Momentum: Summer 2018 - Dream Big

Momentum THE MAGA ZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF MARY

Dream Alexis Zeis, Class of 2018, winning the 5,000 meters in March at the NCAA Division II National Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama.

SUMMER 2018

Monsignor James Shea awards a posthumous degree for student Austin Reiter at 2018 commencement ceremonies.

Receiving the diploma are Austin’s brother and mother.

SCHOLARSHIPS Support Our Students AUSTIN REITER MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE The Austin Reiter Memorial Scholarship was established to honor the memory of Austin, who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2017. This endowed scholarship will be awarded yearly to a deserving University of Mary second, third, or fourth year student majoring in Criminal Justice.

Austin worked in the Security Department while he was a student at the University of Mary.

Austin was awarded a posthumous degree at the University of Mary’s 2018 commencement. His parents, Lisa and Brian Reiter of Dickinson, established the scholarship in Austin’s name. Monsignor

Shea conveyed this message to the Reiters: “In the great mystery of God, Austin’s circle of life will continue to expand as it reaches out to help others through the scholarship given in his name. In the way he lived among us as a blessing, Austin Reiter’s name and memory continues on as a blessing through the Austin Reiter Memorial Scholarship.”

LAUNCHING THE MARAUDERS ARMADA To steer the University of Mary’s athletics programs into an ever-increasing national force, the university has launched its new Marauders Armada to raise money for athletic scholarships.

This Armada scholarship fund

dramatically increases our support for athletes, helping them compete at the highest level.

Due to a change to scholarship rules by the NCAA, the University of Mary now has a unique opportunity to recruit even more top-caliber athletes. Scholarships in Division II are now ‘stackable,’ that is, academic and athletic scholarships can be awarded to the same athlete.

This means the university can dominate on the national scene by endeavoring to supply each sport with the full allotment of scholarships allowed by the NCAA. Every cent the Armada raises goes exclusively to athletic scholarships.

[Read more about the Armada from Athletic Director Dale Lennon, inside.]

COACH MIKE THORSON ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP This scholarship, named for longtime coach Mike Thorson, supports track & field student-athletes at the University of Mary.

The scholarship was announced in April 2018 at a tribute called “Roasting Coach Thorson,” attended by several hundred track & field alumni and local Marauders supporters.

The goal of the $25,000 scholarship is to enhance a student athlete’s experience at the university, of which just over $16,000 has been raised.

SISTER THOMAS WELDER LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIP The Sister Thomas Welder Leadership Scholarship is an academic scholarship awarded to full-time undergraduate students based on prior academic standing.

Students can receive the scholarship for a maximum of eight semesters. The

University of Mary offers additional opportunities to achieve premier merit scholarships through scholarship competition days.

ENGINEERING SCHOLARSHIP Levi Clagett is the recipient of this year’s scholarship given by the North Dakota Society of Professional Engineers (NDSPE).

Levi is a junior Civil Engineering student and a member of the Marauders basketball team. He also helped with the Go-Baby-Go Cars for Kids project.

The engineering program is currently working on adding numerous additional scholarships.

inside this issue 2

Letter From the President Education is for the Whole of Life

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The Marauders Way Dale Lennon

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Engineering Program on Track and Thriving

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Out of Africa Father David Morman

To learn more about University of Mary scholarships, visit Umary.edu/giving.

11 Making People Stronger, Happier, Healthier Tana Trotter 15 Alumni News & Notes

Editor Karen Herzog Graphic Design Specialist Holly Schaeffer Graphic Design Specialist Laura Scott Photographer Jerry Anderson

During a press conference April 20, 2018, to announce a $5 million gift from Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation to the university’s engineering labs, Chris Curia, right, presents the first Joseph and Ellen Curia Scholarship, named in honor of his parents, to student Chris Riedman.

Contact Momentum Editorial (701) 355-8013 Circulation (701) 355-8262

FRO M T H E P R E S I DE N T

Education

is for the whole of life

Human capabilities reach their pinnacle when focused to a heart of discipleship and service, which gives glory to God and burns with love for neighbor and for stranger.

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he imagination of Leonardo da Vinci was truly prodigious.

Leonardo’s fascination with the anatomy of the human body powered his art. His speculations in engineering produced beautiful drawings of intricate inventions that would have to wait for centuries to become reality.

Considered by many an exemplar of the ‘Renaissance Man,’ Leonardo grasped the insight that all realms of study are an interlaced ‘whole,’ and that we inhabit a world where art and science are distinct but capable of great harmony, each elevating the other to marvelous new heights.

