spirit
Lives Changed in Mission:Possible Through Mission:Possible, more than 100 students and a dozen faculty/staff advisers traveled during Spring Break to work alongside nonprofit organizations serving vulnerable populations. Planned by Gonzaga’s Center for Community Action and Service Learning, immersion opportunities help students experience service through simplicity, spirituality, community and justice.
GONZAGA FACULTY AND STAFF NEWSLETTER
• Building a great university, 2 • Making first contact count, 3 • Mission in Montgomery, 4 APRIL 2017 | VOL 18 | #7
WE’RE ALL PART OF THE SAME TEAM HERE
This year’s locations and partners were: Denver – refugee resettlement Knoxville, Tenn. – construction work on the home of a man with special needs Montgomery, Ala. – serving children and adults at a Catholic Mission Neah Bay, Wash. – Makah Reservation support New York City – supporting women and children impacted by incarceration Portland, Ore. – homeless services at Blanchet House of Hospitality San Francisco – habitat restoration at Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy St. Louis – homeless services Tacoma, Wash. – supporting adults with developmental disabilities All but one of the nine locations are places where CCASL has sent teams in years past. New this year was Montgomery, Alabama, which proved to be a whole new kind of experience. Whereas some teams are busy doing physical work, the Montgomery group concentrated on immersion into our nation’s history of slavery, racism and civil rights efforts. They visited museums (Rosa Parks, Civil Rights Memorial, Voting Rights History, to name a few) and places of historical significance, such as Dr. Martin Luther King’s church and home, plus the famous Selma bridge where “Bloody Sunday” took place as blacks marched for an end to segregation. Students also sat beside and heard stories from people who knew Dr. King personally – even his barber. It was a heady – and emotional – experience for the students and staff alike. Each evening, they debriefed together, making themselves vulnerable to the realities of their own histories and being honest about the ignorance many have had regarding the fight for equality in our country’s very history as well as the present day. Justin Wiens, in his editorial for The Bulletin, wrote: “I received a living education, and began to fill in the gaps of my timeline of the racial history of the United States. Previously, my timeline began with slavery, jumped to segregation, and then culminated with Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights movement. After visiting with the Equal Justice Initiative, I learned about terror lynchings that murdered more than 4,000 African Americans.”
Becca Dunne (‘18) volunteers at Resurrection Catholic School in Montgomery, Alabama. After visits to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Equal Justice Initiative – two
“Learning about the past is essential, but the most important thing I learned was that the struggle for equality and justice is far from over.” – Justin Wiens Montgomery law agencies working against mass incarceration of blacks, the death penalty and hate crimes, Gonzaga students returned once again to their home for the week to reflect. What came next was the filling of a white board with all the ideas they had for bringing these messages home to Gonzaga. From encouraging greater support of the Black Student Union (and Black Lives Matter movement) and the many opportunities through UMEC, to bringing speakers to campus and forming new justicerelated student groups, the Montgomery team wanted to ensure that their learning would not end in Alabama.
Same Team (cont.) “On the bus ride back to our hotel following the championship game, I had red and blue face paint all over my shirt as my oldest son Ben, 8, used it to wipe his tears. On Tuesday morning, Ben and I were walking back from the hotel coffee shop and I asked, “Where do you want to go next?” Herzog explains. “Ben responded simply, “San Antonio (site of the 2018 Final Four).”
We’re all part of the same team here One of the most memorable stories from the Final Four was when more than 50, some estimate closer to 100, former players walked into a meeting room to wish the Zags their best, and the current Zags gave the oldtimers a standing ovation. Family. We know it. We feel it every day on this campus. When this amazing run began in 1999, the university was catapulted into an arena far bigger than it had ever found itself. One of the first tasks was to build a television ad campaign for TV games. The slogan that carried our message for those first five or six years was, “We’re all part of the same team here.” Incredibly, authentically, that still applies.
Mission:Possible and other immersion opportunities (like the Comprehensive Leadership Program’s trip to Father Greg Boyle’s Homeboy Industries in East L.A.) hold the potential for life-changing experiences on the individual level, but also for our campus, community and world. The next time you hear a student or faculty/staff member mention their Mission:Possible experience, go ahead and ask: ‘Where did you see God at work?’ They’ll be happy to share. – Kate Vanskike Look for Mission:Possible blogs to learn more: gonzaga.edu/tobecontinued.
