah Colvin ’98

22 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6

Esther Carol born on August 31, 2005, at their home in Centennial, Colo. Esther joins her siblings Electa and Everett.

1990s

BRIAN NUEST ’90 received his Ph.D. in human factors psychology on May 12, 2006, from Wichita State University. Dr. Nuest currently teaches at Hutchinson Community College.

RYAN ’93 and GWEN (WEHMAN) ’93 BATCHMAN announce the birth of their son Brody Landon on October 4, 2005. He has two sisters, Courtney (7) and Logan (5), and a brother, Beau (3).

Ryan is teaching elementary classes at Sylvan, Kan., while Gwen works part-time at Lincoln Co. Hospital.

BRENNAN ’95 and CHRISTY (LOVELESS) ’95 RIFFEL announce the birth of their son Gabe, born on September 22, 2005. He joins his siblings Chelsey (9), Brett (5), and Abby (4). The family resides in Sterling, Kan., where Brennan is the grade school principal.

MATT ’96 and JESSICA (FAHRENHOLTZ) ’96 ROBERTS will be moving to Wheaton College in July of 2006 where Matt will be a visiting professor.

REBEKAH (FREEMAN) ’96 and Scott FOSTER announce the birth of their daughter Samantha Jean, born on April 27, 2006. The family resides in Wichita, Kan. NATHAN CLAYTON ’97 continues to live in the Chicago, Ill., area with his wife Maureen and four children: Elizabeth (6), Adam (5), Mary (3) and Benjamin John (8 months). Nathan is in his final year of a Ph.D. program in O.T. studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

ED ’97 and ROBIN (REED) ’97 WEBB announce the birth of their daughter Kelsey Elizabeth, born on February 24, 2005. Kelsey has a big brother, Caden (4). The family resides in Lyons, Kan. Proud grandma is GINGER (HAMMONDS) REED ’66.

JUSTIN fs97 and JOY (COGGINS) ’02 WILKEY announce the birth of Jackson Louis, born on March 20, 2006.

They reside in Tulsa, Okla.

GENTRY SUTTON ’98 and his wife Brooke are the founders of Diamond

Ministry. The website address is www. diamondministry.com. Gentry’s first book, , is due to be published the summer of 2006.

MICHELLE HALL ’99 completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in May 2005 and is presently working as an RN at Newton Medical Center in Newton, Kan. KYLE ’99 and ELIZABETH (CALDERWOOD) ‘99 REED announce the birth of their daughter Allison Nicole, born March 27, 2006. Allison was welcomed by big sister Lauren. Allison is the granddaughter of BILL ’57 and BETTY (BOTT) ’59 CALDERWOOD and DON ’68 and LINDA (RODMAN) ’69 REED. RYAN-JACOB ’99 and ERICA

(SCHWEPLER) ’99 WILSON announce the birth of their son Javen Zachary Wilson, born on November 28, 2005.

Javen was welcomed home by his big brother Israel. The Wilson family lives in Henderson, Neb.

2000s

JEREMY ’00 and Ginny KRENZIN announce the birth of their son Gabriel Josiah, born on January 13, 2006. The family resides just south of Sterling, Kan. LAURA (BROWN) ’00 and Aaron LINDBERG announce the birth of their son Micah James, born on June 4, 2006.

The family resides in Springfield, Ill. Proud grandparents include NORMAN

Thinking Beyond Worldly Wisdom In the last issue of this magazine I wrote about how our work in planning for the distribution of our worldly possessions is our last act of stewardship before we meet our Lord and how important it is to carry out this final assignment.

In this column my objective is to share some thoughts about what our mental approach to this all-important act should be.

I’ve often asked myself as I have spoken with many people about working through this seemingly difficult task of preparing a will or other estate documents, “Should Christians approach this task differently than non-believers?” The more I have worked in this field of service and the more I have observed both Christians and non-believers working through the decisions of their estate plans, the more I am convinced that those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God sent to redeem His chosen people, should definitely approach this last act of stewardship in a totally different way.

The world tells us that the right thing to do is to give all that we have to our kids. Now that’s a noble thought and may very well be a way to express to your children that you love them.

But is this the only avenue we should take in distributing our worldly goods? If God tells us that our life and relationship to Him is the most important thing we have to consider, then what does that say about supporting, extending and lifting up causes that promote the Kingdom of Christ?

How many of us can look at our children, see that they are doing fine, and ask ourself, “Is there a place—a Kingdom place—that needs it more?” There is a long list of causes, organizations and ministries that truly need financial help. If we, who love the Lord, don’t support these both in life and in death, then we know the world certainly will not.

I encourage you to think carefully and creatively about setting aside a portion of your estate for the ministries of God’s Kingdom in your final act of stewardship.

—Don Reed ’68

fs71 and CHERYL (STORMONT) ’71 BROWN and great grandparents MARY ESTHER (GILMORE) ’47 and Kenneth BROWN. CAMBRA (CANADA) ’00 and SCOTT STRAWN (former RD of Campbell Hall) announce the birth of their son Charles Willard, born on January 9, 2006. The family lives in San Jose, Calif.

KYLE ’03 and Pamela HOOKSTRA were married on March 25, 2006, in Little Rock, Ark. The couple will home school for a family in Africa for one year starting the fall of 2006. The Hookstras will be living in the same city and a few doors down from TAMI (NEWKIRK) ’99 HARBIN and her husband Chris.

NATE ’00 and IDELLA (MAY) ’03 WILSON announce the birth of their son Elijah Thayer, born on December 17, 2005.

CHARITY (SCHROEDER) ’02 YEUNG, her husband Aaron and their bulldog Boo continue to reside in Little Rock, Ark. Charity is currently working as a sales professional for Select Comfort.

SHARON (BLOMGREN) ’00 and Robert EASTERLING were married on June 3, 2006 in Topeka, Kan. TIFFANY (LOHMEYER) ’03 and J.R. ELLIOTT were married August 6, 2005.

The couple plans to reside in Tulsa, Okla., until Tiffany completes medical school at OSU-COM. NICHOLAS ’03 and Tiffany MILLER were married on November 11, 2005.

The couple resides in Hutchinson, Kan. CHAD ’05 & Elizabeth HENSLEY announce the birth of their daughter Elaina Grace, born on May 21, 2006. The family resides in Hutchinson, Kan. JOE ’05 and MARIA (BUSMAIL) ’06 MILLHAM were married on May 14, 2005. The couple is currently living in Laredo, Texas, where they are working with Habitat for Humanity.

SUSIE (STATON) fs06 and Shiloh BROGAN announce the birth of their daughter Kiley Sue, born on March 12, 2006. Proud grandma is DEBBIE STATON, SC’s bookstore manager.

JOSH SLAUGHTER ’06 is the new sports editor at the Osage County Herald.

Congrats Josh!

S t e r l i n g M a g a z i n e • 23

Alumni Week 2007 “We Are Family!”

July 4-7, 2007

It wouldn’t be the same without you...

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