At the University of Mary, we aim for nothing less than to educate students for ‘the whole of life,’ emphasizing in all our programs the astonishing interconnectedness of all being, the integrity of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good.

Our ongoing Vision 2030 strategic plan has a vital new element, the establishment of an School of Engineering at the University of Mary. What promise there is in opening these new doors to achievement and success! Our students will be prepared to become ‘the best of the best’, and graduate from here culturally prepared for the workplace, ready to contribute.

We see such a bright future for these students, who will form the backbone of our increasingly technology-dependent world. They will be essential to the smooth functioning of our society, but they will also be uniquely equipped to ask truly human questions, not just technical ones. They will be prepared to navigate a world rapidly changing in ways we cannot today imagine, but they will be, like graduates in all our programs, servant leaders of moral courage.

Engineers who are broadly educated in the arts and sciences will know a enhanced kind of success.

Another major initiative that we are excited to announce is a pivotal advancement to our athletics recruitment.

The formation of the new Marauders Armada will allow Mary to expand our scholarship offerings, which in turn will help us to be robustly competitive on a national level. The new Armada was launched because this is our time to seize an amazing opportunity — changes in NCAA rules that now allow us to offer many more scholarships to top-caliber athletes.

Like da Vinci, we at the University of Mary believe that the amazing athletic, intellectual and artistic capacities of the human person have been designed by God. Developing the wholeness of the human person honors the Creator who gave us such marvels of body and mind.

These capabilities reach their pinnacle when fused to a heart of discipleship and service, which gives glory to God and burns with love for neighbor and for stranger.

How lovely to know that God comprehends the fullness of our wonder over an achievement — physical, intellectual, artistical — that leaps forth from our souls with that frisson of joy, that awestruck tingle of ‘rightness.’

In those moments, we come the nearest we can to the beautiful poetry of Genesis, when on the Seventh Day of Creation, it is written that God rested, and named His creation ‘good.’

For we believe with certainty that the technical expertise of engineering is both deepened and widened when set upon a sturdy foundation of the liberal arts. www.umary.edu

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‘THE MARAUDERS WAY’ “It’s an exciting time on campus. We have an opportunity to do some amazing things with athletics.” – Athletic Director Dale Lennon

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sing Marauders’ nautical terminology, the University of Mary’s athletics program has changed its navigational course and for the past year has been under full sail.

Starting in July 2017, just weeks after Dale Lennon was named as the third athletic director in the University’s nearly 60-year history, the University of Mary signed a contract with BEK TV to broadcast 20 games throughout the year.

That was followed quickly in August with the introduction of ACHA men’s hockey. “That was one of the first things I addressed as athletic director,” Lennon said. “I felt confident about the decision, knowing the culture of this community. BismarckMandan is a strong hockey community. Seeing the support here for UND hockey, we knew developing a hockey program at the University of Mary had a strong potential for success.”

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Lennon said he’s excited that the university’s hockey team will play on home ice in Mandan’s top-notch facility, the Starion Sports Complex, which is owned and operated by the Mandan Park District.

At the university, the hockey program will be a cooperative effort between the Student Development and Athletics departments. This provides for the addition of new athletic opportunities in a way that does not involve some of the complications of adding a new NCAA sport. The advantages of ACHA hockey over a Division 3 program is that Mary will play more games with a more attractive schedule, Lennon said. This fall’s schedule is already set at 48 games for the season.

September 2017 marked the beginning of a new athletics scholarship fundraising development. The catalyst for this

“Armada” came from changes in NCAA legislation allowing the university to offer ‘stackable aid’ — the layering of academic and athletic scholarships, which will present a tremendous recruiting advantage.

The other significant change was the NSIC’s elimination of its scholarship caps. “We needed to find a way to take advantage of these legislative changes,” Lennon said. “We wanted to raise additional scholarship dollars that would be offered to prospective student-athletes.

Through this evaluation process, we developed the Armada model,” he said. “In the past, we didn’t have a way of fundraising Above: Dale Lennon became the University of Mary’s third athletic director in 2017. for additional athletic Opposite: Dale Lennon was the University of Mary football coach in 1997-98, here working with his team from those years. scholarships. I believe this is an area where we can be successful because of our loyal alumni base,” Lennon said.

The Armada replaces the former Varsity Club as the athletic fundraising arm of the university. Motivated by ticket sales, Varsity Club membership donations were not completely tax-deductible.

