Kraig Sheetz, Ph.D.

By Kraig Sheetz, Ph.D.

SPES NOSTRA. I must admit that prior to joining the Mount community, just over three years ago, I could not have told you the standard English translation of these two words. I don’t think I’d even heard them before. Today, this deeply meaningful Mount motto—Our Hope—is where my wife Lori and I keep landing when asked to share our biggest personal takeaway from the Tour de Sheetz transAmerica cycling fundraiser this past summer. This may seem like an over-simplified, if not over the top, way to describe our 62-day journey that had plenty of ups and downs (literally and figuratively), but it fits in every way. From the experience of planning the event with our incredible Mount teammates, to the generous support and encouragement from students, alumni and other friends of the Mount prior to and during the ride, to the stunning beauty of our great nation, to the wonderful people we encountered along the way—it all pointed to and reinforces Our Hope. Hope for the important role the Mount plays in educating generations of ethical leaders. Hope for our amazing students, their unyielding curiosity and determination to innovate and discover for the common good. And hope that each of us can pause from the digital firehose we subject ourselves to every day and recognize the kind and compassionate people from all walks of life and all corners of the land. In short, Our Hope for the future.

When prospective students and their families visit our campus, I tell them if they remember nothing else from their visit, I want them to take away two things that make the Mount a special place. The first is that we provide big school opportunities in a small school environment. The second is that we provide a broad liberal education that enables them to find the intersection of their talents and their passions. At this intersection is where they can realize the intellectual and emotional resonance (I had to slip in a physics term at some point) that puts them on a pathway to leading lives of significance.

The Tour de Sheetz provided Lori and me the opportunity to leverage that same intersection that I tell students that come to the Mount to pursue. Now I’m not sure if it really qualifies as talent, but we had the experience and determination to plan and execute a leap-frog operation where Lori cycled some, pulled the camper lots and masterfully managed the logistics of the entire cross-country operation. I just pedaled. All day. The passion, however, is much more fun to talk about. Lori teaches math and science to future educators, and I am fortunate that as an administrator, President Trainor and Christine McCauslin, Ph.D., dean of the School of Natural Science and Mathematics still let me teach physics every semester. I cherish that connection to our students and cannot imagine serving the Mount without it. Every day we interact with these amazing young people, many of whom are earning prestigious internships, scholarships and fellowships, we get fired up to do better. Prepare and deliver lessons better. Evolve programs better. And, most importantly, address a critical need at the Mount and provide them with better science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning spaces. They deserve it.

Thanks to our incredible faculty, programs and research opportunities, our School of Natural Science and Mathematics programs are outgrowing our facilities—from both a volume and modernization perspective. Arguably, that’s a good problem to have in today’s higher education market. But when I see our incredible students roaming the halls of the Coad science building each day, I cannot help but think about raising the cap even further on their potential to lead lives of significance. We produce outstanding graduates who are making big impacts in medicine, research and computational fields. Just imagine if we could up our facilities game. We can and we will. In fact, we already have institutional campaign initiatives and some state support to do so. And thanks to the creativity and support of Dean McCauslin, and many other teammates in marketing and communications and advancement, our transAmerica bike ride took on a purpose much bigger than we ever dreamed and would help raise some additional money for the planned expansion and renovation of our science building.

The trip itself was incredible. Experiencing our county at about 15 miles per hour and well off the beaten path is amazing. The story of our adventure is difficult to tell because it isn’t a story, but rather a collection of experiences, observations and interactions that are connected by two consistent themes— beautiful scenery and wonderful people. One of the common questions I was asked about the journey was: “What were your biggest concerns or worries?” Though we were clearly concerned about the things that we could not control like severe weather, mechanical breakdown or distracted drivers, those issues could be mitigated through planning and safety measures. However, there were two things I worried could be at risk during this trip: my marriage and my love for cycling. The former is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I did want to remind myself along the way that Lori was subjecting herself to living in about 120 square feet for two months with a guy who was always smelly, tired and hungry (which for me means hangry). The latter was actually a serious concern. I worried one day I would wake up and dread getting on the bike. I worried I would actually bike my way out of loving to bike. It didn’t happen. What did happen is that my marriage (Lori has the patience of Job) and my love for cycling got stronger as a result of the trip.

One thing we never worried about was achieving our goal of raising “margin of excellence” funds to make our STEM facilities even better than we can imagine. We know what Mounties (and even complete strangers once they heard about Mounties) can do, and we raised more than $65,000 for our science building! I cannot properly thank those who planned, encouraged and donated to the ride. The support was indescribable. But we’re not surprised. Lori and I knew the day we arrived on campus in July 2018 that this is a very special community, and we are blessed to be a part of it. We’re blessed that every day we interact with our students and colleagues we get the same sentiment that we got every day on the Tour— a boost to our hope for the future. Spes Nostra.

BYRON THE FISHERMAN WHO SHARED A COLD DRINK AND SOME STORIES IN A VERY REMOTE PART OF IDAHO.

JAMIE PELZ, C’02, WHO PAGED US IN A GROCERY STORE IN MISSOULA, MONTANA, BECAUSE HE SAW THE MOUNT MAGNETS ON OUR TRUCK.

A VERY OLD MAN NEAR EFFINGHAM, KANSAS WHO GAVE ME A BUCKEYE SEED FOR HEALTH, PROSPERITY AND HAPPINESS.

DEB, KAITLYN AND TONY IN ARROW ROCK, MISSOURI, WHO RESCUED ME ON A SMOKING HOT JULY 4 AFTER I RAN OUT OF WATER.

JIM AND CINDY, OWNERS OF SAND HOLLOW WINERY, WHO LET US CAMP ON THEIR PROPERTY AND ENJOY A NIGHT OF LIVE MUSIC AND PIZZA WITH THEM.

SISTERS, OREGON

BITTERROOT VALLEY, MONTANA

COTTONWOOD CAMPGROUND, WYOMING

KATY TRAIL STATE PARK, MISSOURI

MCCORMICK’S CREEK STATE PARK, INDIANA

MONTOUR TRAIL IN PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Give hope to future students and donate today. Help us reach our $100,000 goal. Visit msmary.edu/tour.

Watch Kraig’s vlogs from Tour de Sheetz at msmary.edu/tdsvlog.