Spokane gathered April 5 to pay tribute to their Zag men’s basketball team, and Coach Few and his team gave thanks for their support. Ken Anderson (’81, MBA ’84) was sitting at his computer in a Shanghai, China, hotel room early on a Sunday morning watching the Elite 8 Gonzaga men’s basketball game against Xavier, on ESPN Gametracker. Not very glamorous, but truly ‘Zag.’ “Well into the game it became obvious we would win and go to the Final Four,” says GU’s dean of the School of Business Administration and a former Zag player (1979-81). “Tears rolled down my cheeks and I thought of all the guys who had worn the jersey and how much joy and pride they all were feeling at that moment, and how many tears they were shedding.” Tears of joy are part of any family, and the Gonzaga family is no exception. “I got to the arena four hours before game time for the semifinal game against South Carolina,” says John Caputo, professor of Communication and Leadership. “By the time the game started I was shedding tears of joy with many around me because we were HERE, in the Final Four, and we deserved to be.”
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Paul Hastings, associate professor of counseling psychology, has been on this ride for 38 years at GU. He got infected with the Bulldog basketball bug right off the bat. His wife Denise and their three boys were no different. Hastings’ middle son Michael called right after the Xavier win and said, “Dad, let’s go.” There was virtually no pause before the Hastings were making plans to get to Phoenix. “We had one of the most special weeks in our family’s life,” Paul says. “Our lives, families and careers have followed the run of these Zags for so long, from the days of John Stockton and coaches Hillock, Fitzgerald, Monson and now Few. And our lives have been built around this university.”
Connecting families
And Hastings has been especially impressed by our students. Before the championship game Adam Morrison (’07) and Ronny Turiaf (’05) came down the steps next to our section (in the University of Phoenix Stadium), and everybody applauded for them and highfived them. But when our president, Thayne McCulloh (’89), came down, the students gave him a standing ovation,” Hastings says. “That was very special.”
And not only was this about bringing longtime friends and fans together. It was also about bringing our families together.
This place also has always been special to Steve and Vicki Hertz (both ’72) and their family. She is field experience coordinator for student teachers in the
While it was this epic basketball journey that brought us all together, “this” was about far more than basketball. It was about the widespread Gonzaga family coming together, many of whom hadn’t seen each other in 20, 30 years, but it hardly seemed like a day had passed since they last hugged, as we Zags do.
Nigel Williams-Goss shares his smile and autographs with fans at the April 5 rally.
GU Regent Emeritus Bill Wrigglesworth (’75) was overjoyed to get the call from his two grown children, Michael and Kelly, after the Zags had defeated Xavier for a berth in the Final Four. “We’ve got to go, dad!” they hollered into the phone.
School of Education, and he is associate athletic director. They came here as students in 1970, were married, and graduated all six of their kids from GU. “How can you possibly describe what this milestone means to every player and coach, longtime fans and newcomers, faculty, staff and students who have weathered the ups and downs, but always hung with ‘our kids?’” Vicki wonders. “Is there one word that could possibly describe the heart and soul of a place like Gonzaga and this incredible experience shared by an extended family like ours? In Italian, it’s called musica. Translated, I believe it’s ZAG. This single word means everything to us. It has inspired and guided our lives.”
Sports brought us together “I found myself very nostalgic throughout the week, with so many wonderful memories of GU basketball coming to mind. But for my husband Wayne and I, it’s more than basketball; it’s a chance to escape the craziness of our lives and bond as a family,” says Director of Student Accounts Carolyn Boese. “Sports are bigger than politics. Politically, Spokane is an incredibly diverse community. For three weeks, no one was talking about politics. Gonzaga basketball allowed us to forget about past differences and cheer for a common cause. Being on social media became fun again. It was the best of sports,” says Ryan Herzog, assistant professor of economics, who took his family to Phoenix.
see Same Team p. 4
APRIL 2017