Donations to the Armada are 100 percent deductible, with 100 percent of the funding going directly to scholarships. “University tickets will now operate separately from fundraising, providing an efficient management of resources,” Lennon said.

Dale Lennon was named the Athletic Director for the University of Mary in May 2017, just the third athletic director in the university’s nearly 60-year history, following Al Bortke and Roger Thomas.

In October 2017, “we started negotiations with an all-sports clothing deal, looking at an Under Armor contract and what needed to go into that,” Lennon said.

Lennon was formerly the head football coach at the University of Mary in 199798, and the University of North Dakota from 1999 to 2007. His experience and leadership spans over three decades as football player, coach and administrator.

His career has impacted hundreds of fellow coaches and student athletes, including 40 players who have gone on to play professionally in either the National Football League (NFL) or Canadian Football League (CFL).

Throughout the year, there were a number of coaching and staff changes: Dennis Newell as men’s and women’s track and field head coach, Craig Bagnell in football, Corey Tetzlaff in volleyball, Wayne Norman as equipment manager, Lucas Orter as compliance director, and a new baseball coach, Mark Moriarty.

With the opening of the university’s new state-of-the-art fieldhouse in 2017, the university has begun the advancement and improvement of athletic facilities on campus. “At some point in time, we’d like to have the majority of our teams competing on campus, bring back football and baseball. There’s a lot to be done.”

“These initiatives matter because athletics, especially in North Dakota, is the ‘front porch view’ of the university,” Lennon said.

“People’s perception of the university can be influenced by the success of the athletic programs. We want to be a successful athletic department while serving the mission of the University of Mary.

It’s important that we represent the Benedictine values and are advancing the goals laid out in Vision 2030. We’re doing it ‘The Marauders Way,’ through gratitude and hard work, ” he said.

Lennon returned to the University of Mary after eight years coaching NCAA Division I and FCS school Southern Illinois’ Salukis.

www.umary.edu

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Lennon, pictured with UMary football coach, Craig Bagnell, far left. Below, Lennon welcomes former UMary athletes at its event, “The Marauders Originals,” celebrating football alumni.

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ennon coached at the University of Mary in the late 1990s amid some very successful athletics programs. “This should be our expectation. We can become successful in all of our athletic programs. We need to recruit athletes who can perform at a high level. The athletic program must allow each sport the ability to use the most effective recruiting methods to pursue the high-caliber student-athlete. Recruiting has to be year-round. Networking is extremely important. In athletics, sometimes you don’t have the luxury of taking a day off when it comes to recruiting. You need to be accessible 24/7.

“This first year we’ve begun a lot of initiatives,” Lennon said.

“It’s the start of the journey to gain some momentum. A lot of exciting initiatives are in the process of happening.”

Going forward, the university’s athletic fundraising has been restructured to include four major events each year. Lennon’s goal is to reach out to a wide variety of groups.

Marauders Fest in June 2018 included not just golf, but footgolf, walk and run events and a classic car/motorcycle ‘poker run.’ Each year it has the opportunity to grow by adding more events, he said.

The outdoor-themed event, Fins & Feathers, is set for October 20. Winter Fest scheduled for January 2019 is planned as a one-day celebration of winter activities such as curling, cross country skiing and other winter events. In the spring a roast will bring back athletic alumni to celebrate a legendary Marauders coach that has left a legacy at the university, he said.

“We want to bring people out to see our campus,” Lennon said.

“Fundraising in the past consisted of each sport doing their

“I especially look forward to connecting with our Marauders alumni,” Lennon said. “One of my most important roles as athletic director will be to bring back former athletes and establish a genuine and lasting relationship that allows the successes and traditions of the past to be a part of today’s athletic culture.”

own thing. Now we’re trying to be more strategic.

“It’s an exciting time on campus. We have an opportunity to do some amazing things with athletics. The entire university community has contributed to the building of the Armada and the advancement of the plans within the athletic department.”

The first Marauders Fest in June drew more than 600 participants and raised more than $42,000 for athletic scholarships.

Opposite clockwise from top: Events included a golf tournament, 5K and 10K runs, banquet speaker Gus Bradley, defensive coordinator for the L.A. Chargers of the NFL, Foot Golf, auction items, donated sports memorabilia. www.umary.edu

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ENGINEERING PROGRAM

on track and thriving Engineering program faculty, from left: Rodrigo da Costa Aparecido, Laboratory Coordinator and Instructor, Electrical Engineering; Dr. Terry Pilling, Associate Professor and Director of Engineering; Dr. Eric Garcia, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering; Anthony Waldenmaier, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering. Not pictured: Dr. Nancy Kelly, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering. Joining the faculty in August: Dr. Anthony Garcia, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering; Dr. James Carrico, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering.

