Laurel Nock ’04 – Public Relations
Living Abroad Brings Humility, Enlightenment
Fraternity and have stayed friends ever since. Gary Betz II ’94 has been chosen by Phoenix Magazine as one of Arizona’s “Top Doctors of 2010” in the field of internal medicine. Todd Crain ’94 filmed the premiere season of The Onion News Network for IFC, The Independent Film Channel.
Eddie Harrell ’94 was chosen as the commencement speaker for the Sept. 10 commencement at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, OH. Lynne Haworth Logel ’94 is currently finishing her 15th year of teaching in Marysville, OH. She earned her master’s degree in special education in 2005 from Ashland University. She teaches fourth grade at Mill Valley Elementary.
and a brochure for a women’s empowerment project. The first time Laurel visited the villages surrounding Tamil Nadu, she was shocked to see people living in grass huts without plumbing or running water. “My first reaction was ‘these poor people, I have to try to help them,’” she said. After talking to a man for whom she worked, she began to see the people and culture differently. “He said, ‘people here don’t measure happiness by the size of their house or what kind of car they drive. We find peace and happiness in beliefs in things less materialistic. Just because we don’t have much, doesn’t mean we are completely unhappy,’” she said. “Pushing western ideas and values onto a developing community is not always the answer, and by thinking I had all the answers, I ran the risk of really missing out on what I could learn in that situation.” Currently, Laurel is a project manager for Ad Nova, a small communications agency in Paris. She is also finishing her thesis project for her master’s degree. Lisa Chapman Allen ’95 was one of 13 teachers honored on March 17 at the 11th annual “You Made a Difference” awards ceremony held at Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County, OH. The event honored one teacher in every Licking County school district. She was nominated by former students.
services at Community Library in Sunbury, OH. Laura Kunze ’95 was named one of Columbus Business First’s “Forty Under 40” in May. The “Forty Under 40” names up-and-coming leaders in central Ohio. Laura is a program director for The Ohio State University Center for Intergrative Medicine.
Fonda Dawson Kendrick ’95 has been named head of youth
Pamela Nance Allen ’96 and seven other Otterbein alumni (all of whom are volunteers at the Hanby House) participated in the Hanby House Mystery Tour on July 28. The group visited various sites around Ohio to better understand the early years of Bishop William Hanby. They visited the National Road Museum in Norwich, the Clay House restaurant in Somerset, places where the Hanbys lived and worked in Rushville, where Benjamin Hanby was born and the house of Dr. Simon Hyde, Hanby’s co-conspirator of Underground Railroad activities. Lastly, the group visited the grave of Joe Selby, the slave who died in the Hanby’s Rushville home and inspired the song, Darling Nellie Gray. Pictured at right are Jim Allen ’93, Pam Allen ’96, Ann Cherry Pryfogle ’61, Bill Jones ’79, Marty Slack Kincaid ’63, Millie Becker, Beulah Rammelsberg Fritsche ’49 and Larry Pryfogle ’64. O tte r b e in To w e r s | Fa ll 2 0 10 |
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Profile
Laurel always wanted to live in Paris. After being accepted into the master’s program in global communications at The American University of Paris, her dream came true and she moved to the “City of Love” in August 2008. Since then she has lived and worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, North Africa and southern India. Laurel said her experiences living abroad have been humbling. “Living abroad makes me think a lot about where I came from, where I am and, of course, where I’m going,” she said. “Being in an international community has really made me think a lot about what it means to be a U.S. citizen. Sometimes there are hard moments, and seeing the U.S. through the eyes of non-American friends can be humbling, as well as enlightening.” Laurel said one of the most important lessons she’s learned since moving abroad happened while she was living in a hostel in Tamil Nadu, India, in the winter of 2008-09. There, she was studying sustainable development and working for local organizations, creating a cultural guidebook of the area villages