class notes
care, education and support to women during their childbearing years and after. She also studied interior design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and has great interest in social issues. She continues to devote herself to women’s health care and midwifery.
’90s Robert “Bobby” Bloom ’94 has joined the Robert Bosch LLC North America Automotive Aftermarket Division as vice president, independent aftermarket sales. Bloom is responsible for independent aftermarket sales, customer service and category management in the United States. Deborah (Gunzel ’94) Gatchel is very involved with a non-profit organization called Grace Community Outreach in Ghana, West Africa (facebook.com/gracecommunityoutreach). The outreach began as a vacation Bible school program and has since grown to include soccer camps with an annual tournament in 20 villages. Grace Community Outreach also opened five libraries last summer and hopes to open an additional five. Deborah is writing curriculum for a school the ministry plans to start. At that point, she will relocate from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Ghana. Jennifer (Kurtz ’98) Hall and husband Greg live in La Center, Wash. Greg is a special education teacher. Jennifer is a stay-at-home mom, a volunteer coordinator for First Class Home School Ministries and on leadership in a mothers group at church. They are proud parents of Caleb, 12, Hannah, 6, and Madelyn Hope, 1. Angelita Kisena ’97 is an active duty US Naval Officer (LTJG) and has been serving for 13 years. She is stationed at Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va., where she is a clinical nurse manager for the plastic surgery and wound clinic. Her duty station will change to Sigonella, Italy, in December. She is a proud mother to son Maksahmus Osakueva Kisena, 7.
28 vanguard magazine Fall/Winter 2011
Kimberly (Olson ’97) and Reece Lemmon ’98 have four children, Megan, Shannon, Jack and Kristen. Kimberly is a kindergarten teacher at Water of Life Christian School. Reece completed an MTS from Fuller Theological Seminary and has been the youth director at La Verne Heights Presbyterian Church for almost 13 years. The Lemmons live in Rancho Cucamonga. Natasha Nelson ’98 and her sister Chelsey founded Yogurtini, a self-serve frozen yogurt company in Tempe, Ariz. Since their first shop opened in November 2008, Yogurtini has expanded with ten franchises and received media accolades that include “Top 35 Entrepreneurs under 35” by the Arizona Republic and AZ magazine, and a feature in Inc. magazine on “How to Give Your Franchise a Personal Touch” (yogurtini.com/franchise). Natasha and Chelsey have a heart for Haiti, Sudan and many parts of Africa. Yogurtini has worked with the community and philanthropic communities to raise thousands of dollars for worthy causes. Nicole (Byrd ’94) Scheider lives in Phoenix where she is the manager of communications for the Phoenix International Raceway (phoenixraceway.com). Nicole Suydam ’95 is the vice presidet of development for Goodwill of Orange County. She was selected as a “40 under 40 Top Professionals” in OC Metro in spring 2011. Bradley Switzer ’99 attended medical school at St. George’s University Medical School and has been an internal medicine physician for 6 years. His primary location is at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass. Brad was recently featured in the Telegram & Gazette for resolving a medical mystery in one of his patients.
’00s Leslie (Schaefer ’00) Ballard recently started Peritus, a business which provides design, eLearning development and learning technology consulting services. She lives in Nashville with husband Mike.
Gary Blackard ’08 is a vice president with Xerox and recently published a new book. Relevance in the Workplace: Using the Bible to Impact Your Job. Gary is also the president of a non-profit organization called Eagle Peak Leadership (EaglePeak.org) which is devoted to integrating work and faith according to the Bible. He has spent many years in travel and is thankful for his wife Debra and children Joseph and Crystal. Ashley DeYoung ’11 began working at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland as an ER scribe for physicians immediately after graduating in May. She is applying to medical school and hoping to go on medical mission trips. Adam Hearron ’11 works for an industrial supply company in Bakersfield. He plans to start a non-profit organization based out of Central Asia. Carrie (Yarbrough ’07) Kuhlman created a non-profit organization to teach photography to children in Africa and share their photos with the world (throughtheirlens.net). Caitlin MacyBeckwith ’07 lives in Seattle and recently became a member of a traveling theatre group, the Road Company at Taproot Theatre (taproottheatre.org). The Road Company puts together one-act plays addressing bullying prevention and features them in schools throughout the state. Caitlin feels blessed to have a full-time job that allows her to do theater, traveling and outreach. She feels equipped for the job by her experience in Vanguard players, choir tours and missions trips. Sandra Ramirez ’08 lives in Bakersfield. She has been a ninth grade English and ELD (9-12) teacher and is currently pursuing her MA. Sandra sells art supplies, unique scarves (refurbedtees.com) and custom TOMS shoes artwork (etsy.com/shop/artsysandra).