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he space set aside for the University of Mary’s new engineering program labs, classrooms and offices – now under construction in the former University Dining Center, keeps possession of its glorious panorama of the Missouri River valley.

Many of the working spaces of the new engineering location will also be behind glass to allow fellow students, staff and visitors to watch the bustle in mechanical and electrical labs, civil engineering labs, research centers, and machine shop and wood shop.

This allows people walking by to see what’s happening, said Terry Pilling, PhD, associate professor of physics and engineering and program chair of the

engineering science major.

“As you walk through, you’ll see students constructing things.

Prospective students can see what’s happening,” he said.

“Five faculty members worked fulltime this summer ordering equipment and constructing several new labs in temporary laboratory spaces, since permanent facilities can’t be completed until the construction is done, but labs are needed for 14 new courses ready to go by fall semester.”

When complete, the engineering space will be close to 20,000 square feet. The completion of the facility is anticipated in about two years, Pilling said.

The university has already received a grant of $500,000 for its Control Systems Laboratory from Marathon Oil [formerly Andeavor and Tesoro] and a grant of $625,000 from another local company.

A $5 million gift was received April 20 from Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation to support the program and workforce development.

“It is our goal that all our labs, as well as the Engineering School as a whole, are named after engineering-related companies. It helps the school and our engineering students, it helps the company to have their name attached to a modern laboratory, and it helps the community to see that enthusiasm and involvement by a recognizable company.” www.umary.edu 11

ROCKETS TO ROBOTS: ENGINEERING SOPHOMORE PROJECTS • A group analysis telemetry of the Falcon Heavy rocket launch in which students extracted the velocity-altitude data from the YouTube video of the Space-X launch and wrote simulation code in C, Python and Bash to calculate all the mission parameters, even showing where the side boosters separated and then landed and where the Tesla Roadster was ejected out of the cargo bay.

• Another group wrote a computer simulation and built an experimental investigation of ‘bot swarms. They built 100 tiny robots and wrote a computer simulation in C++ and OpenGL to try to simulate behavior in an arena to see if they could isolate the number of bots needed for a phase transition from random behavior to collective swarming.

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hat makes a successful engineering student?

Number one, to be successful, engineering students must learn their math in high school, Pilling said.

“They should be interested in engineering, building stuff, tinkering.

That’s the kind of person who succeeds, who is interested in how things work, why things work.”

Students here take 18 credits a semester, of which only three are not engineering, so it’s very rigorous, he said.

Engineering students can take generals in the summers if they wish, which makes the other semesters simpler, he said.

Freshman students are required to finish Calculus 1 in their first semester, and take an introductory course that gives an overview of engineering specialties, along with electives and required courses.

“They don’t always

really know what different engineers do,” Pilling said.

“So the introductory

course enables them to make an informed decision.”

Second-semester freshmen start branching off, and continue in their sophomore year, he said: “They should know by then what they want to do.”

“We now have 61 engineering students at the freshman and sophomore levels and have already have 30 or 40 more signed up for fall. We expect that number to increase since many students won’t have signed up for classes until August.”

Though the numbers have been healthy, Pilling and his faculty have been reaching out in the community as well. “We go to a lot of outreach [opportunities], such as having a table at Kirkwood Mall.” Kids who approach them out of curiosity are mostly between ages of 5 and 15, he said.

He also sees parents driving a lot of the interest in engineering.

Recruiting women to the program remains a goal. The difficulty in finding women interested in engineering arises before girls ever get to the university level, Pilling said. “In seventh or eighth grades, girls would be just as interested in engineering, but by 12th grade, very few are.”

He is not sure of the reasons. But what they do know is that parental influence is very important. Girls who have parents or

Left: Engineering students have the opportunity to show their class projects to engineering industry representatives.

Right: Building and demonstrating drone technology.

family members who are scientists are often those coming to the program, he said.

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he need for engineers in the workforce today shows up in the fact that all UMary’s engineering sophomores have had jobs or internship opportunities this summer.

“That tells you companies are ready, when they are scooping up sophomores. And engineering companies have been involved in our curriculum planning committee.

