together outdoors and enjoy meeting up with friends from school. They currently reside in North Tustin. Corrina (Morris) Castillo ’00 graduated from Cal State San Marcos with a second bachelor’s degree in Nursing in August 2014. After 10 years in vocational ministry, Corrina is looking forward to ministering in a new way. She was blessed with her dream job as a Pediatric Nurse at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Corrina is married to Roger, and they have three daughters Elianna, Maleah and Lily. Kevin and Summer (Stewart) Dalafu ’07 have two boys, Maceo Yuzoma Dalafu who will be is four years old and Tobias Zekarai Dalafu who was born on March 1st, 2014. They are both enrolled in the Master’s of Leadership Studies Hybrid Cohort program at Vanguard University together and are looking forward to what is to come through God’s promises and provisions. Amy (Morrison ’06) de Cortez took some “time off” to travel after graduation and found herself living in Guayaquil, Ecuador where she and two friends saw a need for higher education among the lower-income families living outside the city. Together in 2008, they launched the University Project, a sponsorship program which is now helping students in and around Guayaquil achieve their dreams of earning their college degrees, becoming professionals in their felds, and breaking the poverty cycle in their families and communities. Amy fell in love with Ismael Cortez while living in Ecuador, and they’ll be celebrating their 5-year wedding anniversary this September. They are currently living in Bakersfeld, CA while they complete their church-plant training with Christian Associates International, and plan to move to Guayaquil next year to start new churches in the city. They would greatly appreciate your prayers! Valerie (Brayton) Geary ’05 currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Her frst novel Crooked River (Morrow/Harper) was
DAILY FAITH When Emily Wilson ’14 goes to work each morning in the city of New York, she is far from home, and far from Vanguard University. This matters because her entire family has always been very close to Vanguard, both geographically and emotionally. Her family’s deep connections to the university start at the top, with her grandfather Dr. Lewis Wilson, trickle down to her parents, dean of the undergraduate college Dr. Mike Wilson ’83 and Diane (Sanchez) ’83, and spread out among aunts, uncles, cousins, Emily’s two sisters, Marie ’11 and Melissa ’16, and brother David who starts at Vanguard in the fall of 2015. Though she is so far away, however, Emily has carried with her a sense of home, and a sense of Vanguard—of a life made meaningful because it serves the message of the Gospel in unique and unexpected ways. Emily is an intern at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a position she became qualifed for through the combination of her own talent and ambition along with the opportunities she encountered while a student at Vanguard. Initially interested in attending a large state university, Emily visited one and found that it lacked the powerful feeling of community she had always felt at Vanguard. Her family’s long association with Vanguard and its size quite simply made it a second home for her. “I never thought I’d prefer a smaller school,” she says. “But I made the choice to attend Vanguard, and I’m very glad I did. The community was strong, and it was so easy to meet people. And I got opportunities at Vanguard that wouldn’t have had elsewhere.” As a communication major, Emily was able to attend the Sundance Film Festival on a school trip, and she secured a very selective internship at Conan O’Brien’s late night television show CONAN. The experience Emily gained through these opportunities served her well when she applied
for a position as a Daily Show intern. As the frst rung on a tall ladder towards a career in television producing, Emily’s job typically involves a variety of diverse tasks. “Sometimes I’ll do reception work, or I’ll run errands, or help with audience management. I also get to go on feld shoots,” she explains. “The other day I was at a Tibetan store looking for monk robes to use as costumes!” And despite certain common cultural perceptions of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Emily has found that the true heart of the show beats with the same compassion she learned while at Vanguard. “A lot of what Jon explores on the Daily Show lines up with what I believe,” she says. “There is humor that is occasionally a little crass, but if you’re able to get past that, you’ll fnd that Jon Stewart is always looking out for those people who are being persecuted, or being denied the rights we all deserve. Often, the political message is consistent with Christian values. The Gospel is about reaching out to those who are suffering and loving them.” Emily has also witnessed the kindness and respect with which Jon Stewart treats her and every single member of the Daily Show staff, no matter their level of seniority. “His engaging personality that you see on TV is very much himself,” says Emily. “He is nice to everyone. He is mindful and involved in all the work to make sure it’s perfect—because he is responsible for it.” Emily sees this internship as a springboard to a career in television producing, which she hopes will be with a late-night comedy show. “I love the rush that comes with comedy, of starting with nothing at the beginning of the day, and by the end of the night having created something.” Though it can be diffcult integrating a life of faith within an industry that rewards cutthroat ambition, Emily is beginning her career on the strong foundation of faith, family, and community she developed while at Vanguard.
published in October
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