“I am continuing to seek out companies that hire summer interns and make sure all our sophomore and higher students do internships every summer of their degree if they possibly can,” Pilling said. “As is clear, internship experience is integral to the education and future prospects of an engineering student.”

“We have taken over the Construction Management program and changed the name to Construction Engineering and Management.”

Civil engineering and construction engineering and management graduates are more often funneled into government agencies, while mechanical and electrical engineers more often go to private companies, he said.

“We hired three more faculty members, two mechanical engineers and one electrical engineer,” he said. “We now have seven full-time professors as well as six adjunct professors. More professors will be hired next year to cover the influx of new courses in 2019 and 2020.”

Currently, the University of Mary has an agreement with the University of North Dakota to complete students’ final two years if it would be needed. www.umary.edu 13

out of

AFRICA

Father David Morman’s vocation story starts like so many others, with his parents and their devotion to the Church.

“First and foremost was the example of my parents and their involvement in the life of the parish community wherever we lived,” Father Morman said. “ ‘Church is important; God is important,’ were often-heard phrases in our household. Diligent attendance at Sunday Mass and reception of the sacraments was stressed.”

His journey to a serve a mission in Africa for the Diocese of Bismarck was based on that childhood.

“My mother spoke of the desire for her children to be happy in life. She would repeat phrases she learned and treasured in her heart: ‘God made you to know him, to love him, to serve him so as to be happy with him in this life and in the next.’”

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ather Morman says he was fortunate to have the example of good priests and women religious in his life, who loved the Church and their particular calling.

Benedictine Sisters from Annunciation Monastery are included among them, he said — professors Sister Helen Kilzer and Sister Mary Walker, as well as Sister Thomas Welder, then president of Mary College.

Morman came after his first semester at Mary College – the summer before, both his paternal grandparents, John and Helen [Tavis] Morman, died.

Though both of Father Morman’s parents — Gerald and Lavonne [Freitag] Morman — were originally from Glen Ullin, ND, Father Morman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the third of four children. After his father’s 20 years in the military, the family moved to Glen Ullin, where they farmed and ranched.

“It was an intense time of questioning and searching. [My] academic advisor, Lee Nagel, asked me if I ever considered seminary. My answer was no, and he sent me to visit with Father Blaine Cook, chaplain at Mary College, and eventually Father Marvin Klemmer, who was the vocation director of the Diocese of Bismarck.”

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For the first time he encountered the death of people that he loved. As a 17-yearold college freshman away from home, those deaths led him to ask a profound question — ‘what do I want to do with my life?’

Father Morman, who had graduated from high school in Glen Ullin, attended Mary College before entering Immaculate Heart of Mary Minor Seminary in Winona, Minnesota, and graduated from St. Mary’s College [now St. Mary’s University of Minnesota]. He studied at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bismarck by the Most Rev. John Kinney on May 30, 1989. His further studies in homiletics were at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri.

For the first 28 years of his priesthood, Father Morman served in various parishes throughout the diocese, the last 13 as pastor in North Dakota of the Church of St. Charles in Bowman, with mission churches, the Church of St. Mel in Rhame and the Church of St. Mary in Marmarth.

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o how did Father Morman come to be in Africa?

“Growing up, each year at church a missionary would visit to make an appeal for his or her religious community. The stories of their ministry in the missions were captivating.”

He then took part in a mission trip to Venezuela and with the God’s Child Project in Guatemala.

“At some point in my priestly life, the desire has lurked in my mind to serve as a missionary,” he said.

In November 1997, he went to Africa to the Bismarck Diocese’s mission in Gekano Parish in Kisii in Kenya, to visit missionaries Jim and Henrietta Nistler.

“Bishop Kagan knew of this desire and in February 2017 asked me if I would consider going to serve in our African Mission and asked me to reflect on his request for a couple of weeks.

“My father and my two sisters were very supportive and encouraging, as were my close priest friends. One of the first questions both my sisters asked was, ‘when can we come to visit you?’ My brother expressed some hesitation — he being one who does not desire to travel far from home.”

IN AFRICA The commitment to the mission is for two to three years.

Father Morman spent two months in language school in Morogoro, Tanzania, to learn Swahili.

In his mission in Africa, he celebrates daily Mass and Sunday Mass with the people. “Here in Gekano Parish there are 51 outstations —‘missions.’ I celebrate and preach on Sundays in Swahili.

At the heart of the African Mission of the Diocese of Bismarck is the Orphan Education Program. “Currently, we provide support for 412 orphans,” he said.

“We assist them with school fees, give them a monthly maize allowance, and assist them with a small stipend. Three

Father David Morman, corner left, represents the Bismarck Diocese in its work supporting children in Kenya.

hundred and twelve of the orphans are located at Gekano Parish and 100 belong to Ichuni parish. The orphans live with extended family, most often an aunt or a grandmother.

“The Heifer Program is meant to assist families of orphans or widows of the parish with a cow. Once a calf is born, the cow produces milk, an essential element in the diet for growth and sustenance. Any excess milk may be sold, thereby allowing the family to earn a small income. If a heifer calf is born, she is given to another family once she reaches maturation. To date, the ‘herd’ consists of 15 cows and seven calves.

“The Post-Secondary Scholarship Program provides substantial assistance to high school graduates to receive a postsecondary education at a school for which they are qualified. This may be a college or polytechnic school, where a trade is learned. At any one time, approximately 25 students are supported as they work for an advanced degree.

“The Orphan House Construction Program, established in 2013, allows a house to be built for the neediest of the orphans to improve their living conditions.

Funds are provided to help a child or children build their own house with the assistance of their extended family and/ or community under the guidance of their guardian and the mission team.

Three houses were completed in the last fiscal year, and one is currently under construction.

“A most startling realization came the first day I was in Africa — having traveled for nearly 30 hours, flying in airplanes and waiting in airports, I was somewhat weary as I began praying the Liturgy of the Hours—the opening phrase is “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.” Instinctively, I added “in Africa” that morning, as I had a profound awareness I was not in North Dakota anymore. Frequently, this phrase is added as I begin the day with Morning Prayer.”

“As I was finishing my seminary education at the St. Paul Seminary, the rector, Father Charles Froehle, spoke to our class saying, ‘You have been in formation here at the seminary for the past four years, now the People of God will be forming you.’ His words resound in my heart as I am in Africa—the challenge of learning a new language, entering into a culture so different from America’s, the persistence of poverty and subsistence living and what these do to people, sharing the joys and hopes and grief and anguish of people — all this and more is part of what shapes and forms me now as a Christian and a priest.”

Read Father Morman’s weekly blog at notesfromafricablog.wordpress.com. www.umary.edu 15

“Exercise . . . makes you stronger, makes you hurt less, makes you happier, makes you healthier.”

MAKING PEOPLE

stronger, happier, healthier T

ana Trotter has often had to explain how she came to name her Bismarck health and fitness business Proximal 50. “It’s a long story,” she said with a laugh.

In essence, Proximal 50 means “combining all parts of yourself. The number 5 refers to body, mind, soul, spirit and heart. A zero ties the numbers to eternity, and proximal means ‘getting closer to.’ So, ‘getting closer to being a whole person’ – people taking care of their whole self.”

Tana is originally from Killdeer, North Dakota. She came to the University of Mary to earn her undergraduate degree in exercise science in 2012, and her post-graduate in physical therapy in 2015.

As an undergraduate, she was an athlete and personal trainer. Working with people to see how fitness impacted their lives, “made me fall in love with it more,” she said.

She went to physical therapy school to broaden her horizons, but quickly realized what she wanted was to be able to implement her practice the way she wanted to.

So she bought a lot on Divide Avenue in Bismarck her first year in PT school, and started all the design and construction for Proximal 50.

Tana said she was fortunate that her parents were entrepreneurs themselves.

“I thank God for their support. Yes, it was a big leap. I always wanted to own my own practice, so I needed to do it right out of the gate; I didn’t want to lose my passion. That was the biggest challenge — OK, I don’t have experience; I don’t have a mentor. But it also 16

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motivated me to prove to people and do as much as I could.”

“It’s been fun to see people open up and blossom here,” she said.

She watched her parents work hard to succeed when their venture wasn’t profitable or easy or fun, she said. “but when that moment of [success] comes, there’s a pride that’s indescribable.

Proximal 50 on Divide Avenue opened 2 ½ years ago, in December 2015, and now Tana has opened a new location on West Broadway in downtown Bismarck.

“I wanted that for myself. That level of passion, willingness to put in all those hours, the struggles – that excited me; it didn’t scare me.

“I’m meant to be an entrepreneur, not to have a boss. Having that pride, that ownership in things, it’s a lot of pressure, because it’s your reputation. I thrive off of that.”

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“There came a time when the gym [on Divide] was comfortably full,” she said, “and that scared me a little.”

She hadn’t anticipated moving forward with another location quite so quickly, but she started to put out feelers.

“I’m very much a ‘gut’ person,” Tana said.

“The instant I walked into [the prospective space, formerly One Source Lighting] it had to be part of Proximal.”

hen Tana looks at society today, she sees people becoming more unhealthy, less happy and sicker.

Tana said she has no interest in franchising Proximal 50: “Quality control is too important,” she said.

“We’ve become a ‘quick fix’ mentality,” she said. “Exercise is medicine for those things; it makes you stronger, makes you hurt less, makes you happier, makes you healthier.”

But she does have a vision of bringing some of Proximal 50’s benefits to North Dakota’s rural areas, which often do not have many options.

Fitness was Tana’s original plan for Proximal 50.

Since she grew up in Killdeer, her goal is to get much more into rural health, “Skype sessions with personal trainers, setting people up with good equipment, good food choices.

“Then I started to make connections with the nutrition aspect, the mind aspect, the actual health care aspect.”

Proximal 50 has 35 employees, 17 fulltime, Tana said.

A nurse works with people’s medications, she said. A registered dietitian is able to bring healthful food into a client’s program.

A wellness coach deals with goal setting and accountability.

“In western North Dakota, I know that is a need, to take that Proximal 50 mentality into those rural places.”

Being part of the University of Mary community for eight years really helped Tana to become a part of the community in Bismarck, she said.

“And through Mary, I fell in love with Bismarck. Had I gone elsewhere I wouldn’t have felt that connection with the city.

That’s something I’m very happy about. I fell in love with a community I want to invest in.”

Tana Trotter, UMary alumna and owner of Proximal 50 facilities in Bismarck.

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ALUMNI NE WS & NOTES

KRISTA (EVANS) HEEN, ’97, works as a school nurse at Alexander Public School in Alexander, ND. She and her husband, Jeremy, have four children, ages 7 to 16.

SHANNON COPAS, ’98, of Bismarck, teaches K-5 physical education, health, and is the head girls’ basketball coach, at St. Mary’s Grade School/High School. Shannon led the St. Mary’s girls’ to the State A Basketball Tournament for the first time in 20 years, where they won third place. Shannon was chosen the 2018 N.D. State A Girls Basketball Coach of the Year. Shannon is married to Aimee (Quinn), ’99.

MARY (MCGEE) PUCHALSKI, ’02, ’08, of Laurel MT, is a physical therapist at Billings Clinic Occupational Medicine, Billings, MT. She obtained her OCS certification in 2016.

LONNIE GRABOWSKA, ’03, ’05, BS, MS in Management, is the deputy director of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He is also an ordained permanent deacon for the Diocese of Bismarck.

CJ (CRYSTAL) JUNDT, MBA, ’05, Woodbury, MN, moved to Minneapolis in 2007, where she was Doctoral Advisor at a local university for 10 years, graduating with a Doctorate in MFT at Argosy University in the Twin Cities in October 2017. She is self-employed as an Integrative Functional Therapist and is currently writing a book and conducting seminars in health and wellness.

LISA (GUSS) HIATT, ’07, of Minot, ND, is vice president of retail/operations at United Community Bank of North Dakota, Minot. She is married to Jason Hiatt.

KAYLA JO (MCCORMICK) BOEPPLE, ’08, earned her PhD in general psychology from Grand Canyon 18

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University in May 2017. She is a school counselor at Bismarck High School.

MARK HARDY, ’09, of Beach, ND, owns and operates Agri Insurance Inc. in Beach, is a partner in The Agency Insurance LLC, owns Stateline Property LLC, and operates Hardy Farms as a fourth-generation farmer. Hardy is president of the nonprofit Spirit of the West in Beach, vice president of Northern Pulse Growers Association, and a board member at CHI Hospital Foundation in Dickinson. He and his fiancée, Tiffany Cadwell, plan to marry in September 2018.

NICOLETTE BORLAUG, ‘09, of Bismarck, ND, moved to Honolulu, HI, in July 2017. She works as an Account Executive at The Limtiaco Company, a Honolulu-based public relations firm. She is the former Communications Director of The Capital Gallery, a fine art gallery in downtown Bismarck.

JANE (LANGENWALTER) CAMPBELL, ’11, of Hannaford, ND, works as a math teacher and is married to Justin Campbell.

DELAND WEYRAUCH, ’13, graduated in May with his M.D. from University of North Dakota School of Medicine, Grand Forks.

Deland recently matched into pathology at Yale-New Haven Hospital for residency in Connecticut. His wife, Stephanie (Sandvick), ’11, graduated in 2015 from Washington University, St. Louis, MO. Stephanie has been working at RehabAuthority for the last three years in Thief River Falls, MN. She has accepted a job at Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Centers in New Haven.

VANESSA (KALDAHL) BOYKO, ’13, of Bismarck, is a radiologic technologist at Sanford Health.

CHARLES OLIVER, ’13, of Boise, ID, is employed as a physical therapist at Kaleidoscope Pediatric PT. He is married to Samantha (Hensch) Oliver, ’13.

RYAN CAPOUCH, ’14, of West Fargo, ND, is now an optometrist at Eyes on Broadway, Fargo.

Ryan graduated from Midwestern University in Glendale, AZ, with his Doctorate of Optometry.

He is married to Maggie (Otlewski) Capouch, ’15.

KARLY PALCZEWSKI, ’17, of Bismarck, has become a marketing and graphic design specialist at First Western Bank and Trust in Bismarck. A native of Bowman, ND, Karly has a bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Mary and also owns KP Photography.

THERESA LANGENSTEIN, ’17, who holds a master’s degree in nursing and a master’s in business administration from the University of Mary, has accepted the position of manager of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatric Medicine at Altru Health System in Grand Forks, ND. Theresa has been a part of the Altru team as a nurse on the cardiac/ telemetry floor and most recently was a supervisor over the Administrative Law Judge team at Noridian Healthcare Solutions. She and her husband have two children.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD MARY MCGEE PUCHALSKI, ’02, ’08, and Doug Puchalski, married in 2017. The couple lives in Laurel, MT. NOREEN (CARLSON) SIEVERTSON, ’03, married Jeff Sievertson in September 2015. The couple lives in Kingston, WA. Noreen works remotely in Special Projects for the customs brokerage firm of GHYUSA of Pembina, ND.

SMALL BLESSINGS TO KATIE (ROSTVEDT) ROOKE, ’05, and ERIC ROOKE, ’05, Suzie Grace, Oct. 14, 2017. The family lives in Williston, ND.

TO KAYLA JO (MCCORMICK) BOEPPLE, ’08, and Brandon Boepple of Bismarck, Briella, Feb. 19, 2014, and Kambrie, Feb. 22, 2017.

TO ELIZABETH KATHRYN (ODERMANN) WATSON, ’08, and Travis Watson, Issac Michael, Nov. 8, 2017, joining brother Benjamin, age 2. The family lives in Beulah.

TO WHITNEY (SCHAAF) FISCHER, ’09, ’13, and Brent Fischer, of Bismarck, Jayden Fischer, Nov. 6, 2017.

Whitney is a financial analyst at Basin Electric in Bismarck.

TO KELSEY MARIE (BECK) SPIDAHL, ’12, and Seth Spidahl, James Rolf Jr., April 24, 2015, and Sophia Marie, Jan. 30, 2017. Kelsey is employed at Premier Chiropractic in Minot.

‘Science as Vocation’ Students at Mary learn ‘science as vocation’ during the SURVE [Summer Undergraduate Research Vocation Experience] program at the University of Mary.

These paid internships allow undergraduates to conduct hands-on, faculty-mentored basic science research, design and perform experiments, analyze and interpret data, draw conclusions and communicate their results. This promotes understanding of science as vocation in light of the Benedictine tradition through daily prayer, community meals, reading and discussion. SURVE program directors are Dr. Daniel Barr abovecenter, and Dr. David Ronderos.

KEEP IN TOUCH! HERE’S HOW.

WEB

www.umary.edu/alum

As alumni, you are very important to us. We at the Office of Alumni want to keep our relationship with our Marauders’ family strong and vital, forging that lifelong connection.

EMAIL

alumni@umary.edu

PHONE

701.355.3733

We would be so appreciative if you would fill out the brief form at the link below to help us stay connected with you.

MAIL

Alumni Office University of Mary 7500 University Dr. Bismarck, ND 58504

www.umary.edu/updateinfo

www.umary.edu 19

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for Life.

PAID

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MARAUDERS ICE HOCKEY SEPTEMBER 15, 7:00 PM STARION SPORTS COMPLEX 111 OLD RED TRAIL, MANDAN Tailgate with food and music, 5 to 6:45 pm Meet the Marauders, 5 to 5:15 pm Gate opens, 6:15 pm Free Hockey Puck to the first 250 fans in the arena!

Admission $10; ages 13-18, $5; FREE for ages 12 and under, and with your MCard

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